Today we celebrate 50 years since the United Nations first recognized March 8th as International Women's Day. It has been 114 years since the women first celebrated the day by marching to demand the right to vote, hold office and be treated fairly in the workplace. While women have gained many more rights since that first march in 1911, across the globe women continue to face attacks to their safety, health, autonomy and lives. One of the biggest drivers of women's expanded roles in society and the workplace has been the expansion of reproductive rights over the past century. Reproductive rights refer to the ability to decide whether and when to have children. Research suggests that being able to make decisions about one’s own reproductive life and the timing of one’s entry into parenthood is associated with greater relationship stability and satisfaction, more work experience among women, and increased wages and average career earnings. In addition, the ability to control the timing and size of one’s family can have a significant effect on whether a young woman attends and completes college.

While global access to reproductive healthcare has expanded significantly over the past 50 years, recent policy changes at the federal level in the United States and 24% of other countries globally threatens to reverse these trends. Not only have reproductive freedoms been curtailed here in the U.S., but due to the recent elimination of global aid through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), many reproductive health programs across the world are at risk. We are in the midst of a global backlash against gender equality, a backlash that we must resist! Minga's partner, SEIINAC in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico is also at risk. Minga is currently providing funding for SEIINAC to educate people in the rural communities of northern Hidalgo about reproductive health topics including how to access legal and safe abortions. While this project is moving forward with Minga's support, SEIINAC also has a project working to reduce feminicide and lethal domestic violence that has received funding through USAID for the past 3 years. That funding has now stopped and SEIINAC is facing a $30,000 deficit to continue the important work they have been doing. With so many global partners acutely losing USAID funding, the demand for non-profit grant funding will skyrocket.

We ask you today, March 8th, to demonstrate your support for women's equal access to safe healthcare, the right to live free from violence, and the right to access education and employment. We must not let down our vigilance or we risk losing the gains of the past century. Take a stand for the women of the world by supporting Minga with a donation today, any amount will help us reach our goal. As an all-volunteer organization, our overhead costs are low. The bulk of your donation will go directly to support our project partners in Mexico, Ecuador and Brazil.

In February of this year, our long-time board member, Dr. Erin Lund, and volunteer, Dr. Guille Freschl, traveled to Hidalgo, Mexico to join SEIINAC in their current reproductive health project. They met with physicians and government officials to learn about their successes and challenges to expanding access to safe and legal first trimester abortion throughout Hidalgo. As a country where abortion was legalized only 3 years ago, the people they met on the trip were acutely aware of the complications resulting from clandestine or self-managed abortion. The legalization of abortion has significantly reduced the number of patients presenting with life-threatening hemorrhage in early pregnancy, according to one of the physicians they met. Our site visitors also helped provide trainings to adolescents, parents and teachers about a wide variety of reproductive health topics in three different high schools in remote communities. We continue to be impressed with SEIINAC's skills in dynamic group facilitation and their collaboration with governmental, educational and medical staff to change policies and systems. We anticipate continuing to support them in this work throughout 2024 and likely beyond. We also hope to raise sufficient funds to help SEIINAC continue their pre-existing projects in light of the USAID funding freeze. Help us by making a one time or recurring donation today. Together we can continue the fight for women's rights and health.

Support Our Work on International Women's Day

By The Minga Foundation

Support Our Work on International Women's Day

Help us grow our partnership with SEIINAC to expand women's rights in rural Mexico