Archive for category: Women and Female Empowerment

information and Stories about woman and female empowerment.

, , , ,

White House Releases Strategic Human Trafficking Plan

human_trafficking
On January 14, the United States government took a strong step toward combating modern-day slavery. The White House released its Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services for Victims of Human Trafficking 2013-2017 in the United States — the first of its kind — on Monday. The Plan’s release is a timely one, as January marks National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

According to White House blog writer Cecilia Munoz, the Plan “describes the steps that federal agencies will take to ensure that all victims of human trafficking in the United States are identified and have access to the services they need to recover and to rebuild their lives.” The federal government anticipates increased coordination, collaboration and capacity across multiple agencies over the span of five years.

More than 15 federal agencies were involved in developing the Plan, with public feedback from concerned stakeholders; the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services and Homeland Security spearhead the efforts.

While the ultimate aspiration – identification of and access to services for all trafficking victims – is ambitious, the Plan is broken down into four more succinct goals: align efforts at the federal, regional, state and local levels, improve understanding through amplified research and data evaluation, expand access to services via outreach and training and improve both short- and long-term outcomes for victims.

Concise methods and action steps for achieving these goals are delineated throughout the document.

Victim sensitivity and empowerment are the cornerstone of the government’s action plan. “Meaningful engagement with survivors,” states to the Plan’s core values, “in all aspects of program development, implementation, and evaluation is critical in order to develop effective service networks.”

Furthermore, the Plan will focus on increased public awareness and sustainable solutions for trafficking survivors.

Reiterating the importance of a victim-centered approach, President Obama offers an encouraging and personal sentiment in the opening pages of the release: “To those who are suffering and have suffered the horrors of human trafficking, our message remains: We hear you. We insist on your dignity.” This statement sets the tone for the goals of the Federal Strategic Action Plan and carries a message of justice to activists, advocates, victims and survivors across the country and the globe.

– Mallory Thayer

Sources: White House Blog, Office for Victims of Crime
Photo: News One

, , ,

Public Health Crisis in Nepal

public health crisis
Nepal finds itself in the midst of a public health crisis for a sizable number of its female citizens. The crisis has its roots in poor preventative measures, but it mostly stems from the intolerable gender discrimination that many Nepalese women endure on a daily basis.

For instance, uterine prolapse, a condition that occurs when the uterus falls out of its normal position, is plaguing millions of women in the small nation. This condition is extremely painful and prevents many women from doing basic household duties.

In fact, its ubiquity is staggering: over 10% of 13.4 million women are affected by uterine prolapse.

The condition prevents many women from lifting heavy items which leads many to be ostracized within their own families. Since they are unable to do any intensive physical labor, they are seen as “lazy” by their families and therefore looked down upon.

Unfortunately, uterine prolapse can be traced to even greater gender discrimination pervasive within Nepalese society as a whole. Women generally have no say in when they marry, when to have children and how many children they desire to have. They are also denied basic birth control.

Bearing too many children in a short period of time is heavily associated with early onset of the condition. Generally, uterine prolapse is experienced by older women.

However, because of the lack of choice in having children at an early age, the condition in Nepal has been seen in women in their early 20’s. In a society that treats women as second class citizens, it is hard to imagine the number of avenues women are able to take in order to prevent uterine prolapse.

The government of Nepal has taken notice of the problem and was compelled to address the crisis once the Supreme Court mandated it in 2008. Unfortunately, the government response has been woefully inadequate.

There is a serious dearth of preventative measures in the government’s strategy. The main focus has been providing surgery for those who are already affected by the condition, which has done nothing to ease the discrimination responsible for its prevalence.

The quality of the government’s response to the crisis should not come as a surprise since the government has been in a state of flux since the monarchy was deposed in 2008. Since then, an interim constitution has been created to govern the country.

Political bouts within the government have left many stuck in a cycle of poverty. In fact, over one-quarter of the Nepalese population survives on just $2 per day.

The situation underscores how institutionalized discrimination leads to more than just decreased social stature in one’s society. There may be other examples around the world illustrating the health effects discrimination has on powerless individuals.

Hopefully an effective governing body can be solidified to aid the women of Nepal.

– Zachary Lindberg

Sources: Reuters, Amnesty International
Photo: Merlin

, , , ,

Extremists Undermine Gender Equality in Syria

Extremists Undermine Gender Equality in Syria
The takeover of certain regions in Syria by extremist groups has caused a significant regression in gender equality. In particular, the groups Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq (ISIS), which may be linked to al-Qaeda, have taken advantage of the country’s vulnerable state due to the tumultuous civil war.

Jabhat al-Nusra and the ISIS have implemented their interpretations of Sharia law, which is law based on the religion of Islam. This has placed discriminatory regulations, particularly on women, violating Syrian laws that generally promote gender equality. Although there have been flaws within the Syrian constitution, specifically regarding marriage and divorce rights in previous years, the current occupation of extremist groups has essentially ripped away women’s rights to dress, move and practice the religion of their choice.

Some of these restrictions include forcing women to wear a veil, or what is formally known as a hijab, and to wear a full-length robe, called an abaya. Despite the variety of religious identities within Syria, such as Alawite, Armenian Christian, Syriac Christian as well as Sunni and Shia Muslim, these extremist groups are pressuring women to wear Islamic garb only, with serious consequences if they do not obey.

The punishments for not being compliant include being denied access to public transportation and education. These women are furthermore, unable to leave the house and complete simple tasks necessary for survival, such as buying food. Punishment has also gone as far as to include the abduction of women by Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS fighters in numerous regions such as Aleppo, Hassakeh and Raqqa. These women are living in fear and are completely dependent on male family members. They are unable to live their lives as they did before, as their basic freedoms have been jeopardized.

This has all not gone unnoticed, however, as several Syrian grassroots activists have, in fact, been demanding resolution in accordance with the United Nations. Specifically, Syrian activist Kefah ali Deeb spoke out at the UN conference in Geneva this past week demanding the representation of women during peace talks. She has, through these peace talks, been placed in a position to provide a voice for unheard Syrian women and children in hopes of influencing the enactment of nondiscriminatory laws.

As ali Deeb puts it, “women must be heard because no less than 80[%] of all 9.3 million Syrians who need aid are women and children.” The UN meeting in Geneva, furthermore, gave ali Deeb a platform to speak of the harsh restrictions in place and to stress the importance of appointing a gender advisor to stabilize the current situation in Syria.

The women’s conference provided a great opportunity for ali Deeb, as she was able to describe the horrors occurring in her country, stating, “we cannot remain silent regarding events unfolding in Syria such as daily death, massive destruction, starvation of people and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Syrian families, in Syria and abroad, as well as the spread of terror, of violence, ongoing detentions, acts of kidnapping, destruction of infrastructures and the spread of diseases, particularly among children.”

Syrian women have thus formed a team in Geneva to consult with peace negotiators, as to fulfill the need for representation of the whole population during the peace talks. A gender advisor is vital to restoring equality in Syria to ensure that women take back the freedoms they once enjoyed. Now more than ever, women need representation to help them regain their rights and extinguish the turmoil in Syria.

– Danielle Warren

Sources: Human Rights Watch, Washington Post
Photo: Thomson Reuters Foundation

, , , , , , , ,

Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers

christmas
Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo spent years in Annawadi, a slum outside the bustling metropolis of Mumbai, India. With most people living without electricity or stable income in makeshift shelters, the slum stands in stark contrast to the bustling airport and luxury hotels a few miles away.  Over the course of her stay, Boo followed the lives of the people that call Annawadi home. She describes the stories she heard and the events she saw in her book, Behind the Beautiful Forevers.

Boo introduces us to many residents such as Asha, who uses the corrupt political climate to gain influence and prestige. Her daughter, Maniu, studies education and rejects many of the gender norms of her society.

Young children in the village compete for short-term jobs at the Mumbai hotels. These children are easily exploited and often work for next-to-nothing in stressful conditions before collecting garbage to sell as scraps and recyclables.

Corrupt police and vague laws govern the people of Annawadi. Mysterious deaths are not investigated, false accusations fly around without evidence and gangs run the streets. Religious tension is obvious as Muslim families are singled out in the predominately-Hindu village.

Though Boo paints a dark picture of poverty in India, there is still hope. International organizations are moving in to help the people in India, especially since the slums of the region are in dire need of schools, permanent housing and job opportunities. The children of the region believe that one day they will have permanent jobs in Mumbai, own a house and send their own children to school.  The young girls in the village also believe that the time has come to stand up for their rights and make a living for themselves.  Furthermore, children are becoming motivated to stay in school while families plan to move on to permanent housing projects.

– Stephanie Lamm

Sources: Behind the Beautiful Forevers, New York Times
Photo: Vintage 3D

, , ,

Female Politicians Lead Pack in Latin America

 

Latin_American_Female_Politicians
Chileans are choosing between a former president who aims to increase accessibility to higher education and a right wing politician wanting to keep taxes low are the candidates in the December 2013 presidential election. What is secondary, but notable, about these candidates is that both are also women.

The Chilean election is indicative of a larger trend in Latin America and the Caribbean of the ascension of female political leaders.

Eight of roughly 29 female presidents worldwide since the 1970s have headed countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, with half elected in the last eight years.

Quotas for women in government explain part of this progress. Argentina pioneered the quota system in the early 1990s with a law requiring that 30 percent of legislative candidates be women. As of 2006, 50 countries have adopted the quota system, including many in Latin America.

In Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Bolivia, every other candidate on a party’s election list is required to be a woman.

In North and South America, with the noteworthy exception of the United States, women are being elected to the highest offices of government.

In Latin America’s largest nation of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff was elected president in 2010 and will run again in 2014.  She previously held the position of energy minister and was ranked #20 in Forbes’ Most Powerful People list in 2013 and second on its list of Most Powerful Women.

Argentina’s Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is serving her second term as the country’s first elected female president, and Laura Chinchilla is Costa Rica’s first female president.

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller is the island nation’s first female Prime Minister and has fought for full rights for LGBT Jamaicans. Time Magazine put her on the 100 World’s Most Influential People List in 2012, and U.S. Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke has said that Simpson-Miller is “inspiring a new generation of women, particularly from the Caribbean diaspora, to get involved in public service and make a difference.”

Also in the Caribbean region is Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Trinidad and Tobago’s first female Prime Minister.

According to polls, a substantial shift is taking place in the minds of people in Latin America. Roughly 80 percent of people in the region now believe that women should participate in politics.  That figure contrasts sharply to the 30% who believed this in the 1990s.

Progress for women in some parts of Latin American politics has been relatively recent, with El Salvador allowing women to run for office only since 1961 and Paraguay’s constitution giving women the right to vote that same year.

Despite women rising to the highest levels of government, participation in parliaments is still low even in countries with female heads of state.

Latin America nonetheless boasts the second highest average number of women in the lower houses of congress with 24 percent, only less than Scandinavian and Nordic countries, which both have 42 percent.

Rwanda is the only country in the world where more women than men serve in the lower house of parliament, with Andorra coming in second at 50 percent. In Latin America, Nicaragua has the highest number of female politicians in the lower house at 40 percent.

While these numbers are promising, no country in the region has therefore achieved gender parity, and experts worry that progress for women in government could be reversed. Ingrained sexism, income gaps between the sexes and male dominance in corporations still persist.

In Chile, the income gap between men and women has gotten greater in recent years, with men earning $1,172 per month compared to women’s $811.

Each region and country in the world struggles to bring about political, social, and economic equality of the sexes, but Farida Jalalzai, a gender politics scholar at the University of Missouri-St. Louis asserts, “Latin America is really ahead of the pack. This is interesting because it had seemed to stall by the early 2000s, but no more.”

– Kaylie Cordingley

Sources: New York Times, Time Magazine, Forbes, The Quota Project, The Guardian
Photo: AARP

, , , , , , , ,

Empowering Education: Girls Learn International

Girls_Learn_International
One in six girls in the developing world will not complete an education past the sixth grade.  Add this sobering statistic to shocking numbers which illustrate that the entire continent of Africa has less than a 60% literacy rate, and one can see just how many challenges in completing an education the youth of the developing world face.  However, girls in particular face an even greater challenge due to the widespread gender inequalities that still exist.

Girls Learn International (GLI) is a nonprofit, student-run organization and movement that encourages U.S. students to promote education for women throughout the world.  Lisa Alter founded the movement with her two teenage daughters in 2003.  Alongside Arielle and Jordana, Lisa began to inspire various youths to get involved in humanitarianism and women’s rights while still in school.  As a result, GLI currently has 114 chapters in over 26 states across the country. GLI also boasts partnerships with 47 schools in 11 countries, including Afghanistan, India, and Ghana.

Countries not providing equal access to education for women will end up losing out on $92 billion for their respective economies, according to Girls Learn International.  Additionally, 7 million cases of HIV/AIDS could be prevented if every child received a primary education, hence why GLI lives by the creed, “Women’s Education is a Basic Human Right.”

Furthermore, GLI has numerous partnerships and sponsors.  GLI is part of the Feminist Majority Foundation, the  Feminist Campus, and is a sister organization to Ms. Magazine.  The organization has also partnered with the Global Campaign for Education’s U.S. Chapter while also fielding a delegation to the United Nations Commission of the Status of Women.

The organization seeks to empower young women and have them take initiatives towards working for global education.  However, gender equality cannot be achieved without the contributions of idealistic young men as well.  To drive this point home, GLI boasts having an all boys’ chapter in Pennsylvania.  Regardless of gender, if you are a young person interested in providing education for women everywhere, GLI is the organization for you.

– Taylor Diamond

Sources: Girls Learn International, Global Campaign for Education
Photo: The Alternative Press

Haifaa al-Mansour: First Female Saudi Director

Haifaa al-Mansour First Female Saudi Director
Haifaa al-Mansour has a lot of which to be proud. Not only is she the first female Saudi director, she is also the first person to shoot a film entirely in Saudi Arabia. The film, called “Wadjda,” was also submitted for the Academy Award for best foreign language film, the first time Saudi Arabia has entered the category.

Al-Mansour was born in Saudi Arabia in 1974. Although there are no movie theaters in Saudi Arabia, her father fostered her interest in movies by keeping a collection at home. She went to film school abroad which is where she made her first shorts and later her documentary “Women without Shadows,” chronicling the lives of hidden women in the Gulf. “Wadjda,” her latest film, focuses on a young girl who wants to buy a bike so she can race with a boy in her neighborhood. Girls are not generally allowed to ride bikes in Saudi Arabia, so she tries to save her money to buy the bike herself by entering a Qur’an recital competition.

Filming a movie in Saudi Arabia is no easy task, and is even more difficult if you are a woman. The film actually took nearly five years to make due to issues with procuring funding and getting permission from the government to film on location. Al-Mansour was insistent on filming in Saudi Arabia to preserve the authenticity of the story. Once funding and the permission to film were secured, more roadblocks followed. For example, since women are not allowed to travel outside unattended, she worked from inside a car with a walkie-talkie, driving from location to location. Al-Mansour referred to this particular problem as “tough but rewarding.”

The movie also focuses on what Saudi society expects of girls and interpersonal relationships between friends and family. Al-Mansour said of the main character, “I think she’s a kid and she’s just discovering the society around her. She’s discovering what she can do and what she cannot do. And I think she wants to race a boy, she wants to—you know how kids are, competitive — she wants to win. She wants to assert herself and be heard. But she’s not trying to be aggressive as much as assertive. She’s trying to find herself, to enjoy life, and for me that was a very important theme in the film.”

– Colleen Eckvahl

Sources: NPR, New York Times

, ,

WHO Reports Spike in Cancer Cases

Cancer Cases
The World Health Organization (WHO,) guardian of international health statistics, released new numbers last week indicating a major upturn in the number of cancer cases worldwide.

In 2012, 14.1 million people received cancer diagnoses in 184 countries across the globe, a nearly 10 percent increase from 2008. Unfortunately, this rise translates across the board to mortality rates as well, which saw a similar 9.3 percent increase over the same period.

Lung cancer, breast cancer and colorectal cancer round out the three most common forms of the disease, comprising 13 percent, 11.9 percent and 9.7 percent, respectively, of the aggregate number of diagnoses.

Breast cancer has seen the most rapid acceleration of any other manifestation of cancer and continues to be the leading cause of cancer deaths among women. In 2012, over 6.3 million women were living with cancer diagnoses from the previous five years alone. Incidence increased 20 percent from the beginning to the end of that five-year period (2008-2012); 1.7 million women received initial diagnoses in 2012.

Unfortunately, the mortality rate for this common cancer has not slowed down, increasing by 14 percent in the study period.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) forecasts the upward trend of aggregate cancer incidence will likely continue through and beyond the year 2025. By that time, over 19.3 million new cancer cases will lob on to the current cancer burden each year.

The increase is not inherently problematic for global health: these statistics reflect an aging global population and the planet’s sustained population growth. As more adults celebrate birthdays in their 70’s and 80’s, it follows that more are alive to receive diagnoses of cancer, a disease largely believed to arise from the effects of aging on the error-prone process of cellular reproduction.

Similarly, advances in technology have increased the accuracy and applicability of diagnostic techniques. Early detection of cancer raises incidence rates but ultimately benefits cancer patients by improving outcomes.

Unfortunately, inequalities in global death distribution fall unfavorably on developed nations. The WHO estimates over 55 percent of all cancers and nearly 65 percent of all cancer deaths in 2012 occurred in lesser-developed regions of the world. The IARC expects that this trend will continue (and likely deteriorate) as 2025 approaches.

Dr. David Foreman, Head of the IARC Section of Cancer Information, urges the global community to “develop effective and affordable approaches to the early detection, diagnosis, and treatment” of cancers in the developing world. Funds allocated toward research and development in these areas will likely generate significant returns on investment; each year, cancer-related deaths and disability cost the global economy $1 trillion in economic losses.

If properly managed, the recent rise in cancer cases will inspire focused improvements in cancer control strategies that will bridge the gap between morbidity and mortality, improve outcomes for the developed world and turn the trend on its head.

– Casey Ernstes

Sources: The American Cancer Society, Voice of America, International Agency for Research on Cancer
Photo: News at Jama

,

10 Shocking Statistics on Gender-based Violence

In the words of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki moon, “Violence against women continues to persist as one of the most heinous, systematic and prevalent human rights abuses in the world. It is a threat to all women, and an obstacle to all our efforts for development, peace, and gender equality in all societies.”

In fact, violence kills more women between the ages of 15 and 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war combined.

The recent 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, kicked off November 25 on the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, served to confront this global pandemic. Here are ten of countless statistics that illustrate the importance of such, and continued, efforts.

1. In the 24 developing countries studied in a recent survey, a combined total of only 7% of survivors of gender-based violence, including physical and sexual acts, formally reported their attacks to police, medical or social services.

2. In India, less than 1% of survivors reported gender-based violence to formal sources. The highest rate of reporting uncovered in the survey was in Colombia where 26% of women formally reported the violence they faced. This still means that three out of four Colombian women never report the violence they’ve faced.

3. In the same 24 developing countries, the surveyors explored whether women told their friends, family members or neighbors about their attacks and found that the rates of this “informal reporting” ranged from 15% in Honduras to 60% in Ukraine. Thus, in most of the countries, the majority of women told no one of their attacks.

4. In Papua New Guinea, 59.1% of men admit to forcing an unwilling intimate partner into having sex. Forty percent of men admit to having raped a stranger.

5. According to the UN, there were 15,654 cases of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2012. However, the country is noted to chronically underreport gender-based violence figures. A study published by the American Journal of Public Health found that more than 1,100 women were raped every day in 2006 and that more than 400,000 women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49 were raped within a 12-month time frame.

6. A third of all survivors of sexual violence in the DRC are between the ages of 12 and 17. Reports from the UN indicate that 82% of all survivors had not finished primary school.

7. A study by Johns Hopkins that surveyed women across 25 African countries found that a high proportion of women believed that wife-beating was justified in at least one of five different hypothetical scenarios. The percentage of women who adhered to this view ranged from 18 in Swaziland to 87 in Guinea.

8. A South African women is killed by an intimate partner every 6 hours.

9. An estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women throughout the world have experienced female genital mutilation. More than three million African girls face the risk of the practice every year.

10. Eighty percent of the estimated 800,000 people trafficked annually are women and girls. Seventy-nine percent of them are trafficked for sexual exploitation.

– Kelley Calkins

Sources: End Violence Against Women, UNFP, Al Jazeera, UN News Center, NCBI, Say No to Violence, Women Under Seige
Photo: Gabriela USA

Serbia’s Domestic Violence Epidemic

World map
The traumatized collective consciousness of the Serbian people is understandable given the war and strife the country has experienced in recent decades. These events coupled with pervasive poverty and patriarchal cultural norms have created a disturbing trend of domestic violence. A recent article by the Associated Press highlights that 54% of Serbian women have faced domestic violence in their lifetime. This statistic is extremely shocking compared to the 30-40% of women worldwide who have faced abuse and 25% in the United States.

The AP provides two harrowing accounts of violence. One account focuses on Mica, a woman who set her husband on fire after enduring years of abuse. The husband died of his injuries several days later in the hospital. The other describes a Serbian veteran who killed 13 relatives and wounded his wife in a mass shooting spree. The husband’s violent tendencies, typified by his habitual beatings of his wife, were never reported to authorities.

One of the major reasons that violence has perpetuated within Serbian society is the presence of deeply rooted patriarchal social norms. The image of the strong Serbian man and the submissive woman is a generally held view as opposed to an egalitarian relationship found in more liberal societies. This deeply held belief coupled with severe economic misery only compounds the problem. When frustration is pervasive, violence tends to follow.

There is also a severe lapse of authority with regards to Serbian officials preventing instances of abuse and prosecuting those responsible. Although the Serbian government has recognized the problem by enacting targeted legislation, the recent economic crisis has drained budget resources to the point that adequately funding these legal mechanisms is troublesome.

Furthermore, local authorities have shown a complete lack of interest in seriously prosecuting offenders to the fullest extent of the law. Most cases are resolved with warnings to the perpetrators. Shockingly, UNDP has discovered that the vast majority of cases involving domestic abuse resulted in the prosecutor failing to even interview the victim and the perpetrator 79.5% of the time. And 66.7% of the time criminal charges were dismissed, citing lack of evidence. It seems as though tolerance for this type of violence is rooted not only within individuals but within the public institutions charged with punishing perpetrators.

UNDP has created a project to help solve the crisis of domestic violence. The Integrated Response to Violence against Women in Serbia is attempting to change these deeply held beliefs within the country by creating preventative programs such as youth education on gender equality and gender based violence, programs aimed at reaching out to perpetrators, and campaigns focused on raising public awareness and altering stereotypes.

The Associated Press points out that perhaps awareness for this problem is gaining traction among authorities in Serbia. For instance, in the case of Mica, the judge issued her a minimum sentence of five years in jail for the murder of her husband. The judge even seemed to show sympathy for all the years of abuse she endured.

– Zack Lindberg

Sources: UNDP