Women's Empowerment

WHAT I SAW, Iten village, Kenya: There was a running race hosted by a Dutch company with equal prize money but only 6-women ran with 126-men.  With equal prizes (one air ticket) I asked the women, "Why?  Every day you say you want to go abroad and here was your chance!"  The ladies told me, "Our society doesn't allow us to run, but we want to, but our men said no.  It is the way, and has always been the way."

Living in NYC I see it, almost every day.  Someone says 'I want to change my life.'  As a runner I know the huge empowerment running has given me.  I also know that it stands as a springboard to so much more in life, but it also is an example of how inequality comes to our world in the most basic of fashion -- being treated as a second class citizen.  There are many ways of addressing Women's empowerment, but if you believe, like I do, that the future of Africa rests on the shoulders of its ladies then we have to give these ladies a platform.  

A Shoe4Africa woman's empowerment run in Morocco

Imagine, surprised at what I saw above, I put on a women's only race in the same small village of 4,000-people ["You must be a woman to run this race"] one year later.  Instead of women coming and telling me they had stones being thrown at them for going out running I had 2,900 ladies all coming out to run together to run the town... instead of six.

I have seen a grandma run in a Shoe4Africa race, her first opportunity to partake in a public run since leaving primary school.... she had been waiting.  Her daughter saw her hoist her prize (running shoes) up in the air, and she started running - now she runs for the Kenyan.National team and has become a village change maker herself.

Little examples of what our races do beyond the most basic.  Everyone deserves the joy of the freedom of being able to run & interact with social sports; can you believe there are places in the world where it is a taboo for women?

A women's soccer team in the heart of Kibera? [LINK]

Future plans [should any potential partners be reading].  We want to build a community house in Kenya where women's programs are run from.  A base for the soccer team, a running team, library, a resource center to help women build confidence & self-esteem, skills, and flower with personal growth.