For the time being, Ndir Seck remains optimistic that both Ladies’ Turn and it's girls will go from strength to strength.
In rural Nigeria, cooking can kill you. According to the World Health Organisation, preparing three meals a day on a traditional wood-burning stove is the equivalent of smoking 20 packs of cigarettes. Little wonder then that each year, some 98,000 women die from the resulting respiratory and cardiac problems.
The world faces many major challenges, from climate change to armed conflict, massive displacement of people, the rise of the far-right and violence within our societies. These require urgent attention and action but none of these pressing issues can be adequately addressed without first facing up to the issue of gender inequality. No society can develop—economically, politically or socially—when half of its population is marginalised.
When asked what her dreams are, 14-year-old Sunaina, who lives in a village in northern India, slipped into deep thought. After a few minutes, she said, “To get new clothes for Diwali,” referring to one of India’s biggest annual celebrations. “But what about a long-term dream,” she was prompted, “a wish you wake up to every day and want to achieve?” Another long silence, then Sunaina’s friends called her away. The question was never answered.
As the primary users of new agricultural techniques, as green energy entrepreneurs, or simply as those who decide on modes of consumption and behaviour within the family, women are key actors in bringing about change and developing solutions that secure our transition to a sustainable future.
In this former industrial suburb where residents’ access to healthcare is mostly limited to hospital visits, a new space that is unique in France has opened: one that houses not only gynecologists and psychologists, but also social workers and lawyers.
“Sometimes, when I’m operating, I say to myself, ‘but why do I do this?’”, Barbara Wildhaber laughs, as she often does during our meeting. The truth is that the paediatric surgeon doesn’t regret her choice. Each operation she carries out is highly pressurised, but there are benefits. “As soon as I’ve finished an operation, I know that it’s what I want to be doing. The combination of technique, the meticulous nature of operations—where everything is on a bonsaï scale—and then the relationships with parents and the children… It fascinates me.”
For the time being, Ndir Seck remains optimistic that both Ladies’ Turn and it's girls will go from strength to strength.
In rural Nigeria, cooking can kill you. According to the World Health Organisation, preparing three meals a day on a traditional wood-burning stove is the equivalent of smoking 20 packs of cigarettes. Little wonder then that each year, some 98,000 women die from the resulting respiratory and cardiac problems.
The world faces many major challenges, from climate change to armed conflict, massive displacement of people, the rise of the far-right and violence within our societies. These require urgent attention and action but none of these pressing issues can be adequately addressed without first facing up to the issue of gender inequality. No society can develop—economically, politically or socially—when half of its population is marginalised.
When asked what her dreams are, 14-year-old Sunaina, who lives in a village in northern India, slipped into deep thought. After a few minutes, she said, “To get new clothes for Diwali,” referring to one of India’s biggest annual celebrations. “But what about a long-term dream,” she was prompted, “a wish you wake up to every day and want to achieve?” Another long silence, then Sunaina’s friends called her away. The question was never answered.
As the primary users of new agricultural techniques, as green energy entrepreneurs, or simply as those who decide on modes of consumption and behaviour within the family, women are key actors in bringing about change and developing solutions that secure our transition to a sustainable future.
In this former industrial suburb where residents’ access to healthcare is mostly limited to hospital visits, a new space that is unique in France has opened: one that houses not only gynecologists and psychologists, but also social workers and lawyers.
“Sometimes, when I’m operating, I say to myself, ‘but why do I do this?’”, Barbara Wildhaber laughs, as she often does during our meeting. The truth is that the paediatric surgeon doesn’t regret her choice. Each operation she carries out is highly pressurised, but there are benefits. “As soon as I’ve finished an operation, I know that it’s what I want to be doing. The combination of technique, the meticulous nature of operations—where everything is on a bonsaï scale—and then the relationships with parents and the children… It fascinates me.”
Clutching her baby, breast cancer survivor Basanti Majumder speaks of a pain in her left breast and fears her cancer may have returned. She stares briefly at the floor and giggles nervously. “I’m not going to the doctor now for financial reasons,” she says.
Ruby Akthar can still remember the agony of her first labour. Nestled away in one of Bangladesh’s many urban slums—aged just 20—a frightened Akthar attempted to deliver her first baby at home without ...