Women's Strive for Education

At UWC, students are highly encouraged to participate in service. I chose to participate in a service called Daraja which is a service that stands up for girls’ rights to education. Daraja Academy is a school built just for girls in Kenya and the girls there are able to receive education in a safe environment. After participating in the service and fighting for the cause, I became keen to keep helping women in need of education and I felt the cause was a severe one that should be resolved.

One might argue that women do not need education and should be in charge of housework leave the jobs which require strength or thinking to men but, others might say that women and men are equal and should have the same rights. This paper will argue that women and men should be treated equally and women should not be deprived of the right to receive education, nor should their treatments be differentiated to men because no one should be underprivileged based on their gender or status.

First of all, I think that education is one of the most critical areas of empowerment for women. It is also known as one of the clearest examples of the discrimination that women suffer. Women receiving education should not be seen as an opulence as it was established as a basic human right. According to UNICEF, among the children who do not go to school, there are twice as many girls as boys. This states that girls have a lower chance of receiving an education than boys. Also, if a family can only afford enough money to provide education for one member of the family, it will more likely be the boy in the family who receives education. The Convention on the Rights of the Child and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women recently established a basic human right that girls should be allowed to receive a basic education and it should not be a luxury for them. This means that women should have the right to receive a basic education to help them live their life successfully and they should not be deprived of the right to learn. Recently, UN Women offered classes to women who were not able to receive an education in north-eastern Afghanistan. A girl called Beheshta, age 20, who was receiving education from this program stated, “educating women and girls and women’s empowerment in our community is my dream,” (Beheshta, 2013). This shows that people of Afghanistan still decipher women receiving education as a luxury. I believe this mindset is very wrong and women having an opportunity to receive a basic education should be accustomed.

Secondly, no one should be underprivileged based on their gender or status and without these judgements, the world can become a more improved and fair community. According to UN WOMEN, if women receive an education, it will be advantageous for both the woman herself, and the improvement of the world to make it a safer place. For example, there will be an increasing literacy rate which can help improve conditions in developing regions and there will be a reduced chance of human trafficking. Also, children of educated mothers are twice as likely to survive and poverty will be reduced. Yet, according to Brookings Article, it states that there are many barriers stopping women from receiving a proper education which should be resolved. Some of these include, high costs, inflexible timetables, lack of numerous schools in different areas, lack of preparation in their early years, irrelevant curricula, regular closures of schools, lack of space and a limited capacity, and lack of proper materials. This means that in order for women around the world to receive an education everyone should contribute in helping women go to school, even if it is only a small contribution. To help, many people can donate or provide service for women to overcome these many barriers and for them to continue leading their educational lives.

Also, many women from various parts of the world are not able to read or write and that leads to women being classified lowly and not being able to be located to a job. Also, in most countries, male are classified more superior than female which, shows a lack of respect towards women. According to UN Women, only 12% of the people in Afghanistan are literate. This is a very small amount and it shows the lack of education that they have. According to a Brookings article, it states that “lack of fairness and justice persist in the education systems of developing countries, including judgements based on gender,” (Strand, 2015). It also states that, Afghanistan has the highest level of gender disparity in education in the world, largely due to cultural barriers such as early marriage or lack of female teachers. This shows how large the amount of discrimination is between men and women in developing countries. I understand that different countries or religions have different traditions about how the women should stay at home and do housework while the men receive education and work to earn money. But I strongly believe this is a wrong way of thinking because women or men, we are all the same species, humans, and we should all have the same rights as, we are classified as equal. Although the discrimination of women has decreased in many modern countries, many can still observe a slight preference that people have towards men. From my own experience, I can sense a difference between people’s mindset towards men and women. For example, if a boy gave orders to the people in a group and took control, the people would classify him as a boy with strong leadership skills. On the other hand, if a girl did the same thing, people would habitually classify her as bossy.

In conclusion, there are different perspectives that we can look at this issue but, the point I would like to get across is that discrimination between women and men is a serious issue that should definitely be fixed. Even though the inequality between men and women have ceased slightly in modern countries, I believe that developing countries are still experiencing this issue and people should take caution of this.


Bibliography

"Girls' Education: A Lifeline to Development." Girls' Education: A Lifeline to Development. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.

"Right to Education Still Not a Reality for Many Women and Girls." Right to Education Still Not a Reality for Many Women and Girls. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.


"Expanding and Improving the Quality of Girls' Education in Afghanistan." The Brookings Institution. N.p., 19 Aug. 2015. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.

Thinking Further About The Arts.

So, its coming up for Grade 9 and 10 exam choices. Now only in grade 8, you're not quite sure what you you want to do with your life. You feel very passionate about Drama and Music and know that your career will involve both. Not being able to choose these subjects would limit your career options. Aren’t you the one deciding your own future? Understanding the points experts have made I still think its our choice as students, to make our own choices.

I take the position that there needs to be more opportunities for arts in IGCSE, while the students are encouraged to take a variety of subjects in order to give them a broad foundation when picking IB diploma subjects. Yet there still seems to be a bias for other subjects with an explanation that an art could be covered as an activity. The Arts are more likely to be a students passion with clear career paths that can be followed, and finally Arts can give more students opportunities to express themselves. 

One reason students would benefit from being able to choose more than one art, is that in these subjects they can express themselves. In the art subjects you have opportunity to create your own compositions. When you compose something in music or design something in D.T, you can reflect yourself in it, and make it your own. Whereas in many other academic subjects, the aim is to problem solve and learn facts. For an example in a recent Music unit, we had to show our learning, by getting together in groups and fulfil the certain requirements that had to be in the piece. But as long as we had these requirements, we were able to put our own flair to it, which made each piece unique. In contrast, lately in a science unit we were learning about the body systems. That unit was very facts based and there was no place where we could add our own pizzazz to it.

Another reason that only being able to choose one art is unfair is that there seems to be a bias towards non art subjects. All students take coordinated science on the understanding that it gives you a good base for IB diploma, which limits you from getting another GCSE in another subject area because coordinated science amounts to two GCSE’s. The GCSE program does not enable a student who knows they need to take two of the arts for their career. For example Cathy Jones VP of UWC East High School, states that there are other ways to fulfil art interests by doing activities instead of taking another art exam. You could do performances rather than do a Drama GCSE or you could take part in the orchestra or other ensembles rather than do Music GCSE.

Lastly, art subjects encourage feelings of passion; when you do subjects you know that you can succeed in, you want to pursue them as far as you can. Only being able to choose one of Music and Drama when they go so well together would limit your possibilities. Art subjects are vocational and often encourage people to follow a different and more unusual path. The values of UWCSEA encourage students to make a change to go beyond the expected. Pursuing the Arts fulfils this in the same way that other subjects do. This is significant because whether you are designer or an artist or an actor you can make the same impact as a scientist, explorer or humanitarian could. Being passionate about what you do can only make you more determined to succeed. “Plus est en vous” Are the famous words of Kurt Hahn, Theres more in you than you think. Following your passion enables you to aim higher.

Looking Further Than Disabilities

Do you like the idea of diversity? I say that our school welcomes differences in strongly and with a respective manner. But I think that we should enlarge on the idea of diversity and welcome in new issues. I say that we have to expand on the topic of disabilities- or different abilities. We have focused a bit on it in mentor time but we have to educate people on this topic. In this essay it says why disabilities says what the lack of understanding can do, and how we can fix this problem.

I take the position that disabled people should be guaranteed the same rights and privileges as everyone else. We must look further than just appearance and consider their personalities and feelings. We must educate, respect, and support them.

My first reason is that people often treat disabled people in rude or un-mannered ways, causing lack in self esteem and confidence. Disabled people are often treated as a different species, many people have rude attitudes and behaviors towards them. Hardeep Aiden, from the opinium says “Two thirds (67%) of the public feel uncomfortable talking to disabled people.” (May, 2015) This means that we have been proven to produce a negative effect on disabled people. Awkwardness effects disabled people causing their self confidence to drop. What if you were always treated in rude or disrespectful manners? How would that make you feel? Some cases can get worse, and disabled people put even more doubt on themselves. Tom Shakespeare says “some of them feel profoundly depressed and upset.” (June, 2014) With this negative effect on disabled people it can lead to some horrible thinking of themselves. With personal experience, I say that everyone should think of each other's feelings. By only having a mindset that is limited to certain people, it can lead to other problems later in life. I believe that you should always encourage everyone in the same way, by moving past one barrier you can push through negative thinking and actions towards others.

My second reason is that schools should take time to educate everyone on this topic so everyone is more understanding of each other. In all of the schools I have been in, this topic has never been brought up once in class- and I have been to 5 different schools. Andrea McCarthy says “Much of the discomfort people feel about disability may stem from a lack of understanding.” This means that the negative mindset might be coming from the lack of knowledge on this topic which says a lot. People could not know that they are being rude, and maybe hurt someone's feelings which lowers confidence. It’s like a chain, if somebody doesn’t understand it can cause other problems and people won’t learn from their mistakes. Courtney Long says “Our research shows that both the general public and disabled people believe that more everyday interactions and greater public education about disability will increase understanding and acceptance of disabled people.” (December, 2015) This means we have to take time to educate and interact with the public to create a difference.

My third reason is that we must push past the barrier of appearance. I can connect deeply to this cause I have faced many struggles of appearance. I often try not to interact and most of the time hide or cover my “hand” but I realised all of us have to push past that thinking and all that matters in personality. We are all human, we all have the same rights, we must respect each other in that way. Scott Rains, a researcher of the opinium says “People don’t make an effort to get to know the people and judge them by their looks and appearance.” This means that we have to think of what's inside not outside. Often people are use to judging everybody, and that is natural but it can be stopped. Have you ever been stared at? Constantly having the feeling that someone is talking behind your back? Not a lot of people face this as much disabled people have. I say that we should think of everybody before you make assumptions of personality by just looking at their appearance. Dylan Redd says “People are not accepting to others that are not like them and need to be more open to people.” This means that people won’t accept diversity if it’s different to them, I say we have to teach people how to accept people even if they are different. I know it can be a struggle sometimes, but if we look on the inside of a person we can change our lifestyle so that we all support and respect on another.

Wrapping it up, I say that we have to have a clean palette and open our minds a bit more. I understand that it can be difficult to accept something that is different from yourself, but on the inside it is all the same. I conclude saying that all we need is a education on this topic to look further. I propose that our school should make a mentor time unit focusing on diversity in general including this topic in it. In school now we only have some slivers of diversity but for learning to expand it needs more types of diversity and it should definitely include this topic. Scott Rains says “ Research shows that public education could help tackle the discrimination and stigma associated with disability.” I think you should consider how we can tackle this problem, and give new learning for everyone.

Bibliography:


"This Short Film About A Boy And His Dog Is Winning Every Award. Watch It And You'll Know Why." Wimp.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.



"A Point of View: Happiness and Disability - BBC News." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.



"No Clear Data on Disability Situation in Singapore, Healthcare in Singapore News, Health News, AsiaOne YourHealth." No Clear Data on Disability Situation in Singapore, Healthcare in Singapore News, Health News, AsiaOne YourHealth. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.


"E-Bility DisABILITY Information Resources." Articles: Disability Articles, Personal Stories, Accessible Travel and Disability Service Reports. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

"Articles." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 Dec. 2015. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

The Fight For Women's Equal Pay Rates

     While it has been a long set tradition to think of women as lesser workers and not able to handle as much pressure and highly ranked jobs, society is in need of change as women are acquiring higher or equal qualifications as men, but are still being payed less. This concept, although mostly focused on with more privileged women, can also be widened to take in women from developing countries, where there is an important pay gap, which doesn’t help to entice families to let girls get a proper education as they know this will not be as beneficial in later life to support their family. Women should have equal pay rates as men, and all people should be paid based on qualifications rather than on gender. Reasons to support this are that women should have equal opportunities to follow their dreams and should also be able to be the breadwinners of the family, which means that we need to change the mindset of men and communities so that it is both men and women who are in charge of the household and raising the children.

     First of all, men usually expect women to handle less work to take care of their children, or simply because of the stereotype of being too emotional and unable to handle pressure, and company owners want the hardest workers and the ones they can count on, so they usually see men as fittest. According to Trina Liang Lin, president of the Singapore Committee for UN Women, “Some women are still not equally paid as their male counterparts for the same job. In the 2014 Labour Force Statistics, women earn less than men in all occupational categories except clerical and support. In most categories, this differential is more than 10 per cent.” (Lin, 2015). This shows that there is a considerable pay difference for men and women even in privileged circles, and this is proven to be because women are expected to take care of household matters and raise the children, and have to balance career simultaneously. In some cases, this makes for having to compromise one thing or the other, and as a result, women are generally not trusted with highly-ranked and important roles in a company, which could affect their family.

     Furthermore, for women to reach equal pay and esteem in their work environment, there seems to be a crucial need for a mindset shift for men, CEOs of companies, government officials, and especially in the family environment, all need to see that if they claim to give women equal opportunities and esteem, why are they still paid less and in most cases are expected to take care of the children and household, and if they work, have to balance career on top of this. Under some conditions, women may be faced with having to decide between these two, and they cannot drop their family, so they stop working to take care of the lather. In this case, families could start dividing house chores more proportionately so both parents can work as well as managing their homes. There are many cultural and societal reasons why women are not being paid as much, as said before, and having communities supporting this cause will help them use the education they receive and not be held back more than men when they attempt to achieve goals as independent women who are not forced to depend on men or their family as adults.

     Lastly, a reason to show that setting women on an equal level to men in a work environment is beneficial, is that it will help to push society into a more socially accepting and advanced global community which will empower women to be a more influential part of society. If communities are able to implement the family balance of house and work, more women would be capable of handling a greater workload and pressure and society would be more open to women being in control and in turn they would feel more encouraged to pursue ambitious goals and a fuller career. This will enable society to move forward in the current goal to include women in entrepreneurship business and to have a figure in the government, which still faces controversy. This controversy, although mainly widely seen in government issues, are seen in workplaces of any size, and affect communities as a whole because of how we see a woman’s place in society, and these prejudices stay with people throughout their lives and later affect individuals’ pay rates.

     In conclusion, both women and men should have equal pay rates and not be deprived of the opportunity to follow a career they want and have the appropriate reward for it. Women are often underrepresented in businesses even if they are the ones behind the work or have more qualified diplomas. These reasons prove that this is a widespread societal issue that we need to deal with on all levels, from families balancing work and house together, to teaching children about equality, all the way to enforcing a law of pay rates based on qualifications, not gender.

Murder Of the Innocent Girls

In my perspective, both men and women are equal. You may not feel the same but ask yourself why? What is it that makes men superior to women? We are the same species, and DNA. In the weaker societies in India this is not considered to be true. Some people go to such an extent, that if their newborn child is a girl, they kill them. This is due to the prevalence of the disgraceful practice of an old Indian tradition called dowry. Dowry is the act of the bride’s side giving, money, land or expensive gifts to the bridegroom on their wedding day. Because this is still prevalent in some of the weaker societies in India, some families believe that the education and marriage of a daughter is a financial burden on them. For this reason they kill newborn, baby girls either before or just after birth. Every day, across the country 2,000 infants are killed. The current sex ratio in India is 914:1000. Is that fair? Your answer is most probably no, for this is clearly murder. This can have horrible effects such as imbalanced sex ratios and decrease in population. Women are equal to men, and deserve to be treated the same and be given the same opportunities, for women are an equal part of society. In this modern era they cannot be discriminated against. 

In today's day and age, women are just as important in society as men are. By evolving from times when women stayed at home and did not work, women are hold a strong status, equal men. Killing the female child is not only murder but also discriminating against women. Malala Yousafzai and activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate says, “ When God created man and woman, he was thinking, 'Who shall I give the power to, to give birth to the next human being?' And God chose woman. And this is the big evidence that women are powerful." This shows that there is no natural reason for women to be considered inferior to men but quite the contrary, women were chosen to reproduce humans. They should be treated with respect and treated the same way men are treated. However the most important reason why infanticide is bad is because it is simply murder of children. The dictionary definition of infanticide is ‘the crime of a mother killing her child within a year of birth’. Simply put, this is not civil and should be considered as murder. Pope Francis, the head of the Christian community says, “Life once conceived, must be protected with the utmost care; abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.” This also suggests that babies, whether they are just born or not yet, are alive and infanticide is killing them and that this is no different than murder. They should be nurtured and appreciated and they should not be killed just because of gender. Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the U.S.A. said, “Abraham Lincoln recognized that we could not survive as a free land when some men could decide that others were not fit to be free and should therefore be slaves. Likewise, we cannot survive as a free nation when some men decide that others are not fit to live and should be abandoned to abortion or infanticide.” This also shows that man cannot decide to kill a newborn child as it is human and killing it is a crime. It is not in their hands to kill. It is bad not to take care of that child but killing it is unacceptable. This killing leads to an inevitable and terrible effects. With a drastic decrease in the number of women, the number of mothers also decrease leading to a decrease in the country's population. This will inevitably lead to several problems for the country, the most important of which is that the living conditions will decline. This is because of the inadequate labor force which would have boosted the output and production of goods and services. This will also reduce the manpower and income, as well as investments. There is also the fact that this will result in fewer people in the army, who would be defending the country during time of war. E.A. Bucchianeri, a known author says “Abortion should be listed as a weapon of mass destruction against the voiceless.” This means that when a child is born, it knows nothing, it can say nothing. Yet, it is human and killing it is basically denying it it's human right- the right to live. These girls are meant to be the next generation but by killing them, they are limiting the next generation.

In conclusion, I feel that infanticide is a horrible crime that has drastic short term and long term effects. It could lead to several problems such as decrease in the population and also the decrease in the power and dignity of women. This is idea of infanticide is growing more and more have thousands of victims every day. Though it happens in first world countries as well, this seems to be a major problem in India. A valuable suggestion that should be taken into account is the idea of baby hatches. This idea has been taken up by several countries such as the U.S., UK, and several European countries. Baby hatches are safe places where a parent can leave their child without the fear of prosecution. They will then be looked after by the government and if possible, be placed with an adoptive family. The Ministry of Women and Child development should take this into consideration as it will help a lot of people, and save a lot of lives, helping us nurture and preserve the future generations.

Thinking Deeper About Judgement

Have you ever thought about how disabled people feel on the inside? On a normal day you probably just walk past them and think that it is usual to see them. Everybody has feelings including disabled people. They may not have the same privileges as you, but they are still humans and should have the same rights as us. 97,200 people out of 5 million are disabled in Singapore and yet we don’t even bother to notice their personalities or feelings, but we do notice their appearance out of all things, this should not be what we notice them for.

I take the position that disabled people should be guaranteed the same rights and privileges as everyone else. We must look further than just appearance and consider their personalities and feelings. We must educate, respect, and support them as one.

My first reason why disabled people should have the same rights as us is that appearance should not matter at all and we should consider their personalities and think deeper than just looks. As humans ,yes we do judge and yes we all make mistakes, but we should be corrected and educated about the disabled people around us. Disabled people have feelings as well and we need to consider this more often and stop to think. Research has shown that disabled people feel as if there is a social barrier between them and all of the regular people around them and that they feel like they have less choices in life. Disable people go through being profoundly depressed from all of the barriers and obstacles that they think are impossible to get over. You may not be noticing this but disabled people have to go through this mental state everyday. Looks can no just be what we judge people by, but personality should be the reason.

Lots of people on a daily basis do not know much or even anything about disabled people. We need to educate the public and people surrounding the disabled. Two thirds (67%) of people don’t feel comfortable talking or making contact with disabled people. We should all be equal and have the same opening opportunities, advantages and disadvantages. The world around us is not connected to the disabled community that is just as important as anything else. Research has shown and proved that tonnes of people feel awkward around disabled people. Even school don’t support disabled curricula at universities and colleges. This topic needs to be bought up a lot more than it does, because as long as we live there will always be disabled people in our world. We are all humans and by blanking out the disabled people you are basically discriminating them. There is a massive lack of understanding towards the disabled people.

We should all be equal and have the same opportunities, the same privileges, and the same effects that are placed on us. We are all humans and we all have feelings, we are all equal really. So putting an invisible barrier between us is wrong. We are all one nation and we should be united. Not having the same rights and disabled people sets us apart and makes them feel discluded and different in a bad way. It makes them self conscious and sad on the inside. Research has shown that some disabled people would rather be dead and alive. We can change this thought in their heads to positive ones, but we need to include everyone. This discrimination of the disabled needs to stop and people need to act upon it.

We all think that disabled people are different on the outside, but really on the inside they are great people that just need to branch out and by putting a social barrier between us and them this is not allowing them to do so. Schools need to bring up this topic more often to educate and give them more knowledge to people about disabled people. Appearance is just a mental block but look deeper and you can find the light and diamond in a person. We are all one nation, one country and one world that need to make changes to the world.

Bibliography:

- "This Short Film About A Boy And His Dog Is Winning Every Award. Watch It And You'll Know Why." Wimp.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.

- "A Point of View: Happiness and Disability - BBC News." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.

- N.p., n.d. Web.- "E-Bility DisABILITY Information Resources." Articles: Disability Articles, Personal Stories, Accessible Travel and Disability Service Reports. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.

Gay Marriage in Singapore

By : Skye

Do you want equality for all? Gay marriage being legalised within Singapore is a complicated issue to argue because everyone has a very broad opinion on this topic. Legalising gay marriage in Singapore is a good move to make on behalf of the government because gay marriage bans are discriminatory and unconstitutional and create a second class of people within Singapore and this is not equality. Legalising gay marriage will reduce suicide attempts because it would open up people's minds and let them know that it is okay to be homosexual and that people are respected and safe in this environment.

Firstly, Gay Marriage should be legal in Singapore because banning homosexuals to marry goes against the right to equality in The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights and to define human rights for you, a human right is a right which is believed to belong to every human being. Imagine a world where everyone was equal and where everybody treated everybody equally.

Secondly, legalising gay marriage in Singapore would reduce suicide attempts by gay teens. Here is a quote from Wikipedia “Members of the LGBT community have higher rates of all-cause mortality, and those living in areas with a higher degree of social stigma towards homosexuality tend to complete suicide at a younger age.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016. This will happen because gay teens will realise that they are accepted and respected in this community of ours. As a person who has a lesbian sister, I have seen first hand how someone, especially a teen, can act up when they feel confused and unaccepted. I’m sure that if being gay wasn’t such taboo topic then my sister would have had a much more pleasant childhood.

Lastly, for goodness sake these are real people. At the end of the day we must remember we are all on the same earth rotating around the same sun and being circled by the exact same moon. You have to think about whether this was yours, or your childs or anyone you know’s situation.

Overall, I believe that gay marriage should be legal in Singapore because it would reduce suicide attempts by gay teens, it is one step closer to equality and human rights for everyone and we all deserve love no matter what shape or form it come in. To finish my argument I would like to share with you I quote really like, Said by Pink “I think the best day will be when we no longer talk about being gay or straight. It's not a gay wedding, it's just a wedding. Its not a gay Marriage, it's just a marriage.”



Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.