The Strong Women Of Mongolia Are Ready To Take On The Patriarchy
They're better educated than men and have lower rates of unemployment. Yet they still run up against the patriarchy. A group called Women for Change wants to change that.
Gerelee Odonchimed was 23 the first time she said the word vagina. It was 2011 and she had recently joined a new women's rights group in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar. For their initial project, the group decided to stage The Vagina Monologues, a play where women speak about their vaginas.
The topic isn't something Asian and Mongolian women usually talk about, says Zolzaya Batkhuyag, the group's co-founder. So she assigned the women homework. After rehearsal cast members were told to use mirrors to "say hi to their vaginas." Six years later, Batkhuyag, who is 34 and speaks fluent English, laughs at the memory: "Our first project was crazy, so after that nothing is crazy for us."
Founded by four
