HAPPY WOMEN’s DAY!

This Woman’s Day we are writing about women whose efforts have led to long-lasting transformative changes that advance the cause for sexual and reproductive health and rights for all. These women are not celebrities nor are they famous but they are everyday women who have contributed to promotion of reproductive rights of women including access to safe abortion. They are everyday Women who have inspired change in their own small way. Meet ASAP Youth Champions and know how they amazing women have been working to inspire change in through their efforts:

Rola is a nurse and works with the feminist collective Nasawiya. Being one of the small grant awardees Rola has set up the A Project and has recently launched its website – http://www.theaproject.org/ the purpose is to seek agency, alternatives and autonomy in sexuality, sexual health, and gender. The project aims to work on sexuality, while looking at but not limiting the discussion to disease-prevention and violence, also through an affirmative and sex-positive approach. In its early phase the A project commits to the some activities like- Sexuality Hotline, Support Groups, Outreach and Training, Multimedia and Research.

Sarah Jane Biton, Philippines:  Sarah is a professional photographer and film maker she made a brief presentation- “The value of women’s lives through the lens of Philipino society”; through her talent of photography and film making Sarah has been contributing to the abortion battle. She has utilized the grant to come up with some excellent films on the situation with unsafe abortions in her country and the attitude of the healthcare providers which leads to more stigma and ill health. The project is built on gathering data and evidence on the issue of abortion and abortion stigma. A review of literature and desk reviews was conducted and various consultations, discussions, and interviews were also done.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2jI0C_wz3s&feature=youtu.be

Sarah Natali Soysa, Sri Lanka: Sarah has been working actively and advocating on safe abortion through various platforms. Currently pursuing her masters in Melbourne, Sarah is advocating for safe abortion rights of migrant students in Melbourne https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4awnqQSIHFA . Sarah is also a small grant awardee and has produced a documentary that talks about the issue of safe abortion in Sri Lanka and the lack of information and stigma around it. The film was recently screened at the Beijing +20 film festival in Bangkok and was highly appreciated https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJfJlyYPxeU

Preet Manjusha, India: Preet’s study- “Stopping Sex Selection by Stopping Safe Abortions?” A Rapid Qualitative Study with Women who Denied Safe Abortion Services is a documents case stories of 12 women in Western Maharashtra to see what health implications they had to face due to the denial of safe abortion services to them. The study investigates in to social and economic costs that the women in the Western Maharashtra pay due to the denial of safe abortion services. Preet is now working to establish safe abortion hotline in Maharashtra.

Ignatia is a social media enthusiast. She has been working in this field since this last 3 years. Ignatia has joined social movements with Sexuality, Gender Equality and SRHR as the main issues. She works as volunteer in IPPA Chapter Yogyakarta, her dream right is to spread the information everywhere and raising the awareness among young people on SRHR issues. To Achieve this goal she is implementing a project titled ‘Mainstreaming SRHR issue towards young people’ with help from ASAP she will be holding seminars and also launching a website soon to provide information regarding sexual and reproductive health to young people

Xiaoting majored in communication and journalism, good at communicating and writing articles. She has been working to empower women migrant workers to use social media for the past four years. Xiaoting has also worked for Green Peace using social media to promote their agenda. Xiaoting is  now working on a small grants project to increase visible discussions on gender and women’s rights issues in China. The objective is to create a dynamic feminist network in China to provide thought leadership to women’s rights issues in mainstream and social media and also to research on whether safe abortion issues have been set on women’s rights agendas of Chinese feminism organizations

All through this month we will be writing about more such amazing women. Stay tuned for More..