Iron Dames: The all-female team racing to bring change to motor sports

Laila Haidary is breaking with tradition, she owns her own restaurant in Kabul, and forms part of a growing trend where women are owning or managing restaurants and denting the male dominated industry. “This idea in itself had its own challenges because our extremely conservative society does not always approve of artistic expressions. Added to that, the fact it is run by a businesswoman makes many people uncomfortable,” she says.”

Yuwa is a nonprofit organization that draws girls into education through sport, giving them the opportunity to play football while also providing high-quality instruction and skills training. The program serves about 600 students and has seen participants go on to study at universities, pursue coaching careers, and even play in the national football federation.

In Karachi, Pakistan, a group of women gathers every week to bike around the city, an act that works to bring awareness to equal rights between men and women. Despite backlash from men in the community, the bicyclists encourage each other to stand up to societal norms and ask the question, "If they can ride, why can't we?"

In Rwanda, women are breaking gender stereotypes by playing soccer. After the Rwandan genocide of 1994, Felicite Rwemarika used her own money to fund the organization Women in Sport. Since then, it’s helped women process their trauma, and challenge traditional gender roles in the country.

In Diepsloot, South Africa, a small office called Lawyers Against Abuse offers legal support for sexual assault cases in a violent city that traditionally does little to address the issue. The organization offers lawyers, victim advocates, legal counseling, and therapy as they go through the process. Since 2015, they have helped more than 800 women and secured 28 convictions.

Once again the bicycle is playing a part in empowering women! In this case, several organizations across the United States are using mountain biking to build preteen and teenage girls' confidence and drive. The dedication and strength that this adventure sport requires disrupts constraining gender roles for girls at a critical time in their development, and programs across the country seem to be growing in popularity quickly.

Coaches and players around the world are using sports to teach boys about masculinity and the importance of integrity, both on and off the field. From cricket in India to rugby in Fiji, games are used as a foundation for teaching important life lessons and values. As a result, young men participating in these programs have been found less likely to show aggression and more likely to believe abuse against women is wrong.

In a mountain village in the north of India, a women’s knitting group formed five years ago to help women reach for financial independence. The group ended up breaking stereotypes, building confidence, and creating lifelong bonds along the way. Many women in the knitting group are now able to support themselves and their children on the money they make from selling their knit products.

When faced with the challenge of creating a better raft to access unexplored whitewater, a family devised what is now known as the Alpacka Raft. Changing the way people can explore the outdoors, the family company has turned into "one of the largest custom outdoor gear manufacturing shops in the country."

Grassroots organizations, Empowered by Light and Empower Generation, are killing two birds with one stone: bringing clean energy to rural Nepal, and creating jobs for Nepalese women in the environmental sector. By helping to install electricity-generating solar panels, which simultaneously prevents illegal animal poaching, women are provided not only with a stable income and a ladder to reliable economic growth, but also with a rich work-life balance, allowing them to become “clean energy entrepreneurs” while continuing to care for their families and tend to their village’s needs.