How this Canadian organization is advancing gender equality for women and girls in Africa
While we continue to fight for women’s rights and equality here in the west, amid a culture heavily influenced and shaped by misogyny, we also must remember to champion the same for women elsewhere in the world who may be experiencing a far different brand of sexism and gender-based violence.
Those living in sub-Saharan African nations such as Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, and Burkina Faso are facing hardships inextricable from the region’s colonial legacy, including limited access to resources, food insecurity and poverty, all of which, in combination with climate change and a number of other factors, have led to a very distinctly difficult life for women and girls in particular.
While these issues can feel far away, what they represent about the strife women face anywhere in the world is beyond palpable, and as such, there are organizations here in Canada that are doing all they can to help women and girls in these countries — such as Crossroads International, which has headquarters in Montreal and Toronto.
Crossroads works directly with local partners in 11 countries to advance equality and improve the lives of women by fighting gender-based violence, providing better access to justice and rights, pushing for better political representation of women, offering spaces and resources to advance women’s economic empowerment, and more.
By giving to this non-profit, you are helping Crossroads build a movement of gender equality champions, not only in Africa but here in Canada as well. Some of the gender-based issues you can help fight right now by donating are:
Discrimination
In Tanzania, for example, women run a quarter of households, yet face discrimination, abuse, and violence from their partners and communities. Multiple rural communities across sub-Saharan Africa also continue to facilitate child marriages, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and polygamous unions against women’s wishes because of discriminatory attitudes and dated patriarchal norms.
Crossroads, in partnership with local organizations on the ground in these nations, continues to fight these issues by supporting education, policy, and women’s rights for impacted groups, in and out of their households.
Economic struggles and limited access to employment
Women in sub-Saharan Africa are far more likely to be denied access to education and job training opportunities than men, and are less likely to be represented in politics or have access to any sort of economic empowerment, in government or otherwise.
Crossroads helps to facilitate Girls’ Empowerment programs in Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Togo to help girls learn about their rights, find support, build confidence and change their future. These programs have proven to reduce the number of child marriages in West Africa by 33% thanks to the support of Canadian donors like you.
Crossroads also works with a ton of local groups across 11 countries to educate women and provide them with professional skills and ways to secure income, especially in rural areas.
Women and girls across the region generally face economic and job access struggles, which Crossroads tries to mitigate with education and opportunities through local partners wherever possible.
Gender-based violence
Women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa are victims of gender-based atrocities like forced and early marriages, sex trafficking, and more.
In countries like Eswatini, women live under discriminatory laws that do not protect them against sexual and other violence, while in Togo, the most impoverished girls are the ones most likely to drop out of school and then married off at a young age.
Crossroads works with partner organizations to offer support for adolescent girls through education on sexual and reproductive health and rights, counselling, and life skills training.
Through Crossroads, Canadians can donate funds to be distributed directly to organizations helping women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa. Just $250 can help rescue two girls for one year in Burkina Faso from FGM, early child marriage, teen pregnancy, school truancy and much more.
With the recent United Nations announcement that it will take 300 years to achieve gender equality, the urgency to act is greater now than ever.
“We need to prevent the erosion of progress on women’s rights,” says Crossroads. Please consider making a donation today here.
Canadians can also volunteer their time as a Crossroader to help the organization and its efforts directly, in person. Learn more here.
And, if you want to stay up to date with these important causes and impacts, follow Crossroads International’s Instagram.
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