Strengthening Women’s Economic Organizing Power in Indonesia and Timor L’este

This presentation is from Women’s Organizing for Economic Rights and Democracy in Southeast Asia, a breakout session at the AWID 2012 Internation Forum on Women’s Rights and Development. Around the world, access to cash and credit through micro-financing programs is touted as a magic bullet for eradicating women’s poverty. Yet, there is limited evidence that these strategies alone fundamentally alter the power relationships that drive women’s poverty in the first place. Check out these snapshots from Indonesia and Timor L’este where access to cash and credit is combined with training and support to tackle gender discrimination and empower women. At the heart of women’s economic inequality and deepening poverty is a democracy deficit. Using their own realities and experiences, young diverse women activists share alternative approaches that use women’s economic injustice as an entry point to improve the condition by changing the ownership of resources.