It’s easy to become overwhelmed with everything that’s going on in the world right now. I think it’s fair to say that we are living in a pretty strange period of time, a time which undoubtedly will be studied in text books, and my grandchildren will be stunned that I lived through such an era.

Each headline I read is more outrageous than the next, and with the bombardment of abhorrent news that plagues our media, it’s easy to lose sight of what is really important. Sometimes we just need a little reminder that there are bigger issues out there that require our attention which don’t involve a back-flipping politician, a Kardashian, or a President’s Twitter feed.

As part of International Women’s Day, we’ve been looking at some of the immense inequalities between men and women which are particularly prominent in developing nations. I’ve come to learn that women in developing countries are more likely than men to be illiterate, they earn lower amounts than men, and are less likely to have a bank account. Now this is the kind of news that we need to know about.

We asked some Opportunity supporters, Board and Council members their reaction to this inequality, and they were unanimous in the belief that it’s a gross injustice – how can women be disadvantaged in so many ways? In developing countries in particular, women are often the glue that holds a family together and they are the ones who are determined their children have an education and a chance to leave poverty behind. It baffles me that today, still, there are such great inequalities between men and women and that so many women still do not have the opportunity to close this gap and better the future for themselves and for their families.

Women have the ability to not only lift their own family out of poverty, but their entire communities, and the evidence of this is manifested through the work of Opportunity International Australia.

Something an Opportunity supporter shared recently really resonated with me; “Every tear that a mother shares is the same whether they are in poverty or living in the West.” This reminds me that although there may be social inequalities worldwide, when it comes to humanity, we are all equal.

So this International Women’s Day, let’s support women everywhere and #BeBoldForChange!