International Women's Day is a day for not only celebrating the achievements of women but a chance to strive for gender equality.
When we think of gender inequality in the UK, the gender pay gap may spring to mind. Then there is the issue of women taking on more unpaid caring roles than men. The world is ever changing, and there are many challenges that need to be overcome.
Spending time in the communities in which we work in Africa and Asia has proved a real eye opener. It has highlighted just some of the difficulties the women living there face. Obstacles that we in the UK might not even consider. In fact it has made me realise just how hard it is to be a woman living in a developing country, let alone a disabled woman.
In many of the communities we serve the women are illiterate. Education is not seen as a priority for girls. Instead marriage is their only financial security. The fight for survival truly begins when a woman is diagnosed with a feared disease like leprosy. She is far more likely to be cast out of the family home for this terribly unjust reason than if it were her husband.
Then there are issues like water collection that we in the UK take for granted. In many of the communities where we work there is no piped water. Aside from the health risks this poses, the job of fetching the water falls to the women. Carrying even the minimal amount of water a family needs each day is heavy. Yet it is not unusual to see an elderly woman disabled by leprosy do a 5km round trip to the nearest river daily.
There are so many inequalities for women in these communities. And it takes a great deal of trust and creative thinking to overcome them. Even the basics of curing leprosy.
Latest data from the World Health Organization shows that 40 per cent of people diagnosed with leprosy are women. Now, there is no evidence to suggest that men are more likely to contract leprosy than women. But there are many social reasons why women are less likely to be treated. This puts them at a higher risk of developing irreversible disabilities, including blindness.
In many societies a woman must ask her husband's permission to see a doctor. Then the doctor or health worker may be a man, causing a woman to feel uncomfortable to be examined.
Our teams are always working in new ways to encourage women to seek prompt treatment. This includes women health workers carrying out leprosy screenings in women's groups. Door to door visits are also being made at strategic times of the day when women are likely to be home alone.
We have just received the results of a leprosy case finding project in the North West of Bangladesh. The project has been actively case finding among women. It proudly reported that out of the 689 people cured of leprosy in 2024, some 389 were women - bucking the global trend at 56 per cent!
Gender equality is possible - it simply takes insight, determination and innovative thinking. Meanwhile I will take my inspiration from the incredible role models I have had the joy of meeting. Such as the irrepressible Bonita and Sunitra, pictured.
I met these two wonderful women in the leprosy colony they have called home for the past 40 years. They arrived within a month of each other. Both had suffered terrible abuse and rejection at the hands of leprosy.
Their friendship is one made of steel. Together they have survived the toughest times and most squalid living conditions. They are there for one another through thick and thin, amazingly with a smile on their faces. They are the true personification of women's resilience, resourcefulness and joyous camaraderie.
