It’s a question that we keep coming back to. There is the old saying that behind every good man, there is a good woman, but this doesn’t even scratch the surface of the importance of women in a community. As Sheryl WuDunn and Nicholas Kristof so eloquently stated, “We are Half the Sky.” We are half the people in the whole world, yet, we are some of the most disadvantaged. There are countless women throughout history and today that have stood for the empowerment of women and started new conversations about what we are capable of: Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, Mother Teresa, Eleanor Roosevelt, Sheryl Sandberg, Hillary Clinton, and the list could go on. These women have beaten the odds and spurred on the possibilities for the future of women. All of these women have at least one thing in common. While they are all come from different backgrounds and have lived in different places, they have a shared belief in the voice of women. Some have shared that voice by sitting on a bus, another led a revolution, and still another loved those that had been discarded by society. And this all starts with girls believing in themselves and believing that their future can hold a great many possibilities.
Around the world, Covenant World Relief is partnered with organizations to equip women to provide for their families by owning their own business and working together. The goals of these organizations are not only to meet the most immediate needs of women and girls, but also to instill the truth of the value of women. That is why this is important. I want my kids to grow up in a world that is better and more equal than the one that I have grown up in. I long for change, for values of empowerment to be broadcasted to women around the world. We are a part of that story. A part of that journey, that walk, that possibility. That is something to be proud of and to share with those around you. You, as Covenant World Relief partners, are a part of that greater story, and I for one am proud to be a part of that story.
–Hannah Gaskins, CWR intern
