Throughout history, food shortages have led to civil unrest. Most notably in recent history, the Global Food Crisis of 2008 spurred an outbreak of food riots around the world. Now, with food prices increasing at the highest rate since 2008, political leaders are concerned that a similar outbreak of food riots may be on its way.
In the beginning of 2014, international food prices rose 4 percent. In the time between January and April, food prices spiked to a level just short of their all-time high in August 2012. The rapid increase is similar to the surge in food prices in 2007 and 2008 that led to so many food riots.
If history repeats itself, the recent food price hikes give government officials adequate reason to worry.
The difficulty with monitoring food riots is that the term is loosely defined. In broad terms, a food riot is some sort of public disturbance raised in response to food’s availability. Interpretations of this definition, however, are as varied as the riots themselves, leading to a great deal of confusion surrounding the topic of food riots.
How severe must the disturbance be to earn the title of a riot? A food riot is generally a violent protest. Participants have been known to harm other citizens or police forces. In return, police forces respond with brutality to control the situation. Some news articles will only cite occasions that have resulted in casualties as food riots.
Other news sources believe that any public response to food-related issues falls in this category. They report even the most peaceful demonstrations as food riots.
Where is the proper balance? How can the media successfully educate the public on these world events without an accepted definition of a riot?
In the wake of recent food pricing inclines, The World Bank has developed a widely accepted definition to guide examinations of these conflicts. Their 2014 Food Price Watch defines a food riot as “a violent, collective unrest leading to a loss of control, bodily harm or damage to property.”
The definition has helped The World Bank determine which episodes in the recent past were actually food riots. A database of food riots between 2007 and 2014 has since been collected, revealing that 51 riots have taken place in 37 countries.
The cause of food riots also prompts confusion. Increasing food prices are not the only cause of riots. In Vietnam, decreasing prices of coffee have resulted in violent outbreaks in the past. A decline in value of major exports can have just as strong of an impact on a nation as unavailability of food and other resources.
The World Bank has also established guidelines for the causes of food riots, saying that they are “motivated by a lack of food availability, accessibility or affordability,” whether directed at the government or other groups.
There are two types of food riots. In a Type 1 incident, the riots are directed at the government. Distress takes its form in public protests outside of government buildings, often in response to rising food prices. It is the most common form of food riot reported in the media because their causes often have international implications.
In a Type 2 episode, rioters demonstrate near food suppliers because they are not politically driven. They attack supply trucks, stores or refugee camps. These riots are more locally focused and occur during times of drastic food shortages.
Defining food riots helps aid organizations determine how to best help areas experiencing food shortages to prevent violent outbreaks. Government officials know how to respond to rising food prices by studying food riots of the past. By alleviating causes of global hunger, aid organizations and government officials can increase peace in underprivileged nations.
– Emily Walthouse
Sources: Food Price Watch, Global Issues, Slate, The World Bank
Photo: NPR
What are the Causes of Poverty?
What are the causes of poverty? There are many causes of poverty. The countries with extreme poverty have a lack of access to not only the proper foods, but health services and education as well. These countries also show a lack of inclusion, as many of the world’s poorest people do not receive any representation in the economy or in politics. The lack of education and representation creates an issue of mobility. People in developing countries do not possess the necessary means for maintaining life.
One factor that causes poverty is that many people in developing countries are willing to work, but are not given the chance to do so and therefore remain in poverty. The lack of access to education and the jobs that supply little or no wages continue to make rising from poverty very difficult to achieve. This restricts access to an income to support families and creates a barrier from the economy and other typical daily activities.
The lack of education and training for employment inhibits people living in developing nations from obtaining higher paying occupations. The problem is even greater when health education services are not obtainable. This causes high rates of teenage pregnancy and larger families. The larger the families become, the greater the risk of poverty because of the increased amount of resources needed to take care of the household.
Women are often at higher risk than men to suffer from poverty. Inequality is another cause of poverty as women are more likely to be paid lower wages than men performing the same line of work. Women are also expected to take on child raising and are restricted from seeking employment in these developing countries. This inequality creates a disadvantage for women and also prevents opportunity for more income for the household. Families with only one parent working are more likely to face poverty and they lack the opportunity to provide the proper education to their children.
There are also causes of poverty that cannot be prevented, such as drought and warfare. When drought occurs, families that rely on fruits and vegetables for harvest and income face poverty from this situation. These families can no longer provide for their families. At times, the crops can never be recovered due to lack of funds.
Another major cause of poverty is war, which can strain the economy, create safety issues and also require families to face food rations in some countries. These issues are more difficult to overcome because they can occur suddenly and can cause everlasting effects on the economy.
Alleviating the causes of poverty requires aid from developed nations, not only in the form of money, but also in the form of helping to mobilize access in these areas. Helping the education system in each developing nation can provide a better understanding of health and pregnancy. The proper training can introduce farmers to a better farming technique to survive a weather disaster. Also, a more inclusive economy and government system can bring more opportunity to the people in more rural developing areas. These developing nations can grow from poverty if given the right tools, such as access to education and the ability to participate in an economy to continue to develop and grow in the right directions. Read more about what causes poverty.
– Rachel Cannon
Sources: Global Issues
Photo: Relief Web
What is a Food Riot?
Throughout history, food shortages have led to civil unrest. Most notably in recent history, the Global Food Crisis of 2008 spurred an outbreak of food riots around the world. Now, with food prices increasing at the highest rate since 2008, political leaders are concerned that a similar outbreak of food riots may be on its way.
In the beginning of 2014, international food prices rose 4 percent. In the time between January and April, food prices spiked to a level just short of their all-time high in August 2012. The rapid increase is similar to the surge in food prices in 2007 and 2008 that led to so many food riots.
If history repeats itself, the recent food price hikes give government officials adequate reason to worry.
The difficulty with monitoring food riots is that the term is loosely defined. In broad terms, a food riot is some sort of public disturbance raised in response to food’s availability. Interpretations of this definition, however, are as varied as the riots themselves, leading to a great deal of confusion surrounding the topic of food riots.
How severe must the disturbance be to earn the title of a riot? A food riot is generally a violent protest. Participants have been known to harm other citizens or police forces. In return, police forces respond with brutality to control the situation. Some news articles will only cite occasions that have resulted in casualties as food riots.
Other news sources believe that any public response to food-related issues falls in this category. They report even the most peaceful demonstrations as food riots.
Where is the proper balance? How can the media successfully educate the public on these world events without an accepted definition of a riot?
In the wake of recent food pricing inclines, The World Bank has developed a widely accepted definition to guide examinations of these conflicts. Their 2014 Food Price Watch defines a food riot as “a violent, collective unrest leading to a loss of control, bodily harm or damage to property.”
The definition has helped The World Bank determine which episodes in the recent past were actually food riots. A database of food riots between 2007 and 2014 has since been collected, revealing that 51 riots have taken place in 37 countries.
The cause of food riots also prompts confusion. Increasing food prices are not the only cause of riots. In Vietnam, decreasing prices of coffee have resulted in violent outbreaks in the past. A decline in value of major exports can have just as strong of an impact on a nation as unavailability of food and other resources.
The World Bank has also established guidelines for the causes of food riots, saying that they are “motivated by a lack of food availability, accessibility or affordability,” whether directed at the government or other groups.
There are two types of food riots. In a Type 1 incident, the riots are directed at the government. Distress takes its form in public protests outside of government buildings, often in response to rising food prices. It is the most common form of food riot reported in the media because their causes often have international implications.
In a Type 2 episode, rioters demonstrate near food suppliers because they are not politically driven. They attack supply trucks, stores or refugee camps. These riots are more locally focused and occur during times of drastic food shortages.
Defining food riots helps aid organizations determine how to best help areas experiencing food shortages to prevent violent outbreaks. Government officials know how to respond to rising food prices by studying food riots of the past. By alleviating causes of global hunger, aid organizations and government officials can increase peace in underprivileged nations.
– Emily Walthouse
Sources: Food Price Watch, Global Issues, Slate, The World Bank
Photo: NPR
Child Labor in Afghanistan
Poverty forces children to work and sacrifice their chance at an education. Today, sadly, child labor in Afghanistan is a common occurrence. Estimates are difficult to come by but through various sources it can be stated that between 21 and 25 percent of Afghan children are part of the labor force. Children as young as 6 are often involved.
Cause and Effect: Child Labor in Afghanistan
Child labor is hard to overcome in Afghanistan because although it is illegal by law for anyone under the age of 14 to work, many families are so desperate that they need one of their children to work in order to survive. Employers are desperate for cheap labor as well. The government seems to be doing little to enforce this law.
A common job for Afghan children in Kabul is working in brick factories. They can work up to 12 hours for around $1.40 a day. Other potential jobs for these children are working in bakeries, weaving, selling toilet paper and shopping bags, mining, washing cars or farming. Some children even begin to beg.
It is important to look at the physiological affects of child labor. Childhood is a time when people are supposed to be able to play and avoid the stresses of life. This crucial time period allows them to develop into healthy adults. Research shows that, “75 percent of brain development occurs after birth. Play helps with that development by stimulating the brain through the formation of connections between nerve cells.” It is essential for children to play with their parents and with other children.
If Afghan children are working, they are missing out on this crucial developmental step. It is possible that a work environment would replace play and stimulate a child’s brain but it is not certain if they are gaining the right type of knowledge that a child would otherwise gain from play. The stress children endure when having to work will also cause other stunted developmental issues.
The main reason children are sent off to work is so that they can feed their families. This is due to a loss of a parent or both parents. A child might have to go to work because their father dies and their mother is unable to find work because of her gender. Poverty and gender bias seems to be two of the causes of child labor in Afghanistan.
Poverty in Afghanistan is caused by many factors, one being the fact that it has been in a state of almost perpetual war since 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded, followed by Taliban rule and the post 9/11 American invasion coupled with Taliban guerrilla warfare. But regardless of the reasons as to why poverty exists in Afghanistan, it is essential to raise people out of poverty so that child labor will cease.
The task of raising the Afghan people out of poverty is certainly not an easy one. There are a range of problems arising from misallocation of USAID funds by the Afghan government, the inability of U.S. officials to better Afghan government institutions and just general distrust and confusion between the two countries.
A possible solution to this would be for the U.S. to give money to more grassroots NGOs and intergovernmental organizations who are currently working in Afghanistan. This would get the aid directly to the most vulnerable people in Afghanistan, specifically children. Organizations like the World Food Programme have operations already in place. Activities like school meals, food for training, Food-for-Work, nutrition programs and flour fortification are being carried out in Afghanistan today. They also support programs that try to close the gender gap.
Imagine if the U.S. gave more money to these programs instead of fighting with the Afghan government over misallocated funds? These programs are already helping thousands of Afghan people, why not help even more? Child labor in Afghanistan is increasing, and with poverty as its main cause, the U.S. government should put more of its aid money toward proven, successful poverty alleviation programs.
– Eleni Marino
Sources: Global Post, Los Angeles Times, Montana State University, The New York Times, UN Data, WFP
Photo: CRI English
Child Labor Facts
The existence of child labor is a prominent human rights issue in today’s world. The United Nations defines child labor as any work completed by children who have not yet reached the minimum legal age required for either a specific kind of work or any work that is generally viewed as unacceptable for children. Unacceptable work usually involves potential harm, dangerous conditions or physical strain unsuitable for underage youth.
To combat this issue, it is important to understand pertinent child labor facts. This knowledge will allow people to fully realize how many young workers never have the chance to be children:
Even though there has been a significant decline in the number of child workers, this is only a moderate decrease compared to the total number of children who are forced to work. As demonstrated by the facts above, this issue is still very present today, and perpetuates the cycle of poverty in developing countries.
– Meghan Orner
Sources: The United Nations, Free the Children, The International Labor Organization, The History Channel
Photo: Flickr
Save the Children
Save the Children helps children in over 120 countries, including the United States, gain access to health services and education while keeping them out of harm’s way. This organization was founded by Eglantyne Jebb in England in 1919. She aimed at helping children recover after World War I in central Europe. Eglantine dedicated her life to advancing human rights and the well-being of all children. Jebb believed that the world as a whole was entirely responsible for their welfare.
Eglantyne Jebb once said, “The only international language in the world is a child’s cry,”–words which have forever changed how the world views saving the children.
Save the Children’s theory of change creates noticeable impacts on children’s lives by investing in the impact of children by forming together to meet the demanding changes of the world we exist in. This notion is broken down into four pillars of impact.
The first pillar consists of being the voice for the world’s children. The focus is working toward policy reforms to help promote better child rights, particularly in areas of poverty. This will ensure that no child’s voice will go unheard.
The second pillar is the Save the Children foundation becomes the pioneer for innovation. This pillar will show the world that there is proof for solutions to helping these children and that it can be done.
The third pillar states that building partnerships and collaborating with other organizations of the same interest can help meet these goals faster by getting the word spread to a larger audience.
The fourth pillar is the final step. This is the achieved results of policy reforms and also the best patterns possible for implementing the right steps to follow through with, making life better for kids.
The Save the Children foundation has changed the lives of over 125 million people and this number continues to grow. An example of the success of the foundation is shown with children living in Kenya. The drought in Kenya has taken a toll on areas suffering from poverty because the land for livestock becomes unusable. This produced a regional wide shortage of milk, causing many of the children to become severely malnourished.
Save the Children has provided over 30,000 children and families with milk through their milk voucher program. A few months after the program began, children received over a 10 percent weight increase because of the program’s success.
Over the past several years, the Save the Children foundation has educated over 9 million children and will be continuing to do so in the future. Save the Children is working to ensure that children around the world survive threats like newborn complications, and preventable or treatable illnesses like malaria, through the use of vaccines. The Save the Children foundation aims to offer valuable evidence to increase government funding and influence global policies. Save the Children is working with governments, schools and nonprofit partners to improve the available access and the role of quality health and nutrition programs.
– Rachel Cannon
Sources: Charity Watch, Save the Children
Photo: Marketing Magazine
Ugandan HIV Law Facing Scrutiny
Uganda’s president is contemplating signing a law that would criminalize the deliberate transmission of HIV. The law would also require pregnant women to get tested for the virus and allow health officials to disclose the HIV status of certain individuals in order to protect potential sexual partners.
The bill was passed in the Ugandan Parliament in March and is awaiting the signature of President Yoweri Museveni to become law. However, the proposal has been met with considerable criticism, as many believe the initiative will exacerbate Ugandan HIV prevalence.
“Uganda has taken a giant leap backwards in the struggle against HIV,” Dr. Noreen Kaleeba, executive of the Aids Support Organization, decried in a statement last month.
Critics like Dr. Kaleeba believe the pending law will discourage citizens from being tested in order to skirt any possible criminal liability, and many fear the measure will disproportionately impact Ugandan women. In addition, the text appears to be an abusive invasion of privacy that will intensify the already paralyzing stigmatization suffered by those carrying the virus.
Only 33 percent of the Ugandan population has been tested for HIV. In addition, recent undercover reporting conducted by BBC journalists indicates that many Ugandans are going as far as to procure fake HIV negative tests results in order to mislead employers and avoid stigmatization.
However, most Ugandan politicians disagree with critic’s assessments of this new law, citing the recent increase in HIV infections — a disconcerting trend that suggests many citizens are transmitting the virus willfully. Today, 1.5 million Ugandans are infected.
“The law is not unfairly targeting anybody, but rather it is addressing somebody who has tested for HIV and knows his or her status and, out of malice, intentionally wants to infect others,” stated Chris Baryomunsi, a respected member of Ugandan Parliament.
Despite significant opposition to thwart the bill’s passage, the measure appears destined to pass, as the opposition has voiced recent discouragement over an inability to engage the global community. However, popular protest has yielded positive results in the past, as the President vetoed a radical anti-gay bill earlier this year after significant international pressure demanded Museveni squash the hateful and violent legislation.
President Museveni is expected to make a decision in the next couple of weeks.
– Sam Preston
Sources: All Africa, BBC News, The Globe and Mail
Photo: Cloud Front
Cordes Foundation 101
In 2006, Ron Cordes and his family started to make some changes. First, Cordes sold his successful business, AssetMark Investment Services, to Genworth Financial. Then, after a short three-year stint as CEO of Genworth Wealth Management, Ron and Marty Cordes started giving back.
After $10 million in donations, Ron had begun devoting his time to the initiatives of the Cordes Foundation, and stayed on as co-chairman of Genworth. Marty had started devoting her time to the organizations that the Cordes Foundation supports — organizations that empower women and girls and promote global human rights.
Three key initiatives pave the way for the Cordes Foundation:
1. Catalyzing new sources of capital for impact investments.
Cordes started building the foundations of this initiative when he co-founded ImpactAssets, a nonprofit that garners investment capital to achieve the greatest impact possible in various global environmental, social and financial issues. ImpactAssests has its own set of goals, which include creating positive social and environmental impacts that generate a return for investors.
2. Equipping the next generation of social entrepreneurs.
The Cordes Foundation does this by supporting the Global Center for Social Entrepreneurship. It is a university-based center where practice and training are offered to young social entrepreneurs. The center works to instill values of solution-mindedness and innovation in the coming generations.
3. Connect and support global leaders in social enterprise.
As co-chairs of the Opportunity Collaboration, Marty and Ron foster the sharing of innovation between a number of different parties like social entrepreneurs, impact investors and the public sector. The collaboration gets together annually in October, when 300 delegates gather to represent leaders from 30 countries. But the Cordes Foundation is certainly not alone. It serves as a great example of two recent trends that are quickly gaining speed.
Cordes has five pieces of advice for his daughter:
Cordes seems to be doing all of those things as he takes part in the wave of nonprofit family organizations that have the potential to leave a positive legacy across the world. These family nonprofits offer philanthropists a way to better control their giving, and just like Cordes, they work to leave their children and the next generation with values of generosity and compassion.
Cordes says “Since my early 40s, I had an itch that there was something else out there that I could be accomplishing and a greater purpose out that I could be achieving than running a successful business. The opportunity to sell the business gave me the resources so I could pursue that. I went from trying to build the best business in the world to building the best businesses for the world.”
Ron Cordes represents a great example of how the encore career later in life can be beneficial in the fight against global poverty, hunger and other humanitarian efforts.
– Rachel Davis
Sources: Forbes, New York Times
Latin American Youth Struggle to Find Employment
Latin American youth are finding it increasingly difficult to find gainful employment. Of the region’s 108 million people in the 18 to 24 year age bracket, 21.8 million of them are known as NEETs – not in employment, education or training. In Spanish they are called NiNis – ni estudian ni trabajan (they do not study, nor do they work). NiNis are a stigmatized group, pegged as lazy, unmotivated and apathetic.
To make matters worse, many Latin American youth who do find jobs end up working in poor conditions and lack the protection of labor rights. Six in every 10 young people in Latin America work in unlawful labor conditions, according to a recent International Labor Organization report.
The ILO study, titled Trabajo decente y juventud: políticas para la acción (Decent Work and Youth: Policies for Action), also reported that the youth unemployment rate is three times as high as that of adults and twice as high as the overall rate. Young people are unable to find decent jobs even though the current generation is better educated than any previous cohort.
In Guatemala, 78 percent of NiNis work informal positions doing housework and other menial chores. Yet the hard core of NiNis exists in Paraguay and Uruguay, with 48 and 45 percent of young people respectively neither employed, nor enrolled in an academic institution.
Several causes for youth unemployment exist. Education is key – if the education system is not in sync with an area’s labor market, graduates will not leave their educational institution with the necessary skills to break into and thrive in the workforce. Population growth has also contributed to the existence of such high numbers of unemployed youth around the globe. Additionally, during times of economic hardship, employers are more likely to lay off younger workers who do not represent as significant of an investment as their older, better trained counterparts.
The fundamental problem, outlined by the ILO report, is that not enough opportunities exist for Latin American youth. Guy Rider, director of the International Labor Organization, says that the “lack of access to opportunities for decent work generates frustration and discouragement among youth. There are 108 million reasons why we must act now.”
The good news is that some organizations are acting. Work4Youth, a collaborative project between the ILO and MasterCard Foundation, seeks to match underprivileged youths aged 14 to 24 with local businesses in order to give young people the resources they need to break into the workforce. W4Y has operations all around the globe, and it maintains a presence in Brazil, Peru, El Salvador and Colombia.
The young generation currently entering the workforce is a valuable resource. Some estimates hold that if unemployment among young people were halved, the global GDP would experience an increase of 4 to 7 percent. In the words of 21-year-old Astrid Estefanía Garibay of Mexico: “People think ‘young’ and ‘NiNi,’ and they think about drug addicts and bums.” These young people simply need help connecting with opportunities rather than being stigmatized for their employment status.
– Kayla Strickland
Sources: IB Times, ILO, Pravda.ru, Press TV
Photo: Work4Youth
Point of Concern: Education in Bangladesh
With roughly 57,000 square miles and over 150 million people, Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. It is also firmly entrenched in the rising power narrative that characterizes much of the south Asian region it occupies. For this reason, it is in the context of slow development where education in Bangladesh must be considered.
In 1990, the Primary Education Compulsory Act came into law and primary education became free and compulsory for all children up to grade five. Today in Bangladesh, there are approximately 56,867,000 people under the age of 18, 15 million of which are under the age of 5. There are currently 16 million children enrolled in grades one through five, and only 55 percent of children in Bangladesh who begin primary education make it to grade five. Only 50.7 percent complete all five years. The effects of this low rate of formal education are clear. In the young adult age range of 15 to 24, only 77.1 percent of male and 80.4 percent of females can read.
The many problems of education in Bangladesh can be linked to resources. As of 2009 Bangladesh spent 2.2 percent of its GDP on public education. In that same year the United States spent 5.2 percent. Despite government efforts to prove the contrary, education in Bangladesh remains an area in need of drastic reform. A total of 24 percent of primary school teachers are untrained and the average student-teacher ratio is 49 to one. These figures prove to be debilitating realities for the formative years of youth education.
To right the ship of education in Bangladesh, many private enterprises have lent their assistance. One such organization is BRAC. Formerly known as the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee, BRAC is now the world’s largest non-governmental organization. BRAC concentrates on impoverished rural areas. It also actively seeks female inclusion, often recruiting local women as teachers for their schools. These women receive extensive training and regular organizational evaluations. BRAC provides its education services free of charge and focuses on a unique curriculum that steers clear of the rote memorization techniques utilized in government schools. This innovative approach has proven beneficial, as BRAC students regularly outperform their government school counterparts. According to the New York Times, BRAC now administers “the largest secular non-governmental education system in the world.”
However, education in Bangladesh is still a concern. With high dropout rates and little access available to children in rural areas, the compulsory part of primary education in Bangladesh has not taken hold in the two decades since its legal codification. Potential resources remain untapped and a country of millions remains affected.
– Taylor Dow
Sources: The Financial Express, The Guardian, The New York Times, UNDP, UNICEF(1), UNICEF(2), Worldbank
Photo: The World Bank
Employment Disparities among Black Women in South Africa
South Africa has a complex history when it comes to race. The apartheid that persisted for much of the 20th century and ended in 1994 caused huge international scrutiny and debate. Since the end of apartheid, how have the black communities fared in terms of mending the years of damage this event caused? A look at one of the most disadvantaged groups in South African society, the black woman, will help us understand if South Africa has progressed.
The most recent study by the Department of Labor in South Africa was conducted in 2011. The report shows that only 31 percent of black women in South Africa were employed, which was the lowest number for all groups. Compare this to the most advantaged group, white males, at 73 percent employment. It should be noted that all other categories — black men, white women and Indian/Asian — all had higher employment than black women in South Africa. However, only the extremes between the most advantaged group and the most disadvantaged group will be compared in this case to exemplify the shocking disparity.
Looking at the rest of the numbers, we see that 14 percent of black women were unemployed, which means they did not work the week before the survey was taken but they were actively looking for work. To be fair, 14 percent unemployment does not seem relatively high, but there is another number to account for the rest of the women. Forty-five percent of black women were considered not economically active (NEA). This category includes discouraged work seekers who were not employed during the week of the survey, but wanted to work and could not find work due to a lack of available jobs or lost hope of finding work. Compare that to 4 percent unemployed white males and 23 percent of white males as NEA.
These numbers show a glaring disparity that exists in the labor market between black women and white males. Apartheid supposedly ended two decades ago, so why does this inequality still exist? One of the main reasons is education. A lack of education and usable skills are characteristic of the chronically unemployed and, conversely, those with a tertiary degree have the lowest rate of unemployment.
In South Africa “the large majority of black students come from low-income families that do not have the financial resources to support the pursuit of higher education.” About 9 percent of black women in South Africa advance to schooling past grade 12, compared to 40 percent of white males. However, a 2013 report from the county’s Council on Higher Education (CHE) states that the university dropout rate for black students is over 50 percent. From this we can estimate that only 4.5 percent of black women even receive a university degree. Clearly, black women are not being given easy access to higher education and are therefore suffering in the job market.
If there is low unemployment amongst people who have tertiary degrees, it would seem that the South African government needs to spend more time and money on making higher education available to lower-income individuals like black women. Higher levels of university graduates will help the South African society and economy grow in numerous ways. Reversing racism and, in this case, also sexism, is of course quite a difficult task. With such obvious structural racist and sexist disparities between white males and black females in South Africa, it is clear the country has not progressed enough. We can only hope that those working hard to change this unfair situation have success in the near future.
— Eleni Marino
Sources: CHE, SA News, South African DOL, Statistics South Africa, The Guardian
Photo: Jaunt to Joberg