We’re big fans of women in the Kopernik office.

In a coup for gender balance, exactly half of our team members here in Ubud are women.

But when it comes to our projects, we don’t aim for balance. We think that women deserve an extra helping hand when it comes to household chores like cooking and collecting water. That’s why many of the technologies we work with are specifically designed to help make life easier for women in the developing world.

In the past year we have made Q-Drums available to women in Western Kenya . These rolling water containers are making it easier for these women to transport 50 litres of water to their homes, rather than having to make numerous trips and carry heavy loads of water on their heads.

We have also made Greenway Smart Stoves available to women in Madhya Pradesh, India. These fuel efficient stoves are saving these women time collecting firewood, as the stoves use far less wood than cooking over a traditional stove. The stoves also produce far less smoke, helping to reduce the respiratory problems caused by cooking with a traditional stove.

We have made child birth safer for women in Timor-Leste by distributing Maternova Obstetrics Kits to midwives. And we have increased economic opportunities for widows and women who have been abandoned by their husbands in East and West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia through our What’s Cookin’? and Drinks are on Me! projects, which empower women to become independent technology agents.

It’s amazing how simple technology can make a big difference to a woman’s life.

If you would like to lend a hand this International Women’s Day to some women who could really use your support, we encourage you to give to our project making Envirofit clean cookstoves available to women in Nigeria. Together we can bring this simple but life-improving technology to women in the Niger Delta who are being helped by the African Centre for Advocacy and Human Development, our local partner, to recover from the trauma of human trafficking.

A woman's work may never be done, but there are many opportunities to make that work easier and safer for her.