Helping Women Thrive Worldwide
Written by Corinne Garcia Tuesday, April 19 2011
Snapshot: Ritu Sharma
As president and cofounder of Women Thrive Worldwide, Ritu Sharma splits her time between staying on top of foreign policies in Washington, D.C., and keeping a close eye on the injustices that women are facing worldwide. Founded in 1998, the organization acts as a watchdog of sorts, investing in women and girls, helping to get them out of poverty, and bridging them to U.S. policymakers as the focus of international assistance.
Womenetics: What are the most restrictive barriers you see many women faced with worldwide?
Ritu Sharma: We’ve all heard the statistics. Women are the vast majority of the world’s poor, seven in 10 of the world’s hungry, owners of just 1 percent of the world’s farmland, and dying at a rate of 500,000 each year from preventable complications during pregnancy. One third of women worldwide will be a victim of gender-based violence in her lifetime.
Our mission at Women Thrive Worldwide is to provide solutions that will help millions of women who face these challenges by advocating for changes in U.S. policy that will have the greatest impact on their daily lives.
Unfortunately, Congress is now making steep cuts to our international assistance – though it makes up less than 1 percent of the federal budget – threatening to take us backward in this fight. Poverty-focused international assistance programs are essential to the survival of millions of women, and eliminating them means abandoning those lives. I’ve tried living on $1 a day just like so many around the world, and, believe me, it isn’t easy, and we certainly should not make it any harder.
Womenetics: What are the main policies that currently need to be changed?
Sharma: The biggest challenge we are facing is the current system that governs the way we deliver our assistance around the world. It was developed in 1961, and the world was a lot different back then. This was before climate change and the HIV/AIDS epidemic, both of which transcend borders. Our world is a much smaller place than it was in 1961. A lot of our aid is designed in government buildings in Washington, D.C., rather than in the communities that we are trying to help around the world. There are many good people who work in government aid, but their hands are tied; they don't have the flexibility to go to these communities and ask people what they need. We are currently advocating with other organizations to modernize this whole system to make it work for the people we are trying to help.
This reform is especially critical for women. If U.S. assistance and trade policies do not address the unique barriers that women face, such as lack of access to land, credit, and positions of power, they will not reach the women who need them and will be only half as effective as they could be. This is what we do. By prioritizing women in programs the United States is already running – often by changing a few words in a piece of legislation – we try to spread opportunity to millions of women and families living in poverty and help end poverty for good.
Womenetics: How will these changes affect the lives of women and children in the long run?
Sharma: Research from the United Nations and the World Bank shows that women tend to spend any money they have on food, clothing, health care, and schooling for their children, which has immediate beneficial effects throughout their communities.
At Women Thrive, we believe that giving women greater economic opportunity will lift families, communities, and countries out of poverty. When women are healthy and free from violence they are better able to take care of their family and household, and they have a positive impact on their communities. As the saying goes, “When you teach a woman to fish, everyone eats.”
Womenetics: Can you explain how the ripple effect works with your organization?
Sharma: Every move made in Washington has ripple effects for the poor – the vast majority of whom are women – worldwide. Changing U.S. policy affects the lives of millions of women, which is very different than reaching them one at a time with services. We work with partners on the ground in countries like Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Honduras to make sure we’re advocating for policies that will most effectively impact their lives, and we also create a direct line of communication to policymakers here in Washington by bringing women here to speak out.
Investing in women has ripple effects, too. One of my favorite stories from our partnerships comes from Ghana, where our partner Development Action Association trained a Ghanaian farmer named Eva. After being given five pigs and some training on how to best care for them, Eva grew their number quickly to more than 400. With her new income she was able to buy more land and even a motorcycle, which she used not only to transport her goods to market, but also to transport everyone in the community to the hospital quicker in case of emergency. This is just one of the many examples of how investing in women can pay major dividends, not only through women's empowerment, but for poor communities and economic development in general.
Womenetics: What can other women do to help organizations like yours?
Sharma: The most important thing, especially in this current political climate, is to make sure your representatives in Congress know that you care about women and girls in poor countries. There are many ways to take action on our website, http://www.womenthrive.org, so women (and men!) should definitely take a minute to sign a petition or make a phone call to make sure Congress doesn’t slash life-saving programs. Constituent voices absolutely get noticed.
They can also sign up for our email lists to keep up-to-date, and Shop the Cause: Purchase products such as jewelry and handicrafts made by three trade partners who live up to our values. Women in poor countries make all products, and all sales directly benefit them. Ten percent of the purchases support Women Thrive’s advocacy work on behalf of these women.
Womenetics: How do women in other countries react to your work? Is it welcomed?
Sharma: The women I’ve met with my work around the world are absolutely amazing – and absolutely craving the opportunity to better their lives and families. By advocating for U.S. policies that do just that, whether through microfinance programs, antiviolence legislation, or giving women seats at the table, we aren’t doing the work for them, we’re giving them voice and the jump-start they need. They really value our work and the fact that we can be that bridge between them and U.S. policymakers. This is something that we can do as Americans, but they can’t.
Womenetics: Was there a moment you can remember in your early life when you knew you would dedicate your life to helping women?
Sharma: My family left behind generations of violence and poverty in Punjab, India, to build a new life in the United States. There was a very intense history around women and what happened to them, and that had a profound impact on me.
My grandmother was a very educated woman with a master’s degree, which was very unusual in the 1930s in India, and she suffered from a very deep depression. When my mom was about 7 years old, my grandmother committed suicide. I myself became a violence survivor at a very young age, and I grew up just knowing that I wanted to do something about this to make a difference. My family’s legacy and my firsthand experience of the injustices suffered by women, combined with my strong belief that American citizens must ensure that the United States acts positively in the world, led me to create Women Thrive Worldwide in 1998.
Womenetics: Has this affected your own life as a woman?
Sharma: I feel like the luckiest person in the world. I’m really proud and excited that some of the things we’ve been doing have had an impact on millions of women. We work with the U.S. government to do really concrete, effective things. You can connect the dots between what we’ve done and the results. I’m very results-driven. I’m always asking, so what? If you can’t answer that question, there’s a problem. The women we work with are so positive, have such great spirits, and work so hard. Seeing the injustices that they suffer and working toward results, that’s what it’s about, for me.
Womenetics: What’s a day like in your life?
Sharma: Very busy! Along with my work, I also have two sons that keep me on my toes. Since the creation of Women Thrive, it’s been a lot of trying to be a good mother, but not always the best mother in the world, and trying to be a good CEO, but not always the best in the world. I have to be really rigid about the structure of my life, and that’s what gets really hard. It is challenging, but it’s great as it is.
Womenetics: What do you do to unwind?
Sharma: I run as often as I can to get in that endorphin-releasing zone. I treat myself to nice chocolate – which does pretty much the same thing as running without the sweat. And most of all, I get out in nature. That’s my battery charger. Taking 10 minutes to go kayaking down to the river near my house can turn my whole day around, and you’ll also often find me in my little in-home pottery studio.
Corinne Garcia is a freelance writer and editor living with her husband and two young boys in Bozeman, Mont. She has also written for Women’s Adventure, Christian Science Monitor, Northwest Travel, Pregnancy, Fit Pregnancy, and Fit Parent.
