Cherie Blair 2013-05-19T01:14:11-04:00 Cherie Blair http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=cherie-blair Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Cherie Blair Good old fashioned elbow grease. Invest in Women and Everyone Benefits tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.3163314 2013-04-26T11:41:35-04:00 2013-04-26T11:43:29-04:00 Cherie Blair http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cherie-blair/ RaiseForWomen Challenge, an initiative to help nonprofits that focus on women, gain funds and greater recognition. By raising awareness of 80 different women's organizations across the country, the Challenge will help to highlight the many different ways in which we can invest in women.

As a lifelong advocate of women's empowerment, I am well aware of the value of investing in women. I learned this first as a child, when I saw my mother struggle to bring up my sister and I after my father deserted us. Much later, when my husband, Tony Blair, was prime minister, I was lucky to be able to meet and talk with all kinds of women around the world, who face huge challenges on a daily basis. Despite their struggles these women were incredibly hard-working and determined to make a better life for themselves -- very much like my mother, in fact -- but often they lacked the right kind of support.

Inspired by this spirit I decided to set up a Foundation for Women to provide support, such as confidence building and access to finance, for women entrepreneurs in developing and emerging markets. There are so many barriers, cultural and otherwise, that prevent women from playing a full role in society. But if a woman can earn her own money by setting up and expanding her own business, she can begin fully to take charge of her life, and to take decisions for herself and her family. Financial independence brings real autonomy, and the power to say no. That's the great prize for women.

The benefit doesn't end there -- research has demonstrated that supporting women entrepreneurs has a great knock-on effect. Unlike men, women tend to invest 90 percent of their income back into their families and communities. This means that women are not only bringing an additional income into their homes and putting food on the table, but they also have the money to send their children to school, investing in their futures too. Goldman Sachs has found that "women are now redefining markets and creating growth by focusing their spending power on ... food, health care, education clothing, consumer durables and financial services." As women further invest in their communities, they are further developing their economies and wider society as well. As Christine Lagarde so accurately stated at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, "When women do better, economies do better." The evidence is clear: investing in women isn't just good ethics, it's sound economics!

At the Foundation, we know how important the funds and donations are that we receive. We have grown tremendously over the years and now reach 60,000 women in 50 countries, a feat only made possible through the generous support of corporations, trusts, foundations and individuals who share our interest and passion in investing in women. Together we have enabled these women to become more financially empowered as individuals and thus -- since money brings status -- within their own communities too. There are many organizations eager to make a difference and many different ways to help women everywhere take their full place in society. For the RaiseForWomen Challenge I am making a call to action -- take the time to contribute to a cause that results in positive change not just for women, but for their children and communities as well. Invest in women and everyone benefits.]]> Promoting Women's Economic Participation in India tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2917923 2013-03-21T08:46:38-04:00 2013-03-21T08:46:13-04:00 Cherie Blair http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cherie-blair/ Since the horrific rape and murder of a student in New Delhi in December 2012, debates have raged about the social and economic status of women in India. The brutal act revealed to the world that even in 2013, Indian women are treated as second class citizens.



How can this grim classification be changed? Whether we like it or not, money often equals power, so there is growing recognition that the status of women in societies like India can change significantly if they are able to gain financial independence, whether it is through employment where they are adequately compensated or by setting up and running their own businesses.



Despite rapid economic growth, the inability of women to play a part in the Indian economy remains as deep and persistent as ever. The 2011 United Nations Gender Inequality Index (GII), which considered factors like labour force participation, reproductive health and education, ranked India a depressing 134th out of 187 countries, behind countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq.



Women in India have of course always worked, but their work is undervalued. An illiterate woman in an unskilled job earns around Rs. 85 a day (US$ 1.58), less than half her male counterpart. Cultural and societal rules still prevent women from setting up their own businesses without the help of male relatives.



Women are also at a disadvantage when it comes to inheriting property. Although the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 gave women the right to own property, it wasn't until 2005 that the law was amended to give daughters the same inheritance rights as sons. But the Act, as the name suggests, does not apply to Muslims, Christians or Parsis. Moreover states can enforce their own succession laws, and tribal lands are governed by different laws. So it's hardly a surprise that the 2001 Census of India revealed that only 11 percent of agricultural landowners were women.



There remain strong cultural obstacles in India, often created by the patriarchy, to the idea of women's economic emancipation. But a number of government initiatives have in recent years been introduced to help women achieve this goal, such as vocational training programmes to teach skills like sewing, computer literacy and spoken English. These efforts have been supplemented by the work of hundreds of NGOs, such as the Mann Deshi Foundation and the Sambhali Trust, working at the rural level, encouraging women's co-operatives in agriculture, livestock rearing and handicrafts. The government now needs to encourage women, especially the rural poor, to set up simple savings accounts.There must be fresh legislation to give all women an equal right to inheritance.



The government's recent pledge of $370 million to start a women's bank is a welcome and major step forward, as are recent moves, through the provision of credit and subsidies, to encourage women to start their own small and medium enterprises. It is a vital momentum that needs to be maintained. Banks and other financial service providers need now, for example, to extend credit beyond the micro credit level to the small and medium business owners. At present, because a micro-credit scheme is often the only option available for a woman who needs further finance for her business, she has to lie about her increase in income in order to access those funds.



The private sector must be given more incentives to hire women at senior as well as junior levels, and together with the government must create better training programmes for women in non-traditional fields. After all, jobs like car maintenance, plumbing, carpentry, and computer maintenance pay more than data entry or sewing jobs. And there must be better institutional support in the form of maternity leave and childcare facilities, the lack of which currently hold back millions of middle and lower middle class women who must choose between jobs and raising children.



Finally, in order to take these steps forward women need support in their own communities. They need support to work in better paid jobs and fields as well as to own land, property and businesses. By forming collectives, networks, and self-help groups, like the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), they gain strength. And collective bargaining rights, as well as co-operative credit and savings systems, will create a united voice for communities of women and allow them to support each other.



Over the next two decades, India's GDP is projected to grow between 7 percent and 9 percent annually, making India the world's third largest economy by the year 2030.



Women are half India's demographic dividend; if they are given the right tools and community support, they can not only become financially independent, but could also become the engines that fuel India's future growth.



_________

Cherie Blair is the founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women. Siddharth Chatterjee, works at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and these are his personal views. Follow the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and Siddharth Chatterjee on twitter:@CherieBlairFndn & @sidchat1

]]> Barnardo's Calls for Change to Sentencing Guidelines in Child Sexual Exploitation Cases tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2837427 2013-03-10T19:00:00-04:00 2013-05-10T05:12:01-04:00 Cherie Blair http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cherie-blair/
The legal process can also be important in helping victims of child sexual exploitation to recover from their ordeal and begin to look forward to a brighter future.

However, the brave children who seek justice for the abuse they have suffered have often not only to re-live the horrors of their experiences, but also to battle the perceptions that sometimes people have of them. These perceptions may mean they are not believed or perhaps they are left thinking that they are to blame for the horrifying abuse - that they in some way brought it upon themselves.

Take Lucy's story for example. During the court case Lucy was made to feel that the abuse she experienced was her fault because she looked older than 13 and if men thought she was above the age of consent then they weren't really to blame.

This is clearly not right and Barnardo's wants to change it. I am supporting them in their campaign to seek clearer guidelines to ensure in every case courts dealing with victims of sexual exploitation remember that they are children.

Regardless of how mature a child looks, how they behave or what kind of relationship has been established with the abuser, it must always be the case that victims of sexual exploitation are treated as children and never as willing participants.

And even once perpetrators of these crimes are convicted, it is also vital that any decisions on what sentence they are given must again reflect the fact that no child can ever truly agree to being sexually exploited.

For the victims of child sexual exploitation, recovery is a long and difficult journey. But if we can change the way these young people are perceived as they seek justice, then we help to protect them from further abuse and we can improve their chances of a better life, a life that doesn't have to end how it began.

Cherie Blair is Honorary Vice President of Barnardo's. To support the 'Remember they are children' campaign and sign the petition click here.
]]> How Rose Heilbron Inspired Me and a Generation of Women tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2766079 2013-02-26T19:00:00-05:00 2013-04-28T05:12:01-04:00 Cherie Blair http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cherie-blair/
So Rose Heilbron became a role model for me and an example of what a Liverpool girl could achieve in the law. That was only reinforced when in the late 1960s, in a UK TV series called Justice, the glamorous Margaret Lockwood played a female advocate loosely based on Rose. My grandmother and I watched every week. So when the time came for me to decide what I was going to do with my life, it was no surprise that I reckoned the law was a good career for a girl from Liverpool.

But I was shocked to then discover that the reason Rose was so famous was that she was so rare. In 1949 she was the first woman to become a King's (later Queen's) Counsel (QC, as senior advocates are called in the UK), and she remained the only practising woman QC even by the mid 1960s.

In 1956 she became England's first ever woman Judge when she was made Recorder of Burnley, a part-time appointment. But it was not until 1974 at the age of 60, that Rose was finally appointed as the second woman High Court Judge. There was widespread recognition that the appointment was long overdue, and indeed the overwhelming consensus in the legal world was that had Rose been a man, she would have been appointed ten years earlier. This was important because a High Court judge is on the lower rungs of the judiciary ladder and at 60 years old, she had no time to spend several years working her way up to the next level, a Court of Appeal judge.

Though this was one of the few legal firsts that Rose did not achieve, it still wasn't until 1988 that the first woman, Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, was appointed as a judge to the Court of Appeal. Even today when over 50% of the new entrants to the legal profession are women, there is still a glass ceiling in the UK judiciary with only around 12% of judges being women. Without inspirational pioneers like Rose, I've no doubt that that percentage would be even smaller.

But it wasn't her novelty value as a woman that made Rose's career at the Bar such a glittering success. She was a master of her brief and a brilliant advocate, and her melodious voice and charm worked magnificently in a court room, belying those male members of the profession who, even when I was first a law student in 1972, were still claiming that women were not suited to being advocates because their voices were too weak to carry in Court.

She also proved that it was possible to be both a great advocate and also a normal woman. Far from being a woman just imitating a man (a not uncommon accusation levelled at a woman in the law), she was at the same time both a wife and a mother to her daughter Hilary, who herself became only the 29th woman QC in 1987 - not a great deal of progress for women in 38 years.

Rose's daughter gives us in this book a personal and warm insight into Rose, the advocate, and a comprehensive account of the glittering variety of her legal cases from the notorious to the more mundane. But above all she gives us Rose, the woman, the brilliant and attractive woman who rose above the petty barriers that impeded her career, the working mum who always found time for her family, the much-loved, caring employer to everyone who ever worked for her, and the feminist - in the true sense of the word - who cared about equality and justice for other women and who, throughout her public life, spoke up for a woman's right to achieve what men take for granted - a fulfilling career and a normal family life."

This article marks the launch of ROSE HEILBRON: Legal Pioneer of the 20th Century: Inspiring advocate who became England's First Woman Judge, a biography written by her daughter, Hilary Heilbron.]]> Make a Change Through Mentoring tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2612417 2013-02-03T19:00:00-05:00 2013-04-05T05:12:01-04:00 Cherie Blair http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cherie-blair/
When I was finally accepted into a set of barristers' chambers as a pupil - a kind of apprentice - there were so few practicing women barristers that it was difficult to find any female role models. And at the time, the perception of women in the law was that we didn't really count because we would eventually leave when we had children and not return.

But being a woman wasn't my only obstacle. Many of my new colleagues were from wealthy families and had been to private schools and I was very conscious of my ordinary background. I knew nothing about the unwritten rules of behaviour in the profession and was constantly putting my foot in it. All in all, I felt out of place and lacking in confidence.

But I was fortunate to get some support early on from Derry Irvine, a senior barrister who agreed to accept me as an apprentice. He was an extremely good teacher and became my mentor. He took the time to show me the ropes, gave me one-to-one tuition and set an example for me to follow, like the technique of how to argue a case - (you must tell a story!) - that I still use to this day.

Huge progress has been made since I first started out as a barrister. These days pupils are chosen by committees, and the numbers of women and men in the law are today about the same. Similarly, in the majority of professions and in work places up and down the country, there have been significant advances. Women not only find it easier to get a foot in the door. They routinely reach positions of responsibility and status. But once you get near the top of a company, you find all too often that women are as rare as they were throughout the legal profession in the 1970s.

The reason for this is obvious. Most women lead a double life. They are the main person responsible for child-rearing and they are also trying to hold down a job. They are the ones who dash home guiltily after work to get their children's tea, while their male colleagues work late to show their commitment, or network after office hours in the pub and on the golf course. What woman has time to fight her way further up the career ladder?

Part of the answer of course is for fathers to share the child rearing, so that mothers have more time to level the playing field at work. There are it's true an increasing number of fathers who now give up their job to look after their children, allowing mothers to develop their careers instead. But that doesn't constitute 'sharing' childcare - it merely changes the roles of men and women around. Real sharing of childcare will require an enormous cultural shift.

But rather than sit back and wait for change to happen, women can make a difference by making changes themselves. We can help each other up the ladder. We see men - despite their often more competitive natures - mentoring one another, encouraging younger men to succeed and actively promoting them, in the way that Derry helped and encouraged me early on in my career and others did later on too.

Women often complain about lack of opportunities and about not being promoted - and there's justice in many of those complaints - but we all need to help those lower down the ladder too. We need to take a leaf from the men's book and do more to encourage and support women trying to further their careers. If we want more talented women rising through the ranks, if we want to create a pipeline of talent to executive and board level positions, that's got to be part of the solution.

It may be the right thing to do, but make no mistake, it can help your own career too. Men know this. They know it makes business sense, because nurturing talent is an important part of being a leader and mentoring someone provides an opportunity to develop that skill. When you engage in a mentoring relationship, you're forced to see things from another's point of view. Whether it is because you're working with someone from another culture, dealing with another type of business or working with a different age group, mentoring gets you thinking in new and different ways. Mentoring can also be the spark that leads to renewed commitment to your own business or career.

The internet is a godsend to mentoring, making it possible to mentor wherever you are. A branch manager in Leeds can mentor a junior manager in Bristol. In my foundation, we've taken this to a global scale, connecting women entrepreneurs in developing countries and emerging markets like India, Kenya, Mexico and Lebanon to male and female mentors in the UK and beyond. We have a cupcake business owner in Malaysia being mentored by an operations manager in Essex, a sales executive in New York mentoring a fashion designer in Swaziland.

But it can also be as simple as having a few encouraging words with someone in your office, actively taking an interest, praising their skills to colleagues and management. It doesn't have to be time consuming - in my foundation's own mentoring programme, we just ask for two hours a month of our mentors' time - and it can change a life. As mentoring becomes more widespread, it can help level the playing field. I wouldn't have got as far in my legal career without mentors and that's why I'm so passionate about it.

As Madeleine Albright said, "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women." It doesn't make sense. Let's get a bit more collaborative and start giving each other a hand up.

Cherie Blair will be speaking about mentoring at the next Stylist Magazine Stylist Network Event on 4 February. For more on the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women's mentoring programme: www.cherieblairfoundation.org

This article originally appeared in the Mail on Sunday.]]> A New Year's Resolution to Benefit the World: Education for Women tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2412382 2013-01-04T18:24:47-05:00 2013-03-06T05:12:01-05:00 Cherie Blair http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cherie-blair/
The plight of women in many regions of the world remains dire. Two-thirds of the illiterate people on the planet are women. These women are illiterate not because they don't care about learning, but because they are not considered fit for or worthy of an education. They are excluded from schools deliberately and systematically.

Malala Yousufzai, a 15-year-old in Pakistan, was shot by the Taliban for promoting girls' education. Her story is a harsh reminder of how difficult it is for women in certain regions of the world to access what we consider a basic human right.

Research shows that when you educate a girl, it brings greater and wider long-term benefits than when you educate a boy. An educated girl becomes a woman, and if she then becomes a mother, she passes what she has learned to her children, including the value of education itself. Her children are more likely to be educated, and more likely to be vaccinated. An educated woman is more likely to bring prosperity to her neighborhood so education is common sense, as well as good for economic development.

The current UN Millennium Development Goals emphasize primary education for girls, and that is important. But as important as this foundation is, a country's economy and its development require the effective leaders and a skilled workforce that only higher education can cultivate. How can a country prosper if half its population is denied the opportunity for higher education?

That is one mission of the Asian University for Women in Chittagong, Bangladesh, of which I am proud to serve as Chancellor. Though still a new university, the AUW currently has 541 students from 12 nations. The university promotes multicultural learning and engagement, to open hearts and minds, and enhance understanding of other cultures. Whether Muslim or Christian, Hindu or Buddhist, Tamil or Sinhalese, the students live and study together. They bring different perspectives to their coursework, enriching discussions and debates.

As a means of achieving long-term impact, the AUW focuses on recruiting students who are the first in their family to go to university. The majority of students are in this situation, and as the first girl in my family to follow this path, I can attest to the power of this "cascade effect" and the sense of responsibility it instils in successive generations.

The university has challenges: Its campus is still a construction site and it needs more funding, notably for scholarships. Some students cannot talk about their studies when they go home for fear of triggering violent attacks on themselves or their families. Others assume they will never marry because their culture considers an educated woman to be a danger rather than an asset.

Despite these struggles -- or perhaps because of them -- AUW students aspire to, and are already accomplishing, great things: Tamil and Sinhalese students from Sri Lanka have joined together to take on reconciliation projects in parts of their country afflicted by violence; one student has started her own business; another initiated and leads a nationwide youth leadership program in Bangladesh; still others work together to build libraries in underserved communities.

Importantly, the AUW is literally in the region. When Asian students go to universities in the West, they often don't come back, so their home country doesn't benefit from their education. AUW was established in Bangladesh -- with a special charter to guarantee its independence -- precisely to counter this. The students of AUW are educated in a developing country, aware of the needs of ordinary people and the power of knowledge to address them. These women long to transform their own communities. AUW gives them the tools to do just that.

The university provides a world-class education. Its students have benefited from exchange programs with Stanford University and other prestigious institutions. It is "elite" in the sense of aiming to offer the best education possible to the best minds in the region.

The commencement ceremony for the first graduating class of 138 students will take place this spring. Some seniors want to work in health care, politics, social work, conflict resolution, education, or environmental causes. Some want to go into banking or start their own business. Some want to continue their studies. All see their education as a means for effecting positive change around them.

With the New Year upon us, I propose a resolution that would benefit the world: encourage education for women. Vote for it whenever possible, contribute to it if you can. If you do, we may just find ourselves with more peace on Earth and a better world in the future.]]> The Next Mobile Revolution: Boosting Women's Entrepreneurship Via Mobile Money tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2321326 2012-12-18T07:25:01-05:00 2013-02-17T05:12:01-05:00 Cherie Blair http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cherie-blair/
Thanks to her friend's suggestion one day, Marion latched onto an idea of selling pre-paid mobile airtime to financially support her parents and four siblings with whom she lives. She started working at a small restaurant as a server, in order to save enough money to break into the business. Marion saved and saved, and began to sell airtime in bits and pieces. Yet by the time she turned 22 and made the decision to do it full-time, she was 70,000 Tanzanian shillings (US$43) short of the 100,000 TZS (US$62) required to finance the initial capital. Marion had nowhere to turn to make up the difference. And now this shortage of cash is keeping her from pursuing what should be a tangible dream - to become an entrepreneur and move into her own home.

Fortunately, new opportunities are emerging that address Marion's challenge.

Mobile technology continues to be an enormous growth industry in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where approximately 3.5million jobs can be attributed to the mobile industry according to GSMA. With the surge in mobile connections around the world, there is rightly a great deal of interest in using the technology to maximize development outcomes. This includes the delivery of key information and health services, the use of mobile money for those who are unbanked, and the ability to establish social and business networks without having to travel great distances. For women like Marion, this is an enticing pairing of potential long-term employment and enhanced livelihood.

Despite the gains mobile telecommunications have had on national economies, there continues to be significant gaps in how much individuals have benefited economically from mobile services and applications. This includes the extent to which women have been able to participate in the retail channels of mobile network operators, beyond the sale of top-up cards and accessories that fetch little profit. These retail chains are not only where basic mobile necessities such as airtime and SIM cards are sold and marketed, but they also serve as the frontlines of the rapidly-growing mobile financial services industry. This ballooning sector includes mobile payments and savings, insurance purchases and conditional cash transfers, services that are traditionally unavailable for the unbanked - particularly women. The business of selling mobile products and services can be an important income stream but, in most markets, women are not participating on par with their male counterparts.

This leaves Marion and her female counterparts at a distinct and, frankly, unnecessary disadvantage.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, in partnership with leading mobile operator Millicom (Tigo), have joined forces on an innovative project to correct this trend and maximise mobile financial service opportunities for women entrepreneurs and their communities throughout Tanzania, Rwanda and Ghana. This public-private partnership will showcase a sustainable and scalable approach to increasing the number of women entrepreneurs working as mobile money agents in the retail networks of mobile operators.

The 18-month partnership will work to address two key challenges that exist throughout the three countries - broad levels of financial exclusion amongst the general population, and lower levels of women's participation in mobile retail chains. Both challenges impact Marion's ability to afford the cost of school, yet the potential mobile solutions broaden her access to financial, health and social services. In becoming a mobile money agent, Marion and other women can begin to redress sub-Saharan Africa's high rates of unbanked - only 12% of the region's adult population has access to any form of formalized banking. They do this by bringing in new mobile money clients and keeping them on-board, largely because of the trustworthiness and relationship-building that women provide.

Together with leading local micro-finance institutions, the project will be working with over 4,000 women to not only increase their income as they conduct mobile money transactions but also improve their financial literacy, business acumen and access to capital - a critical component to business growth that has hampered Marion from launching into it full-time - so that they may establish and expand their own businesses.

Through a series of reduced interest loans and locally-tailored business training, the participating women will receive support that has been elusive to-date in mobile money services, thereby improving their capability, confidence and capital. There are benefits for mobile operators as well when they include women in mobile value chains, as recent research from the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women has confirmed.

It will also have multiplying effects for their families and communities at-large. With this higher-value income stream, thousands of women will have additional funds necessary to invest in their own families, whether that means sending their children to school or paying for medical care or household items. On a larger scale, this improved income might be reinvested in expanding businesses where women can hire additional employees, creating job opportunities for their communities and contributing meaningfully to the local economy. As part of this project, the partners will be assessing the extent to which this is a successful model for mobile operators around the world to replicate, in order to expand mobile money operations and financial inclusion for the unbanked.

This is a new business model that, if proven successful, will achieve positive development outcomes for Marion and her female compatriots, and increased revenue for mobile operators. It applies the best components of both the public and private sectors for enhancing economic growth and equitable participation. For USAID and the Cherie Blair Foundation, we believe that women need increased opportunities in proven growth industries, so that we are not making stand-alone investments. Consider the opportunity that awaits Marion if she can channel income from her mobile money business into a formal education, not just for herself but for her family. This is an opportunity we cannot afford to let pass.

As such, we are tremendously excited to announce this ground-breaking partnership and, together, shape the next mobile revolution - with Marion alongside - in key emerging markets in Africa. We look forward to sharing the project's progress in the coming year.

For more information, please visit cherieblairfoundation.org and usaid.gov.

This article was originally published by Devex Impact, a global initiative of Devex and USAID, that focuses on the intersection of business and global development and connects companies, organizations and professionals to the practical information they need to make an impact.]]> The Mobile Phone as an Important Tool for Women Entrepreneurs in India tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2228169 2012-12-02T19:00:00-05:00 2013-02-01T05:12:01-05:00 Cherie Blair http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cherie-blair/
This is the reality for women business owners living in rural Gujarat in India, where a group of them have come together and work for a large cooperative, 'RUDI' , to sell agricultural produce from local farmers. The women, known as 'Rudibens*' act as sales agents for the RUDI distribution network, selling food and goods in their own villages. Demand is often very high for the produce but it also fluctuates from season to season. And in order to fill their local orders for the produce, Rudibens have to travel long distances to bigger towns with RUDI centres, wasting time and money. By the time too that these orders are processed and delivered to the rural villages, the level of demand has often changed and they will have lost money they might otherwise have made. For the many women and families that rely on RUDI sales for their livelihood, the inefficiency of the system is a real problem.

Manjula, for example, started a business selling RUDI products after her husband died, leaving her with three children to support but no income. But because she has to travel to process the orders she receives and finds it a struggle to get childcare, she makes less money. And often the orders that she makes are not delivered until weeks later, by which time demand has changed leaving Manjula with produce she can't dispose of and less income.

To address these difficulties that stunt business growth for women like Manjula and other Rudibens, my Foundation has partnered with the Vodafone Foundation in India and the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), which oversees the RUDI network, to develop a mobile application tailored to their needs. The women already have basic mobile phones but the special app will allow them to engage in real-time communication with the RUDI management, check supply levels and text orders instantaneously. As a result, the burden of time and travel costs for will be reduced and processing efficiency will dramatically increase. This translates directly to higher income and more time for the women to invest as they choose, such as developing their businesses and caring for their families.

Through this initiative we are reaching 2,000 women entrepreneurs in India, and are also, over a three-year period, providing support with broader business development and financial literacy training .And we will be tracking the progress of the initiative to make sure that these women derive the maximum benefit from it.

It is, of course, in all our interests that the Rudibens succeed. For just as mobile technology - and the opportunities it opens up - is going to be increasingly important for future prosperity, so is the role of women.

Making sure that everyone - whatever their gender or background - has access to mobile technology is vitally important for our ambitions to tackle global poverty and spread prosperity.

Cherie Blair will be speaking at the Vodafone Foundation and London Business School's Mobile for Good Summit in London on 10 December 2012 www.mobileforgoodsummit.com

* The word "ben" means "sister" in Gujarati, but is also used to show familiarity and respect to women.]]> Putting the Rule of Law Behind Women's Rights tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2188579 2012-11-25T19:00:00-05:00 2013-01-25T05:12:01-05:00 Cherie Blair http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cherie-blair/
I was shocked to read the statistic reported by UN Women that women across the world are three times more likely to report a robbery than a sexual assault. It is equally shocking that female circumcision is still widely practiced in African countries, even where it is illegal.

It is not enough to put the right laws in place to root out discrimination, important as this is. We also have to find the commitment, knowledge and resources to enforce them fairly. And crucially, we need to change attitudes, though that can be harder to bring about than changes in the law. Yet one often leads to the other and both are needed to deliver real change throughout society.

So what is working? It is important to note the progress around the world and how it is being achieved.

Here in the UK for example, it was no coincidence that major improvements in policies aimed at helping women - and men - better balance family and career came following a big increase in the number of women MPs of all parties. But we also need more women in the judiciary. Women judges bring different qualities into their decisions. They are not better than men, but complementary; helping ensure our justice system reflects all our experience and wisdom.

Over my own legal career, I have seen how more women in the law as well as in parliament have helped transform attitudes to domestic violence in the UK. We are seeing the same shifts elsewhere - for example, in Brazil in the last few years, thanks to an increase in the number of women judges and the bravery and tenacity of domestic abuse survivors like Maria de Penha.

The challenge now is to build on and extend these successful initiatives, giving women a stronger voice in shaping our justice system and ensuring it treats everyone equally.

The former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, has said, "In a society where the rights and potential of women are constrained, no man can be truly free. He may have power, but he will not have freedom." It is a compelling argument: that by placing restrictions on the full participation of women in society, we are limiting what society can be and therefore impeding the freedom of all peoples.

The evidence is compelling that the unrealised talents of women will help us overcome the major challenges we face. The principle reason that in 2008 I set up a foundation for women was to explore a further way of helping to empower women - through financial independence. The foundation helps women in developing and emerging markets set up and then expand small businesses. Financial independence gives women power and influence within their family and in their community. Power to make decisions, to insist, for example, that their children (especially their daughters) have an education, and to begin to change the way that they and other women are viewed in their societies.

I have seen just what women can achieve if we simply help give them a more level playing field in the world of business. It is not just the direct and important effect their success has on their lives and those of their children. Women who earn money, and become employers as their businesses expand, have an impact too on their country's economy. Evidence suggests, for example, that South Asia's continuing gender gaps in education and employment - in part down to poor legal protection - explain why annual per capital growth is over one per cent lower than in East Asia, where more women work. That difference in growth would play a major role in tackling poverty and disadvantage. For whether you are a company or country, the secret of success now more than ever before is making the most of the potential of everyone.

It is why dismantling the barriers which prevent women making their full contribution to communities and economies is important to every one of us whatever our gender, whoever we are and wherever we live.

In Ethiopia, they have a saying: where a woman rules, streams run uphill. In other words, women can make wonderful things happen. A society - a world - that does not allow them to participate fully is a world not living up to its potential.

Trust Women, a conference by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and International Herald Tribune, will take place in London on the 4 & 5 of December. The conference aims to connect legal expertise with the financial, NGO and educational sectors to enable women to exercise their rights. To take part: www.trustwomenconf.com]]> The Women's Prize for Fiction tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1964217 2012-10-14T19:00:00-04:00 2012-12-14T05:12:01-05:00 Cherie Blair http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cherie-blair/
That love of books has stayed with me and sustained me right to the present day, although these days I am just as likely to read my books on my iPad or Kindle as, somewhat obsessively, I have both. I have tried to instill that love of books in my own children and in the 1980s would take my three elder children every Saturday to the local library in Highbury, North London, and would read to them at night as well. It seems to have worked, as they all, including my youngest, love reading.

But my greatest love is fiction and my tastes are wide. From thrillers to romance, from British writers to translations of books by authors from Scandinavia to Japan, I have read them all. What they all have in common is a good story well told.

I would much rather read a book at night in bed than watch TV and it is very rare for me not to read before I go to sleep. As I travel far more around the world these days than I used to, I have to have my current book with me and at least one spare at all times, which is why I am eternally grateful for the convenience of eBooks. Recently I came across one of the those lists - '100 books everyone should read' - and was disappointed to discover I had read only 90 odd of them, so I am now resolved to read the rest.

All of this helps to explain why I love literary prizes and, as an avid reader of the shortlists (even if I often disagree about the merits of the books), I'm living proof of how important the competition is in bringing good writing to a wider audience.

That's of course why the Women's Prize for Fiction came into being, because whether by accident or by design - too many important books by very talented women writers were often overlooked for prizes, not even appearing on the shortlist let alone winning, and were just not getting the publicity they deserved. So many great books have since been showcased through the Women's Prize for Fiction. One of the standout novels for me in recent years was Half of a Yellow Sun, set in the Nigerian-Biafran conflict, and I shall be rooting for Rose Tremain's Restoration to at least make the short list in 2013.

So it was very easy for me to agree to help out when I learnt that the Women's Prize for Fiction needed some assistance to ensure that the 2013 prize went ahead. I am proud to be associated with the group of committed supporters who have stepped into the breach. I was lucky enough to be a judge myself once, for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, and I know what hard work it is to get the choices right. I can't wait to attend the event next year and, of course, to read the shortlist!]]> We Can't Afford to Ignore Half the Population tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1918302 2012-09-27T04:08:48-04:00 2012-11-26T05:12:02-05:00 Cherie Blair http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cherie-blair/
I have been fortunate enough to work with the Clinton Global Initiative team on developing the topic discussions in past years. With so much collaboration being done at such a high level, it's crucial to craft an agenda that covers the right priorities. This is pertinent now more than ever, with 2015 looming and the next round of Millennium Development Goals being decided. We need to focus on long-term, sustainable solutions. We need to consider what will really make a positive change in the world.

This year's Clinton Global Initiative theme was 'designing for impact' and gender equality was prominent. It permeated many of the discussions even when not officially on the agenda. Each year it seems there are more organisations and institutions joining forces to do so much on a grand scale on gender equality. With a theme like 'designing for impact', it's no surprise to see more done around women empowerment. Investing in women results in substantial returns. If corporations really want to achieve results on a large scale with knock-on benefits, they would be hard placed to find a more worthy cause.

See also:

Stop Writing About My Body

The Seduction of Magic Pills

Can You Joke About Rape?

Women Over 40: Are You Doing All the 'Right Things' but Still Not Losing Weight?

Prejudice in Briefs: Why Page Three Is Toxic to All Women


It is well documented that countries with greater gender equality have stronger economies. According to the UN, if women were given the opportunity to achieve their full potential, the Asia-Pacific economy could earn $89 billion annually. But the benefits of investing in women go far beyond the economic argument. Financial independence gives women greater control over their own and their children's lives. Economic security gives women a more influential voice in tackling injustice and discrimination in their communities and wider society. As women tend to reinvest their income into their children and businesses, the result is healthier families, stronger communities and ultimately a reduction in national poverty.

Out of a global population of some seven billion people, 50% of us are women. The world's women represent 40% of the workforce and are over 50% of the world's university students. Despite this significant contribution, women continue to face many formal and informal barriers that hinder their potential. Women entrepreneurs around the world still lack the business skills, technology, networks and access to finance they need to be successful in the long term.

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We can't afford to ignore half the population. We will all gain through the input of able women helping their communities reach better decisions, not replacing men but working alongside them. We have to continue to develop opportunities. We have to lift unfair barriers which stop people from making the most of their potential. Giving women the chance to become financially independent and make the most of their talents is vital if we want to achieve equal opportunities for men and women.

President Obama addressed the UN General Assembly on Tuesday (25 September). I was struck by the strong emphasis he put on empowering women and girls. He announced the Equal Futures Partnership with countries from Peru to Tunisia, Finland to Jordan, Australia to Bangladesh joining the US and the EU in pledging to do more to achieve equal opportunities for women and girls across business, education and politics. It is time that we all work together across the world to bring the female half of the population onto an equal level playing field not just for their benefit, but for everyone's.

]]> Behind Every Successful Man is a Woman? Let's Reverse That Saying tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1326256 2012-03-07T19:00:00-05:00 2012-05-07T05:12:02-04:00 Cherie Blair http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cherie-blair/
But as we celebrate International Women's Day, I wonder if it's not time to reverse the saying. Let's, in fact, celebrate the role men are now playing in helping women's rise to the top.

This is not to suggest that the fight for equality has been won. Any glance at the continuing gender pay gap or lack of women in the boardroom or parliament shows how hollow that claim would be.

And while we have seen a transformation in family responsibilities, including more men staying at home to let their wives follow their career, we shouldn't exaggerate the revolution. The numbers remain very small. And where both parents work, it is women who are far more likely to shoulder the greater burden at home. We have a long way to go until the playing field is level.

It is, instead, recognition that the fight to overcome the barriers holding women back is being joined by growing numbers of men. And the quicker we recruit more to the ranks, the faster progress will be.

It has been the case, of course, from before the days of the suffragettes that far-sighted men have championed the cause of women's equality. They did so out of a sense of fairness, natural justice or a belief in the dignity of us all as human beings. But this principled argument is now backed by the economic case which shows the stupidity of discriminating against half the population.

It is now clear that businesses or countries which fish in only half the talent pool are putting themselves at a serious disadvantage. This is not just about numbers but also the qualities that women can bring to decision-making. The recklessness which helped spark the global economic crisis might have been prevented with more women at the top of our banks.

All this explains why a growing chorus of senior business figures and politicians, for example, are pressing for a major increase in women in the boardroom. I have reluctantly come to the view that the evidence shows that only statutory targets will achieve these ambitions at the speed needed. But I don't doubt the genuine desire for change in those countries which prefer the voluntary approach.

Even in those societies - and there are many - with much greater barriers to equality than in the UK, we are seeing an increasing recognition among men of the need to enable women to fulfil their potential. It is easy to see why. Research has shown that women in the developing world re-invest a far larger share of their income in their families than men. It's been estimated that India's growth rate would be almost 1% higher annually if the gender labour gap was as small as in China.

So as well as recognising the achievements of women, let's use International Women's Day to encourage more men across the world to join the fight for true equality. After all, the result if we succeed is not just a better world for women but a better world for everyone. And that really is a goal worth celebrating.

www.cherieblairfoundation.org]]> Why Women Should Become Mentors tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1223481 2012-01-23T19:00:00-05:00 2012-03-24T05:12:01-04:00 Cherie Blair http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cherie-blair/
The UK of course is not the only country where this problem still exists. A sizeable pay gap between men and women's wages also persists across the rest of Europe and in the US. Across the world, women are less likely to get promoted, be appointed to board level or become successful entrepreneurs.

The reasons why are well-known. I've often spoken on how more needs to be done to support women with childcare and how quotas are now necessary to ensure equal representation of women in boardrooms, and these remain important for progress. But there is another way forward - women can also help themselves through mentoring. I'm not referring to women seeking mentors, important as that is. Rather, I want to focus on women becoming mentors themselves. Women who mentor others' experience benefits to their own careers in the process of helping someone else.

It's national mentoring month in the US, with a focus on youth mentoring, and this is a wonderful way to get involved. One of my favourite UK charities, Kid's Company, is a great example of youth mentoring done well. Whether its youth mentoring or someone within your company or an entrepreneur, being a mentor offers a way to build up your own skills and give back at the same time.

Five reasons to start mentoring today:

1) Build up leadership skills

Mentoring is a natural way to build up leadership skills. Nurturing talent is an important part of being a leader and mentoring someone is a great way to develop that skill.

2) Expand your horizons

When you engage in a mentoring relationship, you're forced to see things from another's point of view. Whether it is because you're working with someone from another culture, dealing with another type of business or working with a different age group, mentoring gets you thinking in new and different ways.

3) Network with like-minded businessmen & women

Join a mentoring programme where you are able to talk with other mentors and network. Being a mentor can offer an opportunity to expand your own business contacts and work your way up the ladder.

4) Revitalise interest in your own career

By helping a mentee clarify his or her goals, you'll re-examine your own. Mentoring can be the spark that leads to renewed commitment to your own business or career.

5) Give back to others in need

This is reason enough. As one of my foundation's mentors said, it is reward enough to know that I've helped a small business owner in Palestine achieve her dreams. It's an incredibly rewarding way to give back to others - not a hand-out but a hand up. Being a mentor can provide you with an opportunity to help the mentee achieve what he or she aspires to be.

My foundation runs an e-mentoring programme with male and female mentors who give inspiration and advice to pioneering business women in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. These mentors boost the confidence of the women entrepreneurs in the programme, improve their business performance and ultimately help them increase profits in the long term. In return, mentors benefit from training, networking and the opportunity to give back.

Find out how you can get involved: www.cherieblairfoundation.org/mentoring

Follow us on Twitter: @CherieBlairFndn @eMentor4Women]]> Justice, Stability and Prosperity: Building Fair Legal Systems for Africa tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.804709 2011-01-05T12:20:05-05:00 2011-05-25T18:25:24-04:00 Cherie Blair http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cherie-blair/ Co-authored by Philip Riches and Suella Fernandes.

Access to decent security and justice services, such as the police and courts, is as an important development goal as clean water, healthcare and education. Indeed, robust legal systems, independent and transparent judiciaries and clear, comprehensible laws are crucial for creating the conditions in which wider development efforts can take root and flourish.

The rule of law is the cornerstone of a properly functioning society, essential for stability and prosperity. Above all, it provides the framework for the building of trust -- between individuals in a society, between individuals and the state, and between those inside and those outside a country. This trust is simply indispensable to give a society confidence in the future, to look forward and to invest in itself (whether financially or in terms of social capital) and to encourage others to invest as well.

Where this trust has broken down, as it has in those countries recovering from conflict, the problems are many and serious. A lack of belief in the state's ability to protect its citizens leads to communities using illicit weapons to protect themselves with the likely impact on the fragile peace. The lack of accountable justice services can allow corruption and brutality to flourish with the most vulnerable, such as women and marginalized victims.

There is also, of course, a direct economic impact. Wealth creation needs basic legal mechanisms such as well-defined private property rights and comprehensive contract and corporate laws. Developed economies need rules governing investment, a system of secured lending that makes it easy for creditors to take a broad range of assets as collateral and a workable tax regime. Bringing these about requires law-making institutions to have effective resources, competency and transparency.

The challenge of improving the effectiveness of legal systems is widely recognized across Africa and there has been real progress in many countries on the continent. Spreading the good practice already entrenched, accelerating the improvements in others and supporting those which still face major problems is key to enabling Africa to make the most of its immense natural resources and the incredible potential of its people.

Africa Justice Foundation is a new charity set up by UK lawyers, including the three of us, which aims to help support this goal. Working in partnership with African lawyers, AJF is helping pool the efforts, know-how and resources of UK business, law firms and educational establishments to assist in a targeted, effective and sustained manner.

AJF is already helping eight Rwandan students to attend courses in the UK in Business Law and Legislative Drafting at Liverpool University, Liverpool John Moores, the Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, Queen Mary University and Surrey University. Three of the students have been sponsored by city law firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and SNR Denton. As part of their year-long program, each will spend time at the law firm to get valuable insights into the practicalities of commercial law in the city.

But we also recognize that the ambitions of Africa's lawyers and the hopes of the continent's citizens require support to be offered on the ground. So along with the Government Lawyer Study Scheme, AJF has facilitated a partnership between the Open University and the National University of Rwanda to offer open-source distance learning to students in Rwanda. In addition, teams of UK lawyers have volunteered their time and skills to teach students and lawyers in Legal Aid clinics in Sierra Leone. Other projects involve supporting a group of lawyers in Sierra Leone who represent detained female inmates convicted after having been denied a fair trial. AJF is also helping Rwandan lawyers adapt the on-line case reporting system already established in a number of southern African countries.

Bringing lawyers, business, educators and government together to share ideas and resources in this way can help build on and spread achievements. But we also recognize, in this area as in many others, the complaint from partners in Africa has often been of well-intentioned but uncoordinated support from the development community. AJF knows that there are no simple solutions. We are acutely aware of the need for close links with government and other partners in Africa so that the programs we support are both designed through collaboration and respond to the individual and express needs of the continent's lawyers and their societies. What is also not in doubt is that their goal of building effective, fair and trusted legal systems is key to unlocking Africa's enormous potential for the good of the continent and the rest of the world. ]]>