Women as a key to development

Follow-up to our discussion this week on unlocking the potential that women have to contribute to development efforts

http://www.unwomen.org/2011/04/rule-of-law-and-development-remarks-by-ms-michelle-bachelet-at-the-general-assembly/

Questions on Education

1. Why do think, as many of this week's reading argue, that a woman's education typically has more of an impact on the well-being of the family as a whole than a man's education? Is this merely the gender roles of societies at play?

2. Roudi-Fahimi and Moghadam write that "In the Gulf states, jobs not considered appropriate for MENA women, such as waitressing, are often filled by imported female laborers from South and East Asia." Do you think this is yet another instance of devaluing a set of people because they are "the other"?

3. In Half the Sky, they discuss the fact that the Camfed alumni also often become philanthropists too. When we met with the former President of the Global Women's Fund she noted that they encourage all women's organizations to contribute however much they can even if it is only a few dollars to help other women's groups. She noted that this too was empowering for the women. Do you think giving back to other girls' education is similarly empowering for the Camfed alumni?

Response Paper

Legal and Political Rights of Women Response Paper

            Out of the past several units, I have not found there to be as many parallels to my daily life as in this unit. Two distinct parallels that I have noticed focus on shifting the culture of disengagement in the local government and discovering the relationship between customary and formal law in cultural attitudes. Regarding the first parallel, governments in developing countries often struggle to engage women in their politics because they do not make women feel like their agenda is relevant to women or that they would be necessary to the process. This reminds me very much of the student government situation at the University. Students outside of SGA seldom feel like SGA is accomplishing anything of importance to them and even if they did care about something, they are not given the impression that anything would be done about it. In both sides of the parallels, though the governments want to engage their populace, there is a lack of communication and a general failure at proving relevance.

            The second parallel is related to how customary and formal law are intertwined and how they effect change in cultural attitudes. In developing countries, it is difficult to change any norm without both kinds of law following suit. One may begin with changing formal law out of necessity or some outside pressure, but customary law will follow suit usually soon after that and then there will be a shift in the cultural norm. Or, the customary law will change and then the formal law will respond to the desires of its populace and then the shift occurs. This situation is fairly similar to that of Jim Crow laws and the Civil Rights Movement in the South. During the 60’s, formal law was changed as a result of pressure and then customary law, or the behavior of some individuals and the change in expectations, began to transform over time. Granted, the issue of racial equality is not resolved completely in any way by this point in history but it must be acknowledged that times have at least changed.

Education Week 1 Discussion Questions

1. In ‘What Works in Girl’s Education’, it says that World Bank studies have concluded that an extra year of education beyond average boosts girl’s eventual wages by 10-20 percent. The studies also showed that girls receive a higher benefit for their education then boys do. Why do you think that is?

2. In ‘What Works in Girl’s Education’, it says that the gender gap matter more than woman’s overall level education in determining fertility rates. Why do you think this is?

3. In ‘Empowering Women, Developing Society’, it discusses the quality of education in the MENA region. It says that the curricula and teaching materials used in the MENA region often reinforce traditional roles that may deny women opportunities for full and equal participation in society. Do you think that the resolution to this problem could be found in the creation of all girls schools in the region that focus on the type of education that girls need?

Brait, Response paper 3

Political Involvement and Women’s Rights

What I found most interesting in our discussion on this topic was the discrepancy between culture and the legal system in developing countries. In many countries, there are laws in place protecting the rights of women and there are changes being made to the legal system to improve the lives of women in developing countries. However, the culture of these societies prevents these laws from being carried out. We discussed the necessity of cultural change for affective change to take place at legislative level. I think that for changes to be widespread and truly affective, the culture must change, however this does not necessarily have to come first for changes in legislation to take effect. Even if a law criminalizing honor killings may not stop every honor killing, the law is there and will be effective in preventing some and making those aware of the laws think twice before committing the act. Is this good enough? Of course not. However, it is a step in the right direction and this is what can help cultural changes to move forward. Laws which promote gender equality set in motion the idea that women should be equal to men and that some practices within a society are not right and should be changed. Laws cannot effect total change in a society, because culture is engrained in the minds of citizens and it is what they believe in. However, the steps taken through changes in legislation are necessary to effect the cultural change that is required to change cultural practices.

We also discussed women in politics and the effect that it had on the governing body and on the society as a whole. I was surprised to find that a few of the articles which we read talked about changes brought about by women in politics with reference to changes in the way that the parliament was run. In South Africa, changes to the work day were made to accommodate the women in parliament and the environment of parliament was also altered. I did not expect articles to focus on this. However, thinking about it more, this is an important step to making changes overall. The way in which a governing body works is reflected in its decisions. If a parliament functions in a way which is conducive to a man’s lifestyle, then the decisions that come out of that body will be more beneficial to males. However, the changes that were made incorporated the lives and livelihoods of women, forcing the men in parliament to think a different way and work in a different atmosphere. These changes have the potential to effect change in the decisions that parliament makes which are beneficial to women and promote more gender equality.

Another point that the articles brought up was the changes in ideals that women go through upon entering parliament. Though it seemed that more women who entered parliament had a vision of gender equality and the promotion of women, the articles pointed out that not every woman parliamentarian continued to focus on the same ideals. Women were subject, just as men are, to being sucked into the world of politics, where your ideals and values can be put aside in the craze of it all. I thought that this was an important point to make, as it happens in developed countries as well. Increasing women in politics is not a surefire way to increase gender equality or women’s rights, because these women can get caught up in politics as easily as men can. One article discussed which effected the most change, women in politics or women in society pressuring the government. Though I don’t think that either would ever be completely effective, between the two groups, positive change for women can be made.

My research last week clearly showed the extreme human rights issues that come with the OCP in China, specifically issues which strongly affect women. In looking at the OCP this week, I looked at it in regard to international law. The question raised was, is the OCP a violation of human rights? When looking at the policy separate from the ways in which it is carried out, it can be argued that it is not a violation of human rights. The policy’s goal is to control the population of China, so that its citizens may live better lives and that their human rights will not be violated. The OCP is not a violation of human rights as considerations for society as a whole must come above certain human rights as laid out by the Declaration of Human Rights. The right to choose the number of children is one such right which is subject to the needs of society as a whole. However, the issue comes in when the way in which the policy is carried out are taken into consideration. This policy inherently brings about violations of human rights because of China’s views on human rights. As a whole, the Chinese legal system does not believe that there are any human rights problems in China. This view leaves the door open for the violations which follow.

Response Paper

Hey guys, I'm currently at home in Maryland, being there for my best friend's family because her 16 year old sister died in an accident. I had already written half of the paper due this Friday so I will post that as soon as I can get back to my computer. But I just do not have the mental capacity right now to do the research half. I can do that at a later date if needed. Thank you.