international women's day Archives

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Celebrating International Women’s Day

March 7, 2020

I produced this dance-inducing video for the marking of International Women’s Day by ChildFund at an advocacy event in Washington, DC, promoting the Girls LEAD Act – a bill that recognizes and promotes girls’ civic and political leadership as a priority for U.S. foreign assistance efforts. Following a “call for entries” to ChildFund’s 23 offices around the world, I chose the most thought-provoking soundbites to incorporate with some existing high-intensity dance footage. Herein, also, are some shots celebrating women and girls from recent assignments in Morocco, India, Nepal and Uganda.

No Longer Silent

April 1, 2011

You would think as much as I’ve photographed the lives of women that they were getting preferential treatment here in Africa. Sadly in most cases it is the opposite. Though women are increasingly gaining more roles in government, Liberia’s current president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, remains the first and only elected female head of state on the continent. Although countries like Uganda and Rwanda do have significant female representation in parliament (in both it’s mandated by law), this inclusion hardly ever trickles down to the village level. Last year there was quite an uproar in Sierra Leone when a woman made a bid to become chief. Places where women are marginalized are often places where crimes against them go ignored and unpunished. As part of my most recent assignment with AcionAid, I visited the Women Won’t Wait Centre in Mubende, western Uganda. The center is one of four such locations in[…]

Do they know it’s Women’s Day?

March 4, 2011

I haven’t been in the States during International Women’s Day in quite a while. Unless things have drastically changed, I can’t remember it being a big deal there. In Africa things are different. Currently I’m in Western Uganda gearing up to photograph a Women’s Day march and rally as part of a larger assignment for ActionAid. This coming Tuesday marks the 100th annual celebration of the event. Before I get to that however, detailing my previous assignment with the Uganda Women’s Health Initiative couldn’t be more appropriate for the occasion. One of UWHI’s main programs is to deal with the diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer, which is the leading cause of death for women in Uganda outside the child bearing age bracket. A joint study by the Uganda Ministry of Health and PATH found that 67% of bed occupancy in the gynecological ward of Mulago Hospital, Uganda’s largest, is[…]