Group Event in Kuta Beach

Last Saturday July the 14^th we had the second Bersahara women gathering in Kuta Beach. As new groups join we wanted to make sure that they get to know other groups, exchange experiences and have fun together.

Again we had some time to reflect about the good things about being a woman and also about the most difficult things that women face. As we found out last time, women in the groups find child bearing and family caring as the best thing of being women. Generally, the biggest difficulties are related to the burden of having to do all the household work alone and having to deal with angry husbands. 

According to the National Population Census by BPS Indonesia, Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB) province has one of the lowest sex ratio in Indonesia, at 94% vs. 101 for total Indonesia, which means there are more women than men. With 1,252,000 Households, at an average size of 3.6members/household, the province has the lowest literacy rate of all Indonesia (after Papua) for both men and women, at 86% and 77% respectively (vs. 95% and 90% for national average). On average, men will attend school an average of 7 years, while for girls the average drops to 6 years. This, together with the low GDP/capita explains that the province holds the lowest Human Development Index (HDI) in the country, at 65,2% vs 72,7% national average.

Despite their difficult situation we find these women incredibly patient, hard working and willing to learn and improve every day.

We hope that our efforts to educate women and support them in generating an income will slowly contribute to the improvement of human development of the area, and particularly in the empowerment of these women so they are able to choose their own future.