Despite the many disparities in India, Zoe Timms‘ Women’s Education Project helps women realize their limitless potential.

Story By: Melissa Holloway

Beyond basic necessities, like food, water and air, one of the most important assets in life is a quality education—and it begins with achieving literacy. However, in many parts of the world, poverty and cultural barriers create large literacy disparities between the sexes. These disparities often have devastating consequences for women’s economic prospects. While studying and working abroad, in India, Zoe Timms, witnessed first-hand the problems caused by poverty including these discrepancies between male and female literacy rates. She noticed that not only was the literacy rates for women considerably lower than that of males and that female attendance rates at primary and secondary schools were significantly lower as well. These discrepancies was especially obvious in families with income below the poverty line. Even today it seems like lower-income families are more likely to spend their limited resources to educate male children. Surprisingly, despite their dire straits, these women remain committed to their education and to improving their lives. Inspired by their optimism and dedication, Timms was devoted to help. In 2002 at the age of 26, she developed a multipurpose platform that offers college preparatory and personal development programs to Indian women of limited means, Women’s Education Project.

In the beginning months, WEP staff and students certainly had their work cut out for them, just as Timms expected, but the women of ‘Sudar’ WEP’s first center, rose to the challenge. Within one month, they had already moved into their first building; put in a garden, filled library shelves with books, and a computer lab with second hand computers. Finally, with their center completed, their task shifted to enrolling more students from the surrounding community. Timms recalls, “At first, my English class had two to five students. But coming around the corner one day, I saw a pile of sandals at our door (Indians take their shoes off before entering a home). My English class had fifteen students waiting for me, and all had come from the poor community surrounding the center. At WEP-Sudar, we have always wanted to maintain small class-size and fifteen was our maximum. I knew WEP and our Sudar program was going to be a success.”

Today, the WEP has two centers in India; ‘Sudar’ and ‘Ushassu,’ both meaning “light” in the local languages, because these programs seek to provide inspiration and hope to WEP students. The ultimate goal of these programs is to prepare these women to be successful members of their communities and help them to overcome the challenges that poverty presents. When a young woman begins her education at WEP, she is one of many young women from poor families, who often earn less than $1 a day and whose parents are often illiterate. However, by the end of her journey, she is able to join an elite group of program graduates, who today, Timms proudly reports are teachers, entrepreneurs and health care workers.

In the years to come, the WEP will continue to evolve and meet the ever-changing demands of its female students.  In fact, their newest initiative, Illume, is an online resource center which will serve as a dynamic global community, linking young women from poor families in South India to dedicated, professional women in the US and India.  When asked about her hopes for WEP in the future, Timms says, “I hope for Women’s Education Project to be a welcoming, energetic, non-profit helping young women from the poorest backgrounds in India to reach their career dreams and to lift their families from poverty … To expand its programs to other countries, where we can continue to reach the poorest populations, and young women with career ambitions.”

ABOUT HER

Zoe Timms

Age: 34

Foundation: Women’s Education Project (WEP)

Website: www.womenseducationproject.org

Education: University of Wisconsin www.wisc.edu

Degree: Bachelor of Arts in History

Career Advice: “Do it now.”

ROLE MODEL: “…Paul Farmer, co-founder of Partners in Health, for his work with infectious disease and health care in developing countries, is someone whose writing and work inspire me. “

FAVORITE QUOTE: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” —Theodore Roosevelt