These handful of powerful women represent the ongoing social change that is occurring in Nepal. Nepal is predominately a patriarchal society. Many are subject to child marriage, sex slavery, forced labor, and there is a strong division of labor separated by gender. These women I photographed are women who have gone through adversity and changed the course of themselves and the generations of women and men in their family through education.
Through the Volunteer Initiative of Nepal and their women’s empowerment program, these women each have used education as a source of change and growth.
Many people I spoke to in Nepal told me there is an important saying, “If you change the woman, you will change her entire family.” These powerful women all told me the same thing, that the value of education is the recourse and answer for the difficulties and struggles of women in their country.
Each of these photographs have a story behind them. This is a portion of an ongoing project combining the struggles and triumphs of different women in various parts of the world. My next location will be Kenya and Tanzania.