Ethical Fashion Initiative x #HeForShe #IWD2019

This International Women's Day 2019 the Ethical Fashion Initiative joins the He For She movement. The programme has launched in Burkina Faso, where a workshop was designed with a team of local social workers to challenge traditional gender roles. Women from an EFI cotton weaving centre outside of Ouagadougou invited a male from each of their families to participate in the days activities. Beginning with a competition of gender role reversal, men and women competed in walking with buckets of water on their heads and repairing bicycles, which provided surprise results with the women winning every round. After the men prepared a meal (which was met with much hesitancy initially!) the group divided into focus groups and engaged in an open conversation on gender in their community, and how men and women could support each other in their problems. This is not a topic that is spoken about in Burkina Faso and the results of the workshop far surpassed expectations. All 80 participants volunteered to sign the #HeForShe petition. Video: Kreativ Productions, Ouagadougou Post Production: BigStyle Media House