Women Empowered

Wouli, 7 Although Wouli has to spend four hours a day fetching water and firewood, she still does her homework religiously. Working with her best friend, Antinyo, she spends two hours after school practicing her language and math assignments on a chalkboard her father attached to the side of their house

An exhibition depicting inspirational images and stories of ordinary women, working tirelessly to transform their communities, was hosted at the HSRC in Pretoria in August. 

The works exhibited were created by award-winning photographer Phil Borges in partnership with CARE, a humanitarian organisation fighting global poverty. Borges first visited CARE projects in Ethiopia in November 2004 and over the next eight months, he photographed and interviewed women in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ecuador, Guatemala, Togo and Ghana. 

The inspiration for Women Empowered came from a 91-yearold woman named Transito, who lived in the Ecuadorian Andes. Through her lifelong struggle to bring respect and human rights to indigenous people she was known as the Rosa Parks of Ecuador. 

Through his photography we also come to know how women, such as Fahima in Afghanistan, Abay in Ethiopia, Hasina in Bangladesh, and Violeta in Ecuador, work to improve and enrich their own lives and those of the people around them. 

Borges' portraits have been the subject of over 80 museum and solo gallery exhibits and are included in numerous museum and private collections worldwide. Working cleverly with light techniques, Borges' photos are in muted tones, produced through a bleaching technique and a wash and drying process. The resulting images are powerful and lyrical. 

Isabel Allende, the Chilean author, describes Borges' photos as ‘deeply inspirational' as they bring us face to face with heroes who are ‘remote and mostly unknown women on the edge of a slow but steady transformation.' 

Launched on International Women's Day, with an exhibition of thirty 150 x 83 cm prints, the South African and African launch of this remarkable collection was co-ordinated by Professor Vasu Reddy, chief research specialist in the Gender and Development Unit and was hosted in conjunction with the United Nations Information Centre, CARE and the Pretoria Art Museum.  

	Nafisa was thrilled when she learned she was chosen to attend Salman-e-Fars, a new school recently opened for young girls in Kabul. Girls now make up thirty-four percent of the student population in Afghanistan - a dramatic increase since the Taliban rule, when it was essentially zero
	Howa, 8 Howa's mother was one of the first women in Awash Fontale, Ethiopia, to be convinced that female circumcision was a ‘bad practice'. Thanks to Abay's efforts, Howa will be the first girl in her entire family history not to be circumcised.
	Asgeli, 52, Ethiopia As a leader of the circumcision ceremony, Asgeli had performed hundreds of female circumcisions. Now, like others in the village, she is supportive of the change in custom that Abay has advocated. She said, ‘We did the circumcisions because that is what had always been done. We were in the dark house and did not know.'
	Awash Fontale, Ethiopia Abay was born into a culture in which girls are circumcised before age 12.When it came time for her circumcision ceremony, Abay said, ‘No.' Her mother insisted: An uncircumcised woman would be ostracized and could never marry, Abay was told. When her mother's demands became unbearable, she ran away to live with a sympathetic godfather. Eight years later, Abay returned to her village and began work as a station agent for CARE, supervising the opening of a primary school and a health clinic and the construction of a well. After five years, she finally convinced one of the women to let her film a circumcision ceremony. She showed the film to the male leaders. They had never seen a female circumcision and were horrified. Two weeks later, the male leaders called a special meeting and voted fifteen to two to end female circumcision in their village
	Transito, 91 Cayambe, Ecuador Transito, a legendary human rights figure, is often referred to as the ‘Rosa Parks of Ecuador.' After the Spanish conquest, many indigenous people were stripped of their rights and forced to serve as indentured servants in the hacienda system. In 1926, at the age of 17, Transito spoke out against a hacienda owner who had been molesting her. She was sent to jail for five months for protesting her abuse. Upon her release, she became a legend for speaking out about the plight of indigenous Ecuadorians. Later, she was instrumental in organising a strike by indigenous farmers, which catalysed a newfound respect for indigenous peoples in Ecuadorian politics and in society at large