Why Women, Why Girls? Why Not!

By Denise Attwood, Huxley Class of 1984

Denise Attwood with Ganesh Himal in the background. Photo provided by Denise Attwood.

Every worldview begins with a story, and mine is no different. It is the product of a lifetime of accumulated lessons, but sometimes certain junctures stand out. The biggest turning point for me was in 1984 when my husband Ric, and I, both fresh from graduating with degrees in Environmental Science from Huxley College, decided to spend 8 months circumnavigating the globe. Little did we know that this trip, however, would change the course of our lives by sparking a life-long adventure in partnering with women and girls in Nepal to co-create a world where women have access to controlling their own money, making their own decisions and voices respected.

Ric Conner in Baseri, Nepal. Photo provided by Denise Attwood.

In 1984, with no business experience but a strong desire to economically empower women in Nepal, while also educating fellow Westerners about the impacts of our consumption, we launched Ganesh Himal Trading (GHT), a Fair Trade import business. No business professor we talked to believed we could run a business based on trust and relationship across two different cultures with vast economic disparities and no experience.

But the women and men we wanted to engage with in Nepal thought differently, and together we replied, who says we can’t do it this way? At the same time we asked, what would the future look like if women could control the money they earned, have the tools and respect to envision and create their future, and have a voice at the table?

Fast forward to 2020 and we are still here, working with many of the same women, watching them use the money they now control, having educated their daughters and their communities and become formidable players in shaping their futures. There is still a long way to go, but they are changing their world, and ultimately ours.

As we saw women become economically empowered, we realized many other non-economic barriers, such as education and cultural taboos, still stood in the way of them thriving. To address those issues we talked with women in Nepal and realized we needed to do more. In 2014, a team of us created the non-profit, Conscious Connections Foundation (CCF). The goal of CCF is to support women and girls in Nepal, through education, skills development and healthcare so they can become key participants in creating a healthy, inclusive society where women and girls thrive.

Laxmi Maharjan receiving award for her leadership of women weavers in Kirtipur, Nepal from Association of Craft Producers Executive Director Meera Bhatterai. Photo provided by Denise Attwood.

Why focus on women and girls?

We focus on women and girls through our business and through the Conscious Connections Foundation because in our 35 years of experience in Nepal, we have watched the excitement in women’s eyes as they understand their worth and intelligence. We have seen the sheer exuberance in girls as the doors to education and learning are opened for them and watched as they go on to change the trajectory of their families and their communities. We have seen the impact that education and steady work has on giving women options and choice on marriage, family size, the health of their children, and their finances.

We also focus on women and girls because we understand that women have so much wisdom to share and that this wisdom is vitally needed now. People, animals, and ecosystems are displaced and destroyed thanks to our unsustainable systems. Our very existence on this planet is imperiled. Everyone’s insight and perspective is needed now to create new systems that will allow us to partner with, rather than dominate, nature and each other.

What would the future look like if women could control the money they earned, have the tools and respect to envision and create their future, and have a voice at the table?

As Katherine Wilkensen states in her 2018 TED talk , “Women are vital voices and agents for change on this planet, and yet we’re too often missing or barred from the proverbial table.”

Ganesh Himal Trading and CCF believe we must vigorously act to provide women and girls access to the tools they need to participate to their fullest potential so that all of us can engage in and create the next systems we, and the planet, all need to thrive.

Heema Maharjan, first recipient of CCF’s Girls College Scholarship and her mother celebrate the changes to her life due to having access to education. Photo provided by Denise Attwood.

How does that happen?

Take the example of our Ganesh Himal and CCF partner, Kesang Yudron. We’ve known Kesang since she was born. Her parents, Namgyal and Pemala (both Tibetan refugees), started working with and providing products to Ganesh Himal Trading in 1985. Namgyal and Pemala had three daughters, and as refugees, understood the value of education. With stable earnings from their fair-trade work, they invested in the education of their daughters, and all completed their undergraduate degrees.

Kesang, her mother Pemala and sister Chimme. Photo provided by Denise Attwood.

Their daughters also watched and learned as their mom and dad reached out to others, mainly less fortunate women, and provided them with steady work, training, and opportunity. In 2009, after finishing her degree in the U.S., Kesang returned to Nepal and, inspired by her parents, started her own fair-trade business providing meaningful employment to over 50 women throughout Nepal. Ganesh Himal Trading has partnered with Kesang’s business since its inception and together we have helped producers gain economic stability and independence through consistent orders, fair wages, scholarships for educating their children and access to very low interest micro-loans through a co-funded worker development fund.

Kesang’s interests, however, like GHT and CCF, didn’t stop with just economic empowerment. She has a keen interest in helping to remove other unseen barriers for girls and women in Nepal and has been an instrumental partner in the growth and development of CCF’s Menstrual Hygiene training program.

In this program, CCF uses Nepali health workers to educate women and communities about menstruation and women’s health. CCF also provides girls and women with reusable menstrual pads so that girls and women can lead normal and healthy lives with quality, non-polluting menstrual aids. Kesang has organized leadership workshops for CCF in Menstrual Hygiene Management, and with CCF support has set up a tailoring workshop employing low-income women to sew reusable menstrual pad kits. Currently, she and CCF, are developing a menstrual hygiene educational manual geared toward educating women, girls and communities in remote areas where women have little or no education.

Pema Tamang educates women in Sertung on menstrual hygiene and women’s health. Photo provided by Denise Attwood.

This one young woman has taken advantage of her opportunities to change the world and our perceptions of how things can and should be done. She is providing grassroots avenues for women to thrive and engage.

Another great example is the story of Pema Tamang and her husband Yogendra. We met them in their remote village of Sertung as we were surveying the damage after the 2015 earthquake. When asked what they needed to rebuild, they said they needed work.

Together we looked at their skills, the difficulties of having to carry supplies into their village and what kind of products Ganesh Himal might be able to sell. We settled on using recycled silk saris — very light to carry for a two-day walk — and their wrapping skills to make trivets, bowls and vases. Thirteen women have been making products for Ganesh Himal Trading since 2016, and to date over $35,000 has returned directly to the village.

Recently, when evaluating this partnership, Yogendra said, “When Toni Maya and Niri Maya Tamang work with Ganesh Himal Trading, they get big opportunities to earn money and they are very happy with this work. They use this money for their children’s school fees, health check-ups and medicines. They are very happy. They say a big thanks to Ganesh Himal. They told me, please keep continuing to give us this work. Thank you.”

Nilam and Kesang discussing the production of CCF reusable cotton menstrual kits. Photo provided by Denise Attwood.

What Now?

Where we are now reflects good and important work, and all who have participated in laying this path deserve great gratitude and acknowledgement, but women still do not have equal voice we need to put laser focus on it. We need to dream even bigger because without women’s voices and insights, the survival of our species is endangered. Education is key, as is access to quality voluntary reproductive health care and family planning.

Katherine Wilkensen, one of the co-authors of Project Drawdown, wrote that “130 million 6–17 year old girls are still denied their basic right to education”.

That is a staggering number considering what access to education means. According to Wilkensen, access to educations means better health for women and their children, greater agency at home and in society and more capacity to deal with climate change.

“It can also mean lower emissions,” Wilkensen wrote. “More years of education, [means women will] typically choose to marry later and to have fewer children.”

Maya Tamang with her recycled sari basket creations. Photo provided by Denise Attwood.

Education means women have more voice and more options. Coupled with access to high-quality voluntary reproductive health care, women having access to these two services could actually result in one billion fewer people inhabiting the earth, saving the earth from 120 billion tons of emissions by mid-century.

“Gender equity [is] the top solution to restore a climate fit for life, more than on- and offshore wind power combined,” wrote Wilkensen. “It is estimated that just 0.2% of philanthropic giving goes specifically to women and the environment, $110 million globally. This dynamic is unjust and is setting us up for failure.”

What are we waiting for? The time is now.

It is time to come together even more urgently than before to raise our collective voices in support of shifting our systems to those that engage all of humanity. As a united community we can restore balance to the earth and create systems of inclusion and partnership that help benefit all. Women deserve it, men deserve it and the planet deserves it.

As Huxley graduates we understand that women’s empowerment has a major environmental impact. We see around us that the wheels are already in motion for change. Let’s get on the bus. We must shout out to the world that when women and girls thrive, everyone thrives, the planet thrives and the world is a better place. This is a call to action, a call to evolve and a call to challenge and change the systems that keep women and girls from thriving.

3 day Menstrual hygiene leadership training at the Association for Craft Producers Nepal. Photo by Kesang Yudron.

What Can We do?

To start we can fund programs like CCF’s “Girl child education campaign” and support the full funding of access to quality education for every girl. We can call for access and funding of quality voluntary reproductive health care and education for all women such as CCF’s Menstrual Education Program. We can support those who provide economic equality and advancement for all women, and most importantly we must seek out and loudly support those organizations, institutions, governments, and businesses that seek to create systems of equality & justice for all women.

Our voice is strongest when we act together. The collective is our source of power and courage and we call for you to join us as we dream of this new reality, of women as co-partners and healers on this planet.

About the Author

Denise Attwood co-founded Ganesh Himal Trading LLC with her husband, Ric Conner. They have spent 30+ years working to promote positive, mutually beneficial partnerships through Fair Trade. Their business model is based on the fair trade principles of partnership, co-creativity, fair wages, open communication, long-term relationships, democratic decision-making, friendship and respect. Since 1984, they have actively implemented and advocated for the practices of fair trade and supply fairly traded products from Nepal to over 400 socially conscious and fair trade businesses throughout the US and Canada. They are longstanding members of the Fair Trade Federation and Green America.