What Makes Us Stronger

In this episode, we’ll hear from Rose in the DRC about her experience and Nisha talks to Dr Leyla Hussein, a renowned psychotherapist who provides support to survivors of sexual violence and is a global campaigner for gender rights.   

*A warning that this episode contains content you might find upsetting, including references to sexual violence and FGM*  

Women in sub–Saharan Africa face the largest digital gender gap in the world. They’re 37 percent less likely than men to use the mobile internet, despite extensive mobile coverage across the continent. But when women access digital financial tools, the evidence shows they take control of much more than just their finances.

Even though most farm workers in developing countries are women, very few of them own the land they work on. Some rural communities ignore the law and forcibly seize land from women or prevent them from buying or inheriting land in the first place. In this episode, Nisha hears from Angelique, a Congolese woman who tried to persuade a skeptical community that she had just as much right to own land as her husband. Nisha also talks to Rachel Boketa, the Country Director of Women for Women International in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sabreen Alikhan, our Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning about a project to support women like Angelique to become advocates for equality as well as ‘boss ladies’ in their own right.

In just one year, women’s lives have got a lot harder in Afghanistan. Unable to work, go to school or leave their homes without a male guardian, they are struggling to adapt to new restrictions imposed by the de facto government. In this episode, Nisha talks to Afghan women about what it feels like to lose basic freedoms and what makes them stronger against all the odds.

When you have to leave your home because of war, everything changes. In this episode, we’ll hear from four incredible women who also happen to be refugees. At times of extreme crisis, all our guests found reserves of strength they didn’t know they had and the experience has shaped their lives and futures in ways they didn’t anticipate.