This is the third blog in PBB’s human library series. People Beyond Borders’ work is rooted in cultural and ethnographic approaches to migration, displacement and the humanitarian sector. Instead of interpreting stories, we seek to really listen to it from the person living it with a hope to un-judge a book by its cover through our human library-styled series.
Women all over the world are facing immense difficulties and discrimination in their everyday lives. This is due to diverse structural inequalities that exist in our societies, which have been perpetuated over time. Women are often denied the same rights and privileges as men, resulting in being subject to vulnerable conditions of sorts . From gender-based violence, unequal access to education and healthcare to a lack of representation in decision-making positions – the list of issues women face are long and complex.
The future of inclusivity depends on more than just policy level changes, including a systematic change in the way people think, interact, consume and exist. Co-existing within a space together while one would assume means being inclusive, is often not. Inequalities are still a deeply rooted problem in today’s world. To address these inequalities, we must work towards creating community-level platforms and spaces that empower women and give them back their agency.
One such space is Hear My Voice, – Women’s Network (HMV-WN), an online platform that globally offers empowerment programs to women. HMV-WN works to empower women changemakers to raise their voices to advocate for meaningful, equitable change in their community by creating a global network and providing safe spaces that foster gender-responsive educational development and skills growth. HMV-WN co-founded by Lauren Donnison and Evelyn Palach, provides women the chance to participate in networking activities and online training, improving their public speaking abilities and igniting their desire for making positive changes in their communities.
“I really wanted to support people and find a way to engage with them. HMV-WN focuses on women and finds a way to support them on their gender journey, raise awareness around gender inequality and tries to work with people to promote gender justice in their own communities”, says Lauren when asked about why she founded the organization. Lauren comes from 10+ years of experience working in gender, law and development having spent most of her time living abroad. Originally from the UK, Lauren is driven towards working in the global south to empower those who seek it the most.
Lauren Donnison is a gender expert, passionate feminist, experienced educator, and social justice advocate. She has worked in the field of social justice, women’s rights, and education specifically in areas such as prevention of sexual and gender-based violence, legal educational development, leadership, and youth empowerment. Lauren is committed to improving access to justice, women’s rights, and increasing women’s empowerment.
“I was really interested in more of a social justice, human rights element when I was studying and not really the corporate law areas of law”, says Lauren jokingly when she was reminiscing about her journey. Early in her professional career during an internship, Lauren mentions working specifically in justice education with universities . She worked in countries like Thailand and Laos with an organization that worked to incorporate interactive teaching as well as student-centered and practical education that focused on promoting justice within the communities they worked in. After a long journey covering continents, Lauren is now currently a gender specialist consultant for an organization in Thailand and also leads HMV-WN.
“In 2023, HMV-WN will be conducting a 16-week program where we have students taking classes but developing and implementing their own small-scale community projects. So there is an element of feminist principle to enable taking action while enhancing your own learning” – Lauren
On being asked how intersectionality plays a role during these programs, Lauren beautifully describes how coming from different backgrounds has enabled these digital programs to be even more inclusive because everyone comes from a different setting – what may seem as an inequality to us might not seem like one to someone else.
“I think that this homogenization prevents people from understanding that people are very different and that we all have very different needs. We need to view everything from an intersectional lens, even teaching!”
The conversation was a learning curve for all of us as we come from three different worlds but also work in social impact. Coming from different environments also brings up questions that dwindle us – Prerna, co-founder of People Beyond Borders, raises a question of how stories can empower communities to which Lauren mentions how being in a singular setting but amongst different sets of people is empowering itself. Education plays a big role in understanding intersectionality and the needs of other people.
“If women aren’t represented in an organization, company or government, they’re also not being represented through the work they’re doing, the community they’re serving, and henceforth communities or governments are not understanding the real needs of the people that they are serving”
On that note, Lauren shares with us a beautiful anecdote from a student who felt empowered to talk to her parents about how it is unfair that she is the only one doing household chores and not her brother. She advocated for herself because she now knew that there is gender disparity happening in her home.
“Her feedback was that it had a huge impact on her life. Because she was able to then advocate to her own parents that created a change for her life. She had more time for studying or more time for hanging out with her friends, or I don’t know, even just watching Netflix, who knows? But I think that taking those small steps is really important too”
We are so glad to have had an opportunity to speak to Lauren about her personal passions and Hear My Voice. It is empowering to see women all over the world making a difference, every small step counts!
If you wish to know more about HMV-WN and Lauren’s work, visit https://www.hearmyvoice.info/ today or know more about their collective vision here. You can connect with Lauren on LinkedIn and reach out to her for more insights or maybe just a friendly chat!
