FREE THE GIRLS

At MG/B, a vision for a more sustainable, inclusive and fair world is at the heart of everything we do. This is reflected throughout all of our business practices, although we often feel as though this just isn’t enough.

This month, the world is celebrating International Women’s Day, which is on March 8^th. We see this as a celebration of how far society has come in terms of women’s empowerment but also as an opportunity to reflect on how much more there is to do. That’s why we’ve decided to partner with Free the Girls.

Free The Girls is an international not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to work alongside sex trafficking survivors and set them up with a path to true freedom. It’s a journey from horrific trauma to reintegrating into the life these women were meant to live. ‘True freedom’ is measured by economic independence, restored health, social wellbeing, education, and opportunity for a different, hopeful future.

THE ISSUE

Freedom has been stolen through human trafficking from more men, women, and children in the world than ever before. Currently 20-37 million men, women, and children are being held as slaves around the world — with millions captive in sex trafficking. Generating $150 billion US dollars per year, it is a highly organised criminal world that profits from exploiting the vulnerable. It is an injustice affecting every continent at every socio-economic level.

Their reality is the opposite of free — horrifically enslaved, living in fear of constant abuse, and fundamentally without any free choice – even to choose what they wear or what they eat. Their lives, identity, safety, dignity, self-worth, and hope have been stolen.

THE SOLUTION

1. Providing women’s a means of earning a safe income selling bras in the second-hand marketplace. The surprising reality is that something simple like bras can be a vehicle for freedom and hope. Bras are a common item in many households around the world. Many bras in good condition are left sitting in drawers. By collecting bras across the world, they are shipped to programs in El Salvador, Mozambique and Costa Rica, where the women who are part of the program can sell them in the market to make a safe and stable income. A donation of just four bras can provide a living wage for a woman in El Salvador.
2. Partnership with local on-the-ground organisations who empower freedom in the four key areas of economical, physical, emotional, and freedom for the future.

• Economic Freedom: A safe home, debts paid, sustainable income, job skills, and inheritance.
• Emotional Freedom: Supportive family and friends, belonging within community, trauma management, spiritual wellbeing.
• Physical Freedom: Sobriety, access to healthcare, physical health, mental health.
• Freedom for her Future: Literacy training or secondary education, children attending school, permission to dream again.

OUR CONTRIBUTION

For the month of March and to celebrate and honour International Women’s Day, MG/B will be donating one pair of undies for EVERY online order placed. This is your chance to give to these survivors while stocking up on your own certified organic, fair-trade underwear.

Our donation will be directed towards the newest program based in San Jose, Costa Rica. Our delivery of brand new Mighty Good Undies is the perfect way to provide quality underwear and a means of economic empowerment for these women and their families. Our undies will allow the women to pair them with bras to make “sets.” Sets are desirable, sell well, and will allow the women to make a good and liveable income. Women who re-sell our donation of Mighty Good Undies will directly profit from this.

Pam Gumms, Director of Strategic Partnerships says: “Free The Girls is delighted to partner with MG/B in our fight to provide economic empowerment to women around the globe. This International Day of Women reminds us that we can all join together in this fight. MG/B’s model of fair trade, ethically sourced goods aligns perfectly with Free The Girls vision to see a world in which previously enslaved women are leading vibrant, successful integrated lives.”

Free the Girls reminds us “Though it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the magnitude of this issue, the honor to restore and celebrate women in freedom reminds us every single day of the indescribable power love has to see humans fully restored. It’s that love and bold belief in freedom that keeps us eternally optimistic and determined to work towards True Freedom.”