New Photo Collection Captures Touching Images of Strong Indian and American Women

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Getty Images, a world leader in visual communications and The Verbatim Agency released more than 300 high-quality editorial images into a publicly available online photo database capturing the strength and vibrancy of women and girls in two regions of the world: Bihar, India; and Louisiana and Mississippi in the United States. Historically, images of women in developing countries have focused on poverty and need. The new collection provides a positive visual narrative of women and girls in these communities by showing women and girls in decision-making roles, accessing and providing quality reproductive health care, and as active participants in their communities.

The new Images of Empowerment collection titled Raising Her Voice, by Verbatim Agency award-winning photojournalists Paula Bronstein and Nina Robinson, is available free of charge to non-commercial users. The organisations and individuals photographed are at the nexus of quality reproductive health information and services including family planning, contraceptive choices, safe abortion care, and sexual health education for women and youth, empowering local women and girls to raise their voices about issues that affect them.

The new India and U.S. collection was funded by the Packard Foundation and builds upon the Images of Empowerment photo resource launched by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Getty Images in 2015. The previous collection of images focused on nine countries in Africa, Asia, and South America and provided positive images of the ways women work and support their families and communities there.  

"It is inspiring to hear the stories of these young women and to see them in action by way of the Raise Her Voice collection,” said Christopher Cox, Director of Youth Programs for Teen Health Mississippi. “These young women are meeting face-to-face with their legislators to advocate for high-quality comprehensive sex education for all young people.  It is time for today's youth to amplify their voices on issues that directly affect them to ensure our policymakers are representing their interests."

“We are committed to ensuring that women and girls have access to quality reproductive health information and services, so they can make decisions about their bodies and their lives,” said Tamara Kreinin, Director of Population and Reproductive Health at the Packard Foundation. “These are images of strong, real women and girls, who are challenging society’s perception of them and their abilities. These photos show the world that women and girls from India to the U.S. are defining their own destiny, empowered to make choices that are best for them.”

“The potential of imagery to provoke conversation and drive change is unquestionable,” said Aidan Sullivan, CEO, Verbatim. “We’re excited to be involved in this partnership to create a collection that aims to provide a positive visual narrative of women and girls in these communities and effect real change.”

In addition to the full image sets, the Packard Foundation published a photo essay—Raising Her Voice, published on March 8, 2018 in honor of International Women’s Day—that features the images and perspectives from photojournalists Nina Robinson and Paula Bronstein on their respective experiences in the southern United States and Bihar, India. 

To read the photo essay, Raising Her Voice, visit www.packard.org/2018/03/raising-her-voice.