Holly Pickett /Oxfam
#RememberHerRights
#RememberHerRights
We live in a rich world.
Yet more than a billion people live in poverty, and the gap between rich and poor is widening. Charity as we’ve known it is not enough. #RememberHerRights 2
Oxfam Canada
Gender is a main predictor for who will be poor, and who will have power. Oxfam can see a better way. We’re a global movement for change – a network that empowers individuals, communities and organizations to build a future free from the injustice of poverty where the rights of women and girls are promoted and respected.
#RememberHerRights 3
Oxfam Canada
See more success stories at oxfam.ca/success-stories
#RememberHerRights
Aubrey Wade/Oxfam
Nepal Tika participates in a meeting of her local Community Discussion Class. The groups, formed through Oxfam’s Raise Her Voice Program, are an opportunity for women to share and discuss issues affecting them, learn about their rights and legal protection afforded under Nepali law, and to find solidarity and support amongst each other.
Support for women’s rights Around the world we’ve seen significant changes in the lives of women and girls: increased access to education and healthcare, the right to vote, the right to own land, the right to a voice. But let’s be clear - women around the world have not felt these triumphs equally. Advocates continue to fight to ensure that all women, everywhere, have access to their rights. Oxfam Canada works with civil society organizations around the world that work to advance women’s rights and to bring an end to the injustice of poverty. Our partners tackle a wide range of issues such as violence against women, food security, healthcare and education to name just a few. One thing is consistent across all of our work with partners around the world – we support women leading change in their communities. From kitchen tables to board room tables, women’s voice is at the centre of Oxfam work.
#RememberHerRights 5
Oxfam Canada
Tanzania Fourteen year-old Lenoi had to run away from home in order to attend school. With the help of Oxfam partner, the Pastoral Women’s Council, Lenoi has been attending Emanyata Secondary school since 2012. See Lenoi’s story at oxfam.ca/success-stories
#RememberHerRights Oxfam Canada
#RememberHerRights A campaign to celebrate triumphs, big and small Women play a massive role in developing countries: they produce most of the food, make up a third of the official labour force and care for families and homes. Through decades of development work, we recognize that investing in women means investing in entire communities. We also know that women are leading change in their communities. #RememberHerRights is Oxfam Canada’s campaign to celebrate the impact of women’s rights advocates from around the world. While gender continues to be a primary determinant of poverty, significant shifts have been made around the world to advance women’s rights and increase gender equality. We want to recognize positive change and those who have been a part of creating it. Join the global celebration to #RememberHerRights #RememberHerRights 7
Oxfam Canada
Africa Rising/Shutterstock
#RememberHerRights
? Create a buzz online Join the global celebration to #RememberHerRights The #RememberHerRights campaign is a digital movement to remember, celebrate and share the successes of women’s rights advocates from around the world. Here is how to take part in four simple steps:
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Think triumph4 in women’s 2 of a 3 5 rights 6 you want to celebrate and remember – it can be big or small. Try completing the sentence “One step for women’s rights was…” to help you think of something.
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Get3a small4piece of 5string6and tie it around your finger. Putting a piece of string on your finger is a strategy to help you remember something. Every time you look at it, you remember why you’ve tied it on.
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4 a photo 5 of yourself 6 with the string on your finger. Take
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Share the triumph you want to celebrate on Twitter and Facebook 5 6 using the hashtag #RememberHerRights and the photo of yourself.
Search #RememberHerRights online to see how other people are celebrating.
#RememberHerRights 9
Oxfam Canada
Oxfam Canada/Humberto Mayol
Cuba Maria is a local radio host at Radio Chaparas in Jesus Menendez. After a groundbreaking event on gender-based violence by Oxfam partner ANAP and the local university, the community radio station now regularly broadcasts programming aimed at discouraging violent attitudes against women. See more success stories at oxfam.ca/success-stories
#RememberHerRights
Inform your community Build a movement in support of women’s rights Promote #RememberHerRights in your community by taking the movement offline and out into the streets. Whether it is simple steps or more elaborate activities, every effort counts. Here are a few quick ideas to get you started:
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Keep your #RememberHerRights string on your finger for a number of days and always be prepared to answer when someone asks what it is about.
Carry spare strings with you. When a friend or colleagues asks what the string on your finger is for, challenge them to celebrate a women’s rights triumph by tying a string on their own finger.
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Use #RememberHerRights photos from Twitter and Facebook to make greeting cards. Leave them in a box at your workplace or school and help give others the opportunity to spread the word.
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Set up a quiz about women’s rights at your community centre or church. Have #RememberHerRights strings as gifts for participation. Go to oxfam.ca/get-involved/host-an-event to order additional materials to support your event. #RememberHerRights 11 Oxfam Canada
South Africa Before connecting with Oxfam Partner, Women on Farms
Project, Jacoba felt isolated and powerless. Now, at 48 years old, she calls herself a feminist. See Jacoba’s story at oxfam.ca/success-stories
Oxfam Canada/Emily Wilson
#RememberHerRights
Women leading change Oxfam works with partners around the world to promote women’s leadership and to build the capacity of civil society organizations to become increasingly gender just. Oxfam believes in promoting leadership as a transformative process for women. We focus on providing an enabling environment for women to actualize their own individual potential, to influence others to bring about fundamental change and to facilitate the empowerment of others. Promoting leadership must take place in the home and in the workplace, in informal and formal spaces, to affect change. The pages of this booklet feature stories from Oxfam’s partners around the world and the work they are doing to advance women’s rights. Create your own #RememberHerRights string for each of our partner stories, or read the stories in these pages to inspire other women’s rights triumphs to celebrate.
#RememberHerRights 13 Oxfam Canada
indonesia Muslimah learned how to manage land, plant, raise seedlings, and make compost at a field school provided by Oxfam Partner, the Mangrove Action Project. The rhythm of Muslimah’s life has changed from homemaking to busy community leadership. See Muslimah’s story at oxfam.ca/ success-stories
Oxfam Oxfam Canada Canada
#RememberHerRights
Our vision Oxfam’s vision is a just world without poverty. We envision a world in which people can influence decisions which affect their lives, enjoy their rights, and assume their responsibilities as full citizens of a world in which all human beings are valued and treated equally.
Our mission Oxfam Canada’s mission is to build lasting solutions to poverty and injustice with a focus on improving the lives and promoting the rights of women and girls. Working with Canadians, our partners and allies around the world, we mobilize people and resources to change policies, practices, attitudes and behaviours that create inequality and human suffering. Oxfam is committed to strengthening a global movement in support of human rights and gender justice on a healthy planet.
#RememberHerRights 15 Oxfam Canada
Front and back cover photos: Democratic Republic of the Congo. Rankin/Oxfam
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Oxfam Canada 39 McArthur Ave. Ottawa, Ontario, K1L 8L7 T: 613-236-5236 F: 613-237-0524 E: info@oxfam.ca W: www.oxfam.ca Undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through