“Ensuring women’s and girls’ rights across all aspects of life is the only way to secure prosperous and just economies and a healthy planet for future generations.”
– UN Women
In these poverty-stricken rural areas, women and girls are particularly vulnerable to oppression, sexual violence, and marginalization. It is difficult for them to access education safely or rise above the confines of their household duties. South Sudan, where we have begun a women’s empowerment program, has one of the lowest female literacy rates in the world, with only around 8% of women literate, and one of the highest rates of child marriage globally, where many young girls are forced into marriage as early as twelve-years-old.
“These barriers and statistics underscore the urgency for interventions to empower women and girls in every corner of the globe.” —Cindy Easton, Petros Network
Empowering Women to Overcome the Statistics
At Petros Network, we’re proud to be part of the solution. Through our women’s empowerment programs, like our Women’s Savings and Loan Groups (WSLG), we’re breaking barriers and fostering economic independence. Did you know that, on average, women reinvest 90% of their income into their families, compared to just 30-40% for men? By empowering women financially, we’re transforming individual lives and entire communities!
“We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.”
—Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Prize Winner
Empowering Women as a Catalyst for Community Transformation in Underserved Villages
Indeed, empowering women isn’t just a moral imperative—it’s a catalyst for progress and prosperity for all.
Additionally, our agricultural farming training programs are tackling food insecurity head-on. Many of these women had low-producing, unsuccessful gardens in the past. They didn’t know how to plant the right foods at the right time and use farming techniques for the climate conditions. Our agriculture training has helped these women launch successful, high-producing gardens, increasing their crop yields and providing food year-round regardless of the climate. Through these sustainable farming practices, we empower women to feed their families and build resilient communities.
The Power of Empowerment
We have seen time and time again how empowered women overcome the barriers and statistics placed on them by society. Beatrice is one such woman. Click below to hear her story.
As we celebrate International Women’s Day, let’s commit to the cause of equality and women’s empowerment and empower women and girls worldwide. Together, we can create a future where every woman and every girl has the opportunity to thrive.
Help Us Change HER World
Petros Network has taken strategic steps to reverse the trends facing most women in the villages where we have planted churches. Women are provided life skills, business training, and microgrants to create sustainable livelihoods that benefit the entire family.
Together, we can help change the world for women and girls living under the constraints of generational poverty and traditional practices that are unfair to women.
