Written by: Danny Glenwright, Executive Director of Action Against Hunger Canada
Some days you really wonder: is it 2016 or 1916?
I recently walked into a busy retail store in downtown Toronto to find only women working behind the check-out counters and a sales team entirely made up of men. The separation was obvious and deliberate: a staffing model based on the outdated premise that a woman’s role is to ring up purchases and a man’s role is to make the sale.
Thanks to your support, Action Against Hunger has been tackling this type of gender division where we work. Like you, we know that the most meaningful way to build lasting solutions to global problems is to enlist women in the cause, making them equal partners in all areas.
Your commitment to our life-saving work is helping us walk the talk when it comes to this type of inclusion at all levels of our programming, something so many organizations (and businesses) have yet to do.
Research shows that bridging the gender divide increases economic development and the realization of basic human rights. Collaborating with women is also seen as the best way to reduce birth rates and child mortality; improve health, nutrition, and education; and curtail the spread of HIV and AIDS.
The challenge, as always, is convincing those who still believe that prescribed gender roles – like the example above – make sense. Thanks to your generosity, Action Against Hunger staff are carrying out this important work around the world.
This includes people like Coralie Fremion, the head of human resources at our offices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It’s a country that is, unfortunately, too often associated with gender-based violence, and even sometimes referred to as the “rape capital of the world.”
Yet Coralie shows her commitment to Action Against Hunger’s Gender Agenda by facilitating extensive country-specific gender training with all staff. This work guarantees that gender inclusivity remains embedded in the DNA of everyone on our Congolese team.
Coralie is one of hundreds of our staff championing gender who we are celebrating this year on International Women’s Day. Because of your generosity, they exist at all levels of Action Against Hunger, everywhere we work.
Thank you for believing in – and providing support for – these efforts.
Help us continue this important work.
Watch a video about our commitment to gender equality.