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IWDA Supporter Pledges No Chocolate for a Year!

In October 2009, Emma Harley made a decision to support women around the world living with poverty and oppression. In making this commitment, Emma came up with a fundraising initiative that would raise awareness of the daily struggles of millions of women and pledged to give up chocolate for a year. Read why Emma decided to support the work of IWDA.

“Many women in the Western world take opportunity for granted. It’s easy to forget what has been fought for, and even easier to forget the struggles of the majority of the worlds’ women – women who live with poverty, oppression and lack of the most basic opportunities.

So please support me in trying to give more to those with more pressing concerns. With your support, I will give up chocolate for a year, donating $10 weekly to the IWDA by becoming an Empower donor, and seeking your donations also – 100% of your donation will go to assisting women’s development in the Asia-Pacific region.”

I was becoming increasingly concerned about the decline of a moderate, informed feminism in younger generations of women, and a lack of awareness of the need to fight for women’s rights; a lack of awareness about how lucky we are in this country compared to so many women around the world.

I had also spent much of last year in remote communities in Central Australia and was reminded how vital it is to educate, support and empower the women in those communities if anything is to change, on every level.

Empowering and protecting such women is not only just, but is the best way to make progress in issues of global poverty, human rights and environmental degradation, creating a raft of improvements across the board – environmentally, medically, socially and economically. When women and girls are educated and liberated, the whole community prospers.

For us, the greatest challenge on any given day may well be a struggle to cut back on chocolate! Truth be told, I did actually have a dream one night, rather like a divine ordination, that I should give up chocolate for a year. When I woke up, I thought ‘how ridiculous!’, but somehow that rolled together with the above issues and I thought, ‘why not do it to try to raise more awareness of the struggles of so many women?’

Being an utter chocolate-adorer, it’s certainly been hard but is sure to be an interesting journey. I just wish people would donate more – they seem more concerned about trying to feed me chocolate!

If you would like to show Emma your support and donate to IWDA on her behalf, please download the Donation Coupon below and post it to IWDA, PO Box 64, Melbourne, Victoria, 8009 or fax it to (03) 9654 9877.