RAJA counts steps for women

To date, gender equality and discrimination against women is an issue that needs attention, as there is still much to be done.
The entire RAJA group wants to set an example together on the occasion of International Women’s Day. Because at RAJA, the issue of women’s rights is already a tradition. The driving force behind the promotion of women is the General Director and owner of the RAJA Group, Danièle Kapel-Marcovici. For the daughter of the company’s founder Rachel Marcovici, equality and respect have always enjoyed a high priority. Danièle Kapel-Marcovici is committed to helping women worldwide through her RAJA-Danièle Marcovici Foundation, which was established in 2006. Since 2015, steps have been regularly counted in all RAJA Group branches for women’s rights!

There is still a lot to do

The company, which was founded by women and is run by women, sees its responsibility beyond its economic role to include responsibility for society. For RAJA, gender equality is a matter of course. However, the foundation still sees a considerable need for action in this regard globally:

The UN has some alarming figures:

• 70% of the 1.4 billion people living in poverty are women
• 80% of all refugees are women and children
• Two thirds of the 770 million illiterate adults are women
• Women earn on average 20% less than their male counterparts with the same expertise
• On a global average, women make up only 26% in parliament

The special thing about the pedometer campaign: Thanks to the RAJApeople programme, employees can also get involved in the spirit of the foundation. And they do this all over Europe with great commitment!

Steps against violence : The mobilisation week at RAJA

Since 2015, steps have been regularly counted for women’s rights in all RAJA Group branches! During the mobilisation week, which usually takes place once a year, RAJA Group employees have the opportunity to set something much bigger in motion with their (small) steps: for one week, step counters are worn. The goal: to collect steps together with colleagues – and thus “walk” a donation from the RAJA Foundation for an organisation that campaigns against violence against women.

So far, national and international projects have been supported.

2015: Running together for Life Project 4 Youth (LP4Y)

All employees wore a pedometer during working hours in the run-up to International Women’s Day from 3-5 March. The goal was to walk a total of 15 million steps. Because 15 million steps mean 15,000 € for the organisation Life Project 4 Youth, which supports young mothers living in the slums of Manila and Jakarta to give their lives a new perspective.

Life Project 4 Youth (LP4Y) was founded in the Philippines in 2009. It supports young people between the ages of 17 and 24 who live on less than 1.50 € per day (!) in the slums of the South East Asian cities. In education centres founded by the organisation, the young people are supported in their reintegration into society, they are given a new perspective on life through schooling and training as well as support in entering professional life. So far, LP4Y has 12 centres in the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. In 2015, 4 new centres will be opened in India. Since the start of the organisation, 500 young people have already been accompanied and cared for.

The RAJA-Danièle Marcovici Foundation has been supporting LP4Y since 2012. All projects focus on improving the living conditions of women around the world, a real matter of the heart:

15 832 691 steps were taken during the three days of action! The employees of all European branches of the RAJA Group followed the call of the RAJA-Danièle Marcovici Foundation and together not only reached the goal of 15 million steps, but exceeded it!

We at RAJA Germany simply moved our lunch break outside during the three days, the weather allowed it. Many an internal phone call was replaced by a personal visit to the desk of the person we were talking to. And last but not least, we made our once-weekly yoga at work during the lunch break particularly step-intensive this time.

Thanks to this great collective effort, we contributed to the overall result with exactly 738,393 steps. Assuming an average step length of 60 centimetres, we at RAJA Germany covered 443 kilometres. That is exactly the distance Paris-Karlsruhe (as the crow flies)!!! And thus also to the total amount of the cheque for 15,000 euros that Danièle Marcovici handed over to Life Project 4 Youth on 6 March on behalf of the RAJA staff.

This contribution will enable the organisation to host fifteen more young mothers at the centre in Jakarta, Indonesia, while continuing to support the young women cared for at the centre in Manila, Philippines, until they find work.

The young women of LP4Y said thank you in a very special way: they designed and made bags especially for the RAJA staff!

2017/18: Counting steps for the Karlsruhe women’s shelter

They say the first step is the hardest. For the women who seek advice at the Karlsruhe Women’s Counselling Centre, this is probably true. One would think that the decision to leave a life situation marked by psychological or physical violence would be easy. But in addition to the existential worries and the financial dependence of many women, there is also the emotional dependence. If children are involved, it is even harder to take the step – the complete break, which in some cases would be the only sensible step, cannot be realised. Without support, hardly any woman finds a way out of this dependency. In Karlsruhe, the women’s counselling centre is a possible first point of contact. After an initial telephone contact, five women with different specialisations currently advise women and their children seeking help. They first get a report in a personal counselling session (in person but also by telephone). And often, even after many “years of service”, they are shocked by the “experience of violence”. Many of the women consider the violence they have experienced, which often increases, to be normal. The sentence “But he has never hit me!” is not uncommon and almost sounds like an excuse, a justification for sticking to the relationship. The term “domestic violence” does not only stand for physical violence, but also for psychological, economic, social and sexualised violence. Threats, humiliation and insults, but also excessive control such as following and ambushing, preventing or controlling contact outside the home and taking the partner’s time for granted is domestic violence. The staff member at the counselling centre is usually the first person to whom the women concerned disclose themselves. Until now, they have kept silent out of fear of their partner, out of concern for their children or out of shame because of the talk of neighbours, relatives and colleagues. Therefore, basic possible steps are first discussed in the counselling interview. What facilities, what options are there? Based on this, the woman concerned, with the support of the counselling centre, decides on further steps. This can be admission to a women’s shelter, but also legal counselling by one of the three lawyers working for the counselling centre on a donation basis.

2,020 euros donation for the Karlsruhe counselling centre

In November 2017, the employees of Rajapack GmbH had the goal to collect 1 million steps together with their colleagues – and thus to raise 1,000 euros from the RAJA Foundation for the Karlsruhe Women’s Shelter.

In the end, we were able to hand over 2,020 euros to the Karlsruhe Women’s Counselling Centre. With 1,020,765 steps, the RAJA foundation raised 1,020 euros. By foregoing Christmas presents on the part of the company, the employees were then even able to increase the amount by 1,000 euros.

Across Europe, the goal of 30 million steps was also exceeded: 33,117,730 steps were collected by the employees of the RAJA Group – of which 3,755,825 steps were collected by the 28 participants in the New York Marathon, which conveniently took place during the mobilisation week.

We visited the Women’s Counselling Centre at the end of April and were more than impressed by the work that is done there. Only a small part of it was mentioned here in the report. And also only a small contribution was made by the employees of Rajapack GmbH with their steps during the mobility week in November 2017. And yet it is possibly this very contribution that makes the “first step” possible at all for one or the other affected woman.

These organisations were supported throughout Europe, among others: