International Women's Day

Who do you think about when you think about a pastoralist?

Tireless women, women who connect, women who weave relationships of care. They attend funerals, organise weddings, feed their neighbours, exchange goods, care for the sick and children.

They wake up at 4:00, milk the animals, make cheese, cook a feast.

They sell milk by the roadside or exchange experiences and information at the local markets.

They care for the land and the land care for them.

They do not destruct, extract, disrupt.

They restore, and where there’s little, they create more.

Women are central to pastoral economies.

Their strength and power, their abilities and patience…leave without words.

And yet they are killed, disrespected, oppressed, beaten up.

Their violated bodies carry the scars of centuries of abuse and discrimination.

In this day dedicated to women’s struggles, women’s power and women’s rights…we condemn all forms of abuse and oppression…Still too frequent in rural areas, in pastoral and farming communities.

We stand in solidarity with all the women who struggle, we continue to strive for equal rights and to celebrate women’s power