Happy International Women’s Day

Today, on International Women’s Day we hear from two of our female Project Leaders. Yolkey, who is running a project with approximately 40 young girls in the west of Nepal; and Deysi, who last year ran a project in a very remote region of Peru for approximately 30 boys and girls. In their own words, their answers to the questions below serve to remind us of the daily challenges both they and their girls are facing and we hope that their Huracan Projects really can help to play a lasting role in changing attitudes and mindsets in their communities.

Yolkey, Tulsipur, Nepal

What challenges with regards to women's rights do your pupils face most?

Some of the challenges women face in Nepal are access to higher education, access to equal opportunities, age barriers and pressure to get married, gender-based violence, gender discrimination, being blamed for having ambition and longer hours of work both paid and unpaid. Even very young girls have to work as well as study.

The situation for the young girls in my region is no different to the rest of the country. All young girls have to experience the same inequalities; they face gender discrimination and are given less than what they should receive by right. These girls are considered to be worth less, their families do not believe they can do better in society with a better education, they are asked to engage in household chores rather than school, they face gender-based violence, they are bullied every day and often have to face child marriage as they are considered a burden to their family and society.

What importance do you give to women and young girls' empowerment? How can your Huracan project help you implement this?

I strongly believe that Nepal can only march towards better change and development when the female population gets an equal share of rights, education, opportunities and beyond.

Huracan FC Nepal is empowering girls through Football. It not just providing girls with the opportunity to play the sport but also enhancing their access to education, and women empowerment sessions are preparing these girls to understand the life choices they can have, the freedom and independence they deserve and eventually preventing early child marriage, gender-based abuse and violence and much more.

Since you started the project, have you already noticed a change of mindset about gender equality?

It is early days but to some extent, yes, I have.

Huracan FC Nepal is the first female football club in any school in Tulsipur, Dang. When my girls are kicking the football, they are projecting their strength, determination, and ability. For now, the change is starting within my girls. This project is already sowing the seed of confidence, power and dreams in these girls, which will only get stronger with time. I hope that in time the predetermined notion about girls being worth less can be erased from people around them too.

What is your message to your pupils on this International Women's Day?

You are enough, you are more than enough. Don’t let society tell you otherwise.

Do not hesitate to challenge the predetermined notions about women and girls in this society, do not let them hold you back when it comes to breaking the stereotype. Keep challenging for the change.

Deysi, Piura, Peru

What challenges with regards to women's rights did your pupils face most?

One of the main challenges we had to face was machismo. The boys, who had often adopted attitudes from home, did not respect their female companions, and did not want to participate in activities that for them they considered were only female tasks, such as cleaning the classroom.

Through football we were able to apply rules of the game that were later transferred to the classroom and that allowed all of us to participate and respect each other without gender discrimination.

In addition, many girls did not go to school, because they had to stay at home to help with chores in the household. Because of this we also worked on empowering mothers and helped them to become our allies in ensuring their daughters’ education and making sure they could continue studying.

What importance do you give to women and young girls' empowerment? How did you use your Huracan project to help implement this?

The importance of empowerment was fundamental and football was able to transmit the message of equality.

The Huracan project made the girls understand the power they had and helped them defend their rights. It also gave them the opportunity to carry this message to their families and thus teach them that they could do many things that they had previously been denied, and they will continue to do this I hope.

Over the course of the project, did you notice a change of mindset about gender equality?

A change of mentality was achieved not only in the children, but it generated an impact throughout the community, everyone learned about the power of girls and boys, and that together they were able to achieve incredible things.

The children defended and promoted the defence of the rights of their female companions, they became a single cause.

What is your message to your pupils on this International Women's Day?

The message for my students would be to continue fighting for a more just, more equitable and prosperous society for all.

Please take a couple of minutes to hear Bianca’s story and the impact Deysi’s project had on helping her fight to continue studying