Unfortunately, it has been culturally accepted for thousands of years across far too much of the world that women are second class citizens. This has led to massive inequalities between the sexes in almost all areas of life. Women fare worse in healthcare, do not have the same access to education, do not receive the same levels of pay for work they do and generally get a worse deal in life. This has knock-on impacts to life expectancy, mental health, happiness and leads to worse performance in every measurable way.
Village Foundations launched a project in 2025 to try to address this in Mwanyama Village and beyond.
Spearheaded by our ‘Head of Operations’, VF aims to improve the lives of women in every area where VF operates and beyond. The Cape Women’s Health Project aims to tackle inequalities through healthcare and education provision specifically for women and girls. This includes sexual health screening and support, chronic disease and health management, family planning and contraceptive services, health and sexual education, puberty and menopausal support, general education and teaching of life skills that will help women to improve their own lot in life, aiming to lead toward a fairer and more equal society.
Based primarily from out of the VF Health Centre, but also being delivered directly to remote and rural communities where these inequalities are at their worst, this package of healthcare and education aims to give women the tools and support to overcome the hurdles they will inevitably face in a way that will help them emerge as the leaders that they can be and to reach their fullest potential.
The United Nations state that in Malawi, people on average reach less than half of their potential, stating also that it has one of the widest sex inequality gaps in the world. This is something that cannot be left to continue, something that goes against the core VF ethos of providing equal and equitable access to a good quality of life for everyone.