Women's Issues
Several of my female LJ friends have talked over the years about how they (we) have so many different hobbies and interests, we never develop the close circle of female friends that many other, more feminine women do. I think part of the reason those friends have stuck with LJ more is that we have a community online. Some of it too is that we aren't willing to do what's necessary to maintain the off-line relationships. One of the most helpful things Jon has said in the last year was to point out how the girls from work have become my main in-person social group as social media has fragmented and as friends have drifted off to different interests.
Which is the main reason why I let them make me read Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's Half the Sky. Raita said she couldn't put it down, which I found less compelling considering she was flying back from India at the time. Evil English and one of the other women in the circle who is also into microfinance also championed it, so after our last drinks night, I decided to read it lest I be thought difficult.
It's a touching book, a masterful argument for more support for women's issues. In the middle of the book, the authors quote a study that shows that people will donate more to a single compelling story than to help multiple people; they clearly took this to heart. Each chapter tells the story of a few different women who've had terrible things happen to them, from kidnapping & underage prostitution to female genital mutilation. I've been vexed lately about how bad education is about HPV and cervical cancer, but to read about women who were left to be eaten by hyenas after they needed and didn't get a Caesarean and instead their pelvis rotted... well. It really puts things in perspective.
I appreciated Kristof & WuDunn's survey of issues. I also thought they had two very interesting insights. Throughout the book, they compare the 19th century's war on slavery to what they hope will be the 21st century's war on sexism. They point out that before Wilberforce got started, abolition was a very extreme view, and that especially Britain gave blood and treasure - I believe it was a 8% hit to GDP - to fight slavery. It's a pretty good argument and it provides a good road map of how they'd like to see these issues addressed.
Given Kristof's day job, I was skeptical about the book, so I particularly appreciated when he discusses how many aid projects don't work and talks about things that particularly do. Bottom-line, it seems that most every problem women have in the developing world can be solved with more education: mostly for the young women, but also for the community. More educated women are more assertive, less likely to take abuse, more likely to have any control over family finances. The authors make an excellent argument that countries that offer women more freedom - Bangladesh vs. Pakistan is a great example - have better economic outcomes.
Kristof & WuDunn also highlight innumerable little organizations that do more good than large NGOs. I have a theory that small aid orgs can do more good because people only work for them if they are committed to the cause, so they work harder for less pay.
Unfortunately for me, while everyone in my female circle can agree these are important issues, it's rapidly becoming clear that I am the coldly analytical capitalist in our group. The gal who works at Goldman asked us to have a conference call to discuss throwing 2 fundraisers every year and committing to each sponsoring someone through Women for Women. bleh. My experiences with an all-female, all-volunteer sexual education group a few years ago left me dubious about amateur fundraising efforts. I made an impassioned argument that we should try to help more than one woman a piece, that it's more important to get a multiplier on our donations, that there's a reason why Heifer International doesn't track where your cow went. I can't tell if my argument was well-received or if they were being polite, but I did get Raita to acknowledge she wanted to do this for the personal connection with someone she's helping. I was amused that when I said I'd like to see us raise money for CamFed, our British representative said she was very familiar with their work, what with having encountered them at Cambridge. heh. Anyhow, as a good group member, I should probably get back to writing my argument for why we should support women's education.
Which is the main reason why I let them make me read Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's Half the Sky. Raita said she couldn't put it down, which I found less compelling considering she was flying back from India at the time. Evil English and one of the other women in the circle who is also into microfinance also championed it, so after our last drinks night, I decided to read it lest I be thought difficult.
It's a touching book, a masterful argument for more support for women's issues. In the middle of the book, the authors quote a study that shows that people will donate more to a single compelling story than to help multiple people; they clearly took this to heart. Each chapter tells the story of a few different women who've had terrible things happen to them, from kidnapping & underage prostitution to female genital mutilation. I've been vexed lately about how bad education is about HPV and cervical cancer, but to read about women who were left to be eaten by hyenas after they needed and didn't get a Caesarean and instead their pelvis rotted... well. It really puts things in perspective.
I appreciated Kristof & WuDunn's survey of issues. I also thought they had two very interesting insights. Throughout the book, they compare the 19th century's war on slavery to what they hope will be the 21st century's war on sexism. They point out that before Wilberforce got started, abolition was a very extreme view, and that especially Britain gave blood and treasure - I believe it was a 8% hit to GDP - to fight slavery. It's a pretty good argument and it provides a good road map of how they'd like to see these issues addressed.
Given Kristof's day job, I was skeptical about the book, so I particularly appreciated when he discusses how many aid projects don't work and talks about things that particularly do. Bottom-line, it seems that most every problem women have in the developing world can be solved with more education: mostly for the young women, but also for the community. More educated women are more assertive, less likely to take abuse, more likely to have any control over family finances. The authors make an excellent argument that countries that offer women more freedom - Bangladesh vs. Pakistan is a great example - have better economic outcomes.
Kristof & WuDunn also highlight innumerable little organizations that do more good than large NGOs. I have a theory that small aid orgs can do more good because people only work for them if they are committed to the cause, so they work harder for less pay.
Unfortunately for me, while everyone in my female circle can agree these are important issues, it's rapidly becoming clear that I am the coldly analytical capitalist in our group. The gal who works at Goldman asked us to have a conference call to discuss throwing 2 fundraisers every year and committing to each sponsoring someone through Women for Women. bleh. My experiences with an all-female, all-volunteer sexual education group a few years ago left me dubious about amateur fundraising efforts. I made an impassioned argument that we should try to help more than one woman a piece, that it's more important to get a multiplier on our donations, that there's a reason why Heifer International doesn't track where your cow went. I can't tell if my argument was well-received or if they were being polite, but I did get Raita to acknowledge she wanted to do this for the personal connection with someone she's helping. I was amused that when I said I'd like to see us raise money for CamFed, our British representative said she was very familiar with their work, what with having encountered them at Cambridge. heh. Anyhow, as a good group member, I should probably get back to writing my argument for why we should support women's education.