On Saturday, December 29, 2012, Women on Wings co-founder Maria van der Heijden discussed the position of Indian women in a national radio show on Radio 1 and in the current affairs TV show Nieuwsuur on Nederland 2. The motivation behind these interviews was the death of a female student following a brutal gang rape on December 16 in New Delhi. The media nicknamed the student ‘Amanat’ or ‘treasure’ in English.
Maria: “It’s good that it generated so much media attention in both India and the rest of the world. The Indian government has taken immediate measures to help improve the position of women in India. They promised to develop a plan to prevent violence against women and to process crimes more quickly and more effectively. Women on Wings works from the bottom up to strengthen the position of women in the long term. We do this by creating jobs for women in rural India. A woman with an income has a better chance of economic independence.”
Click here to watch the Nieuwsuur broadcast (in Dutch).
Click here to listen to the TROS Nieuwsshow on Radio 1 (the interview is in Dutch and runs from the 20 to the 32 minute mark).
In a recent interview for the national newspaper ‘De Volkskrant’, Ellen Tacoma and Maria van der Heijden discussed how Women on Wings contribute to the economic independence of women in India. “Working from home means these women are guaranteed an income, no longer have to depend on their partners, and can send their (well-fed) children to school.” Click here to read the full article (in Dutch).
