Expatgiving
  • Home
  • About us
  • Volunteering
  • Jobs
  • Non profits
  • Events
  • Blog
  • News
  • Contact us

Women: the ongoing struggle for equal rights

3/30/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Members of the suffrage movement in the UK carry arrows to honour the suffragists who served time in Holloway prison, London. Image credit: Julie Jordan Scott

​As a borderline Generation Xer with a university education, who wasn’t forced into marriage, chose when to become a mother, is in good health and was encouraged to do any job I wanted, I could be forgiven (and I am sure that I am not alone) in somewhat naively thinking that women’s equality had more or less been achieved, give or take certain non-Western practices in parts of Africa and the Middle East. The suffragettes got us the vote. The feminists of the 60s and 70s challenged perceptions about women and work, domestic violence, and reproductive rights. And, the latter-day movement of the 90s widened the focus to include the LGBT community and women of colour. I would be wrong of course.
Picture
Poster showing the main focus of the latter-day feminist movement: uniting women of all race. Image credit: Chelsea Valentin Brown at soirart.tumblr
It is true that Europe and North America have made much progress in social and legal equality. But, given that the United Nations didn’t officially give women the status of human beings with rights until 24 years ago - 45 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - one could argue that this progress has been rather slow; the mere concept that women should not be seen as human beings, ridiculous.

Tragically, however, this is still the case with many countries merely pay lip service to their commitment to gender equality. Our journey to achieve true equality is not over in the West - women continue to work in lower-paid, lower-skilled jobs with greater insecurity, and are under-represented in leadership roles and fields - but it is our responsibility to help women in other cultures and societies, those women whose voices aren’t as loud as ours, to rise up and to feel empowered. Women and girls everywhere are facing barriers that deny their right to personal liberty and to life.

​Access to education


An estimated 31 million girls of primary age were out school in 2013 - 4 million more than boys.

Girls are prevented from going to school for a number of reasons: poor families prioritise their son’s education; household obligations; abusive or violent classroom environments; inadequate water and sanitation facilities to go to the toilet with dignity and privacy - particularly when menstruating; child marriage; and female genital mutilation.  
Educated girls are less likely to marry early and against their will, less likely to die in childbirth, more likely to have healthy babies, more likely to send their children to school, and more likely to find work. Girls with at least six years of school education are more likely to be able to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and other diseases.
Picture
Pupils in their classroom in Cambodia. Educating girls benefits society as a whole. © Savann Oeurm/ActionAid
Two-thirds of the world's 774 million illiterate people are female.

UNESCO, Education for All Global Monitoring Report

​Sexual and reproductive health

Worldwide, one woman dies every 90 seconds in pregnancy or childbirth.

All women have the right to accessible, affordable and adequate health care that takes into consideration their cultural needs, including the ability to choose whether and when to get pregnant, and yet 225 million women worldwide women want, but lack access to, contraception. All women have the right to accurate information and services for sexually transmitted infections and reproductive tract illnesses, such as cervical cancer. But, only 3 in every 10 adolescent girls and young women aged 15-24 years have comprehensive and accurate knowledge about HIV.
Picture
Zainab holds her baby boy few hours after giving birth to him. In her home country of Sierra Leone, one in 17 mothers has a lifetime risk of death associated to childbirth. She credits her successful birth with antenatal care during her pregnancy. Image credit: © UNICEF Sierra Leone/2016/Mason
Women are not dying of diseases we can't treat... They are dying because societies have yet to make the decision that their lives are worth saving.

​Mahmoud Fathalla, past president of the International Federation of Obstetricians and Gynecologists 

​Violence against women

Violence against women is a global issue and takes many forms, including: rape; domestic abuse; sexual harassment; reproductive coercion; female infanticide; and obstetric violence. Female genital mutilation, honour killings, dowry violence, marriage by abduction, forced marriage and other harmful customary or traditional practices are considered gender-based violence.

The effects of climate change, such as drought, threaten the safety of women and girls, leaving them vulnerable to assault, rape and abduction. In Kenya, for example, 90% of reported rapes occurred while women were collecting natural resources. Whereas trafficking of women increases by 20-30% following natural disasters.
Picture
Sexual harassment is rampant on Sri Lanka's public transport system, with far-reaching effects on their jobs, educations and lives. © UNFPA Sri Lanka
Gender-based violence kills and disables as many women between the ages of 15 and 44 as cancer.

​
UNFPA, The Human Rights of Women

​Where does this leave us?


Empowering women around the world to have rights equal to men is a benefit to us all, socially, politically and economically. Improving girls’ access to education positively influences the lives of generations to come. Women’s considerable knowledge on the management and use of natural resources within the community are integral to the battle against climate change. Investing in access to sexual and reproductive information and services for women has a ripple effect on other areas of her life: she knows when she is safe from sexual violence, that she can complete her education and get a job, or stand in a political election.
$12 trillion could be added to global GDP by 2025 by advancing women’s equality
Perhaps then First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, when speaking to the Fourth Women's Conference in Beijing, China in 1995, said it best: 

"As long as discrimination and inequities remain so commonplace everywhere in the world, as long as girls and women are valued less, fed less, fed last, overworked, underpaid, not schooled, subjected to violence in and outside their homes - the potential of the human family to create a peaceful, prosperous world will not be realised."


​Author

Emma Nobes

0 Comments

International Women's Day: Women in the changing world of work

3/7/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Thailand, 2015. Photo: UN Women/Pornvit Visitoran. | Lebanon, 2015. Photo: UN Women/Joe Saad | Kenya, 2016. Photo: CIAT/Georgina Smith
This week, on 8 March, the world celebrates International Women’s Day. Now, I’m going to confess something: I have never really paid much attention to this annual event. Friends have in the past posted, what I perceived, as vague and fairly vapid dedicatory remarks on Facebook and so I generally thought of it as being a rather wishy-washy excuse to give other women a gender-based pat on the back, in the form of “aren’t we great” and “we are so much stronger than men, yeah!”. I was wrong. In fact, until I started researching this article I didn’t think much of the importance of International Women’s Day, didn’t see this an an occasion to celebrate the progress that we have made, didn’t understand the opportunity to rally together and to campaign for our equality, our empowerment and our human rights. Pretty shameful really, especially given that I’ve worked in international development for a number of years. I knew the stats. I just hadn’t put two and two together.

​A vehicle for change

International Women’s Day has actually been observed, in some guise or another, for more than 100 years. Its roots are firmly embedded in working-classism and socialism, starting with 15,000 women garment workers, including many immigrants, taking to the streets of New York City in 1908 to demand better working conditions and better pay.

In 1910, at the International Socialist Congress in Copenhagen, German socialists Clara Zetkin and Luise Zietz proposed an International Women’s Day. Inspired by the fervour and campaign of women socialists in America, their aim was to promote equal rights, including suffrage. Over 100 women in 17 countries unanimously agreed and the following year, over 1 million people across Europe rallied for the right to vote and to hold public office, as well as to protest against employment sex discrimination.


In 1917, in response to the deaths of more than 2 million soldiers, women in Russia went on strike to demand an end to the war and to Russian food shortages. Their demand for “bread and peace” led to the abdication of the Czar and the provisional government granted women the right to vote.  ​​​
Picture
“Give Us Women’s Suffrage. Women’s Day, March 8, 1914. Until now, prejudice and reactionary attitudes have denied full civic rights to women, who as workers, mothers, and citizens wholly fulfil their duty, who must pay their taxes to the state as well as the municipality. Fighting for this natural human right must be the firm, unwavering intention of every woman, every female worker. In this, no pause for rest, no respite is allowed." Five years later, women in the Weimar Republic gained the right to vote.

​Flash forward to 2017

The United Nations celebrated International Women’s Day for the first time in 1975 and in 1996 began the adoption of an annual theme. This year, the theme focuses on “Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030”. Its aim is to consider how we can accelerate the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
​

​The facts

We are becoming more globalised, more technological and more digital. And yet, women continue to be concentrated in lower-paid, lower-skill work with greater job insecurity, and are under-represented in leadership roles and fields, such as science and technology. 

  • Women make only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men for work of equal value. The wage gap is even larger for women with children. 
  • ​​Only 4 per cent of CEO positions in Fortune 500 companies are held by women.
  • Worldwide, more than two-thirds of people above retirement age without any regular pension are women.
  • ​Husbands can legally prevent their wives from working in 18 countries.
  • Nearly 60 per cent of domestic workers worldwide have no limitations on their working hours
  • Laws against gender discrimination in hiring practices are only in place in 67 countries. 

Achieving gender equality in the world of work is absolutely essential for sustainable development. If women played an identical role in labour markets to that of men, as much as US$28 trillion, or 26
​per cent, could be added to the global annual GDP by 2025. ​
Picture
Any job is a woman's job. Ending occupational segregation must be part of the shift. Timor-Leste, 2013. Photo: UN Women/Betsy Davis.

​Think globally. Act locally.

You don’t have to protest in the streets to make a difference. You could volunteer at the New2U Thrift Shop to help survivors of domestic violence. Donate your time or money to Babes, a crisis intervention program to support pregnant teenagers. Help underprivileged women to build confidence, develop skills and gain employment by offering your time to Daughters of Tomorrow. Or, find out about UN Women Singapore Committee and how you can get involved.

Great progress has been made, yes, but there is still so much more to achieve, and the struggle for true equality can only be overcome if we all fight together.  

​Next week on the Expatgiving blog, read about the issues that women and girls face around the world today.
​We want to hear from you
​
Tell us which ordinary women you think have done extraordinary things. Whether it be your mum, your favourite author, artist or politician, we want to hear about it in the comments below.

​

Author

Emma Nobes

0 Comments

Don’t throw away that food: Food wastage and playing our part

3/3/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Help needy people in our communities and help our natural environment by reducing your food waste, and donating your time to Food Bank Singapore.
I cleaned out my fridge this week. Four grey rashers of bacon, an expired and unopened jar of tom yum paste, a bowl of cooked penne pasta, a half-drunk carton of orange juice, one mushy cucumber and a sorry-looking piece of yellow broccoli all went into the rubbish bin. I wish I could say that this was unusual. That we wasted this food just this one time, because we had been away for the long weekend and simply hadn’t been here to eat it, but I would be lying. Whether it be uneaten leftovers, expired goods or the result of changed plans, throwing away food is a common theme in our household. And, we aren’t the only ones. ​
One third of the food that the world produces ends up in the rubbish bin. 
Every year, we are throwing away enough food to cover the land mass of China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan. Not only is this costing US$ 750 billion, but it’s having a devastating impact on our environment. Our greenhouse gases are rising, climate is changing, forests are being cleared and land eroded, surface and ground water is being used, and bees and other biodiversities are dying. It doesn’t stop there, as we use the world’s natural resources to grow, process, package and transport all this wasted food, we are contributing to the loss of livelihoods and to rising conflicts, as well as harming human health through the use of pesticides. ​
Nine out of ten Singaporeans are concerned about food waste
More than 790,000 tonnes of food waste were generated in Singapore last year. That’s around 140 kilos of food per person. Or, the equivalent of throwing away two bowls of rice every day. If we carry on throwing food away at the rate that we are then Singapore will need a new incineration plant every seven to ten years, and a new landfill every 30 to 35 years. If we could reduce how much food we waste by just 15%, it would be like taking 86,000 cars off the road. ​
Picture
Volunteers wanted to help the Food Bank Singapore!
As we waste food, one in eight people worldwide go hungry every day
We don’t hear about it very often, but there are people going hungry in Singapore too. The Food Bank Singapore is a charity that aims to make food that would otherwise be wasted available to those who need it, low-income or single-parent families, the elderly or people with disabilities, for example. They collect donated and excess food from farms, manufacturers, distributors, retail stores, consumers, and other sources, which they then store in the centralised warehouse. From here, the Food Bank distributes the unwanted food to a network of 130 community agencies.
Food Bank Singapore helps to “make life better for those who are having it rough” 
Gerard Ee, Executive Director, Beyond Social Services
Beyond Social Services helps children and youths from less privileged backgrounds to break away from the poverty cycle. Thanks to Food Bank, Beyond Social Services is able to provide monthly food donations to needy families. Ramakrishna Mission Boys’ Home receives raw and uncooked food items, like rice, from the Food Bank, helping not only to reduce otherwise wasted food, but redirecting precious funds towards the boys’ education, health or clothing.
​
​How can we help?
We all have our part to play, individual consumers, farmers, fishers, food processors, supermarkets, local and national governments alike. As consumers, we can be smarter when we do our grocery shopping, avoid serving too much, save and eat leftovers, and and keep an eye on expiry dates. If we can’t reduce wasted food then we can donate it to Food Bank.

And, we can also donate our time. Food Bank Singapore needs your help to store and pack food in the warehouse in Tanjong Pagar. This is your opportunity to help play a key role in reducing food wastage in Singapore.

So next time you go to throw that half-eaten burger that your kid left in Macdonalds, toss that bruised tomato for a more attractive one, or can’t be bothered to reheat last night’s dinner, consider the bigger picture, think about what impact your actions are having, and then become a Food Banker.

For more information about volunteering with Food Bank Singapore, click here.  

Author

Emma Nobes 

0 Comments

    Archives

    August 2021
    December 2020
    November 2019
    May 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    Categories

    All
    Children
    Christmas
    Christmas Cards
    Contest
    Events
    Expatgiving
    Gifts
    Iniciatives
    Shopping
    Social Issues
    Volunteering
    Wellness

    RSS Feed

© 2013-2018 Expatgiving
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.