Archive for category: Women and Female Empowerment

information and Stories about woman and female empowerment.

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Julia Gillard & Female Education

Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is no stranger to education reform. Before her term of service from 2010 to 2013, Gillard was the minister of education in Australia. As prime minister, she drew upon her work experiences to improve many of Australia’s policies for the country’s educational system.

Having accepted the position of Board Chair for the Global Partnership for Education in February, Gillard has since expanded her desire to promote high quality education to countries across the globe.

One of Gillard’s primary focuses is female education. The global leader has voiced her concern with the lack of funding and attention that female education typically receives. As Board Chair, Gillard has set out to instill a greater sense of gender equality in discussions regarding educational aid.

Gillard received a great deal of press in 2012 when she became engaged in a heated debate with opposition leader Tony Abbot during a meeting of parliament about the concept of sexism. Julia Gillard accused Abbot of behaving and speaking in a misogynistic manner and highlighted the evils of sexism.

The video of her speech from parliament that day went viral, becoming an online symbol of female empowerment.

Today, Gillard is continuing her passion for gender equality by accepting a partnership with the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI). At the GPE Replenishment Conference in June, Gillard opened the “Girls’ Education: Moving Beyond Access” session.

Gillard commented on the state of female global education saying, “There are more girls in school today, but there are still millions who are still not in school. There is a lot more that needs to be done.”

The session offered discussion on the most effective ways to respond to gender inequality in schools in the poorest areas of the world. The transition from primary to secondary education became a popular topic of conversation because so many girls drop out of school between the two levels.

The session also pinpointed the recent reasons behind female education’s success. For example, women are gaining land ownership rights more often in Nepal because daughters as well as sons can inherit family land now. Representatives from Nepal at the GPE conference believe that the opportunity to own land has affected female enrollment in schools because it has shifted the attitude toward women in the country.

Gillard advocates for complete equal access to education. As Board Chair for GPE, she leads initiatives to fund education for children with disabilities, children in rural and impoverished areas and girls dealing with oppression. Though female education is not her only focus, the fact that she, a prominent global symbol for both feminism and education reform, is leading these initiatives, seems like good news for the future of female education.

– Emily Walthouse

Sources: BBC, UNGEI, GPE, Huffington Post
Photo: Eight Women Around the World

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Why the U.S. Should Ratify CEDAW

Despite having been proposed during the Carter administration, the Global Women’s Treaty (CEDAW) was never approved by the Senate. Under the current Obama administration, attention has been brought back to the United Nations treaty for ratification. Many human rights organizations have criticized the United States’ inaction with this treaty for decades.

The treaty hopes to attain full gender equality, specifically in areas of domestic violence, maternal health, economic opportunities and human trafficking. Although the U.S. prides itself on being at the forefront of human rights activism and campaigns, not ratifying the treaty seems contradictory. Only seven nations, including the U.S., have not ratified the treaty.

The Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee has supported the treaty twice, but there has not been substantial support in the Senate as a whole. CEDAW acts as a guideline for countries to follow in order to eliminate gender inequality. In past years, many advancements in women’s rights have been attributed to the CEDAW framework.

With barriers to economic and social equality, countries are functioning at a fraction of their potential. CEDAW helps to alleviate these barriers, tailoring guidelines for each country based on its current landscape. For these reasons, the U.S.’ ratification would not only help solidify domestic efforts to foster gender equality, but also promote gender equality in other nations.

With nations including China, Russia, the UK and many of our NATO allied nations participating, the U.S. is one of the few to not cooperate on this issue. With U.S.’ leadership and resources, the international alliance toward improving global living conditions for women can prosper. With the approval of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hopefully CEDAW will pass through the Senate this year.

– Kristin Ronzi

Sources: Human Rights Watch, CEDAW 2014
Photo: Ratify CEDAW Facebook

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Women’s Education: Threat to Terrorism

The recent kidnapping of 300 Nigerian girls by the extremist group Boko Haram has sparked a global dialogue around the issue of women’s rights. Everyone seems to be wondering: why would an extremist group of alpha males feel so threatened by young, educated girls that they would be inclined to abduct nearly an entire village? The answer lies in the facts.

Around the world a vast portion of women are denied basic rights — that is access to education, jobs and health care — and are victims of sexual and physical abuse. According to USAID, 62 million girls are not in school. UNESCO’s latest statistics show that there are an estimated 862 million illiterate adults in the world, about two-thirds of whom are women.

The residual effects of an uneducated female population are far-reaching. There are social, political and economic consequences, there are health corollaries, but the common motivator seems to be to keep men in power.

USAID studies show that a girl who completes basic education is three times less likely to contract HIV/AIDS. An educated women re-invests 90 percent of the income in her family. A child born to a literate mother is 50 percent more likely to survive past the age of 5. Women with some formal education are more likely to seek medical care and ensure their children are immunized.

So, an educated female population would completely uproot a conservative, dictatorial society and act as a threat to terrorism. It is, therefore, entirely threatening to those men in positions of power. A literate woman does not simply read her children bedtime stories — she changes their conception of the world.

Various global efforts have been launched to ensure that women are granted access to education. Let Girls Learn is a new endeavor that provides the public with meaningful ways to help all girls receive a quality education. USAID has contributed $230 million in support of the cause and for new programs that promote universal education.

The United States government has intervened in the global arena as well. It has invested one billion per year through USAID in low-income countries to ensure equitable treatment of boys and girls, to establish safe school environments and to engage communities in support for girls’ education.

When delving into the facts, the answer seems clear. The prospect of an educated female population is extraordinarily threatening. Education is a fundamental tool and means for societal change. Thomas Staal, USAID’s deputy administrator, sees the issue plain and simple; education is essential in fighting poverty and its grim consequences — hunger, disease, resource degradation, exploitation and despair. And “women are the caretakers and economic catalysts in our communities. No country can afford to ignore their potential.”

– Samantha Scheetz

Sources: USAID 1, USAID 2, USAID 3, USAID 4, PBS
Photo: FT Magazine

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ONE Launches New Campaign

one
What better way to give the girls and women of the world a voice than by giving them a worldwide platform on which to broadcast the issues that matter to them? That’s exactly the thinking behind ONE’s innovative new campaign called “Girls & Women.” The campaign seeks to “unleash the full potential of girls” by showcasing stories with women at their center.

Women have long been disproportionately affected by poverty; of the most impoverished people across the globe, more than 60 percent are female. Empowering women in developing countries to become full-fledged economic participants is crucial to eliminating poverty, but it begins by solving the social issues behind unequal access to education, employment and financial resources. Putting gender inequality in the spotlight is the first step to achieving equality.

ONE’s new “Girls & Women” initiative seeks to bring about equality by allowing different female “curators” from around the world to share their stories. The very first curator is Phiona Mutesi, a young Ugandan chess prodigy who has used her talent to help her family rise from poverty. On the same page that features stories about female entrepreneurs and resources for female empowerment, Phiona chose to share articles about how she personally escaped slum life, and some of the highlights of her life since then – specifically, challenging her chess hero and learning that Disney is preparing to produce a movie based on her life. Yes, Disney.

In conjunction with the “Girls & Women” initiative, ONE also offers its readers the chance to reach out to their Congressmen (at this time, to promote the Electrify Africa Act,) — an endeavor very much in line with The Borgen Project’s mission. In this way, ONE represents another agency using the power of advocacy to create measurable change. By shedding light on inspiring women and the issues that contribute to their poverty, ONE is working to make the world better for over half of its inhabitants.

– Elise L. Riley

Sources: ONE, United Nations Development Programme
Photo: NBC News

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Remote Control Contraceptive

remote control contraceptive
In less than four years, women could be receiving a remote control contraceptive. The implanted microchip provides a reliable dose of hormones every day for 16 years, which could make family planning and contraception much easier for women in the developing world.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-backed project is based off of research done in the 1990s by Professor Robert Langer of MIT. Langer leased his technology to MicroCHIPS, a company currently developing implants to release osteoporosis treatments into the body over regular intervals.

The microchip, roughly the size of a Scrabble tile at 20mm x 20mm x 7mm, has wells filled with the hormone levonorgestrel. When activated, a small electric charge triggers every day, melting the covering of the wells and releasing 30 micrograms of levonorgestrel into the body. The wells are covered with a mixture of titanium and platinum, which causes no harm to the body when melted.

The chip can be implanted in the abdomen, upper arm or buttocks. The process to inject the contraceptive is fairly simple, taking less than 30 minutes and using a local anesthetic.

Since many women may want to take a break from the birth control before the end of 16 years, the remote control allows them to switch their treatment on and off themselves. This puts power in the hands of women. There are security issues, such as the possibility for hacking, which could be a major problem if women do not realize their dosing has been tampered with. MicroCHIPS has promised that the control must be used right next to the skin, so no one can interfere with a women’s contraception without her knowledge.

Another issue is that injectable contraceptives do not protect against STDs, and some have even been shown to increase the chance of contracting HIV. Also, becoming fertile again after using hormones can take a while. These issues have not been addressed by the company.

This is not the first injectable contraceptive, but it lasts the longest. The most durable contraceptive on the market right now lasts only five years. This microchip could simplify women’s lives all across the developing world. Injectable contraceptives are already popular in these countries, so making the switch would be easy to do.

Burkina Faso will soon implement the contraceptive Sayana Press, as will Niger, Senegal and Uganda. Sayana Press only lasts three months, and while the countries will provide delivery services for women who cannot come to hospitals or clinics every few months, it is still difficult to reach every woman in need of an injection. Some women may also forget to get a new injection.

South Africa currently has a system for a three-year contraceptive. The device is similar, except it cannot be remotely controlled and it must be replaced sooner. It is a Silicone, matchstick-sized implant made by Merck and marketed as Implanon. The Stanger Hospital in South Africa actually ran out of the implants and is struggling to provide enough for the women who want the contraception.

There is a large desire for this kind of contraceptive in the developing world, and a controllable device could be the key to making family planning easier for women.

There are also further applications for implantable drug dispensers beyond female contraception. The technology could be applied to other treatments, like MicroCHIPS’ work with osteoporosis treatment. If trials prove successful, it is possible that many other drugs could be put in the wells and released periodically.

The contraceptive will be submitted for testing in 2015, and by 2018 the microchips could be on the market. The claim is that they will be “competitively priced,” making the technology a real possibility for women around the world to have a worry-free method of birth control.

– Monica Roth

Sources: Elite Daily, Extreme Tech, The Guardian, CNet, Africa Science News, Daily Maverick, MicroCHIPS
Photo: The Telegraph

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5 Violations Against Women’s Rights

women's rights
Despite enormous strides made toward gender equality, the world today is still riddled with gender disparities. Below are a list of five reasons why fighting for women’s rights is so important, and why it’s still an ongoing battle.

1. Workplace Inequalities Around the World…Including the United States

For most Americans, it isn’t a secret that women still face extreme disadvantages in the workplace. Despite putting in equally long hours and given identical responsibilities as their male counterparts, women still only make 77 cents for every man’s dollar in the United States, and it’s even worse in other countries. Not only do women make less, but their responsibilities at home are often more rigorous; according to Harvard studies, men still put in a significantly less amount of time in household chores as their female partners.

2. Skewed Gender Ratios

In some countries, where population control laws were put into a much stricter affect, gender ratio disparities are skyrocketing. A favorable push of male-to-female in these countries has resulted in unbalanced gender ratio problems, where some female babies can be killed or left abandoned. In China, the gender ratio of male to female was 108:100 based on a 2013 data consensus; in India, it was 107:100.

3. Violence

According to a statement made by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2008, one in every three women is likely to be “beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime.” In fact, violence against women is so common in developing countries that oftentimes it doesn’t even make the news cycle. And while many countries fail to protect their rape victims, other countries such as Morocco and Saudi Arabia have much stricter punishments. Rape victims in these countries can be charged with crimes for being “alone with an unrelated man, or for getting pregnant afterwards,” only further perpetuating the damaging notion of rape culture.

4. Marriage and Divorce

According to UNICEF, more than one-third of women between the ages of 20 and 24 were married before they turned 18, which is considered below the minimum age for marriage in most countries. Nevertheless, these child brides risk greater chances of giving birth at earlier ages and suffer from risks of complications in childbirth and a greater chance of contracting HIV/AIDS. Courts do little to help the problem; in Yemen, it is against the law for a woman to leave the house without her husband’s permission. This results in a high percentage of women, who are afraid of the legal ramifications, to stay in abusive relationships.

5. Education

Women currently make up two-thirds of the world’s illiterate adults. Whether they are kept from school in order to keep up with household chores or their father deems it time for them to marry, women are consistently being denied their right to education; a right hardly ever denied to their male counterparts. While numerous studies have been proven to show that educating women is key to eliminating poverty and aiding development, the gender gap in education in many of these developing countries is only continuing to increase.

– Nick Magnanti

Sources: The Washington Post, Harvard Summer School, Discovery, United Nations Population Fund
Photo: Act 4 Entertainment

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Girls Not Brides

girls not brides
There are girls as young as 13-years-old married off throughout the world. In developing countries, one out of every seven girls is married before her 15th birthday.

Girls married younger than the age of 18 often report that have been beaten by their husbands and forced to have sex. These girls often think it is acceptable for their husbands to beat them and make them feel powerless.

The main reasons for girls being married off include culture and parents’ desire to counteract a fear of their daughter getting molested. Tradition and culture are a big reason for young girls being married off; families are scared to stray from tradition in fear of being excluded from their communities. Poverty is another cause of child marriage. Poor families often marry off their daughters so that they have less expenses. They have one less body to feed, educate and clothe.

Although parents in certain situations marry their daughters off at young ages trying protect them, the young girls are still losing their human rights. They completely lose their childhoods.

Girls Not Brides is an organization working to protect girls from being married at a young age. They give a voice to the voiceless. Members of this organization are based in Africa, America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East; they are united in helping girls reach their full potential and not being married off at a young age.

Girls Not Brides works with 350 other civil organizations from over 60 countries. They believe that partnering up will bring attention to the issue and show that there are others who want to stop young marriages too.

Girls Not Brides reaches out to young girls and helps them feel empowered. They supply young girls with skills that will be useful in the future and have different workshops to show girls how to use their newly learned skills. This program also sets up support groups for young girls and boys to share their experiences so that they can become advocates against child marriage themselves.

Girls Not Brides has put together a technical brief on ending child marriages. Please take a look and see what you can do to help.

–Priscilla Rodarte

Sources: Girls Not Brides, Girls Not Brides, Girls Not Brides, Slate
Photo: WUNRN

East Timor Makes First Feature Film

east timor
East Timor has produced its first feature film, which exposes the dire events of the country’s 24-year Indonesian occupation and the role of women in the nation’s struggle for independence. The film, “A Guerra da Beatriz” or “Beatriz’s War” is the story of a young woman’s fight to reveal the truth about her husband in the midst of his disappearance during a brutal massacre by Indonesian troops and his subsequent return. With the violence of the invasion as a backdrop, the film depicts a woman’s inner battle to remain true to her two loves: her country and her husband.

The film has a similar plot design as the 1982 French film, “The Return of Martin Guerre,” which portrays a historical case of a 16th-century soldier who returns from war and is no longer recognized by his community.

The main character, Beatriz, is a girl growing up in the mountains of East Timor in 1975 when the Indonesian invasion commences. Beatriz is married at the age of 11 to a young boy and, as the destruction of the occupation ensues, Beatriz becomes a resistance fighter to defend her nation. After her husband vanishes amid the 1983 Kraras Massacre, she continues her crusade against Indonesian forces. The reunion with her presumably dead spouse 16 years later ignites sentiments of longing that are further complicated by suspicions surrounding his identity.

The majority of those involved in the film have strong personal connections to East Timor’s brutal history. The actors and crew, including thousands of extras, have all had relatives lost during the war and have witnessed the torture and murder of family and community members.

The film was co-directed by East-Timorese filmmaker Bety Reis, who also plays the part of Beatriz’s mother. Reis co-founded East Timor’s first film and television production house, Dili Film Works, in 2010 and is its acting director. At the age of 16, Reis witnessed first hand the killing and rape of her fellow countrymen by the Indonesian military. Reis claims that she came very close to execution and is thankful that she was spared, allowing her to create a film which could inform the world about her country’s bloody past.

“Beatriz’s War” completed its production in 2013, mainly funded through crowd sourcing campaigns, and is now in limited release in Australian theaters. The film was awarded the Golden Peacock award for Best Film at the 44th International Film Festival of India in 2013 and was screened at the International Film Festival of Adelaide. In early 2014, the film competed in both the Bryon Bay International Film Festival and the Big Picture Film festival in Sydney, Australia.

The rise of East Timorese cinema marks an important step in the country’s cultural development. The growth of the nation’s culture was severely stunted by the impacts of the recent war with Indonesia. As more of the country’s citizens emerge with creative narratives that illustrate East Timor’s rich history, the world will benefit from gaining insight to the strengths and triumphs of a newly minted nation.

-Talia Langman

Sources: Dili Film Works, Sunday Morning Herald, Mount Holyoke
Photo: Timor Leste Merkeda

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Convoy of Hope

Convoy of Hope - Borgen Project
Convoy of Hope, founded in 1994 by the Donaldson family, is dedicated to helping those in need. It’s a simple and ambitious goal. To meet it, efforts concentrate on six areas of interest.

Community Events

In the United States, the organization partners with local businesses to provide the community’s poor with a “poverty-free day.” What is a poverty free day? A day which people receive free meals, access to health and dental care, job-placement services and family portrait sittings. The services depend on three things: the input of the partners, the needs of the community and the skills of available volunteers. In 2013, volunteers served more than 120,000 “guests-of-honor”.

Rural Compassion

Like in many places around the world, rural communities in the United States are hit hardest by poverty. By training pastors and community leaders, Convoy helps to spur on positive change.

Children’s Feeding

Convoy of Hope feeds more than 145,000 children in 11 different nations across Africa, Central America and the Philippines. Aware that the meal they provide is the only one some children get, every attention is paid to nutrition. The Convoy carefully monitors the health of each child enrolled in the program. Trying to create healthy living environments, Convoy teaches proper hygiene and sanitation. By collecting and purifying water, and distributing filtration systems, they hope to promote water security.

Agricultural Development

A relatively new Agricultural Initiative is being piloted in Haiti. There, nearly 3,000 farmers trained in applicable agricultural science and crop management, according to their economic and geographic situation. Crop yield has increased among Convoy-trained farmers exponentially. Black bean planting, in particular, is up by 100 percent.

Disaster Services

Working with over 200 partners, Convoy of Hope’s Disaster Response Team aids in both domestic and international disaster relief. They determine relief effort needs and assess the efficacy of Convoy volunteers on the field. These volunteers, grouped in teams, unload supplies from shipments made by their World Distribution Center. Convoy commits to the total recovery of communities, so feet remain on the ground for months, sometimes years.

Women’s Empowerment

Nearly 70 percent of people living in poverty are women. Giving them the chance to earn an income is a significant step towards reducing that poverty. So Convoy provides training to women in Ethiopia, Tanzania, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Philippines. With financial and educational support provided by Convoy, women can start their own businesses. Those in the “Mother’s Clubs” attend sessions on nutrition, health and literacy. Younger girls have access to programs on relevant topics like self-esteem and gender based violence.

By the sheer number of functioning programs run by Convoy, it is obvious that the organization is well established. Volunteers with a multitude of skills serve in many different capacities. Still, their purpose remains to aid those struggling, whenever and wherever they need help.

– Olivia Kostreva

Sources: Convoy of Hope Community Events, Convoy of Hope Children’s Feeding, Convoy of Hope Disaster Services, Convoy of Hope Agriculture, Convoy of Hope Women’s Empowerment, Convoy of Hope Rural Compassion, Charity Navigator, FeedOne
Photo: Dew Foundation

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5 Reasons to Invest in Educating Women

Education is the single most impactive weapon to empower women and save them from the cycle of poverty. While the gender gap in primary education has decreased over the past two decades, significant inequalities still remain. With women comprising two thirds of the illiterate population, and 2.6 million more girls out of school compared to boys around the world, now is not the time to deny females the right to a decent education.

That’s why USAID recently launched Let Girls Learn, an effort to give girls around the world access to quality education, backed by $230 million in new programs.

Based on statistics from USAID and the World Bank, here are five reasons why an investment in a girl’s education is an investment in a better world:

1. Educating Women Saves Lives
According to USAID, 99 percent of maternal deaths occur in the developing world. However, based on data from the World Bank, child mortality is reduced by 18 per thousand births with each additional year of female education. Giving young women access to education will decrease birth related deaths, as well as safeguard the health of all families. Women who complete primary school education are more likely to ensure their children are immunized, meet their children’s nutritional requirements and practice better sanitation.

2. Educating Women Increases GDP
Family earnings are increased when a wife has received an education. Educated women are better able to provide for their families, and help make smarter financial decisions. USAID reports show that one extra year of primary school boosts a girl’s future wage 10 to 20 percent. On the larger scale, USAID data reveals that when 10% more girls go to school, a country’s GDP increases on average by 3 percent.

3. Educating Women Limits Overpopulation
Investing in women’s education keeps girls in school longer. In the developing world, 1 in 7 girls will marry before they are 15. If a girl stays in school for seven or more years, on average, they will get married four years later and have two fewer children. Additionally, when women are educated about birth control, they are equipped to practice safe family planning.

4. Educating Woman Decreases Disease
Women make up nearly 52 percent of the global total of people living with HIV. A girl who completes a basic education is 3 times less likely to contract HIV/AIDS.

5. Educating Women is the right thing to do
The bottom line is: every child deserves the right to a quality education, and girls are no exception. With programs that ensure safe, quality and empowering education –like those implemented by USAID and Let Girls Learn –the world is one step closer to being a more just and equitable place.

– Grace Flaherty

Sources: USAID, USAID 2, USAID 3, World Bank
Photo: Colorado Chamber of Commerce