globalsavingteam

[globalsavingteam]

Socio–Economic Structure and Gender Inequality

 There has been a growing awareness in gender inequality in society. In the academy a microcosm of society, scholars in the social and behavioral sciences have contributed to  a cross- section of research relevant to the topic. They have largely reiterated the existence of gendered inequities in society illustrated as variations in income and other resources between men and women. In this project, we have tried to capture  some of the points regarding this matter.

 Growing up most of us learned that the father was the provider and head of the family. The mother was usually seen as a housekeeping figure. Although throughout the years these ideas have changed and more households have become two-working-parent  households. In the last few decades we have fought for equality and human rights we all should have succeeded. Yet there are some inevitable changes which are to be countered.

Women are disadvantaged in economic, legal and social arenas. While gender inequity has been observed in Europe and USA on economic or class levels, there has been little focus on the realities of cross-cultural gender inequality and what influences contribute to such variations. In developing countries gender inequality is more concentrated in race and class intersection because of traditional social stratification and conservative political cultures. 

In many parts of the world people ensure that boys and men are better educated, nourished and cared more than girls and women. The welfare of men has been considered more important than that of women in places where men are seen to be the caretakers of the family. In the USA at the aggregate level of analysis, gender inequality is understood in relation to family tradition as well as government policy, economic justice issues, and laws put in place to correct gender equality. US reports show that two decades ago gendered inequalities were as glaring as they are today. Full time working women earned roughly 71% of what full time working men earned and as much as three fifths of poor households were maintained by single female parents. There are also certain discrimination for girls as well. Girls were firstly not supposed to be well educated and they were also rejected from many kinds of jobs just because they were female. Whereas the men got the things in quantities which were more than what they deserved. 

We should hope for a better society where every female gets equal opportunities as that of a male. Sometimes males also do not give the minimum deserved respect to females as they think that they are superior to the females, and that girls will stay under them without any objections. But this concept is very wrong. Respect should be equally shared between both the genders. We should not forget that the person who brought us into this world  is herself a female. But, as an addition to this, females should

                                                                      By        Ban    

[globalsavingteam]

Moral Education and Gender Equality

Of all the social constructs impacting the contemporary world, gender is perhaps the most pervasive and the most insidious. Its inequities creep into our everyday lives with impunity.

Across the globe, gender construction has evoked challenge, undergone reform and, in some instances, transformed thinking in societies. Yet, for all the gains made by the international community and all the rights women have managed to claim, there is lingering paralysis in societal efforts to close the gender gap and view women’s rights as human rights.

Women, by constituting an integral part of any society and culture, are often underestimated and discriminated in different forms and respects. Many a time, the contribution of women is neither given due attention nor marginalized while formulating socio-economic development plans.

Promoting gender respect is essential to the development of both genders and to gender equality. Moral education also plays a vital role in promoting gender equality.

Moral education may be defined as helping children and young people to acquire a set of beliefs and values regarding what are right and wrong. This set of beliefs guides their intentions, attitudes and behaviors towards others and their environment.

Morally educating people can resolve gender gaps in the society.

Moral education has a role to play in foregrounding female voices in order to: better understand the poverty-gender-education nexus, recognize the contribution of women and mothers as moral educators, acknowledge girls’ struggles to gain self-respect, peer respect to them and mitigate disrespect and, ensure sexual respect despite aggressive masculinities. Moral education programmes which encourage respectful relations between the genders need to address these highly contextualized forms of struggles to attain gender respect.

-A GST Project.

By Charlotte 

[globalsavingteam]

Unequal Social Standards and Norms

Gender Norms and Equality has been an issue since the last century . Yet there seems to be no end to this . Women have been oppressed for centuries and bound by traditions and rules that seem to support their male counterparts .. With the same insecurities that led some of our ancestors to make prisoners and slaves out of women , they tried to create an image that their gender was perfect , thus creating an image which generations of their gender will suffer to be a copy off. Women’s image on the other hand was either portrayed as an All-Mother or the Seductress both of which are quite insulting if we think about it . The All-Mother portrays the image of a woman who only looks after her family and household and never goes a step beyond it . It is true that it conveys the positive image of women being caring and also shrewd and strict at the same time , enabling them to have an upper hand in managing households. Yet it also portrays women as docile and having zero ambition and also being dealt as property , not human beings . Can’t women be anything else than housewives even when they have jobs ? Can they not be the breadwinners of the family ? It is true that many women are now allowed to soar intellectually but there is a strange stigma around them not getting married and looking after their families . So if they have to pursue a career then they have to both look after their houses and do their jobs! How is that possible? Why can’t men stay at home , when some of them genuinely want to? Why is there also that same stigma around men wanting to stay at home and looking after their kids ? Even though we said to be in a “progressive age “ these things do not seem to be progressing.  These are not the only examples of gender inequalities . Take for example , Beauty Standards . In the recent rise of the feminism movement , women have achieved their goal of making no beauty standards and thus proclaiming that all women are beautiful . But pseudo-feminists unfortunately made this achievement  only limited to their gender . Men are still limited by the old standards , that is , 6 feet above in height , fit , sharp features and an attractive voice . This creates another example of gender equality . Why should all girls be beautiful and all boys not ? Why should men below 6 below six feet be body shamed by pseudo-feminists? Girls always set their types to be men meeting the above standards but when boys make a single standard about girls , for example not being obese , they are again criticized . All humans should be considered beautiful , not just a select few . True feminists have understood these things and are influential in making the utopia we all dream off . Sadly , many people on social-media do not know the meaning of feminism and end up being pseudo-feminists , people who want a world ruled only by women . An example of gender inequalities where both the genders are affected are dressing codes . Though there are people breaking it to some extent , for example men wearing bright colours and girls wearing pants , it has not been completely neutralized . For example , men having particularly bright shades of pink in literally anything like perhaps a bit of their bag are criticized for “not being manly” and women are still criticized for wearing “boys shoes'' . People need to understand that colours are colours and shoes are shoes . You do not become more manly by wearing black leather jackets that are made from animal cruelty nor do you become more feminine by wearing inch-high heels that will probably give you more trouble than its worth . Your attire should be completely your choice and not what people tell you to wear . Another thing that has been unequal since the beginning of society is how society views the two separate genders.

Society used , a long time ago , to view men as the protectors of the nation and leaders of the house . They viewed men as more intelligent and thus gave them education and made them in charge of property and everything material and in some very rare and very bad cases , their wives . Women were viewed as either weak or inefficient or even both . They were to stay in the kitchen , bring up children , run the household , and obviously , “be submissive to men” . In short , they were given jobs considered “undermining” and “weak” , though thankfully in some cultures they or their jobs or sometimes even both were respected though they were still being mistreated . In the very worst cases they were seen little more than objects and were treated even worse than cattle . Even in religious texts like the bible , where Lilith was banished because she considered herself equal to Adam , women were said to be inferior and more likely to “sin” . And though things are different now , they are still not equal . Though perception of both the genders have changed , the perceptions are still different , though , they are as close to equal as they have ever been . There are also the issues of mental health . If a woman gets any psychological problems they always get sympathy and attention but when men get them it's just “get over it” and “stop being dramatic” . While this is not considered to be that big an issue , it reveals what has been previously mentioned : Society views women as weaker than men . The day we are both considered equal is the day we will both receive equal attention for our problems regardless of our gender . 

  Though there are more of these inequalities that differ from culture to culture , these are the ones that are common in them all . Though women have been mistreated since very early times , men have also suffered under their expectations to be stronger than women . We must hope that we will soon form a society that does not discriminate among us via our gender . It is no good asserting blame to any of the particular gender , rather we should assert our points to those of each gender who hold these orthodox yet restricting views . None of the genders are responsible for the previous position we had as well as the current position we have . Both genders have people who hold these ancient views , not any particular one . We must persuade them and negotiate with them peacefully , that is , as long as they themselves are peaceful , and drive towards a world that does not discriminate between everyone , The Ideal Utopia .

By Kkura

[globalsavingteam]

A Day In The Amazon

                                                              ~*~

Days hadn’t yet passed properly before I received the order for my next work. I realized I would have to step out of the barriers which had contained me within my comfort zone, yet again, and go abroad. Needless to say, it was not the first time that I had travelled across borders for work. 

But this time it was different and I was disappointed the moment I heard the subject in question. The Amazon, the greatest tropical rainforest in the world, was the next destination for my project. I never understood why people all over the world were so keen to keep that forest as it was. Cut a small tree, and there’s a mob outside your window ready to prosecute you. My twenty years of experience has taught me that there are thousands of people all over the world who are homeless and  jobless. The meagre area of the forest can provide enough space not only for industrialization but also housing and job opportunities to hundreds of people in Brazil. What's the use of forest if humans cannot use it?

Despite my mind telling me that it was a rather bad choice, I boarded the flight to Manaus the following week. A part of the forest was burnt out due to the forest fire that had taken place recently. I was supposed to note down the details of its after-effects for which opinions of the natives and locals will be much more reliable than my personal observations. 

Later, as the day went by, I began work. I went to the closest village in the vicinity and started asking questions. Responses in Portuguese and broken English began being translated to notes. An hour became two, then four. Not much was received after the seemingly endless interactions. The villagers said that they evaded the impact by the blessings of God.

 In my enquiry, I noticed a man, carrying a sack bulging with fruits. He had a strange aura around him: I noticed, he wasn’t really paying attention to what he was doing. He walked through town, slowly, as if without motive, frequently looking up, gazing at the floating clouds as if he was trying to peer into some long lost memory.  My curiosity took the better of me and I decided to jot him down in my notes. 

First, I attempted to grab his attention by calling out to him but when it failed, I was forced into using my only strategy. 

As I blocked his way, he looked up and exclaimed, “Ei Deus!” 

He seemed an approachable man. I slowly eased up to him.

“ What is your name?”

 “Jose Santos, senhor”, he replied, surprised by my sudden appearance.

“ Why do you keep looking at the sky? “

“Senhor, Dues take them. Dues take them far. I alone. Dues take them.” His voice trails off. I noticed a streak of tear down his cheek.

I could tell that he had gone through loss. But I needed intel. “There might surely be some way out. Why cry for that?”

“Senhor! How I live? The Fire kill my cattle, it kill mãe, burn home, no left of field, only ashes.” He was almost ready to grab me. If he hadn’t controlled himself, I might have had injuries to take back along with intel.

“I can understand how you feel. I really can. How did it happen?”

“ How can be other than fire ? This my home for long time. The forest give food, wood and thing to sell. They want tall house and other things for money. They saying, it good for us. But I do not know. I do not know, senhor!”  With that he burst out in tears, dropping the sack of fruits.

  I paused for a while. Doubt had engulfed my mind. If burning the forest is for the benefit of  people then how can these people suffer? I didn't have an answer. I helplessly stared at the lad as he collected his belongings, left with nothing to say. I slowly left that scene, having been hit by a burdening feeling of guiltiness.

The next day, I visited another portion of the forest with some helpers and local guides. This part remained untouched by the fire, and was crucial for my observations. The view took my breath away.

The sun glimmered through the bright, lush green leaves. There was a downpour the previous night and it resulted in such a magnificent scenic beauty! The droplets of water poised themselves on some selected leaves,  looking like jewels which were worn by the plants. The raindrops glittered in the sun like diamonds and the reflected light and a smell of freshness made the whole place seem like an unreachable paradise which had paved its way into reality. The Amazon stood there in all its glory, a habitat for a plethora of wild animals and birds. 

 Just a few miles away the scenery changed completely. Nothing but ash and destruction. Not a single sign of life could be seen anywhere.

That day as I retired to the resort, I sat on my comfortable armchair and tried to let my mind be at ease. My thoughts kept going back to that day’s incident, where the poor man with his ragged clothes wept over his fate. My confused mind didn’t know why I felt sorry for him.

My thoughts took me back to make me face my prior views on this forest. The destruction I had witnessed. It shouldn’t have affected me so, hadn’t I viewed the horrors for the locals.

This cannot be a way of improving human lives. I did not want destruction and suffering in the name of improvement, for I understood that humanity should not remain insensitive to the forest fire or wildfire every year. What is the use of development if people suffer from it? Normal people don't go for large scale industrialization. Then why will the world suffer for just a few people? We have to take a stand against this system of so-called economic improvement to save our planet from getting destroyed by our own hands. Because, even though our bewildered mind did not acknowledge the existence of the fact, our heart was always in the right.

~Global Saving Team

Writers: Charlotte and Mrito

Management: Rus and Mono 

Editors: Kkura, Oblap, Ban, SSS   

Instagram Team: Sid and Sana (https://www.instagram.com/globalfamily_official/)