In June 2024, Maamankhuu Sodnom, WAMIP’s Eastern and Central Asia Regional Coordinator spoke about the history and current struggles of women herders at the forum ‘Empowering Herder Women: Challenges, Solutions and Opportunities.’ The forum was part of the 6th International Action of the World March of Women (WMW), organised in partnership with Mongolian Gobi Nomadic Herders’ Association and WAMIP. It was held from June 27–29 2025 in Umnugobi Province, Mongolia, and brought together over 150 women to address critical challenges faced by pastoralist women, particularly on those related to mining and pastureland management.
During the forum, Maamankhuu stated:
“I’m very proud that the Mongolian women, particularly women herders, are very strong and very brave. In terms of social, political and economic life in Mongolia, almost 70% of the work is on women’s shoulders. That’s why they don’t want to support us and invest in us. They want to keep us silent and there is a lot of pressure on women’s shoulders, but we don’t want that.” 1
Participants highlighted urgent concerns, including the expansion of mining operations threatening grazing lands and water sources, limited access to education and health services in remote regions, and the growing impacts of climate change on pastoral livelihoods. Intergenerational and roundtable dialogues also provided space for elders to share traditional climate adaptation strategies grounded in centuries of nomadic knowledge.
Such grassroots forums create of rare feminist spaces where herder women can collectively examine the political, environmental, and social challenges that shape their lives while mobilising for collective action. More on the forum can be read here. A video on the event is included below.
- “Very Strong and Very Brave”: Women Herders in Mongolia, Capire (August 7, 2025), https://capiremov.org/en/analysis/very-strong-and-very-brave-women-herders-in-mongolia/. ↩︎