Where have all the girls gone?

Almost five years ago to the day I received the both happy and terrifying news that I was pregnant.  I was living in Delhi at the time and received extremely high-quality care and support through my private health care.  At the second scan appointment, I had to sign a very detailed form stating that it was illegal for me to ask the Obstetrician the sex of the baby.  If I were to do so then they could refuse to treat me and that were the Obstetrician to accede to my request they would be sacked.  Coming from the UK this may seem quite shocking, however, living in a country were up to 12-million unborn girls have been aborted in the past 3 decades this is a more than appropriate response.

And yet, as I was speaking to some of my friends about the form I was startled to hear their response “well, if you want to know there is a private practice you can attend where the Obstetrician won’t tell you the gender but… they will tell you what colour you should paint the bedroom”.  Rather than these educated women, both ex-pat and from India, agreeing with the principle, enshrined in law, that it is illegal to request the sex of a foetus, they had merely paid their way around this.  And this small microcosm plays out across India, with wealthier, better-educated couples being the worst offenders, putting paid to hopes that socio-economic progress would lead to a change in attitude. Although all strata of Indian society share a preference for sons, better-off families have access to and can afford the ultrasound tests to reveal the sex of a foetus.

The term for this is genericide and it is worse than any genocide seen before and yet barely discussed.  The reasons behind this are many and complex and far better people than I have written extensively on this subject.  The reality of this being unchecked for decades (particularly in India and China) means there is a paucity of women of marriageable age – indications are that an increase in sex trafficking and child brides in India may be a response to this.

What can be done? “Women’s empowerment is critical in promoting change in the attitudes, behaviour and expectation in the patriarchal Indian society. The increasing involvement of women in the decision making process both financial as well as household influences her reproductive choices and desires. If the women are empowered then she can take decisions with respect to her own health, her family size and contraceptive use and articulate her views and desires. An empowered woman is more likely to take decisions of her family and health and is less likely to exercise son preference”.  We just need to get on and make this happen now.

Economic empowerment is key to this and this is what Just Clothing is aiming to do – one step at a time.

Money where your mouth is…

Welcome 2015.  i had a lovely long break over Christmas enjoying the joys and freezing cold of New England, knowing that this will probably the last time for a while that I can take a holiday…

…because, yes, I successfully completed my first raise before Christmas so now it is time to build the marketplace.  Still taking small steps, so we are using an off the shelf site to keep costs low and launching with just a couple of partners, including Castellano Ethnic Origins (as a soft launch) – aiming to be in the next 4-6 weeks.  We are also expanding the Just Clothing Company product range to include some scarves from Women’s Weave, an amazing organisation aiming at providing employment and preserving traditional weaving skills in India.

However, I’ve still to settle on a name for the marketplace.  The question is do we go for a neutral name (e.g. JUST) or one that specifically states what we are doing in the title (justethical, justforwomen, justsupportingwomen etc.)?  Still undecided but need to make a decision soon.

So back to it – Happy New Year to you all

It’s complicated.

I was recently taken on a tour of an arts project in the largest of Mumbai’s slums.  The focus of this amazing work is engaging the community in a conversation about violence against women and sexual health.  The Dharavi Biennale is the brainchild of SNEHA, a wonderful organisation I have had the privilege of working in partnership with for a number of years.  Alongside their life changing work in maternal and newborn health and brilliant prevention of early childhood nutrition projects they also have one of the world’s largest prevention of violence again women and children initiatives, headed up by the amazing Dr Nayreen Daruwalla.

 

Nayreen and David Osrin (a Wellcome Professor who has been collaborating on some groundbreaking research projects with SNEHA for many years) recently published their research on classifying women’s death from burns in India.  This is a horrific issue, on more than one level, that particularly affects the poorest communities in India; most of these deaths occur by accident in women in loose fitting saris and shalwars, often made from cheap-flammable fabrics, cooking on floor-standing hobs with open flames.  However, a small but significant number occur are due to homicide and suicide strongly linked to spousal/family abuse and a phenomenon known as ‘Dowry Death’.

Whilst Nayreen and David were showing me round the Dharavi Biennale, a journalist arrived to discuss their recently published research.  There was a clear agenda attached to the interview.  The journalist wanted a headline-grabbing statistic on the number of women victims of ‘Dowry Death’ and the general inadequate response by the police.  Firstly, this was not the aim of the research, it was a case study, not looking at large numbers but rather concentrating on detailed interviews from a small number of participants.  Secondly, it was not assessing the effectiveness of the police response but rather assessing how burns victims’ deaths were classified (e.g. as accidental death, homicide or suicide).  To try and draw out population level statistics from this: “XX% of women admitted to hospital with burns are a case of Dowry Death” is both inaccurate and irresponsible.

And most important of all, Nayreen’s prevention of violence against women and children initiative relies on working closely with the police for to safeguard the lives of many vulnerable women and children.  By associating the work they do with allegations of policy inadequacies, such potential assertions made by a journalist could have a very real and dangerous impact on her work.

Scientific research rarely supports a simple yes/no hypothesis.  Trying to over-simplify and use headline-grabbing tactics to present this work only deepens the distrust between the scientific and the wider community and at times this can have life-threatening implications.  As with everything in life it is multifaceted, however this doesn’t mean it is too complex to understand, just complicated…

Why Women?

Here’s three facts for you:

• WOMEN PERFORM 66% OF THE WORLD’S WORKING HOURS;
• WOMEN EARN ONLY 10% OF THE WORLD’S INCOME;
• WOMEN OWN ONLY 1% OF THE WORLD’S PROPERTY.

“Strong growth can not be sustained without gender equality and the empowerment of one half of the world’s population. Gender equality is smart economics and a key driver of global development”

Dr Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank Group

 

“By investing, by allowing [women] to create businesses that create profits you are creating a self sustaining loop. It goes way beyond philanthropy because it yields profits”

Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs

 

And here’s the real incentive:

ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN TRANSLATES INTO GREATER INVESTMENT IN CHILDREN’S EDUCATION, HEALTH AND NUTRITION, WHICH LEADS TO ECONOMIC GROWTH IN THE LONG TERM.

 

The barriers for women-led artisan businesses to reach the global market are many and varied, including lack of finance to purchase quality materials, lack of knowledge of international consumers taste and trends, technological and financial barriers to establishing an online shop and lack of access to international payment facilities. By providing a marketplace to showcase their products and process online payments, whilst providing design and technological support, Just Clothing Company can enable these communities to increase their revenues and grow their businesses.

 

The First…Board Meeting

Last night, in the glorious surroundings of the Grosvenor Lounge was the first time we all sat down together.

I felt relief that I am no longer on my own, gratitude that such talented and busy people will willingly give up their time for this and proud that I had managed to achieve taking the next important step into making Just Clothing Company into a successful and sustainable business.

About two months in to running Just Clothing Company full time I found myself overwhelmed and finding it very hard to prioritise what I needed to do to take the business forward.  I needed a board of advisors.

I had a very clear idea of the skills that were needed.  Given I am a start up running on a lean budget which is reliant consumers, I know that driving awareness and sales are a priority – but in the most cost effective way possible, with a key part of consumer engagement being the stories behind the products.  Social media and PR skills along with SEO,PPC online and offline marketing will be a core constituent of making the business a success.  But that, in itself is not enough – I needed support from successful entrepreneurs, people who have established their own business and supported others in making their businesses a success.

So back to the board: MEERKATWorks, an wonderful media buying company, Jeannie Shapiro with her amazing business skills and social media guru status, Rebecca Mayo, one of the leading lights in PR and Judith Blair with her incomparable experience in both technology and establishing successful start ups.  I am honoured that, despite how busy they all are, they all agreed and Just Clothing Company will benefit immensely from their involvement.

There’s a long way to go but all the easier by having company for the journey.

From Concept to Reality

Anyone who’s anyone in the world of start ups will tell you that you need to be flexible enough to adapt and change.  That the original concept will very rarely reflect the final business model.  This, in itself, is a challenge because egos have a habit of overriding good advice.  My salient advice would be to hold true to your key aim, everything else can move and shift but what matters is achieving this key objective:

“Economic empowerment of women from some of the poorest communities in the world using a sustainable and scalable business model”

So I’ve started with Just Clothing Company, tentative steps to testing the market and using the profits to get some women’s-led artisan businesses off the ground, but this model is hard to scale.

Where I want to take it is much, much bigger so the concept must evolve.  I want this to be the ‘Amazon Marketplace for artisans from all over the world’.  A one-stop-shop for consumers wanting high-quality, unique clothing and accessories that reflect their values and ethics.

So the business model changes but the core concept remains true.  Here’s to a long and prosperous future of staying true to your values and keeping egos in check!