Equines Empowering Women!

In the developing world two-thirds of the livestock keepers, that is a total of approximately 400 million, are WOMEN

The Brooke, a charity that focuses on working equines,(horses, donkeys and mules) is a major supporter of the women and of their working equines. The Brooke works in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East reaching over two million working horses donkeys and mules. The Brooke is not a rescue organization but with vets, animal welfare specialists as well as advocacy and development specialists works to improve the lives of working equines and to educate and support their owners.

Photo from Brooke Website

Here is what the Brooke has to say about their work with women.

Owning and caring for equines, alongside earning income from their work, raises women’s social status and recognition in the community. Equines help with household chores, which frees up time for women to participate in other social and economic activities.

Brooke’s policy brief ‘Invisible Livestock – benefits, threats and solutions’ explains how working equines contribute to sustainable development goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 5 on gender equality.

Our ‘Invisible Livestock: Voices from Women’ report explores the role of working horses, mules and donkeys in supporting the lives of women from the perspectives of the women themselves.Invisible Helpers Report.pdf 7.29 MB

sdg 5 gender equality
Photo from the Brooke Website

In many countries, women are the primary carers of equine animals, providing them with feed, shelter and in some cases, first aid. Despite this role, however, many women have no access to education and training in equine health.

Image from Brooke Website

With Brooke’s support, women are forming their own equine welfare groups. This not only gives them the opportunity to learn good welfare practices, but also increases their reliance on each other by working together as a group, sharing resources and saving money to support members during hard times. For example, if one woman can’t afford treatment for their horse if it becomes sick, she can dip in to the group fund to get a loan, without having to worry about long term debt.

Here is a Brooke video that shows women and their working equines. These horses and donkeys are not kept in the sort of stables our sport horses are.But they are fed well and looked after and with help and education from the Brooke these equines are healthy and able to help the families of their owners. Do take a look at this video. It is a glimpse into how equines can empower women .

If you would like more information on the history of the Brooke or the wonderful work they are doing for working equines then please take a look at their website. https://www.thebrooke.org/

Comments

30 responses to “Equines Empowering Women!”

  1. K E Garland Avatar

    This is very cool. Thanks for sharing.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. anne leueen Avatar

      I’m so glad you liked it. Thanks for leaving this comment!

      Liked by 1 person

  2. markbierman Avatar

    What a great program!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. anne leueen Avatar

      The Brooke is a wonderful organization . By helping to educate owners and give healthcare to working equines in developing countries they help the families who rely on those animals.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Image Earth Travel Avatar

    Great post and such an interesting read!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. anne leueen Avatar

      I think the Brooke does such important work looking after working equines in the developing world and in doing this and educating their owners they are helping families and especially the women.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. da-AL Avatar

    Love this so much I just reblogged it – hope it brings lots of new folks to your lovely site, Anne 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. anne leueen Avatar

      Oh my! Thank you so much!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. da-AL Avatar

        My pleasure 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  5. da-AL Avatar

    Reblogged this on Happiness Between Tails by da-AL and commented:
    Did you know that owning and caring for a horse or a donkey empowers women? Here blogger (horseaddict.net) Anne Leueen fills us in…

    Liked by 1 person

  6. kiraninprogress Avatar
    kiraninprogress

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    Liked by 1 person

  7. cigarman501 Avatar

    Great post. I grew up with plow horses and mules. Some of my favorite memories involve riding a mule with an army surplus saddle, split into two parts to sit on the mule’s prominent backbone. It was intended to keep certain body parts in place.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. anne leueen Avatar

      That is a great memory. Good to kow you could improvise the saddle to accomodate you. Riding a horse or mule with a prominent backbone bare back can be torture even for us women!

      Like

      1. cigarman501 Avatar

        The saddle was US Army surplus.

        Liked by 1 person

  8. MAP195 Avatar
    MAP195

    wonderful…..

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Emma Cownie Avatar

    Great work. It reminds me of when I visited India in the late 1990s and saw women building roads, carrying rocks on their heads. Women in developing countries often do the hardest work (no weaker sex here) but have limited social & economic power. It’s great to see education helping the women and the equines.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. anne leueen Avatar

      Thanks for this comment Emma. It is another part of the good work done by the Brooke.

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Photography Journal Blog Avatar

    Really interesting and important work it sounds like.

    Like

  11. Gavin & Wyatt Avatar

    Powerful women with powerful horses…a true force.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. WallFlowerStudio Avatar

    A wonderful video, Anne. Education and a bit of funding, along with horses, sure can create better lives for women.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. anne leueen Avatar

      Thanks for taking the time to leave this positive comment. 😃

      Like

  13. Nirmal Chohan Avatar
    Nirmal Chohan

    Awesome progress for SDG 5 but also for SDG 15 Life on Land. Inspiring impact, inspiring initiative!

    Liked by 2 people

  14. Subbashini Meenakshi Sundaram Avatar

    I thought horses are owned only by rich people as it includes high costs to maintain it. Through this post only I learned like cows or ox it is used by village people. Great to know they are helping to increase the standard of women. I feel jealous on these women as they have knowledge about horses and donkeys, which I don’t.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. anne leueen Avatar

      Thank you for this comment Subbashini. The Brooke is helping women in the developing countries to take good care of their livestock and provide for their families.

      Liked by 1 person

  15. da-AL Avatar

    Absolutely wonderful!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. anne leueen Avatar

      Thank you for this comment.I 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  16. Equines Empowering Women! — HorseAddict | sara annon Avatar

    […] Equines Empowering Women! — HorseAddict […]

    Liked by 2 people

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