Listening to women and girls’ voices is a radical act that ensures sustainable and transformative change in their health and wellbeing. Granted, women are best placed to express their priority needs for health and wellbeing and that of their families and communities. During the 2019 White Ribbon Alliance Kenya What Women Want (WWW) for Quality Healthcare campaign, over 127,000 women and girls expressed desire for respectful maternity care, water and sanitation, enhanced infrastructure, and economic empowerment as a prerequisite for reproductive and maternal health.
What Women Want (WWW) for Economic Empowerment Campaign
Women need money for transport to healthcare facilities, purchase menstrual and postpartum hygiene products, access family planning services of their choice, to eat a balanced diet– crucial RMNH functions. According to the UN Women, Women’s economic empowerment includes women’s ability to participate equally in existing markets; their access to and control over productive resources, access to decent work, control over their own time, lives and bodies; and increased voice, agency and meaningful participation in economic decision-making at all levels from the household to international institutions. Thus, women’s economic empowerment is seen as vital to women’s realization of their human rights, and gaining gender equality.
Women Economic Empowerment Report
