Video: The Girl Effect
We have covered advocacy campaigns by nonprofit organisations in the past. Here is a very simple non-pretentious video by The Girl Effect.
Simple is powerful.
Showing posts with label women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label women. Show all posts
Kenya's power women
Yesterday, I spent the whole day interviewing woman near Embu, Kenya. All farmers, looking for ways to adapt their crops, fields, methods, seeds and fertilizers to the changing weather patterns.
I Am an Aid Worker. And a Woman. Help!
This is a post I wrote three years ago. It seems the subject is still ever so close to the hearts of many, so I brought it onto the foreground again.
There are several excellent insights people posted in the comments. I'm interested to hear your point of view.
In the previous post, Shylock explored, in a ironical, cynical, self-criticizing way, what personal future we, aid workers have. We wonder the earth, gradually getting used to travel all the time, often in harsh places, and very often in search of a thrill. Gradually we get addicted to it all.
But is there life after this.. after this life of a gypsy? Do we become gypsy disasters after years of behaving like a disaster gypsy, roaming from one emergency to the next?
No matter how much we chuckle reading the previous post, in the end, it is not funny. Far from it. Many humanitarian workers have a problem to find 'a life after this'.. But it is even more sad to realize how few actually "have a life even now"... Even now, many forget, or at least compromise, their personal life because of their addiction. The addiction to the horizon, to the adrenaline.
And now I want to you stop for a moment, no matter what you are doing. What I am going to tell you, is very close to my heart...
No matter how you twist and turn it. The professional world is still a man's world. This world in general is still a man's world. It has been for hundreds of centuries. From the time men dragged women into their cages by their hair, we have come a long way, but we are not there yet. "There" being "offering equal chances, and equal opportunities to women".
Here is how I see it. (and don't forget I am a man, and no matter how hard I try, I will always be a man, even if I try to look at things from a woman's perspective):
I look around me, and see people -men and women- alike, with loads of personal challenges through the work they do... But then I look again, and see that in most management functions in this business - the humanitarian world -, men hold the key functions (and most of them come from the first world, but let's leave that aside for a moment). I look once more, and see most administrative support positions are filled by women. Many women in this business are strong, well educated, hard working people. Many of them are young, full of energy, inspiration and aspirations. The new generation of women have been encouraged (and enabled) by their parents to get a good education. They are ambitious to develop themselves personally and professionally. Many of these young women whizz through their twenties like a breeze, and some climb up (if all goes well), the professional ladder.
All of a sudden they find themselves in their mid thirties, somewhere in the professional chain and ask "hey where is my personal life gone to?". And that is where the challenges start.
If all goes well, they find a partner. If all goes well. As we - men - are not always too happy to live with a partner who has a demanding career. Even fewer like it when that career takes 'our woman' away on duty travel. Heaven forbids that 'her career' would even have her live far away from us, in some dark and remote humanitarian crisis area.
"If all goes well" they find a partner, as too often at their mid thirties, what men are "available" on the "partner market"? Those coming out of their first long relationship, and not looking for something long term. The 'celibataires eternelles' or 'commito-fobes'. Those who have not made up their mind what the hell they want. The 'players'. And those already in a relationship. Or those who have failed in relationships so far.. (and all of that is a whole different discussion which I would love to have over a glass of Prosecco).
So "if all goes well", a partner is found. And then? "A career" you say? In this world where, no matter what, a woman is still supposed to not only bare the children, but also spend most of her time raising them? Where a woman is still supposed to do most of the household stuff? [if you are a man, think about it... If you don't agree with me, think again... Who spends most of the time with the kids, working for/in the house? You or your partner?].
So, what then? Most women are the ones making the compromise then.. Either give up their career, or work part time, etc...
If they don't, the juggle of kids, house, husband and career becomes a full time challenge.
The other evening, I went with E. over all the women we knew. And we tried to flag those we thought had found a good balance between kids, house, husband and career. And are successful in all. We found one. One woman out of the dozens of women we know, we found one.
That is a sad observation. And even more sad, when we realized that lady does not work in the humanitarian "business".
So, all you ladies out there. And specifically those of you in the humanitarian world! In my "The Dudettes" short story I tried (in my cynical and ironical way) pay a tribute to you all. But come and have your say too. Am I seeing things in a too dark, negative way? Am I seeing things too much from a "male" perspective? You tell me.
Italy biggest donor in "Adopt a Clitoris" campaign
The charity "Clitoraid" is the most popular with the Italians, who account for 26.88% of the donations in 2009, according to the organisation's financial statement. This makes Italy the largest donor for the "Adopt-a-Clitoris" campaign.
I am not sure how to bring this news to you, as I don't know how it was meant. Female sexual mutilation is a crime. Punto.
How to react to the name of the charity and their campaign? I hope they actually meant it to be eye -or- ear catching and provocative.
The state of the world on Mother's Day
Save the Children’s eleventh annual Mothers’ Index compares the well-being of mothers and children in 160 countries.
Norway, Australia, Iceland and Sweden top the rankings this year. The top 10 countries attain very high scores for mothers’ and children’s health, educational and economic status. Afghanistan ranks last among the surveyed countries. Seven from 10 bottom-ranked countries are from sub-Saharan Africa. The United States places 28th.
Conditions for mothers and their children in the bottom 10 countries are grim. On average, 1 in 23 mothers will die from pregnancy-related causes. One child in 6 dies before his or her fifth birthday, and 1 child in 3 suffers from malnutrition. Nearly 50 percent of the population lack access to safe water and only 4 girls for every 5 boys are enrolled in primary school.
The gap in availability of maternal and child health services is especially dramatic when comparing Norway and Afghanistan. Skilled health personnel are present at virtually every birth in Norway, while only 14 percent of births are attended in Afghanistan.
A typical Norwegian woman has more than 18 years of formal education and will live to be 83 years old. Eighty-two percent are using some modern method of contraception, and only 1 in 132 will lose a child before his or her fifth birthday.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, in Afghanistan, a typical woman has just over 4 years of education and will live to be only 44. Sixteen percent of women are using modern contraception, and more than 1 child in 4 dies before his or her fifth birthday. At this rate, every mother in Afghanistan is likely to suffer the loss of a child.
On the children’s well-being portion of the Mothers’ Index, Sweden finishes first and Afghanistan is last out of 166 countries. While nearly every Swedish child – girl and boy alike – enjoys good health and education, children in Afghanistan face a 1 in 4 risk of dying before age 5. Thirty-nine percent of Afghan children are malnourished and 78 percent lack access to safe water. Only 2 girls for every 3 boys are enrolled in primary school. (Full report)
Picture courtesy Logan Abassi(MINUSTAH) Read the full post...
CNN Heroes. Cast your vote now.
"I was raped when I was 6 years old," Betty Makoni, a lady from Zimbabwe, recalls. Her attacker was a local shopkeeper. Her mother would not allow her to report the abuse.
"She said, 'Shh, we don't say that in public,'. I had no shoulder to cry on."
Three years later, she witnessed her father murder her mother. In that moment, Makoni said she realized the potentially deadly consequence of a woman's silence.
"I told myself that no girl or woman will suffer the same again," she says.
Believing an education would provide her the best opportunity and means to speak out, Makoni earned two university degrees and became a teacher. While teaching, she noticed that girls were dropping out of school at an alarming rate. She approached her students with an idea.
"I said to girls, 'Let's have our own space where we talk and find solutions,' " Makoni said. Girl Child Network was born.
By the end of the first year, there were 100 GCN clubs throughout Zimbabwe where girls could find support. Makoni said she was not surprised: "Every woman and girl identified with the issues that we were raising," she said.
In 2000, she quit her teaching job to volunteer with GCN full time. "I decided to become an advocate because I walked my own journey to survival," she said.
The following year Makoni successfully procured a piece of land and opened the organization's first empowerment village, designed to provide a haven for girls who have been abused. Girls are either rescued or referred to the village by social services, the police and the community. The healing begins as soon as a girl arrives.
"In the first 72 hours, a girl is provided with emergency medication, reinstatement in school, as well as counseling," said Makoni.
It is important to her that the girls are in charge of their own healing. "It gives them the confidence to transform from victims to leaders," she explained.
But for Makoni, speaking out came with a high personal cost. In 2008, she was forced to flee her native country. "I left Zimbabwe because my life was in danger as a result of my project being interpreted politically."
Today, she lives with her family in the United Kingdom. She still serves as executive director of her organization and shows no signs of slowing down.
Betty is one of the ten people chosen by CNN as "CNN Heroes". Look at their profiles and choose the one you find the most inspirational here.
Text adapted from Betty's profile page on CNN. Picture courtesy Davison Makanga/IPS Read the full post...
Afghan Women: The struggle goes on...
I worked in Afghanistan before the war, and went back into the country right after the Taliban left Kabul.
All in all, I spent quite a few months working with Afghan men and women, and got to appreciate them as people. They had been through hell in the decennia before the war, and when Western forces "liberated them from the Taliban", their hopes were high to have peace at last.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. Today, the insecurity and repression of individuals is probably even more precarious than during the Taliban times. Even more so for the women.
When I flew into Kabul two days after the Taliban left, I saw on Western TV station how news bulletins were announcing that the women finally threw off their burkas, I looked out of the window and saw no changes.
I left Afghanistan late 2002, and according to this video, things only got worse for Afghan women...
Discovered via One Peaceful World
Quiz: 5 questions on the economic status of women
How many of the following key questions can you answer?
1. Which country has the most professionally employed women?
2. In which country do we find the most female legislators, senior officials and managers?
In the Philippines, where 58% of the professional 'cadre' are women. Followed by... Tanzania (49%), Ukraine (43%) and Latvia, Lithuania and the US, all at 42%. The UK stands at 24th place.
This means the Philippines is the only country in the world with more women as senior professionals than men.
This means the Philippines is the only country in the world with more women as senior professionals than men.
3. Where do women earn the highest wages?
In Luxembourg, where female professionals in average earn US$45,938 per year. However, in Luxembourg men earn in average US$94,696 per year, more than double...
On #2 we find Norway (US$33,034), then the US (US$30,581), Iceland (US$27,496) and Denmark (US$27,048).
The UK comes on the 12th place (US$24,448).
At the bottom, we find Sierra Leone, Yemen, DRC, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi and Eritrea.
On #2 we find Norway (US$33,034), then the US (US$30,581), Iceland (US$27,496) and Denmark (US$27,048).
The UK comes on the 12th place (US$24,448).
At the bottom, we find Sierra Leone, Yemen, DRC, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi and Eritrea.
4. Which country has the smallest difference between the income for men and women?
There is not one single country where the average income of women is higher than for men.
The best balanced (or least of the worse) is Kenya, where women's income is 17% lower than men's. Runner-ups are Mozambique and Sweden (19% lower), Burundi (22%) and Norway (25%).
The UK is on the 29th place (35% lower).
You have to look way down to find the US, by the way: 46th place where the income of women is 38% less than for men.
The best balanced (or least of the worse) is Kenya, where women's income is 17% lower than men's. Runner-ups are Mozambique and Sweden (19% lower), Burundi (22%) and Norway (25%).
The UK is on the 29th place (35% lower).
You have to look way down to find the US, by the way: 46th place where the income of women is 38% less than for men.
5. In which country are women the largest workforce?
The figures we're looking at are "The share of the female population ages 15 and older who supply, or are available to supply, labour for the production of goods and services". This figure (in contrary to question number 1) includes non-paid labour, but EXcludes household work.
Are you ready? Here we go....
In Burundi 91.8% of the production workforce are women. Close runner ups are Tanzania (86%), Malawi (85.2%), Mozambique (84.7%) and Rwanda (80.4%).
In the US, 59.6% of the production work force are female, and in the UK 55%. Down at the bottom, you have OPT (Palestine) with 10.3%, Saudi Arabia (17.3%)and Egypt (20.1%). Again, that EXCLUDES household work... If we included it, the figures would have been worse!
Are you ready? Here we go....
In Burundi 91.8% of the production workforce are women. Close runner ups are Tanzania (86%), Malawi (85.2%), Mozambique (84.7%) and Rwanda (80.4%).
In the US, 59.6% of the production work force are female, and in the UK 55%. Down at the bottom, you have OPT (Palestine) with 10.3%, Saudi Arabia (17.3%)and Egypt (20.1%). Again, that EXCLUDES household work... If we included it, the figures would have been worse!
So.. what's your score?
More on The Road about emancipation, discrimination,and women.
Source: OECD - organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, discovered via WikiGender - a site with a weath of information on gender issues.
Picture courtesy Shehzad Noorani (WFP) Read the full post...
Living in Italy - Part 9: Gallantry and women
After the Abruzzo earthquake Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi was quoted saying the victims living in tent cities should think of themselves as being on a camping holiday. He hit the news again a day ago by telling a female doctor "I wouldn't mind being resuscitated by you".
The press took it badly, but Dr Carrieri from Milan took up the Prime Minister's defence, saying he had paid her a "gallant" compliment to "take the drama out of the situation". (Full)
Which makes me think of men, women and Italy... After living in Italy for two years, I still find it remarkable how women are given remarks by Italian men. Women who lived in Italy for a while might easily see them as compliments, but foreigners would surely be surprised if not insulted:
Not only is staring almost an art, but it is also usual to be greeted in a shop with a "Ciao Bella!" ("Hi beautiful") and to get a "Arrivederci, cara" ("Bye, sweet").
It is usual to be talked to when sitting (as a woman) alone at a table in a restaurant or bar. Getting whistled at is a daily occurrence, remarks about the way a woman looks or dresses are common. Most women don't react, or (pretend to) see it as a compliment. Only they can tell if deep down inside they do. But if you, as a female tourist, visit Italy, don't be surprised...
More on The Road about Living in Italy
International Women's Day - Raise hope for the women in Congo
Today, March 8th is International Women's Day. While in the past decennia we witnessed a significant change in attitude both in women's and society's opinion about women's equality and emancipation, there are still places in the world where women suffer greatly.
One of those is Eastern DRC where women are systematically raped as a war strategy between warring fractions. Used as a weapon of war, sexual violence and rape exist on a scale seen nowhere else in the world.
Often successful in its intent to destroy and exterminate, rape is causing the destruction of women, their families, and their communities. While Congo’s women are the backbone of their society, efforts to protect women and girls in the Congo are failing spectacularly.
Here is a video from a shelter for women, victims of sexual assault, in Bukavu in DRC.
The video was produced by Raise Hope For Congo, a movement aiming to protect and empower Congolese women and girls. You can help them, and the women of Congo by raising awareness and rolling up your sleeves with a toolkit they provide.
Rumble: A woman arriving at Jeddah airport
An extract from CarpetBlog, an excellent blog by a lady living in Turkey.
She describes what happened when arriving at Jeddah Airport (Saudi Arabia):
 This place looks normal on the outside, but it so clearly is not. Social codes and cues for women are impossible to interpret without assistance. Where can we go? What can we do? What do we do if we run into trouble? What kind of trouble could we run into? Will we be able to recognize the trouble when it comes our way?Some trouble is screamingly obvious. We recognized it immediately when we arrived in Jeddah at midnight, after our passport was taken away. "Where is your brother?" snapped passport control. "I'm sorry. What?" "Your brother. He is picking you up?" "Uh, no. The hotel is picking me up." "Not acceptable." Like a naughty child, we were told to sit next to half-naked Nigerian hajis while arrangements were made to accommodate a rogue foreign woman without a brother. Our resentment brewed, but remained unexpressed. The problem resolved itself, with no intervention from us, and we departed the arrivals hall two hours later, with our brother, the hotel driver. |
More on The Road about emancipation and Saudi Arabia
Picture courtesy CarpetBlog. Read the full post...
News: Nov 25 - International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
Violence against women is largely unreported. Fear and stigma often prevent women from reporting incidents of violence or seeking assistance.
55 to 95% of women who have been physically abused by their partners have never contacted the police, aid groups or shelters.
Women aged 15-44 are more at risk from rape and domestic violence than from cancer, motor accidents, war and malaria, according to World Bank data. (Details)
Since 9 years, November 25th has been declared "The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women", calling the world's attention to gender-based violence.
Over 1.3 million people signed the petition supporting the fight for this cause. Make your voice count, sign the petition now:
Violence of women is also an issue of prevention from the ground up. Aid agencies have been working on better girls' education, and using food aid as a tool to help women out of extreme poverty. (Example)
Picture extracted from Michael's excellent article Congo: The Rape Capital of the World.
More on The Road about sexual violence and emancipation. Read the full post...
Picks of the week: Firewood, humane investment and Oops
Here are the interesting links I harvested this week:
- Starting on a lighter note: If you suffer of flight anxiety, you should NOT want to visit The Oops List. A simple site with nothing but links to pictures, audio and video about aircraft (and other) accidents. Full of treasures. Mostly hilarious. Some sad. Others plain scary. My favourite is the clip called "My Dog Skip".
- Onto more serious matter: Get Beyond Firewood highlights the plight of refugee women, a very pragmatic way. Every day, millions of refugee women and girls around the world risk being raped, beaten —even killed— as they search for the firewood they need to cook food for their families. This site offers alternatives for firewood. Simple.
- The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children advocates for the rights of refugee women and children.
- Good.AllTop aggregates news about "doing good". It also features The Road to the Horizon (with thanks!).
- MyC4 allows you to invest in a good cause. They raise capital for African entrepreneurs as a tool in the fight to end poverty. So far 10,300 investors from 78 countries have invested €5,668,392 in 3,306 businesses through this site. The average interest rate for investors is 12.9% p.a.
- If you want to invest in a good cause, but you are not looking for interest, your Pick of the Week is definitively Kiva. If Kiva and micro-financing is your thing, join The Road's Lenders Team! Check out our score card for The Road's latest micro-financing investments in Kiva.
- And last but least, you should have a look at my latest labour:
- AidBlogs shows all the latest post from the aidworker blogs I list in the right column of The Road.
- The Signs Along The Road is a scratch pad for random clips.
- For Those Who Want to Know summarizes all blogs listed my "Resources for/by Aidworkers"
- Aid News summarizes all recent humanitarian news, assembled from over 50 different sources.
Picture via The Oops List Read the full post...
Rumble: The Girl Effect
• Today, more than 600 million girls live in the developing world.
• More than one-quarter of the population in Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa are girls and young women ages 10 to 24.
• The total global population of girls ages 10 to 24—already the largest in history—is expected to peak in the next decade.
• Approximately one-quarter of girls in developing countries are not in school.
• Out of the world’s 130 million out-of-school youth, 70 percent are girls.
• One girl in seven in developing countries marries before age 15. 38 percent marry before age 18.
• One-quarter to one-half of girls in developing countries become mothers before age 18; 14 million girls aged 15 to 19 give birth in developing countries each year.
• 75 percent of 15- to 24-year-olds living with HIV in Africa are female, up from 62 percent in 2001.
And yet:
• When a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children.
• An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent. An extra year of secondary school: 15 to 25 percent.
• Research in developing countries has shown a consistent relationship between better infant and child health and higher levels of schooling among mothers.
• When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40 percent for a man.
Source: The Girl Effect
Rumble: Sexism sells but we're not buying it.
"From the reporter’s desk to the executive suite, men are overwhelmingly the ones making the decision about what we see in the media." (Women's Media Center)
Thanks to Liz for the link. Read the full post...
News: Italian court: "Women can lie to hide an affair.."
Italy's highest appeal court ruled that married women who commit adultery are entitled to lie about it to protect their honour.
The court gave its landmark ruling after hearing the case of a 48-year-old woman, convicted of giving a false testimony to the police by denying she had lent her mobile phone to her lover.
The appeal court did not agree that she had broken the law. It said bending the truth was justified to conceal extra-marital relationships. (Full)
More post about Italy on the Road to the Horizon.
Picture courtesy VinMag.com
News: 14,200 cases of rape. With only 287 court cases.
I wonder in which country one would accept a mass of 14,200 registered rape cases in two years, in one province only. Even worse: of which only 287 cases were taken to court. No-one would accept this, right? Right?
Well, this is the case in South Kivu, a province in Eastern DRC (Congo), according to the UN Human Rights Council. (Full)
Amnesty International reports tens of thousands of women and girls have suffered systematic rape and sexual assault since the devastating conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo began in 1998. Rape, sometimes by groups as large as twenty men, has become a hallmark of the conflict, with armed factions often using it as part of a calculated strategy to destabilize opposition groups, undermine fundamental community values, humiliate the victims and witnesses, and secure control through fear and intimidation. It is not unusual for mothers and daughters to be raped in front of their families and villages, or to be forced to have sex with their sons and brothers. Rapes of girls as young as six and women over 70 have been reported. Young girls are also regularly abducted and held captive for years to be used as sexual slaves by combatants and their leaders. (Full)
Help putting an end to violence against women. Sign up:
Picture courtesy Kevin Sites. Source: International Aid Workers Today Read the full post...
News: International Women's Day. Yesterday. Noticed Anything?
March 8th was to celebrate International Women's Day. This event was hardly noticeable in the international press. A sign?
Some sad statistics:
- Women produce nearly 80% of the food on the planet, but receive less than 10% of agricultural assistance (iamapeacekeeper.com)
- More than 1 billion people live in abject poverty on less than $1 a day. 70% of people in abject poverty are women (kamilat.org)
- Only 1% of the world’s assets are in the name of a woman (unesco.org)
- Although women do two thirds of the work in the world, the rate of paid employment for women is two thirds that of men (ilo.org)
- There is no country in the world where women’s wages are equal to those of men (learningpartnership.org)
- Worldwide, when women do the same work as men, they are paid 30-40% less than men (newint.org)
Picture courtesy Shehzad Noorani (WFP). Source: WomanKind.org.uk. Read the full post...
News: Arab Women on the Rise in Algeria
In Algeria, women drive trains, hold positions as judges and make up the majority of students. Nowhere else in the Arab world are equal rights for women taken so seriously.
Moudjed Naima, 32, wears tatty olive-green overalls, green rubber boots and a cap. The small, energetic woman is cleaning a white pickup truck inside and out. She has been employed here for a year, working every day from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., except Fridays. She got her diploma in photography and computer science, but it was little help -- she was unemployed until she asked for work at the gas station. "I knew there was a woman in charge," she says, "and I started right away." (full post)
Read also this article from the NY Times.
Source: The Other World News. Picture courtesy NY Times.
The Dudettes
(Peterpedia: “a dudette: female version of a dude”)
“Who the f**k has put pink paper in the printer?”, I hear one of the guys shouting in the corridor. Loads the cupboard doors bang as he is looking for the normal plain white paper… Loads of cursing..
I duck.. I did not put the pink paper in the printer, but I know who did.. Well, I kinda know.. I also know she got away with the blue paper, too. And with the light-green.
“Who the f**k has put pink paper in the printer?”, I hear one of the guys shouting in the corridor. Loads the cupboard doors bang as he is looking for the normal plain white paper… Loads of cursing..
I duck.. I did not put the pink paper in the printer, but I know who did.. Well, I kinda know.. I also know she got away with the blue paper, too. And with the light-green.
But that was two weeks ago, and none of the technicians was around then. Mats, Zouhair and me were the only men in the office. All the others were out. In Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Jordan, Turkey. We were the only three men… Three men against the rest of the world. And ‘the rest of the world’, as far as the office was concerned, was female. I mean, what were we supposed to do? Against all those women? They took over the place. They overrun the office. A palace revolution! And those in power wanted “pink”.
Traditionally, we have always been a “real men’s outfit”, since we started with our team, FITTEST, several years ago. FITTEST. “Fast IT and Telecoms Emergency and Support Team”. Pretty sexy, no? We are the ‘special forces’ of the humanitarian organizations. We’re the ‘dudes’ they send in when an emergency occurs, before anyone else is sent in. Or is allowed in. Somalia flooding, Darfur refugee influx, Pakistan earthquake, Tsunami, Iraq war, Hurricane Mitch, Afghanistan war, Angola, .. You name it. We’ve been there, done that.. And not only “been there”, but also “been there before the rest”. We’re the dudes who fly in with equipment to build the basic infrastructure with electricity, communications, IT services, so that other relief workers can do their work. I mean in short, in case you did not get my drift yet: “WE ARE THE DUDES !”
Think of us as razor short hair, safari jackets, bagged tropic trousers, sturdy mountain boots, minimum six feet tall, bronzed by the sun in seven continents, honoury member of frequent flyer schemes on at least ten airlines. And that only in the past three months. You get the picture? That’s us. I mean, “WE ARE THE DUDES. Yeah!”..
And now, these women… Grrr.. These women… This girlie figures, with their high-pitched squeaky voices, platform shoes or tower heels, and their (flap with your hand with a floppy wrist) their, their… delicate manners, manicured nails… We need four of them to lift one of our toolboxes… And we carry two. In each hand that is. Ha! But now, those tiny things… They took over the office. They run the outfit now…
“Can anyone tell me where the FFFF**K I can find plain white paper?”, I hear from the corridor again, “I refuse to print my mission report on f**king pink paper!”. One of the women chuckles: “Pink Rules!”
It was not so long ago when we had no women in the team. As the unit grew, and we moved our base from Kampala to Dubai, we needed more support staff… In came Judith, then Anisa, then Lorraine. Sure, understandable, these were all administrative staff. We could even get used to the idea they did all of our finance and travel. But then Amel joined in, and took over procurement. Bouran came in and she took over the management of logistics and warehousing. And so on. And so on. They moved in swiftly and quietly. They worked long hours, without making a lot of noise, like we, the dudes did. And before we knew it, we had more than twenty of them.
Twenty women. They became the backbone of the office. Brave women, standing up against ‘The Dudes’, twice as tall and three times as wide as them. They looked up, with their finger pointing sky-wards: ‘No, you will NOT get your ticket before you fill in your previous travel expense claim !’. or ‘No, you can not get into the warehouse to take whatever you want. Fill in this request form, and we will get it to you’. Finger sky-wards… Each time, the FITTEST technician would look down at those tiny little things and grunt his teeth “These… women… “ but in the end they would all shrug their shoulders, and .. comply.
It was an interesting process to see these two parts of the team becoming one, as time went by.. The male and the female part. The mountain boots and the high heels. The ‘North Face’ and the ‘Louis Vuitton’s. Not only did we, the dudes, start to print on pink, but the ladies also got us to wear pink FITTEST T-shirts. But the dudettes also started to wear the macho yellow-print-on-dark-blue with just as much pride. Symbolic of the female side of the dudes and the male side of the dudettes joining together..
Not only did Astrid help the guys pack their suitcases when they were late for a flight again, and would Anisa and Lorraine always succeed in putting together a surprise birthday cake, but soon they also joined us on missions. Cecelia in Kinshasa, Larisa and Nadia in Baghdad, Sophie in Banda Aceh and Beirut, Ekram in Khartoum and Damascus.
Cheers to you, the dudettes of the world ! This is an ode to you. Combining being a mother and a wife, with a professional career. Juggling your professional time between all three jobs: two at home, and one at work. My hat off to you. It is much easier being a man in this world, than a woman. It is always much easier to be a dude than a dudette.
Traditionally, we have always been a “real men’s outfit”, since we started with our team, FITTEST, several years ago. FITTEST. “Fast IT and Telecoms Emergency and Support Team”. Pretty sexy, no? We are the ‘special forces’ of the humanitarian organizations. We’re the ‘dudes’ they send in when an emergency occurs, before anyone else is sent in. Or is allowed in. Somalia flooding, Darfur refugee influx, Pakistan earthquake, Tsunami, Iraq war, Hurricane Mitch, Afghanistan war, Angola, .. You name it. We’ve been there, done that.. And not only “been there”, but also “been there before the rest”. We’re the dudes who fly in with equipment to build the basic infrastructure with electricity, communications, IT services, so that other relief workers can do their work. I mean in short, in case you did not get my drift yet: “WE ARE THE DUDES !”
Think of us as razor short hair, safari jackets, bagged tropic trousers, sturdy mountain boots, minimum six feet tall, bronzed by the sun in seven continents, honoury member of frequent flyer schemes on at least ten airlines. And that only in the past three months. You get the picture? That’s us. I mean, “WE ARE THE DUDES. Yeah!”..
And now, these women… Grrr.. These women… This girlie figures, with their high-pitched squeaky voices, platform shoes or tower heels, and their (flap with your hand with a floppy wrist) their, their… delicate manners, manicured nails… We need four of them to lift one of our toolboxes… And we carry two. In each hand that is. Ha! But now, those tiny things… They took over the office. They run the outfit now…
“Can anyone tell me where the FFFF**K I can find plain white paper?”, I hear from the corridor again, “I refuse to print my mission report on f**king pink paper!”. One of the women chuckles: “Pink Rules!”
It was not so long ago when we had no women in the team. As the unit grew, and we moved our base from Kampala to Dubai, we needed more support staff… In came Judith, then Anisa, then Lorraine. Sure, understandable, these were all administrative staff. We could even get used to the idea they did all of our finance and travel. But then Amel joined in, and took over procurement. Bouran came in and she took over the management of logistics and warehousing. And so on. And so on. They moved in swiftly and quietly. They worked long hours, without making a lot of noise, like we, the dudes did. And before we knew it, we had more than twenty of them.
Twenty women. They became the backbone of the office. Brave women, standing up against ‘The Dudes’, twice as tall and three times as wide as them. They looked up, with their finger pointing sky-wards: ‘No, you will NOT get your ticket before you fill in your previous travel expense claim !’. or ‘No, you can not get into the warehouse to take whatever you want. Fill in this request form, and we will get it to you’. Finger sky-wards… Each time, the FITTEST technician would look down at those tiny little things and grunt his teeth “These… women… “ but in the end they would all shrug their shoulders, and .. comply.It was an interesting process to see these two parts of the team becoming one, as time went by.. The male and the female part. The mountain boots and the high heels. The ‘North Face’ and the ‘Louis Vuitton’s. Not only did we, the dudes, start to print on pink, but the ladies also got us to wear pink FITTEST T-shirts. But the dudettes also started to wear the macho yellow-print-on-dark-blue with just as much pride. Symbolic of the female side of the dudes and the male side of the dudettes joining together..Not only did Astrid help the guys pack their suitcases when they were late for a flight again, and would Anisa and Lorraine always succeed in putting together a surprise birthday cake, but soon they also joined us on missions. Cecelia in Kinshasa, Larisa and Nadia in Baghdad, Sophie in Banda Aceh and Beirut, Ekram in Khartoum and Damascus.
Cheers to you, the dudettes of the world ! This is an ode to you. Combining being a mother and a wife, with a professional career. Juggling your professional time between all three jobs: two at home, and one at work. My hat off to you. It is much easier being a man in this world, than a woman. It is always much easier to be a dude than a dudette.Continue reading The Road to the Horizon's Ebook, jump to the Reader's Digest of The Road. Read the full post...
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Peter. Flemish, European, aid worker, expeditioner, sailor, traveller, husband, father, friend, nutcase. Not necessarily in that order.
At the bottom, we find Niger, Pakistan, Bahrain, Malawi, Chad, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Note: We only considered paid employment, and excluded the agricultural sector.