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Empowering women benefits all
This year’s global theme for International Women’s Day focuses on the activism of rural and urban women, and the UN in Indonesia is joining all women in Indonesia in their quest for equality, human rights and dignity.
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Fish seller in Pasar Bolu market in Rantepao, Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, in a file photo dated August 16, 2016. (Shutterstock.com/Oscar Espinosa)
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em>Ibu Neflyn, who is from a coastal community in Sulawesi, used to rely on the income from her husband, who makes his living fishing at sea. The income was irregular and often not enough to cover basic needs. In the past, when the fishermen came back to shore, the women had to sell the fish at the local market within a few days before the fish would perish. As a result, in Indonesia, 35 percent of all seafood is wasted due to long distances and a lack of markets in remote regions.
With support from the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry and the United Nations, Ibu Neflyn and other women in the Tenggiri Fish Enterprise Group have benefitted from assistance to produce higher-value seafood products such as dried fish-snacks, access markets in Indonesia and overseas and make waste products such as fish bones into valuable animal feed.
As a result, the women now earn up to Rp 5 million (US$363) per month and 503,500 people in 181 coastal communities around the country have benefitted from the program.
In many parts of the world, the past year has seen an impressive number of women raising their voices in defense of their individual rights, and those of their families and communities. Indonesia has an impressive history of women raising their voices to fight for their rights, from Kartini and her fight for girls’ education to recent Indonesian winners of the United Nations N-Peace Award and current women leaders in government, civil society and business.
