Third World Women
Women of the Developing World/Third World Women - so many women, so many different lives. The factsheets provided by NWR reflected the range of the subject and the challenges women face as did newscuttings, UNIFEM statistics and the websites of Amnesty Intrnational and New Internationalist.
We looked, with admiration, at what the women are doing for themselves. The educated Nobel Peace Prize Winners (Wangari Maathai of Kenya and Shirin Ebadi of Iran) and the uneducated - the story of Bangaru Sridevi (one of the 250/300 million low-caste Dalit women worldwide). We looked at what others were doing - using a quiz to match ten countries with their different initiatives to address sex trafficking.
We felt the weight of a 5-litre bottle of water and contemplated the lives of women who have to walk to collect water for themselves, their families and their crops when a minimum of 20-40 litres is required per person per day for minimum drinking and sanitation needs.
We then listened to some letters sent to one of our members from her friend who is in Ethiopia with VSO helping to train teachers of disabled children in that country. She is having to cope with very little in the way of resources - many children have no paper or pencils.
Finally we heard from one of our members who has recently bought a house in the medina in Fez, Morocco where they have running water and electricity. She told us about the daily lives of women and it was interesting, in particular, to hear that the women have to use the public baths at a separate time from the men - and often have to shout to make sure the men leave at the correct time!
