Let’s Make it a Weekly Thing

So, each week I’ll try to pass on some links to the week’s most interesting and relevant news about women and girls so you can look closer at what’s happening in the world right now.  If you have something that you think I should include, let me know!

Because I am a Girl report is now Girl Friendly! Plan has just launched a youth-friendly version of the annual Because I am a Girl report which follows a group of girls from birth to age 9 (they’re currently three years old). Check out the report here.

Making babies political: the Canadian government has made maternal health a priority as it hosts the G8 summit in Muskoka this summer, but it has decided to exclude contraception from its initiative. The Globe and Mail looks closer at this issue. Check out more coverage on this topic here and here.

Next week is World Water Week. We’ll be talking here about how water plays a roll in women’s lives around the world. If you want to dig deeper into water issues, check out TVO’s Water Week series.

Maybe Twitter is for everyone Michael Wolff

A Huffington Post writer wrote an article saying Twitter is for girls. The writer – Michael Wolfe used many old stereotypes about women to validate his viewpoint. And this is very troubling to many of us on the Because I am a Girl team.

Wolff assumes Twitter is for girls because the very nature of this social media tool. He believes Twitter has a “dear-diary nature” and this is more suited towards “girls” rather than “men.”  And this is not only a reckless assumption but ignorant considering he does not follow a lot of people on Twitter. He follows less than 200 people and that is a small sampling considering Twitter has more than a million users worldwide. Also he did not attempt to even research the demographics of Twitter. If he did some basic research, he would realize Twitter is not a ratio of 90 per cent women to 10 per cent men. It is in fact 55 per cent female and 45 per cent male. Maybe if he did some preliminary research, he would have framed his article differently instead of drawing his conclusions on a select few. Most importantly, he simply forgets to address, everyone on Twitter has the option of choosing who they want to follow and it is obvious Wolff chooses to follow a specific Twitter type. So for him to go on a rant promoting stereotypes of all women is mindless. Women have been trying to eliminate such close-minded views for centuries, but this writer chooses to bring it to the forefront and only a week after International Women’s Day.

What is troubling about this entire article is that Wolff is convinced men and women tweet differently because of this whole “diary notion.” He honestly believes women tweeters are more personal – not professional and less serious. So women are more inclined to tweet about relationships and fashion. In contrast to men where he says their tweets are more business like and lacking the confessional nature of a woman tweeter.

So what do you think about his concept of Twitter? Is Twitter a diary centric hub filled with women tweeting about their relationships? Or is it more than this? We would be interested in your thoughts.

I know I run like a girl…try to keep up!

Maddy Roberts, age 8, is the youngest in a long line of Plan supporters. Her mom, Sara Sterling, remembers her family sponsoring a Plan Foster Child when she was young, and now she has gotten her husband and daughter involved as well.

“We always keep the picture of our foster child on the fridge” says Sterling. “It helps to remind us that the rest of the world isn’t always as lucky as we are.”

This Christmas, Maddy and Sara learned about one of Plan’s projects to build a school residence in Tanzania, so that girls can safely attend school. They decided that they had to do something about it, and Markham Women’s 5k and Girls 1k was born.

The run will be held on Mother’s Day 2010 (May 9) and is a women’s only event to encourage mothers and daughters (and grandmothers, and sisters, and friends…) to get involved to support girls’ rights and safety internationally. Their message?

“I know I run like a girl…try to keep up!”

All proceeds will go towards building the residence for girls in Tanzania.

Sara and Maddy want to use this as a learning experience for themselves as well, so they can continue to be advocates for the Because I am a Girl Campaign. Once they’ve finished fundraising, they’re planning to travel to Tanzania to see the finished residence and learn more about the lives of the girls who will live there.

Stay tuned for more race information and details about Sara and Maddy’s experiences in Tanzania.  And get out your running shoes!

My experience during the Women in the World Summit – Donnady reporting

The event at the Daily Beast with Katie Couric was my last event in New York. I felt a little nervous because I know that Queen Rania of Jordan will be there and that our segment will come after hers.  Kakenya* told me “you will shine” to which Yolanda* added “she will be good” and of course there was Helen* who kept saying  “just look in my eyes when you are nervous.” But honestly, they are making me tense. The little nervousness grew bigger and bigger.

Then it was our turn. Katie Couric introduced us to the audience and when she introduced me, she asked me for a “hi 5”. The event seemed to turn informal and I felt a little more comfortable. She is nice. Our hands touched. She started the question with Kakenya –  about her life,  the harmful traditional practice in their country and how she was able to get education. Next questions were for Helen and her organization’s work on early marriage, then to Kathy Calvin. The last questions were for me, about my village and our system of education. My favourite question was whether I have a mentor who inspires me to speak up and be a leader. I told her it is my father.  The audience clapped. I am happy that I was able to talk about my father, his work in the village and his membership with the Men Opposed to Violence Against Women Everywhere (MOVE). Katie Couric told me to relay her thanks to my father.

The last part of the segment was the reading of the Girlafesto with the other girls in the audience.  Afterwards, some approached me, including Kakenya and Helen, and said “oh you were just silent but you have that powerful voice.” One woman also came up to me and told me “I hope to see you again, if not, thank you.” My three friends from Rhode Island (Nikki, Liwa and Kirby) said it was amazing. Hopefully, they are right.

Then it was my time to rest, to relax. Honestly, I cannot remember all the names of the persons I met at the event because all that was in my mind was “it is all over.” Thanks to all who helped me.  Thanks to God.

Note:
*Kakenya and Helen are the two other panellists. Helen is from UNFPA Ethiopia. Yolanda is from the UN Foundation.

Marriage isn’t always a big white princess dress and a sparkly diamond.

Girls (me included!) have a tendency to daydream about their big day, picking out colour schemes and perfect dresses in their head, and imagining walking down the aisle with Mr. Right.

I want you to channel your wedding daydreams in a different direction today as we look at marriage as it is often experienced by impoverished women around the world.

Imagine that because you were going to be married into another family, your parents didn’t invest in your future.

Marrying into a new family means that the original family will eventually lose that resource, so they don’t invest in it. According to the 2007 Because I am a Girl report, “in some cultures, a boy will grow up and look after his parents, while a girl will be married into another family and is therefore seen as a financial burden to her own parents.” This means that the effects of marriage are often felt by girls years before they are ready to exchange vows.

Imagine being told by your parents that next week you were going to be married to someone that they had picked out.

In many places around the world, marriage is more of a transaction or exchange of resources. Girls are often have little or no power over their part in this transaction.

Without control over the decision to get married and to whom, girls may face early or forced marriage. In fact, “80 million girls in developing countries will be married before their 18th birthday,” says Graca Machel. According to UNICEF, child marriage is defined as “any marriage carried out below the age of 18 years before the girl is physically, psychologically and physiologically ready to shoulder the responsibilities of marriage and childbearing”

Imagine that your parents then told you that the man they picked for you to marry was old enough to be your father.

Early marriage often means that girls are married to much older men, which often means that the power dynamic in the relationship is affected by the age difference, as well as by the difference in social status between men and women in general.

So what are the specific risks of early marriage?

Married girls:

• Are likely to have less education and fewer schooling opportunities than unmarried girls
• Have less mobility than unmarried girls or older married women
• Have less household and economic power than older married women
• Have less exposure to the media than unmarried girls
• Have limited social networks
• May be at greater risk of gender-based violence than women who marry later
• Face greater reproductive health risks than unmarried women and married young women who have already had a child

(photo credit: .ygor)

Climbing to the Highest Heights for Girls

Seven years ago, Lynette Trott had never rock climbed. This month, she’s climbing Everest. And she’s climbing it for Girls.

After reading a magazine article on Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign, she was moved enough to tackle the highest mountain on earth for the cause of girls around the world. On her site, she gives an example of Dahn Kumari, a woman living in Nepal in a town without access to toilets, as an example of why she’s climbing for girls.

I took a look at what Lynette’s training involves in the last few weeks before she climbs, and if I didn’t think she was tough already, this clinched it: morning and evening running in the stairwell for an hour…120 floors!  You can check out her blog for more updates on her training and the whole experience.

Lynette’s message to girls and “big kids” around the world is simple but powerful:

“For the ‘Big Kids’, I want you to know that we can all achieve our Everest. I’m just an average person who decided she wanted to do it.”

We’re rooting for you, Lynette. All the way to the top!

Women in the News!

Women have been in the news a lot this week, what with International Women’s Day on Monday, the wrap up of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York, and Kathryn Bigalow winning the first female Best Director Oscar.  Here are a couple of highlights from the news, including one on our very own Saba in the Hamilton Spectator:

Taking Girl Power to the United Nations
A burning desire to improve the lives of girls everywhere has catapulted 17-year-old Saba Ghahari from her Stoney Creek home to New York City today where she is at the United Nations fighting youth gender inequities and injustices…

The war on baby girls: Gendercide
Killed, aborted or neglected, at least 100m girls have disappeared—and the number is rising…

Gender Matters!  Can the UN Bring Change?
Blogger Wendy Harcourt suggests that “There is a sense that Beijing promises were great on paper but the implementation has not brought women’s rights nor freedom and autonomy to the centre of development.” She concludes her comments on the recent conference by saying “As usual, I and most of the women here have many more questions than answers.”

Also check out:

IPS TerraViva is a special site created for the Commission on the Status of Women meeting in New York by the IPS news site that “gives voice to gender equality” (put it in your bookmarks!).  Here are some of the stories that they reported during the conference on issues faced by women, including lack of access to income, sexual violence, water shortages, maternal rights, and access to land.

And if you didn’t hear enough from the Speakers’ Bureau’s visit to New York, check out all their posts here.

My last blog post from the UN summit – Saba reporting

Hi (extremely happy hi), hi (kind of sad hi)! What a week…has it really only been a week! It feels like a month has passed since I first stepped off that plane. Today was a pretty relaxed day, I didn’t have to get up before 8 but nonetheless I did. Why? Don’t ask. So I got ready and headed out to grab some breakfast for myself, and starbucks for Siham. The day was warm and going for a walk was definitely one of the things I wanted to do.  Donnady, Amy and I went souvenir shopping, New York is a breath-taking city and I wanted to get some things for my family. I love souvenir shopping, actually just like shopping in general. We all had a great time, and on our way back we grabbed some buffet style lunch.  Lunch was eaten in the hotel room, and then we all just relaxed and hung out with each other. After Donnady went to go prepare for the boy-girl dialogue while Siham, Amy and I went sight seeing. We found our way to wonderful time square, and then to a place a have always wanted to go…CENTRAL PARK! Time Square left me with no words to say and I saw Amy looking at me wondering why I looked so shocked- I had to remind her that I don’t live in a city. We took many pictures; oh I almost forgot we went on a carousel ride! I know it’s for children…last time I checked I wasn’t a legal adult. 

It was good to relax and walk through Central Park.  I have always wanted to visit central park and I was so glad that I could finally experience this. Even though, I am sure it would look nice in the spring I loved it just like this. So now I am trying to rattle my brain for what I did next….ummmmm….oh yes! We went to the girl-boy dialogue where Donnady would be speaking on a panel. I love to watch my friends participate in events. The event was really interesting because I had never really gotten a boy’s view on girl’s rights and having gender equality.

After the event we headed back to the hotel. I love this hotel, I must say. It is so comfortable.  All three of us talked and talked. I really am going to miss Donnady! We had the Plan evaluation to go to next.  I pigged out on pizza and salad. I really liked how Plan takes into account everything that everyone has to say. I shared my opinions and then we left so we good get ready for bed. 

All in all, as much as I love sight seeing nothing can compare to the whole UN Conference experience. Attending the CSW has been really rewarding and inspiring. I hope that in the future I will be able to attend and that hopefully changes will be made.

So I bid New York farewell! Goodbye UN Conference! Goodbye UN Plaza hotel! Goodbye Fifth Avenue, Lexington, Madison Avenue, and Broadway! Goodbye to all the amazing people that I had the honour of meeting! Try not to miss me too much!

Five easy ways to make a difference this International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day is a great chance to get involved with the Because I am a Girl Campaign if you haven’t already. Here’s a couple of ideas about how you can get involved:

1. Tell your friends what makes you proud to be a girl in your Facebook status. And tell them to check out BecauseIamaGirl.ca.
2. Sign the ePetition to create a Day for Girls.
3. Use your phone to text a donation to the Because I am a Girl campaign
4. Buy a Because I am a Girl t-shirt (like our girl Jenn Heil!)
5. Check out the Because I am a Girl YouTube channel to learn more about issues facing girls around the world

Or, tell us what you’re doing to celebrate International Women’s Day in your community or school.

Tomorrow is International Women’s Day 2010

Tomorrow we celebrate International Women’s Day. That’s right, a day all to ourselves! This year’s theme is Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities.

To get into the mood, check out these great links:

An opinion piece at AllAfrica.com asked a good question this week: why does International Women’s Day matter?

Reuters News Agency has put together a great slideshow of women around the world in their everyday lives, which you can check out here.

So, what are you going to do to celebrate International Women’s Day?  Stay tuned tomorrow for suggestions!