Gender equality – English 1

In the news – human rights

Durig the last few weeks the war in Ukraine has been all over the news – rightfully so… but what is getting lost when so much focus is on this conflict? Here a couple of items I don’t think we should miss out on:

One of very few women ever to lead a national football organization, Norwegian Lise Klaveness spoke to the FIFA Congress in Quatar last week about human rights violations. She talked about the importance of helping migrant workers in Qatar, do more to protect LGBTQ+ supporters at the World Cup, and more in general to make the global game welcoming to all. According to The Guardian, 6500 migrant workers have died in Quatar since they were awarded the World Cup in 2010. In the past 10 years, Qatar has put in place a massive building program, preparing for the football tournament in 2022. In addition to seven new stadiums, dozens of major projects have been completed or are under way, including a new airport, roads, public transport systems, hotels as well as a new city, which will host the coming World Cup final.

See the full speech below:

Another important news item regarding human rights violations came, not unexpectedly, from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. “Following a U-turn over re-opening girls’ secondary schools in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the UN human rights chief shared her “profound frustration and disappointment” that six months after the Taliban seized power, high school girls have yet to return to the classroom.” Read the UN report here:

https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1114482

UNICEF Afghanistan

@UNICEFAfg

“Millions of secondary-school girls around Afghanistan woke up hopeful today that they will be able to go back to school and resume their learning. It did not take long for their hopes to be shattered.” statement by @unicefchief

unicef.org

Girls in Afghanistan must go back to school without any further delays

2:58 PM · Mar 23, 2022

Girl Rising

“One girl with courage is a revolution”

Girl Rising is a film about the benefits of educating girls. It introduces nine girls from around the world in their struggle to get an education and achieve their dreams.

The film was released in 2013 and is part of the Girl Rising campaign.

As we watch the film, take notes, as you are to to discuss the film in your groups afterwards. Also, take a note of violations of human rights that you see in the film.

Discussion questions:

Which girls’ stories made the greatest impression on you? Why?
“One girl with courage is a revolution”. After watching the film, what does that phrase imply – do you agree or can you think of a better catchphrase?
Girl Rising is neither pure journalism, nor fiction. The filmmakers have tried to go beyond the facts into the human experience. Did you find yourself getting lost in the stories in a way that was interesting or effective? Why or why not?
The girls of Girl Rising live in very difficult circumstances. Give examples of violations of their human rights as they are portrayed in the film. Despite these violations, they do not consider themselves as victims. Are you able, through the storytelling, to relate to their lives in a way that lets you empathize rather than sympathize? Why or why not?
What are the messages from the film that you think will resonate most strongly with people who are not already familiar with this issue?

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Ingunn

In the news: The situation for women and girls in Afghanistan

Study the two news stories below to find out more about the situation for women and girls in Afghanistan now that the Taliban is back in power.

Discuss: what do the two stories tell you about the situation for females in Afghanistan, past and present? What do girls and women have to face should they want to study? Do these stories make you more pessimistic or more optimistic on the behalf of Afghanistan’s future? Why?

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/07/asia/afghan-university-male-female-segregation-curtain-intl/index.html

Students attend class at Avicenna University in Kabul, Afghanistan, on September 6, 2021, in this picture obtained by Reuters from social media.

The Election in the USA and Global Issues

As Election Day in the USA is approaching, what does it matter to the rest of the world who becomes the next American president? Here’s a look at how global issues will be affected: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/10/22/926692628/trump-and-biden-on-global-issues-from-reproductive-rights-to-refugees

Migration and Refugees

Take a look at what the refugee situation is like in the world today: https://www.unhcr.org/figures-at-a-glance.html?fbclid=IwAR2v8SbIQQMRbPf66tUb8O60mcZm2ERhqGm9A5aqu7bguZY7at0Tcl263X4

2. Work in pairs. One person reads up on migration, the other on refugees. Take turns telling each other what you found out:

https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/migration/index.html

https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/refugees/

You should also check out The International Organization on Migration:: https://www.iom.int/

3. Read the two texts below:

View at Medium.com

Warsan Shire: “Home”: https://medium.com/poem-of-the-day/warsan-shire-home-46630fcc90ab

The Unaccompanied Minor’s Tale

Discuss what they tell you about the issues of migration and refugees. What thoughts do these texts provoke in you?

Warshan Shire has said it is important to her to “tell the stories of those people, especially refugees and immigrants, that otherwise wouldn’t be told, or told inaccurately.” What do you think she means by this? Does she succeed in doing so with her poem? Give examples from the text. Can you find similar examples from the other text you read?

4. Immigrant Posters: Discuss these posters and the message they send:

Erin Wright - Posters Without Borders - International Immigration Poster Exhibition — https://posterswithoutborders.com/Erin-Wright

Immigration Posters | Redbubble — https://posterswithoutborders.com/Erin-Wright

Australian government's anti-immigrant poster shocks planet (VIDEO) | IrishCentral.com — Australia government poster from 2014

5. The situation in Moria

Read this article to find out more about the situation in Moria after the fire: https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/12/greeces-moria-camp-fire-whats-next

Watch this video:

Why are women and girls especially at risk?
What do you think Europe should do about the situation in this and other refugee camps? Discuss in your groups.

6. The artist Banksy has donated a lot of art and even a ship to the cause of helping refugees in the Mediterranean Sea.

https://www.myartbroker.com/blog/banksy-the-benevolent-10-times-banksy-has-done-something-for-charity/

What do you think about this kind of activism, combining art, creation of awareness and collecting money for a cause?

In the news: Human Rights?

Fighting for human rights can be very dangerous. If you are a woman fighting for human rights in a country with no respect for them, it is even more dangerous… Read these stories and reflect on the courage needed to be an activist in any form and to stand up for your right to protest…

Burundi girls jailed

Iranian human rights laywer sentenced to 38 years in prison

Female activists released in Saudi Arabia

Nobel Peace Prize Winners

Today we are going to follow the awards ceremony and listen to the Nobel lectures taking place in the City Hall in Oslo: NRK’s coverage of the awards ceremony

The Nobel Peace Prize 2018 was awarded jointly to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad “for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.” We have earlier seen that Denis Mukwege has worked relentlessly for women who have been raped and sexually assaulted in conflicts in The Democratic Republic of Congo. Nadia Murad from Iraq was kept a sexual prisoners of the IS and continues to be one of the strongest spokespersons against sexualized violence. She belongs to the Yezidi minority, which you can read more about here. To learn more about her activism, read this article from the Guardian

Bilderesultat for nadia murad pictures Bilderesultat for Denis Mukwege

Brick Lane

Using your impressions after watching the film Brick Lane, write a blog post on how the film portrays the challenges you face when living in a multicultural society. Use Nasneen and another character from the film to illustrate your points.

To find out more about the neighborhood portrayed in the film, visit Brick Lane

To read more about community protests against this film, go to this article from the Guardian: community protests

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World Toilet Day November 19

Top facts

The global sanitation crisis is reflected in the following facts, according to reports from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF):

Around 60% of the global population – 4.5 billion people – either have no toilet at home or one that doesn’t safely manage excreta.
862 million people worldwide still practise open defecation – this means human faeces, on a massive scale, is not being captured or treated.
1.8 billion people use an unimproved source of drinking water with no protection against contamination from faeces.
One third of schools worldwide do not provide any toilet facilities – a particular problem for girls during menstruation.
900 million schoolchildren across the world have no handwashing facilities – a critical barrier in the spread of deadly diseases.
Globally, 80% of the wastewater generated by society flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused.

http://www.un.org/en/events/toiletday/

poster

“The extremists have shown what frightens them the most – a girl with a book”

Yesterday, this article was posted in the New York Times. It relates directly to the topics we are working with, quality education and gender equality. It is about an incident in Pakistan where 14 schools, most of them for girls, where burned down during one night, in a district where only 11% of the girls know how to read and write.

Hanna