The Indian girl guides are one of more than 800 organisations in South Asia who together form ‘We Can’, a grassroots campaign to stop people turning a blind eye to routine violence against women. Oxfam Unwrapped has funded 250,000 black bags to be used by change-makers to carry their promotional materials as they go about their campaigning.
Sneha Misra, a We Can campaigner from India says: “By now the black We Can bags have an identity of their own. The materials in them may not be carried around all the time, but the bags are. Change-makers all come wearing their bags.”
Another group says that as long as the bags are hanging on the wall, they know a We Can meeting is on. The bags also help to keep change-makers motivated: “We see the languages on the bag and remember that we are now sharing our struggles with our sisters in five other countries.”
And better still, making the bags is providing much-needed income for a women’s enterprise in Ahmedabad (west India). Another sign that women are breaking the mould and challenging expectations.