Women comprise slightly more than fifty percent of the world’s population and are now a significant factor in the global working population. Yet, in many countries women’s contributions remain undervalued.
Inequality and physical degradation continue at an alarming rate worldwide. I’ve traveled far and wide and have witnessed women in many environments, some at the top of the heap but most struggling to balance work, family duties and self esteem.
Women worldwide began entering the workforce in significant numbers only in the last fifty years. As relatively new arrivals and particulary in more isolated locations, I’ve observed women continue to dress traditionally. Globalization has yet to homogenize the working woman’s wardrobe.
As I’ve trekked with camera in tow and a sensitive eye, I’ve attempted to capture women in their reality, some venturing into the new while others remain in the old. I share images of women who made me smile and think ”Atta girl”, women whom I watched with compassion and sympathy, as they struggle to earn a wage and women whose recent emancipation from tradition filled me with hope. These are photos of women along the way.
Eva Mallis, Photographer
“If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man’s superior. Has she not greater intuition, is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater powers of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her, man could not be. If nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with woman. Who can make a more effective appeal to the heart than woman?”
-Mohatma Gandhi, October 4, 1930
