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Women’s Empowerment in Pakistan: Meet Nabila
Nabila, a Pakistani woman, is making great strides as a professional now, but that wasn’t always the case. At 16-years-old, she was married. Within a year of marriage, she became a widow with a baby boy to care for. Her husband had fallen ill and was on his deathbed for 16 days. While she waited at his bedside, his family grew suspicious. They eventually put her and her young son out, believing that it was Nabila who caused her husband’s illness and ultimately death. She had nowhere to go but back to stay with her father. Although he worked hard as a driver, his salary still wasn’t enough to support…
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IRUSA-Supported Sewing Academy Grads Hone Their Skills One Stitch At A Time
A famous African proverb states: “If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a nation.” That quote also was used by Ieasha Prime, director of women’s programs at Dar-Al-Hijra, to describe the graduating class of the 8th semester of the mosque’s Sewing Academy. The latest class comprised of 12 women. In addition to certificates, each graduate received a Singer Start 1304 sewing machine, which virtually assures them access to a tool to building on their success. Islamic Relief USA helped launch the sewing course in 2014, when it awarded it a $10,000 grant. Within two weeks of the grant, Prime said…
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Faith Communities and Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Rights
Sharifa Abdul-Aziz is the Senior Gender Policy Advisor at Islamic Relief Worldwide. Sharifa attended the Women Deliver conference on behalf of Islamic Relief USA, who is part of the Faith Alliance for Health who organized the panel Sharifa spoke at. She wrote the following reflection Women Deliver is a leading global advocacy platform for women and girls rights, health and wellbeing. Thousands of influencers, policy makers, activists, journalists and young people from a number of countries come together to promote and highlight solutions and focus on how to make Sustainable Development Goals matter to women and girls. The event takes place every three years and has achieved putting maternal,…
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In A Wealthy World, It’s Wrong That So Many Women Live in Poverty
Christina Tobias-Nahi is Director of Public Affairs at Islamic Relief USA. Boston, MA – Oxfam America invited some of their regional “Sisters on the Planet Ambassadors” to participate in the 2015 International Women’s Day Right the Wrong workshop held in and around Harvard University’s Campus on March 6 and 7. This is one of many workshops in a series that was held around the United States. The training and advocacy event was focused on Protecting Resources and Rights in extractive industries in the developing world. More than 50 countries in the world are considered “resource-rich”, meaning they have significant oil, gas or mineral reserves. Yet in many of these countries, a large…
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Infographic: Domestic Violence Cycle
Do you think you’ve been a victim of domestic violence, or know someone who has? This IRUSA infographic shows some of the signs and stats related to domestic violence. For more information and resources, visit irusa.org/saynotodv
