SAWIS is a community-based organization  created by a group of immigrant women living in the Oakridge-Crescent Town neighbourhood and was first incorporated in 2008. The motto above was adopted by the SAWIS women at their founding meeting. It reflects SAWIS’s holistic understanding of our community’s problems and the lived experience of people in our community. It expresses that gender inequality is a block to the economic and civic progress of our community and that the economic insecurity and civic exclusion of our community’s people compounds gender inequality for our women and girls. This motto sets out our organization’s mission and vision which guides our program activities.