INTERNATIONAL aid organisation CARE Australia has called on Australians to take a step beyond the statistics, reports and speeches of International Women’s Day and use Sunday’s event to take practical steps to change the lives of women overseas.
CARE Australia CEO Dr Julia Newton-Howes said that on International Women’s Day, Australians were often presented with many bleak statistics or reports about gender inequality, yet often have few opportunities to make a genuine, tangible difference to actually tackling these inequalities.
“Each International Women’s Day, we see decision-makers and political leaders making grand, powerful statements on the need to address gender inequality.
“There’s no question that these moments are important, but they can often be without, tangible ways for Australians to help women living in poverty. Taking part in CARE’s Walk In Her Shoes Challenge is one of the best ways to do this.”
Walk In Her Shoes (www.walkinhershoes.org.au) challenges Australians to walk either 25, 50 or 100 kilometres over a week (16-22 March), replicating the distances that women and girls face each day, while raising money to provide water and food sources closer to communities.
Each day, millions of women in developing countries walk an average of six kilometres each day to collect water, food or firewood for their families, carrying between 15-20 litres of water. This burden is overwhelmingly borne by women and girls, preventing them from going to school or earning money to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.
“Walk In Her Shoes is about sharing the burden of that daily walk and creating practical solutions to ending it,” said Dr Newton-Howes.
Thousands of Australians have already committed to Walk In Her Shoes, including Today co-host Deborah Knight, Australian women’s cricket captain Meg Lanning, Australian Ballet Senior Artist Juliet Burnett and former Winter Olympian Steph Prem. Each will be walking in the shoes of women and girls between 16-22 March.
“Whatever your approach to Walking In Her Shoes, knowing that each step you take will make a genuine difference to the lives of a women overseas is a great motivator for every step,” said Today’s Deborah Knight.
“I hope many more Australians will join me and Walk In Her Shoes. It’s such a wonderful way to show you want to do something to address inequality.”
To get involved, visit www.walkinhershoes.org.au and register to receive a welcome pack with all the information needed to get started.
SSINTERNATIONAL aid organisation CARE Australia has called on Australians to take a step beyond the statistics, reports and speeches of International Women’s Day and use Sunday’s event to take practical steps to change the lives of women overseas.
Image Source: CARE Australia CEO Dr Julia Newton-Howes (Credit: Canberra Times).
Ryan Fritz
Ryan Fritz started The Advocate in 2014 to provide not-for-profits and charities another media platform to tell their worthwhile hard news stories and opinion pieces effortlessly. In 2020, Ryan formed a team of volunteer journalists to help spread even more high-quality stories from the third sector. He also has over 10 years experience as a media and communications professional for not-for-profits and charities and currently works at Redkite, a childhood cancer charity.
