Mountain Women of the World
Mountain Women of the World is a network across eight countries co-led by non-profit organisation Empowering Women of Nepal, non-profit organisation Feminist Hiking Collective, groups Kilimanjaro Women and las Cholitas Escaladoras de Bolivia, Mujeres a la Cumbre, Topchu Art Group and Women Who Hike-Africa.
Mountain Women of the World is a transnational network of mountain women* that aims to build mountain women's collective feminist leadership, strengthen economic justice, narrate a collective mountaineering story and foreground the collective knowledge and experience of mountain women in protecting mountains.
We aim to foreground the fundamental importance of collectively protecting mountains, to create and sustain a narrative of mountaineering as a collective experience that builds women's collective power, thus encouraging more women to get involved with mountaineering, and as a tool for collective care, sharing and solidarity, to build humility, resilience, and our reciprocity with and belonging to Mother Earth.
Launch of report Mountain Women of the World: Challenges, Resilience and Collective Power and editorial for International Mountains Day in La Repubblica: December 2022
About the first expedition of the Mountain Women of the World network:
We aim to gather in the Mount Aconcagua in Argentina mountain women, such as women guides, porters, mountain workers, hikers and women living in mountainous areas, from different backgrounds, including women who are working in heavily patriarchal environments where men generally carry out these activities. They defend and live in reciprocity with the mountains, and protect our connection and belonging to Mother Earth. The participating women will seek to share this experience in their communities with wider groups of mountain women.
The mountain unites us. United, equal, supporting and caring for each other to tell a collective feminist hiking story.
*with the term "women" we always mean people self-identifying with this gender.
Mountain Women Collectively Defending the Earth
Earth Day, 22 April 2021
Mountain Women of the World Webinar for Earth Day - our connection with the mountains
Two-hundred mountain women from across the world, including Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Zambia, participating to Webinar “We are Nature: Mountain Women Collectively Defending the Earth” share reflections on our connection with the Mountains.
Duecento donne di montagna da tutto il mondo, tra cui Albania, Alemania, Argelia, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaiyán, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Canadá, Chile, Colombia, Chipre, Emiratos Árabes Unidos, Eslovenia, España, Filipinas, Francia, Grecia, India, Indonesia, Italia, Kirguistán, Kuwait, Marruecos, Messico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Macedonia del Nord Nepal, Países Bajos, Perú, Portogallo, Reino Unido, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Sudafrica, Suiza, Tanzania, Turquía y Zambia,, partecipano al webinar "Siamo Natura: Donne di Montagna che Difendono Collettivamente la Madre Terra" condividono riflessioni sul nostro legame con le montagne.
Doscientos mujeres de montaña de todo el mundo, incluyendo Albania, Alemania, Argelia, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaiyán, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Canadá, Chile, Colombia, Chipre, Emiratos Árabes Unidos, Eslovenia, España, Filipinas, Francia, Grecia, India, Indonesia, Italia, Kirguistán, Kuwait, Marruecos, México, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal, Macedonia del Norte, Países Bajos, Perú, Portugal, Reino Unido, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Sudáfrica, Suiza, Tanzania, Turquía y Zambia, que participan en el seminario web "Somos Naturaleza: Mujeres de Montaña Defendiendo Colectivamente la Madre Tierra" comparten reflexiones sobre nuestra conexión con las montañas.
Paz, libertad, respeto y vida (Francisca)
Coming back to myself as part of a bigger intelligent universe (Chiara)
My connection: Essence. Freedom. Spirituality (Silvia)
Authentic, spiritual and conscious, freedom connection (Monica)
Para mi la montaña es un estado de meditación y de conexión espiritual con el universo (Stephanie)
Work for our Mother Earth, because of our only one Earth and only one mother (Aupar)
Connection with nature, freedom (Agustina)
Paz, conexión con el universe, nueva perspectiva y vida (Gloria)
Defending the earth by creating a new generation of children and young people grew up in the nature (Sara)
Conexión, realidad, amor (Huara)
Breath of freedom (Sara)
las montañas y cada elemento de la naturaleza son los motores que generan vida. No a la megaminería! (Marilin)
Belonging to nature, being nature, connection, collectivity, resilience, sharing, reciprocity, care, collective radical healing (Elena)
Spirituele en Emotionele gezondheid (Anne-France)
La montaña nos pone la vida en perspectiva (Daniela)
Mountains is way of life and protection of mountains is vital (Theodosia)
It's not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves (Chariz)
For me connection with mountains means being deeply aware of every step we take on this ground (Alessandra)
Being with nature brings a lot of inner peace (Fatema)
Para mi la montaña es aire de libertad, es fluir y conectar con el origen de las cosas y la evolución de todes, por lo cual es indispensable promover el respeto y cuidado hacia ella! (Eugenia)
Mountains are the place where we find out how the world was at the beginning (Sara)
Camminare, salire, mirare. Scendere dalla montagne più consapevoli. Tornare sulle montagne con meno risposte (Ines)
Mountains means home to me, and I always feel I'm in the right place when I'm walking in the Nature (Martina)
La montaña es para mi es libertad e inspiración, superación (Popi)
Action and reflection for Earth, us and everyone people, animals, and all visible and invisible creatures (Monica)
Mountains give us so much energy and power (Marianna)
A place to pray in. Yes. That's nature for us (Sharon)
Mountain Women of the World Collective Mountain Protection
Artwork description: the woman shape has many different shapes within her to represent a collectivity of beings, she represents the Earth and is drawn with one same line with the mountains.
The Mountain Women of the World network is grounded in the collective protection of the mountains. We centre our approach in our connection and belonging to nature, and that is grounded in and foregrounds the experiences and practices of mountain communities, especially of mountain women and marginalised groups, in protecting the Earth.
The pandemic has intensified the urgency of transformative systemic and cultural change, and the need to ground ourselves in our connection and belonging to nature. The impact of the destruction of the ecosystem, caused by the consideration of the Earth as a resource at the disposal of humans, is now clearer than ever. It is vital to foreground and re-signify the fundamental understanding that we are interconnected and are part of a whole.
The Mountain Women of the World network calls on communities connected to the mountains to collectively practice protection methods such as leave no trace and tree planting.
Examples for mountain protection activities could consist of:
- Picking up discarded waste which we see on our daily travels. This practice could include taking extra rubbish bags during daily walks/hikes and collecting any litter you come across*.
- Planting trees. Trees and forests act as vital carbon sinks as they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
*We acknowledge that Covid-19 and its restrictions may impact the desire to remove the litter of others from the natural environment and so we recommend wearing gloves or using a litter picker and always ensuring to wash your hands as soon as possible.
To be part of this initiative of the Mountain of the World network, you can sign up below to stay connected, share any tools and learnings, and we aim to gather stories from all activities and present a collective artwork.
United, equal, supporting and caring for each other to tell a collective feminist hiking story.
The mountain unites us. Together we transform!
Webinar for Earth Day - We are Nature: Mountain Women Collectively Defending the Earth
As part of the Mountain Women of the World project, we are hosting a Webinar on Earth Day, 22nd April, 13:00 to 15:00 UTC, led from a transnational network of mountain women*. It will be a space for groups of mountain women from around the world to share and learn from experiences and knowledge. The attendance to the Webinar is open to all upon registration.
The Webinar is organised by the project partners of Mountain Women of the World: Empowering Women of Nepal, Feminist Hiking Collective, Kilimanjaro Women, las Cholitas Escaladoras de Bolivia, Mujeres a la Cumbre, 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking and Women Who Hike Africa. With the participation of: Alessandra Segantin, Alpine Community Economies Laboratory, Ana Agustina Barros, Bangladesh Mountaineering Federation, Club Alpino Italiano, Movimiento de Mujeres Indígenas por el Buen Vivir, Mountain Partnership Secretariat, the UIAA - International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation, South South Women, Topchu Art Group and Travolution.
The Webinar will cover the following themes:
- Sharing practices and knowledge for protecting the mountains, and sharing experiences on how mountain women are impacted by climate change and how we can strategize and create change together to protect the Earth (Marilin Cañio from Movimiento de Mujeres Indígenas por el Buen Vivir; Lorella Franceschini from Italian Alpine Club; Harswanti Bisht and Carolina Adler from the UIAA Mountain Protection Commission; Ana Agustina Barros and Alessandra Segantin)
- Sharing experiences and practices for community-led mountain tourism grounded in mountain protection (Patricia Breuer Moreno from Mujeres a la Cumbre; 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking; Lorella Franceschini from Italian Alpine Club and Stephanie Carmody from Travolution)
- Sharing practices to strengthen economic justice for mountain women, and sharing learnings and ideas on how mountaineering builds collective power and collective feminist leadership (Bianca Elzenbaumer from Alpine Community Economies Laboratory; Lucky Chhetri from Empowering Women of Nepal; Feminist Hiking Collective; RosaLaura Romeo from the Mountain Partnership Secretariat and Ana Rasulova from Topchu Art Group)
- Building collective mindfulness, collective healing and care (Alia Datoo from Women Who Hike Africa; Belen Escudero and Popi Spagnuoli; Mujeres a la Cumbre and Zaynah Khanbhai from South South Women)
- Create a safer space and a space where we can learn from our collective experiences and mountain cultures, and share a call to action to organise together for International Mountain Day, with a focus on sustainable mountain tourism.
*with the term "women" we always mean people self-identifying with this gender.
Mountain Women of the World network co-founders
