Female Empowerment Through Financial Freedom

After experiencing sexual harassment in her place of work, Daphne De Celles, Founder and Executive Director of ThinkHer, decided that she wanted turn this awful situation into something positive. She set out on a mission to bring other women out of situations where they felt trapped, and so ThinkHer was born. Daphne knew that one of the most debilitating situations for many women around the world is a lack of financial stability and freedom, as well as the inability to access education. With 2/3 of the world’s illiterate people being women, there is clearly a vast gender disparity and absence of opportunity. Increasing women’s control over household income improves their children’s access to school and healthcare; gives women greater control over their reproductive health; improves women’s ability to make environmentally friendly choices; boosts women-run businesses; and improves their overall status in society.ThinkHer works to empower women by providing them with sustainable livelihoods that give them financial stability, as well as providing training in ecologically sound agricultural practices which improve the environment in which they live. Starting out in Kenya, and now Tanzania, ThinkHer work side-by-side with local people to implement solutions that are practical and sustainable for both the environment and culture.ThinkHer work to address gender oppression by focusing on rural, women-led work that remedies issues of poverty and resource disparities. Daphne describes women as an ‘untapped resource’, and is on a mission to empower them to reach their full potential in a planet-positive way. ThinkHer’s motto is ‘talent is universal, opportunity is not’ and Daphne strongly believes that there is a divine link between intersectional feminism and environmentalism, with this platform she wants to support indigenous women around the globe with dignified opportunities to achieve financial freedom so they can determine the course of their own lives.In this episode Hannah Mulvany speaks to Daphe de Celles, and Godfrey Mchunguzi Oyema, Conservation Biologist and Tanzania Project Manager, about the organization’s focus on having a holistic approach that considers everything from the soil to society as a whole.Visit ThinkHer’s website and find out more about the amazing work they do.

Join the Earth to Humans book club!

If you join the book club for just $1 per month, you’ll get a digital copy of Mark Dowie’s book, The Haida Gwaii Lesson, (featured in a previous episode of this podcast) and be invited to join a discussion session with the author.  Click here to join!