By: Pritania Savitri
International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated globally on March 8th to highlight the achievements made by girls and women in addressing gender inequality. The 2022 IWD theme is “Break the Bias!” which aims to challenge the prejudices, stereotypes and discrimination faced by women around the world.
This theme aligns with EBPP’s commitment to always promote gender equality and foster enabling environments for girls in EBPP schools to strive as equal with boys. Since 2018, we have been developing Girl Empowerment strategies to address gender bias, promote equal education and advocate for the prevention of child marriage and school dropouts. Our programs include:
1. Engaging boys with girl students to campaign on gender equality, sexual harassment and the negative impacts of child marriage to three government schools and communities in Ban Village where the boys, with their Volcano Band, proudly performed the song they wrote: “Stop Pelecehan” (“Stop Sexual Harassment”), and spread a powerful message about breaking the gender bias.
2. Engaging junior and senior girl students to have several trainings in 2020, including photography, writing workshop, and public speaking to develop their communication and leadership skills and address the health, economic and social crises resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic as well as to break the gender bias and demonstrate the valuable role girls can play in their families and communities.
3. Involving boys with girl to actively participate in the child marriage and customary law making-process to share their thoughts, opinions, and experiences during their presentations to local and district government, traditional community leaders, local police and legal aid organizations.
Empowering girls to take the lead in our programs has been a powerful strategy in breaking the gender bias which adversely impact girls’ rights. Through International Women’s Day, we are proud to show our commitment to always prioritize equality in education and celebrate the great strides we’ve made toward girls’ empowerment. Happy International Women’s Day to all women and girls! •
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