“Women Own 1% of the World’s Property…Occupy That”
writes Soraya Chemaly in an article on the Huffington Post today. “There must be a good reason for this startling fact. Especially since, according to UN gender reports, women perform 66% of the world’s work, produce 50% of its food and earn a whopping 10% of its income…
…How much poorer do we want women to get in the world? It’s really hard to imagine. They already make up the overwhelming majority of the world’s poor. And, despite the successes of feminists (yes, men and women) during the past century, even in the U.S. we have a persistent and growing feminization of poverty.
If you doubt what I’m saying just because you have to then look at Half The Sky, or We Are Equals or The Girl Effect or any number of readily available sources. These organizations are not fly-by-night hobbies for people with not enough macrame to occupy them. These are big, serious international movements created by thoughtful, kind and empathetic thinkers and doers dedicated to changing the world.”
At Circle of Women, we are also looking to provide women with the resources to break away from this number. Education is the first step in changing how girls see the world and the opportunities that are available to them. Do something today to change a girl’s life. It is by changing one girl, one community, that we can affect millions. Girls and women shouldn’t be thought of as a number at all.
What are your thoughts on Occupy Wall-Street and the role women? Are there intrinsic issues of gender equality at play that are equally pressing?
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“The impact of education on demography is widely known and acknowledged. Education for women and girls, in particular, translates into lifetime benefits including higher incomes and lower child and maternal mortality. Not only do they know more about contraception, they are also determined to find a job, strive for independence and with more diversified centres of interest, are more acutely aware of the conflict between bringing up children and having time to themselves. Equally, women who have been educated will want the same for their children, and prefer to have fewer children so as to guarantee them a better education.”—
UNGEI - News and Events - Education in a world of 7 billion people
(via teachersworldwide)
A primary school becomes a model for increasing girls' enrolment -
[WESTERN EQUATORIA, South Sudan] Access to education is one of the key priorities for the government of the world’s newest nation, South Sudan. Seventy per cent of children aged 6 to 17 have never set foot in a classroom. The completion rate in primary schools is only 21 per cent, one of the lowest in the world.
Baya Primary School in Western Equatoria has become the envy of other schools in the state. The school is successfully using its own child clubs, not only to increase girls’ enrolment but also encourage dropouts to join the Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP).
(Source: teachersworldwide)
“In 20 years,” Wood told me, “I’d like to have 100,000 libraries, reaching 50 million kids. Our 50-year goal is to reverse the notion that any child can be told ‘you were born in the wrong place at the wrong time and so you will not get educated.’ That idea belongs on the scrapheap of human history.”
“He also runs Room to Read with an aggressive businesslike efficiency that he learned at Microsoft, attacking illiteracy as if it were Netscape. He tells supporters that they aren’t donating to charity but making an investment: Where can you get more bang for the buck than starting a library for $5,000? “
-Nicholas Kristof on John Wood, whose charity, Room to Read, has opened 12,000 of these libraries around the world, along with 1,500 schools. Read more here: His Libraries, 12,000 So Far, Change Lives
“What’s needed isn’t just birth-control pills or IUDs. It’s also girls’ education and women’s rights — starting with an end to child marriages — for educated women mostly have fewer children.” — Nicholas D. Kristof in his latest article “The Birth Control Solution“
Some key issues brought in an interesting article released recently by the NY Times.
“In a year of some major successes for women — the Nobel Peace Prize, the commanding performances of Angela Merkel and Hillary Rodham Clinton, the end of men-first in the line of succession to the British throne — a new worldwide study concludes that women remain well behind men in two crucial areas: economic equality and political power…
…“A world where women make up less than 20 percent of the global decision-makers is a world that is missing a huge opportunity for growth and ignoring an untapped reservoir of potential,” said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the Geneva-based World Economic Forum, echoing a view that is gaining ground at least among big multinationals. I.B.M., for example, just added walk to its talk on women, appointing Virginia M. Rometty as its first female chief executive…
…Asked to gauge the impact of the gender studies, Ilene H. Lang, the president and chief executive of Catalyst, a New York-based nonprofit women-centered organization with 500 international members, said, “These reports are important because they shine a light on how half the world’s population fares.”
Catalyst’s own research, she said, showed that women’s progress in business had not increased perceptibly and “we are far from parity in leadership, which is critical especially in this unstable economic environment.” Catalyst’s studies show that “companies with more women in leadership tend to outperform those with fewer — and not by a little.”
Despite some disappointing findings, Ms. Zahidi remains optimistic. “The next wave of change will come from how to actually close gender gaps. We know how to measure them, we know why it’s important to close them, and there’s some new research on policy and on practices in business. That’s going to be the game changer.””
What are your thoughts? What will be the game changer for making bigger strides for creating opportunities for women?
Blog for IDEC 2012 Week: Real Education Is… | IDEA -
Some great stories to read about the power of education.
It’s Blog for IDEC 2012 Week, and each day you’re invited to submit a post on one of the defining values of the conference and what it means to you. Leave a link to your URL in the comments section, and we’ll add it to this post. Check back throughout this week as we update this post with new links. Use the Twitter hashtag #blog4idec.
And don’t forget to register for IDEC before the Early Bird Special ends on November 7!
Tuesday, November 1: Real Education is Human:
- Esther Ohito: “Teach for Humanity”
- Kirsten Olson: “Real Education is Human”
- Zahra Lightway: “What does human education mean?”
- Melia Dicker: “Real Education is Human”
- Justen Eason: “Real Education is Human”
- Jennifer Little: “Real Education is Human…and Empowering…and Uplifting”
- Scott Nine: “A list of incredible humans who know what real education looks like”
- Josu Uztarroz: “Educación Democrática: por encima de todo humana”
Wednesday, November 2: Real Education Is Powerful.
- Ammerah Saidi: “Real Education is Powerful”
- Melia Dicker: “Real Education is Powerful”
- Josu Uztarroz: “Educación Democrática: Poderosa”
Thursdsay, November 3: Real Education Is Relevant.
- Josu Uztarroz: “Educación Democrática: Relevante“
- Alison Bagg Brink: “Relevant Education”
- Adam Burk: “Real Education is Relevant“
- Melia Dicker: “Real Education is Relevant”
Friday, November 4: Real Education Is Transformative.
Other posts on IDEC:
- Jonah Canner: “A World Tour…My Experience with IDEC”
- Elizabeth Baker & Michele Beach: A conversation on human, powerful, relevant, and transformative education (VIDEO)
“If we want to ensure that we leave our children and grandchildren a safe and healthy world, then it is critical for world leaders to support the U.N.’s vital work on voluntary family planning and reproductive health for women across the globe.”
- Ted Turner (founder of UN Foundation) writing for CNN 7 billion reasons to empower women
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