EMPLOYING WOMEN ON OUR TEAMS IN TIBET

YOU DON’T MESS WITH KHAMPA TIBETAN LADIES.

ON OUR TIBETAN TRIPS ALMOST ALL THE LOGISTICAL WORK IS RUN BY TIBETAN WOMEN, WHO OVERSEE THE HORSES, RUN THE SCHEDULES AND DO THE ACTUAL TEAM DRIVING. WHILST THE MEN STAND AROUND SMOKING AND TELLING STORIES, IT IS THE LADIES WHO WORK OUT WHERE TO GO, HOW TO GET THERE AND HOW TO MANAGE THE ANIMALS THEN GET ON WITH DOING IT.

WE SEE FIRST HAND THE OPPORTUNITIES WOMEN HAVE IN VARIOUS PLACES, AND NOWHERE DO WOMEN TAKE MORE CONTROL THAN EASTERN TIBET. MOSTLY ABOVE 4500m, WHAT WE DO OVER DAYS IN EXPENSIVE CLIMBING GEAR THESE WOMEN DO IN SNEAKERS, GOLD EAR RINGS AND IN HOURS, WORKING WITH US TO GET SUPPLIES INTO OBSCURE PLACES WITH A LEVEL OF ABILITY BEYOND WHAT ANY OUTSIDER HAS.

CONTRARY TO THE DISTOPIAN FANTASIES SOME HAVE ABOUT CHINA AND TIBET, THESE LADIES RUN THEIR OWN BUSINESSES FREE FROM STATE INTERFERENCE, CULTURAL INTERFERENCE AND THE INTERFERENCE OF TIBETAN MEN. IF CAPITALISM CAN BE SEEN TO WORK THEN THIS IS THE EXAMPLE, AS WE PAY GOOD LIVING WAGES DIRECTLY INTO THEIR HANDS, AS WE HAVE DONE FOR WELL OVER A DECADE. IN THIS TIME WE HAVE SEEN THEIR HOUSE GROW, THEIR VEHICLES UPDATE, THEIR KIDS GO TO SCHOOL, AND WHILE THE MEN HERD YAKS IN THE IDYLLIC UPPER PASTURES, THEY HAVE TAKEN OVER THE VALLEYS IN AN ENTERPRISE THAT EQUALS THE ECONOMIC PROWESS OF ANY OTHER ETHNIC GROUP.

RATHER THAN WHINGE FROM AFAR ABOUT THE ECONOMIC DISPARITIES IN SOME REGION WE DON’T UNDERSTAND, WE HAVE CHOSEN TO GET INVOLVED IN THE DIRECT MECHINATIONS OF PEOPLE DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES. AS THE ONLY PROVEN METHOD FOR RISING FROM POVERTY IS THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN, WE FEEL GOOD SEEING THE RESULTS IN REAL TIME AND FIRST HAND. WHAT ELSEWHERE MIGHT BE VAGUE, AGENCY-RUN ‘PROJECT’, HERE IS THE HARD BOILED REALITY OF TIBETAN PRAGMATISM AND ASTUTE COMMUNITY CAPITALISM.