Our ambition for International Women's Day this year was significant. Being connected with work in conflict and international development, we had hoped to spotlight some of the many women affected by the ongoing wars on Palestine and Ukraine, and the Hamas attacks in Israel on 7 October.
Unfortunately, particularly because of how much of a challenge it has been to reach women's charities in Gaza, and due to a family illness, we've had to delay this work.
At Paradisefold, we know that women can only flourish when the baseline political context enables this. It is unfortunate and true that women continue to suffer in war largely due to the hubris of men in power.
As an example of this, earlier this week, we learnt that two women we had tried to reach, Nour Naser and Dana Yaghi: both lawyers who work on women's rights in Gaza, had been killed in Israeli air strikes. Nour and seven of her family members were killed in Rafah, and Dana and 39 friends and family sheltering together were killed at her family's home in Deri al-Balah in central Gaza.
This International Women's Day, our thoughts are with every woman fearing for her life and for the life of family and friends, hostages and prisoners, in conflict. We cannot ignore conflicts and expect they'd resolve themselves. That's why this weekend we're also donating 10% of proceeds to B'Tselem, an Israeli NGO working for human rights, liberty and equality to all people, Palestinian and Jewish alike, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Sending everyone lots of love this International Women's Day. 💚
Paradisefold x
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