Fatima Nasser’s App Is Breaking Gender Equality One Food At A Time

In celebration of Womens Equality Day which wasn’t recognized as a thing officially until the 26th of August 1973, libyan shero Fatima Nasser has a plan to boost these women through her startup Yummy, an online marketplace that gives women a place to sell homemade food.

21-year old Nasser born in Sabha, a city in southwestern Libya had barely launched Yummy when she was accused of being a foreign spy for giving women employment opportunities in Libya.

Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, gender restrictions have started to relax in some parts of Libya, and in the country’s first free elections after the coup in 2012, 33 women were elected to the General National Congress.

Now, as expectations continue to shift, a new economy in which women sell crafts made at home has blossomed and the new food app hopes to boost women and allow them earn money from their own kitchens. She now has 300 cooks ready to start work, having trialed the service successfully with 20 in the southern Libyan city of Sabha.

The app, Yummy, connects women who cook at home with customers wanting to order food, in much the same way as Uber connects private drivers with would-be passengers.

It acts as a conduit, offering anonymity options for the cooks, and allows women to take food orders from men without having to speak to them.

Nasser’s decision to campaign for women’s rights was inspired by her mother, who was one of the founding members of the Women’s Union of the South in Libya.

Photohgraphy Credits: The Telegraph