At Andean Collection we work with a great group of artisans in Ecuador who make our fantastic jewellery line. We work with men and women who have amazing skills and strength. Our business development and brand outreach manager, Maureen McMurray, had the great idea of celebrating the wonderful women we work with on our blog during the month of March. The whole Ecuador team took on some interviewing tasks and got their cameras out. Almost every day during the entire month we highlighted one woman whom we work with in the true TdF fashion.
What stood out to me during this experience of interviewing the women on gender in their country and personal lives was that although I often talk to the artisans about various things, I had not talked to them about the role of women in Ecuador and how it is changing in their view. Women can do more now and a lot of the artisans we work with feel more empowered than their mothers and grand-mothers, but I also realised that there is a long way to go!
I am also realising more and more how important role models are in anybody’s life, but especially for those who are brought up believing they are less than because of their gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or any other category they may fall in.
Here are the links to a few selected blog postings for women’s history month at Andean Collection. I invite you to read some of these stories, how is your life different from your mother’s or grandmother’s?
Viviana from the coast http://www.theandeancollection.blogspot.com/2012/03/celebrate-spring-with-viviana-woman.html
Anita from the Andes region, also one of our scholarship recipients http://www.theandeancollection.blogspot.com/2012/03/womens-history-month-women-who-make-ac_15.html
Our production assistant Cristina http://www.theandeancollection.blogspot.com/2012/03/women-who-make-ac-possible-cristina.html