MEET OUR Rotary District 5890 Committee CO-CHAIRS

Sonya Heath (left) and Karen Blakeman (Right)
Girls & Women Empowerment Subcommittee Co-Chairs
The Girls & Women Empowerment Committee, a subcommittee of the Peace Committee, focuses on supporting girls and women as crucial step towards creating a more peaceful and stable society. When girls and women have equal access to education, healthcare, economic opportunities, and political participation, they can become leaders in their communities and work towards resolving conflicts peacefully.
 
Visit Our Peace Committee & Other Peace Subcommittee Webpages
Peace Committee - Click here
Subcommittee webpages:
Anti Human Trafficking Committee - Click here
Positive Mental Health Committee - Coming Soon!
Refugee Task Force Committee - Coming Soon!
Webinar:  Rotary in Great Britain & Ireland "Empowering Girls - Taking Action Together"
Nicki Scott, 2022-2023 Vice President of Rotary International, introduces this 3-hour "Empowering Girls Taking Action Together" seminar which launched this initiative in Rotary Great Britain and Ireland.  While it is 3-hours in length, you can watch the entire webinar or you can click on the time below and watch sections! This webinar was a call-to-action for everybody in the family of Rotary, and in our communities.  The inspirational speakers give us lots of ideas for taking action personally, in our clubs and in our networks and communities.  By collaborating together internally and externally we have a larger, positive impact.
 
Host, Steve Brown, along with fascinating speakers cover a range of important topics.  For ease of pausing for a break or to resume watching another day, just remember the time where you stopped watching, and when you return you can click on the time (example, 11:35 Why it matters everywhere - Elizabeth Usovicz)  for the topic and speaker for all the different sessions. 
 
Hint:  You can click on the time shown below and it will take you to that section of the video so you can watch each individual clip!
00:00 Empowering Girls in Rotary Great Britain and Ireland (GB & I)
01:32 Setting the scene - Nicki Scott
04:27 Why I care - Steve Brown
09:41 Global and local call to action - Nicki Scott
11:35 Why it matters everywhere - Elizabeth Usovicz
21:57 Minority group - Steve Brown
23:33 I want to dance - Anne Wafula Strike MBE
32:00 Inclusivity in sport – Steve Brown
33:42 Opening closed doors - Abbie Breakwell
40:55 Panel Q&As - Anne Abbie and Steve
46:50 Young people’s voices - Interact & Rotakids
57:00 Personal Care Pantry - Cathleen Meehan
1:01:58 Menstrual health – Steve Brown
1:03:15 Break the silence – Sharmila Nagarajan
1:07:42 STEM - Steve Brown
1:09:50 Diversity in STEM – Vanessa Madu
1:14:25 Helping to make world fairer – Steve Brown
1:15:42 Follow their dreams in STEM – Shwetal Shah
1:19:08 Balancing Tech Women at the Forefront of Gender Revolution STEM
1:21:12 Gender imbalance STEM – Shwetal Shah
1:24:30 Girls Into Coding STEM
1:29:02 Rotary Technology Tournaments STEM – Steve Brown
1:29:50 Polio eradication and gender equality – Steve Brown
1:30:25 Gender and Polio Eradication - WHO
1:33:56 Gender equality benefits everyone and benefits everyone – Steve Brown
1:35:09 Don’t forget Afghan women and girls – Hasina Safi
1:48:40 Advocacy together – Steve Brown
1:49:40 Speak up speak out – Lanai Collis Phillips
1:57:35 Violence against girls and women – Steve Brown
1:58:12 BE LADS – Poppy Murray
2:07:45 Rotaract – Steve Brown
2:08:24 Flipping the coin – Heidi Eggleton, Rotaract
2:13:35 Men should help on the journey for a more equal future – James Thomas, Rotaract
2:18:01 Is this relevant to me – Steve Brown
2:19:30 For children ad equality for girls – Plan International UK
2:27:48 Scratch beneath the surface – Jannine Birtwistle
2:36:33 Lend with care – Dr Ajaz Ahmed Khan
2:41:44 What action will you take – Jannine Birtwistle
2:54:05 Panel Q&A
3:10:51 Thanks and closing – Steve Brown
3:12:04 Empowering Girls in Rotary GB&I

Download Rotary's "Empowering Girls" Brochure

 

Rotary's Youth Protection Guide

Click here to download the Rotary Youth Protection Guide which is a comprehensive manual to providing a safe and secure environment for all young people involved in Rotary programs and activities. All club and district leaders involved in Interact, RYLA, Rotary Youth Exchange or ANY involvement with youth should review this guide.

guide to EMPOWERING GIRLS: BACKGROUND, TALKING POINTS & PROJECT IDEAS 

Empowering girls means supporting them to ensure that their basic needs are met while working to transform the structures and institutions that reinforce and perpetuate gender discrimination and inequality. It includes helping girls develop self-confidence and make their voices heard.
 
 
HEALTH AND HYGIENE
•The number of girls ages 10-19 who are living with HIV has increased 31% since 1995. It's now 970,000.
•Globally, 500 million women and girls lack adequate facilities to properly manage their menstrual hygiene.
•Research finds that girls’ inability to manage their menstrual hygiene in schools leads to absenteeism, which then has severe economic costs, both personally and societally.
CHILD MARRIAGE
•1 in 5 girls around the world marries before age 18.
•Without stronger efforts to end child marriage, more than 120 million girls under age 18 will marry by 2030.
•Putting an end to child marriage would increase women’s educational attainment and, with it, their potential earnings. It’s estimated that ending child marriage could generate more than $500 billion in benefits annually.
........
Sources below are from:  "Unchained At Last" unchainedatlast.org 
Globally, an estimated 22 million people were in a forced marriage as of 2021. More than 650 million women alive today were married as children.

forced marriage. Arranged marriage. Child marriage.  Yes, all of these are happening in the United States!

 
FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION 
•Female genital mutilation has been performed on at least 200 million girls and women in 31 countries across three continents.
•More than half of the affected girls live in Egypt, Ethiopia, or Indonesia.
•Each year, more than 4 million girls are at risk of genital mutilation. Most girls undergo it before age 15.

Source: unicef.org/protection/female-genital-mutilation

 

ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY
•Complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the world’s leading cause of death for girls ages 15-19.
•Approximately 12 million adolescents ages 15-19 and at least 777,000 who are under 15 give birth in developing regions each year.
•Babies of adolescent mothers face higher risks of preterm delivery, low birth weight, and severe neonatal conditions.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
•The United Nations says 60 million girls worldwide have no access to basic education.
•Of the 960 million people who are illiterate worldwide, two-thirds are women.
•In many regions, schools do not meet the safety, hygiene, or sanitation needs of girls.
•Globally, 1 in 4 girls ages 15-19 are neither employed nor in school, compared with 1 in 10 boys.
VIOLENCE AGAINST GIRLS
•Of all human trafficking victims, 51% are women and 20% are girls.
•1 in 20 girls ages 15-19, about 13 million globally, have been subjected to forced sex.
•Every year, an estimated 60 million girls are sexually assaulted on their way to school or at school.
•Nearly 4 in 10 adolescent girls think wife-beating is justified in some circumstances.
 
ROTARY'S GIRL'S EMPOWERMENT:  Celebrate International Day of the Girl Child 2023
Join Past Rotary International Director Elizabeth Usovicz, chair of Rotary's Girls' Empowerment Global Task Force, and Girls' Empowerment Ambassadors as they showcase and discuss four amazing impact projects from around the world which have helped change the lives of numerous girls and women.
RESOURCES
Empowering Girls Ambassadors
Advocate for girls’ empowerment.
Act as a resource for clubs and districts.
Collect and distribute success stories.
Opportunities Articles & Webinars
Visit the RI president’s page to find ways to participate.
Learn more about Rotary’s comprehensive approach to youth protection.
Rotary Action Groups
Find contact information on the RI president’s page.
Connect with action groups that can help (see section below for links to Rotary Action Groups).
The Cadre of Technical Advisers
Find an adviser who can help with initiatives to empower girls by writing to cadre@rotary.org.
Rotary
Find ideas for projects or ways to work with other clubs to empower girls.
Add your service activity or project to the Empowering Girls Campaign.
Partnerships
Work with Rotary partners on projects that empower girls.
• Read more about "Rotary's Partnerships" (Click Here)
Click here to view Rotary International's full list of Collaborating Partners

Read rotary's Blog, "Rotary Voices" about ways rotarians around the world are empowering girls through service.

 
Rotary Action Groups
Rotary Action Groups are independent, Rotary-affiliated groups made up of people from around the world who are experts in a particular field, such as economic development, peace, addiction prevention, the environment, or water.
 
Action groups offer their technical expertise and support to help clubs plan and implement projects to increase our impact, one of Rotary's strategic priorities. This support includes helping clubs find partners, funding, and other resources. Action groups can also help clubs and districts prepare grant applications, conduct community assessments, and develop plans to monitor and evaluate their projects.
 
Contact a Rotary Action Group to:
  • Get expert advice on planning and implementing service projects, including those funded by Rotary Foundation district and global grants
  • Connect with potential project partners, both within and outside of Rotary
  • Get help fundraising and obtaining resources for projects
Join a Rotary Action Group to share your expertise and make a difference in projects outside your club or district. To get involved, look at our  and contact the action group you're interested in.
• Basic Education & Literacy:  https://belrag.org/
• Community Economic Development:  https://ragced.org/
• Family Health & AIDS Prevention:  https://www.rfha.org/
• Health Education & Wellness:  https://www.hewrag.org/
• Menstrual Health & Hygiene:  https://www.ragmhh.org/
• Mental Health Initiatives:  https://ragonmentalhealth.org/
• Refugees, Forced Displacement & Migration - https://www.ragforrefugees.org/
• Reproductive, Maternal & Child Health - https://rotaryrmch.org/
• Slavery Prevention:  https://ragas.online/
• Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene:  https://www.wash-rag.org/
 
EMPOWERING GIRLS IS A THREAD THAT RUNS THROUGH ALL OF ROTARY'S SEVEN AREAS OF FOCUS! 
WE ALL HAVE A PART TO PLAY!