If we truly want to liberate women, access to contraception is just the tip of the iceberg. We also need to feel comfortable talking about our bodies, our sexuality and sensuality, menstruation, post-partum depression, parental burnout and menopause. Because if we feel ashamed or embarrassed about these topics, we’re still being repressed. That’s just one […]
This is one of my most favorite articles that I’ve ever written. I interviewed four amazing activists – Joan Kembabazi (Gufasha Girls Foundation, Uganda), Joan Castro (the Path Foundation Phillippines Inc, the Philipines), Carina Hirsch (Margaret Pyke Trust, UK) and Carissa Patrone Maikuri (climate and community development expert, USA) – and talked to them about
Coming from a family of seven children, Chidera Benoit knows better than anyone how challenging it is to grow up in a big family in Nigeria and achieve a good living standard. Convinced that Nigerian women and men should be free to decide their family size, this young and motivated teacher and Executive Director of
Meet the Nigerian Teacher Who Advocates for Family Planning Read More »
To have a large family, and at least one son, are such strong cultural and religious norms in Nigeria that when women don’t meet them they’re often considered failures. Not only is this unfair to women, it’s also becoming nearly impossible to provide for a big family in Nigeria, where poverty is rampant and the
Meet the Nigerian Teacher Who Advocates for Smaller Families Read More »
Being a girl in any patriarchal society is tough. But living in a place where girls are married off as teenagers, are expected to have 7+ kids, and are regularly beaten and expected to keep mum about it? That’s damn hard. In the northwestern region of Pakistan, this is women’s daily bread. The worst thing?
Reshaping Gender Norms in Pakistan Read More »
Imagine that you were a 14-year old girl, and instead of chatting with friends or monitoring Instagram, you’d be married off to an elderly man and expected to run a household. Imagine that you gave birth to your first child, a cute baby girl, and instead of receiving cheerful reactions, people would start crying and
The Catalyst for Change in Pakistan: Women’s Empowerment Read More »
Read my article on Sierra, which features the work of environmental leaders Stuart Pimm, Richard Heinberg and Florence Blondel, and get inspired by their tips on staying optimistic in the midst of the climate and extinction crises.
How Leading US Conservationists Manage to Hold On to Hope (Sierra magazine) Read More »
800,000 native trees. This is how many seeds of hope conservationists from Brazilian nonprofit REGUA have planted on degraded lands in the Atlantic Forest over the last two decades – one of the biologically richest forests in the world. And that’s not all! The dedicated team managed to buy land that once used to be a
800,000 Seeds of Hope Planted in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest Read More »
When Micaela Locke looks back at the history of Reserva Ecologica de Guapiacu (REGUA), she does it with a proud smile on her face. Thanks to the smart decision of her grandfather and an English donor, this former farm escaped the fate of many other abandoned rural places – namely, transformation into factories or a
How Brazilian Conservationists Turned an Old Farm Into a Huge Buzzing Nature Reserve Read More »
There’s been a lot of talk about reproductive rights lately – and for good reason. Hard-fought freedoms are under fire around the world, from the U.S. to Poland, Niger, and Pakistan. If that fires you up, read this conversation with Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins about how you can join the fight. Nabeeha, you’re the president and
Why empowering every single woman in the world matters to all of us Read More »