MDGs: Achieve Universal Primary Education and Promote Gender Equality

In this week's class we discussed the goals promoting universal primary education and gender equality. We combined the two goals (MDGs two and three) because a large part of achieving universal primary education involves educating girls, since so many of the world's illiterate and uneducated are women and girls. After watching this video, you should be able to understand why educating girls is not just important for equality sake, but for increased world development as well:

Why did the video say educating girls is so important? How is it related to reducing poverty and increasing development in poor countries?

Think about it ... what do we use education for here in the United States? An education means you will have more opportunities to work and provide for your family, right? In class we talked about how investing in women's education is a good investment because educated women are likely to have smaller families to have to provide for, they are more likely than men to spend money earned directly on their family's health, and they are less likely to marry early.

What are some of the other ways they explored that promotes equality for women?

• Globalization, they showed, provides more paid jobs for women than were ever available in the past. However, there are less paid jobs for women than there are for men, and women usually receive lower wages.
• Microcredit is another way to help women raise their status in society. Remember what microcredit is? They are small loans -- usually less than $100 -- that banks and companies give women to start their own small business. Because costs of starting a business are much lower than they are here in the US, these loans are useful for women who make jewelry, clothes or other goods to sell for a profit. This allows women to have even more earning power, and be more independent. It also has an impact on the economy of their country, because they are contributing to the wealth of that nation instead of relying on services provided by it. And again, the money women earn is much more likely to be spent on benefits to the entire family than if the money were earned by the male head of household.
• Politics is an area in which women are still lagging behind in terms of equality. Only 15% of elected officials worldwide are women.

To better illustrate the challenges women in poor countries face when seeking an education and a promise of a better future, we assigned an activity that shows the difference between education systems in America and in an African country (Namibia), and the difference between education opportunities for boys and girls in Namibia. Who do you think benefits from the freest, most accessible education opportunities -- American boys and girls, Namibian boys, or Namibian girls? Who probably has the least opportunity of receiving an education?

In our activity, where you live played the biggest factor in whether you would be able to get into college, and how much money you could be expected to make. American children, regardless of gender, are able to go to school throughout their youth. On the other hand, boys and girls in Namibia have to pay for schooling. Families in Namibia have tough choices to make when deciding which children, if any, they can afford to send to school. Why do so many families choose to send boys to schools but not their daughters?

Often, girls in poor countries are expected to help with work around the house, spending hours fetching water, cleaning, cooking and watching after young brothers and sisters. Furthermore, because there are few work opportunities for women, families feel an education is wasted on girls (but we know this isn't true). So not only did the Namibian girls in our simulation activity have a much lower earning power than their peers, they also had a much harder time competing for scholarships and getting into university.

MDGs: END POVERTY AND HUNGER

This past week we focused on the Millennium Development Goal aiming to reduce poverty and hunger worldwide. Goal One is important because it relates to each of the other goals directly -- ending poverty requires educating children, improving health, and protecting the environment so we can use its valuable resources. Reducing poverty, therefore, is necessary in achieving development. IN ORDER FOR COUNTRIES TO GROW ECONOMICALLY AND FOR PEOPLE TO ENJOY HIGHER STANDARDS OF LIVING, WE HAVE TO GET MORE PEOPLE HEALTHY, EDUCATED AND WORKING. When people work, they contribute to the wealth of their country and the entire world. In our discussion we explored what poverty is, how big the problem of poverty is, why it's important to combat poverty, and how we can help. To help you in doing your journal activities, we've summarized this week's lesson below.

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first we focused on DEFINING POVERTY:
We considered what we think of when we hear the words "poverty" and "hunger" ... Do you think of homeless people roaming the streets begging for money? Do you remember the commercials you see about children suffering worldwide? Put yourself in the shoes of a poor person, and try to think of specific struggles you may face.

How would you define poverty if you were a world leader trying to solve it? For these people, poverty is more complicated than how someone dresses or what they do or do not eat. Leaders had to agree on a definition of poverty before they could begin addressing it because without a standard definition, they would not know who to help ... or HOW MANY people need help. When determining what poverty is, they had to consider three things:

1. Poverty Line: The poverty line is the level of income below which a person cannot afford to buy basic necessities. It is the least amount of money a person would need to survive. This amount changes depending on where you live, and how many people are in your family.
2. Absolute Poverty: Living below the poverty line; not being able to buy basic necessities.
3. Relative Poverty: a level of income that may be above the poverty line, but is still much lower than average members of a society or group. If a man makes less than one thousand dollars a year, can afford to buy most of the things he needs, but lives in a country where the average person makes 100,000 dollars, he is considered "relatively" poor. While inequality in income is not necessarily a bad thing, if the poorest people in a country cannot afford basic needs and have little opportunity to improve their status, it could lead to conflict (violence) and instability (poor government control).

The first goal of the MDGs shows what poverty line the world leaders determined would identify those they would help. In calling for a reduction of those living on less that $1 a day, world leaders acknowledged that people making less than that amount are most in need of help.

Using the $1 a day poverty line, we can determine how many people in the world live in absolute poverty:

• Here, we see that 880 million people live on less than $1 a day (meaning they make less than $365 a year).
• If we increase the poverty line to just $2 a day (or $730 a year), we see that 2.6 billion people live below this amount.
• By raising the poverty line to just $2.50, we learn that half the world's population is considered poor at this level. More than 3 BILLION people live on less than $2 a day.

Poverty isn't just a dollar amount, however. To get a better idea of what poverty is, we focused on how poverty affects the lives of these billions of people.

Poverty affects people of all ages, genders and ethnicities. Women, children and Africans are, however, more likely to be poor. Furthermore, even though poverty exists everywhere, areas in South Asia, South America and sub-Saharan Africa suffer the most. People in these regions of the world constantly face threat of drought, spread of disease, and/or high numbers of preventable deaths.

Poverty affects all aspects of a person's life:

1. Their HEALTH is often at risk: poor children face high mortality rates and malnourishment; poor people in many regions face the threat of diseases they cannot afford to prevent.
   
2. Their chance of receiving sufficient and quality EDUCATION is usually small: more than a billion people in the world cannot read or write -- often people sacrifice education to help support their families as a child, or because they cannot afford the fees for schooling.
3. Poor people also have little ACCESS TO BASIC NEEDS: more than a billion people lack access to clean water; a third of the world's people have no sanitation system. This not only presents practical challenges to daily life (how would you cope with having to walk miles carrying all the water you would use for the day), but also leads to widespread diseases.
4. Poor people also lack POLITICAL POWER: they have little say in the laws that affect them, and little influence on whether or not governments will address their needs ... governments tend to listen only to those with money and power.

In these ways, poverty enslaves people -- it becomes impossible to escape the bonds of poverty. If people aren't given the opportunity to educate themselves, if they are too sick or malnourished to work, they will never lift themselves out of poverty. And, often, their children will suffer the same fate.

That's why we must do something. People and governments must act together to end poverty. World leaders, especially rich nations, recognize their duty to do something, but they will not act unless enough people demand that they do -- we have to hold them accountable. And without our help, billions of people will continue suffering needlessly. We have a stake in their suffering and in their success. If we let the problem continue, we lose potential workers and thinkers. If they are able to work, they will contribute to the world's wealth and we all benefit. Most importantly, we must act because we can. Even children can make change, and you have numerous advantages that allow you to speak freely and fight for those who have no voice.

We must make sure governments do everything they can, which includes:

• change unfair trade laws
• provide debt relief and better aid
• educate all children
• improve sanitation conditions and access to water
• and provide quality healthcare to poor people

We know that's a lot of information to try to grasp, so if you're having trouble, leave a comment and let us know what parts are unclear. You can also send us an e-mail at cpe.network@gmail.com.

The most important thing we want you to consider is how you can be a part of the solution to poverty. How can you make sure governments are doing everything they can? How can you get others to convince governments to fight poverty? Are there any organizations or groups in Atlanta that tackle poverty and hunger right here in our community? How can you help them?

Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day, so we wanted each of you to take a moment to celebrate the contributions women make in our society and recognize the struggles women still face around the world. Women have come a long way, especially in this country. Not only are women just as competitive as men in the labor market, more women are receiving college degrees than men. Women are also taking on more and more leadership roles worldwide. While we celebrated the viability of a female candidate for president in the United States two years ago, other countries in the developed and developing world already had women heads-of-state (Angela Merkel, prime minister of Germany) and representatives (55% of the seats in Rwanda's lower house of representatives are held by women). Women are also making valuable contributions to the world -- and finally getting recognized for it. In 2009, three women won Nobel Prizes for science.

And that's not all.

Increasingly, leaders and organizations are recognizing that women are the key to development. By educating girls and empowering women, we are able to lift families and communities out of poverty. In "The Women's Crusade," journalists tell the story of Saima, a wife and mother in Pakistan who was once beaten by her husband and taunted by other women in the community for not being able to feed her family and provide sons to work. She had no self-respect and was devastated when her husband considered getting a second wife. When she applied for and received a $65 loan, she was able to buy materials to begin her own embroidery business. Soon she was making enough money to send her three daughters to school, renovate their home, employ many of her neighbors and pay off her husband's debt. By giving a small amount to one women, the benefits were spread throughout the community. Furthermore, Saima can hold her head up high, and her husband no longer takes out his frustrations on her violently. By putting money in the hands of women, we can better ensure that the money will go directly toward providing nourishment and education for children, since men are more likely to waste money on alcohol and other unnecessary items. Still, women throughout the world are in danger everyday.

• Millions of girls are sold to men as modern-day slaves.
  
• Three-fourths of the hundreds of millions who cannot read are women.
  
• One woman every two minutes is killed in India because her dowry is insufficient or her husband wants to remarry.
  
• Girls there are also less likely than boys to be vaccinated and receive medical attention when they are sick. As a result, girls between 1 and 5 are 50% more likely to die than boys of the same age. --"The Women's Crusade," New York Times. 17 Aug. 2009 and UNDP
  

I could go on, but I'm sure by now you can understand the shockingly brutal reality many women face around the world. Women's rights are supposed to be protected, not only in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which demands equality and respect for everyone, but also in a separate rights document called the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Countries that adopt the Convention are required to eliminate all laws that are discriminatory based on gender, punish those who discriminate against and abuse women, and establish institutions that see to it that womens' rights are being protected.

The Millennium Development Goals also call for empowering and protecting women. Goal Two, ensuring universal primary education will mostly benefit girls who are forced to stay home and take care of chores rather than learn valuable skills. The third goal directly aims to empower women and end gender inequality through education and helping women finance small businesses. Improving maternal health, goal five, will also save millions of womens' lives who receive inadequate care during childbirth.

Boys and girls like you should join the fight to protect and empower women, because when women win, everyone wins. Stand up for women who are victims of abuse here in the US and across the globe. Celebrate the achievements of women throughout history. NY Times provides some ideas about exploring women's rights issues.

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!

Stay Tuned

Unfortunately, we could not come to classes today because of your testing schedules (Good luck on Wednesday!). That doesn't mean, however, that you can forget all about human rights this week. Explore UNICEF's Voices of Youth page and find out how kids all over the world are taking responsibility for the changes they hope to see. It will inspire you and hopefully reinforce some of the information we've shared with you in the past.

Last year, CPE students made podcasts to inform others about the threat of global warming. How could you use media and other resources to educate others about the MDGs? Think of who you want to educate about one of the goals, and imagine what you think they should know about the related issue. (Feel free to share your ideas in the comments section.)

We won't be able to see you again until after you're done taking the ITBS tests. We'll also be able to come during intersession, we will be at CPE during the break, and we certainly hope to see you. Be sure to turn in your journal assignments by Friday to Ms. Searls (or email them to us at cpe.network@gmail.com). You can find online versions of the journal and notes handouts on the Lesson Materials page.

Challenging Our "Worldview"

All maps are not created equal. Cartographers, or mapmakers, face a number of challenges when trying to fit a round Earth onto a flat image. Thus, all maps are distorted in one way or another. And how we see the world can vary depending on which map we're looking at.

Some maps are intentionally deceptive -- meant to emphasize a fact or idea through distortions. For example, this map we showed in class this week illustrates the differences in population sizes among various countries by relating them to country size.


Other maps, however, are less blatantly distorted. The Mercator Projection, which is widely used in schools, accurately represents shapes of landforms, but distorts their sizes. This is why small islands and borders are so detailed. The Peters Projection, on the other hand, distorts shape, but preserves relative sizes of landforms. We are less familiar with this map, which makes Africa and South America appear stretched.

After acknowledging that the Peters Projection indirectly emphasizes the developing world, students in classes this week agreed that residents of places in Africa or South America would probably prefer the map over the Mercator Projection. While neither projection is more accurate than the other, certainly the Peters Projection implores that we take a second look at our world. While the sizes of countries does not relate to their value, seeing an accurate depiction of country sizes brings places we often ignore to the forefront.

Would you favor the Peters Projection if you lived in Africa? Why or why not?