Women’s Stress Women’s History Month Week 4: Create Lasting Connections to Women’s Work

After the month of March moves on to April, how can you continue to support woman and young girls? There are some pretty simple ways to empower our young women to grow strong and resilient. Here are a few to start you off with for the rest of the year:

1. Mentor a girl in your community. The Big Brothers, Bit Sisters organization has been helping align mentors with young girls who have been held back by violence, foster care, poverty or poor performing schools. Becoming a Big Sister is a great way to help give back to your community while making a big difference in a little girl’s life. When you can help inspire, encourage and support a young girl, you will see her dreams soar and her self-esteem sky rocket. Become a mentor today.

2. Support those in crisis. The number of girls subjected to child labor, trafficking, child marriages and just plain abuse is astonishing. When you can become involved with one of these organizations you will help them in the short and long-term. A donation will help local staff train and educate teams to help within the programs that care for these young women and girls which can help end the cycles of gender-based violence. Your donation can also help with counseling, medical assistance and even small business loans to help the women get back on their feet and earning a living. https://www.worldvision.org/child-protection-news-stories/pray-end-human-trafficking; https://www.worldvision.org/child-protection-news-stories/child-marriage-facts; https://donate.worldvision.org/give/girls-women-in-crisis.

3. Connect and support a woman owned small business in your community. Whether it is volunteering with their busines, working there or monetary donations, you can help them grow their business and make a bigger difference in your community. World Vision is a company that helps support small businesses with microloans. You can connect with hardworking female entrepreneurs to help them build their dreams or expand on one they have had for awhile; https://donate.worldvision.org/give/small-business-loan-for-women.

4. Support a new mom. The first two years of a child’s life are the most critical for learning and development. It is also two of the toughest years for a parent, let alone single moms. You can find a local charity that is in need of diapers, ointment, clothing for baby and mom as well as food or formula. Here in Colorado we have Rocky Mountain Diaper Depot where you can donate diapers and wipes and they will distribute them to those in need: http://www.rmdiaperdepot.org/.

5. Encourage young girls to stay in school and learn new and different topics. If you have a unique story, ask a local school if you can tell it to encourage children to stay in school and develop different skills. For example, a good friend of mine spent years in the Health and Wellness environment only to find she was downsized over and over again. She took a welding class to keep herself busy and active while looking for another full time job. She ended up falling in love with welding and created a new job for herself as a welding teacher for young girls called; Girls Who Weld. She loves being able to teach and encourage young women to look at all trades for work and play. Girls who stay in school, learn new and different topics will be happier, healthier and can take care of themselves better. Globally, over 130 million girls age six to 17 are not in school. When you can support education and different course topics, you can empower girls to grow and expand in so many different ways. Ask your local representative in the U.S. House or Senate to co-sponsor an important act to keep girls in school; https://www.worldvisionadvocacy.org/project/keep-girls-in-school/.

6. Tell the women in your life how much you appreciate them, what they do and how they contribute to their community and society as a whole. Start with who you know and write a note of thanks to the teachers in your child’s school, or the letter carrier, or the receptionist at your dentist office. Buy a coffee for the mom behind you at the coffee shop or pay for the lunch of a special needs mom someday. Join a mom’s meet up group, or a Women’s Empowerment group or even a women’s hiking group to meet new and amazing women and learn what they do and how you can support each other.

7. Watch women documentaries and films like: RBG, Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, Knock Down the House and Hidden Figures.

8. Donate your time or money to your local women and children’s shelters. Find a local women’s health clinic to volunteer your time or monetary donation. Join a local women’s organization that resonates with your values and learn how you can become more active in supporting them and their goals. Here are few more you can donate to:

Girls Inc https://girlsinc.org/

Women for Women International https://www.womenforwomen.org/ways-to-give

UltraViolet https://weareultraviolet.org/uv-action/

Girls Who Code https://girlswhocode.com/about-us/

How will you continue to support, encourage and inspire young women in your community?