Empowering women
Clearing landmines is not for the faint-hearted, but it can be rewarding to make your local community safe. Many incredible women around the world have stepped up to the challenge and taken on roles as deminers, supervisors, paramedics, mechanics or translators for HALO. The local women we employ often become agents of change in their own communities, empowered by their newfound status, skills and income.
Women at HALO
Across HALO's workforce, 95% of our staff come from the communities we serve and an increasing number are women:
- In Angola, 45% of our overall workforce are female, rising to 56% among our operational staff.
- A survey of our staff in Zimbabwe found almost 90% of our female employees were the primary earner, reporting that on average they support eight other family members on their salary.
- In Somaliland almost 90% of our female staff are the family's main breadwinner but they spend 60% of their income on childcare related expenses.
- In Iraq, women face significant challenges to securing stable employment from years of conflict, displacement and social attitudes about women's role in society. The burden of childcare also falls disproportionately on women. HALO Iraq has been able to increase the number of women employed from 4 in 2018 to 26 in 2022.
Support for female employees
Childcare and related expenses are one of the major obstacles for many women, so we have taken several steps to provide support:
- Childcare stipends so mothers with young children have the opportunity to return to work
- The provision of baby boxes for new mothers, including essentials such as formula, baby clothes, nappies, blankets and hygiene supplies
- School supplies boxes with uniform, school bag, stationery supplies and oral hygiene essentials
"I was the first female mech operator in HALO Sri Lanka. Since I started, other women have also become operators. I am proud of this and like to think I inspired them. You must be strong to be an operator. I try to encourage more women to come forward and take on the challenge."
Beyond Bombs podcast: Women in demining
HALO has always employed women from war-torn countries to clear their own communities. But how do bombs and conflict affect women differently? And how does a job as a deminer empower women in some of the traditional societies where HALO works?
In this podcast episode JJ talks to campaigner Camilla Thurlow about her experience working alongside HALO's women deminers in Cambodia and Zimbabwe. We also hear from Noku Masiyanise from HALO Zimbabwe, who talks about the challenges faced by rural women in her country and how HALO is providing unique opportunities for them.
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