Women form the backbone of rural communities: they fetch water, do the laundry, clean, prepare food and look after their children and cattle. For many women, it is a daily struggle for even a decent livelihood. Of the almost 1.3 billion people that live in India, 800 million live in rural areas. Most women lack an income, already for generations. A sustainable income is especially important for women. Every mother will spend her income on her family, and mostly so on educating her children. The next generation…
Income empowers
Shilpa Mittal Singh, joint MD at Women on Wings: “It’s proven that sustainable income for women contributes to breaking the cycle of poverty. When rural women control additional income, they spend more of it than men do on food, health, clothing and education for their children. That’s why we partner with social businesses that provide employment to rural women. By scaling these enterprises, we co-create extra jobs. Employment for rural women does not only have a positive impact on the household income but also on the influence women have on economic decisions. It changes their position in the family which is highly empowering.”
Every day is Women’s Day
“Not just on International Women’s Day but each and every day since 2007 we work on creating a better future for families in rural India by supporting companies that employ rural women. So for us every day is Women’s Day, simply because it’s our reason for being. Over the years, we have empowered 253,200 women in rural India economically. Women who invest their income in the next generation by providing their children education, and healthy & nutritious lives. We believe that education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty. So actually these women are creating a better future for the next generation, who thanks to their education will be able to make more choices while growing up whereas their mothers had hardly any choice. That’s a huge gift to their children”, adds Ronald van het Hof, joint MD at Women on Wings.
Sharing success stories
Over the years, Women on Wings met many women while on field visits in rural India. Hearing the women’s own stories about how their income had changed their and their family’s lives, keeps motivating and inspiring the Women on Wings family to continue working on realizing its mission of co-creating one million jobs for women in rural India.
