At A Beautiful Story, we think it's important that - wherever you live - you get the same opportunities. Women and men. But in March, we are especially in solidarity with all women all over the world, because March 8th is International Women's Day.
Same opportunities
The majority of our artisans are women. We are so proud of that, because in many countries, it is not common for women to work. Women often stop working as soon as they have children. An income then falls away, while the family grows. Since we believe that women deserve the same development opportunities as men, we encourage them to return after pregnancy where we provide them with a safe environment. In some workshops there is even childcare available.
Beautiful stories for women
We work with producers who, like us, want to make a positive impact. For example, by ensuring women's independence, 6 of our 8 producers specifically focus on hiring women. We found that this works. When it comes to making financial and personal decisions, our women producers rate their feelings at 7.9. That's higher than the overall average score (including men): a 7.5.
Empowerment is independence
Beads for life, founded by Nimdiki Sherpa, is one of those producers. Nimdiki herself grew up in a wealthy family in Darjeeling, India. She went to good schools and became an ambitious woman. She realised that not all women have the same opportunities, so she went all out to change that by starting her workshop Beads for life. It now employs more than 60 women. These are independent women who decide for themselves what happens to their money because, as Nimdiki says: Empowerment is independence.
Take steps together
On March 8th we celebrate International Women's Day. We celebrate how strong women are even though being a woman is not always easy everywhere in the world. Together, we can make a difference, and we think that's important at A Beautiful Story. Are we already there? No, definitely not. But every step we take is one step closer.
Want to know how we are making a difference? You can read our impact report here.
Shop our lucky tools and make your own difference.
