My Daily Activism

I know I am cheating on this post since it is more of a forward rather than an actual post of my own making, but I want to share with you all an email I just received from One.org and encourage you to sign the Keep Our Commitments Petition.

Dear MM,

I want to share a video with you from an amazing speech I heard last night. It was given by one of our founders, Bono. He spoke at the 2008 California Women’s Conference, an event bringing together thousands of women who are inspiring and empowering others through their work, lives and stories.

Click below to watch highlights from the speech and sign the petition:

http://one.org/keepourcommitments/

If you’re as inspired by Bono’s message as I am, I hope you’ll add your name to the same petition he asked everyone at the Women’s Conference to support. It’s a petition 53,000 other ONE members have already signed, calling on John McCain and Barack Obama to keep their commitments to fight global poverty even during these difficult economic times.

In just the last week, people from across the political spectrum, from Colin Powell to President Bush to Robert Rubin, have come forward to stress the importance of international development in our foreign policy. America’s leadership against extreme poverty is more important than ever. As Bono said last night: “When America looks outside of itself, its view of itself is never clearer. Its faith in itself is never firmer. Its purpose is never stronger. Today, at a time when America, again, is tempted to turn inward, turn away from the world and its troubles, it is more essential than ever that you look outward.”

We’re still looking outward because we know America can and must lead the fight to end global poverty.

Thank you for making a difference,

David Lane, ONE.org

Bead for Life

Check out this wonderful organization--Bead for Life. It is a group that sells beads by impoverished Ugandan women to empower them.

"BeadforLife began with a chance encounter between a woman who was sitting near her mud home and the founders, Torkin, Ginny, and Devin. They learned that there was no market for her beads and that the woman worked for a dollar a day in a rock quarry. They admired her paper beads and bought a few. Soon friends began to admire the beads and they realized that there might be a market after all. Classes were held to improve the quality of the beads and develop several different styles of necklaces and bracelets. In North America BeadforLife applied for non-profit status and began to develop it’s unique program of citizen participation in eradicating poverty. The wonderful Bead Circle of support sprung up and allowed BeadforLife to expand the programs. Our approach includes the income generation activities of making beads, but also offers programs in health, vocational training, entrepreneurial training, microfinance grants, and affordable housing."

Check out their website to see how you can help by hosting your own bead party!

WHO: Social Injustice Kills

A recent report from the World Health Organization documents the influence of social injustices on people's life-expectancies and finds that social factors -not genetics - are the root cause of variations in health and lifespan between different populations. In fact, differences in living conditions between two neighborhoods located just a few miles from one another can mean a difference of more than twenty years in the life expectancies of the people of those communities. The BBC explains:

The World Health Organization (WHO) has carried out a three-year analysis of the "social determinants" of health.

The report concludes "social injustice is killing people on a grand scale".

For instance, a boy living in the deprived Glasgow suburb of Calton will live on average 28 years less than a boy born in nearby affluent Lenzie.

I was particularly struck by this chart, which documents the difference in average lifespans in two neighborhoods near where my parents currently live - Washington DC and Montgomery County:

The report also reminds us that a woman's chances of surviving childbirth are dramatically different depending on where she's living. "In Sweden, the risk of a woman dying during pregnancy and childbirth is one in 17,400, but in Afghanistan the odds are one in eight."

As we approach November's elections here in the States, I can't help but feel like the WHO report highlights what's at stake. The report's authors explain that:

"(The) toxic combination of bad policies, economics, and politics is, in large measure responsible for the fact that a majority of people in the world do not enjoy the good health that is biologically possible."

...

The report calls for governments to consider how all their policies impact on health.

The report highlights education, affordable housing, management of access to unhealthy foods and social security protection as key.

It also said that governments should take action to ensure a living wage for workers, and working conditions that reduce work-related stress and ensure a healthy work-life balance.

All of this highlights the fact that our own health, and that of our neighbors, is at stake when we cast our ballots. If we vote for candidates who would keep working women and the elderly in a state of poverty for the convenience of big business, if we support politicians who are not committed to social justice, we are essentially decreasing our nation's vitality - dooming it to sickness and early deaths.

Yet, how do I talk to conservatives in my own family about the importance of providing education, affordable housing, and security to everyone? When my brother-in-law tells me that it is not our responsibility to help the less fortunate 'because they are the victims of their own bad choices,' how do I respond?

Miroslava Enciso Limón: Superhero

When she was 17 years old, Miroslava Enciso Limón visited the city dump in Tijuana, Mexico as part of a school project. She was disturbed by the sight of entire families living among the garbage, digging through it in hopes of finding clothes, food, and any items that could be sold. When she asked a child what his dream for the future was, he answered, "To shower, to feel what its like to have hot water fall on me." Although she'd always claimed that she wanted to be a firefighter, she decided then to instead dedicate her life to bettering the situation of the people living among the piles of refuse.

Now, at 27 years old, Miroslava Enciso Limón is implementing a recycling system that will alleviate both the social and environmental suffering long associated with the Tijuana dump. A machine she designed during her final year of studies at Tijuana's Institute of Technology, where she earned a degree in Industrial Engineering, rips open bags and empties garbage onto conveyor belts, where the trash is sorted by workers into recyclable and biodegradable categories. Enciso Limón admits that she could have automated the sorting system, but she wanted to employ those who used to be scavengers. Perhaps their job is similar to what it has always been, but those who sort the trash now have latex gloves and face masks to protect them from contact with the filth, a cool building in which to work, a regular salary, and health benefits.

Who says one woman can't make a difference?

UPDATE: According to an article in the Spanish-language newspaper ZETA, Enciso Limón is also having to fight governmental corruption as she turns her recycling facility into a reality. Tecate's City Hall Municipal Treasure, Marco Antonio Lizárraga Navarro, has reportedly pocketed some of the recycling center's funds by brokering fraudulent deals concerning some city-owned junk cars. Lizárraga Navarro has been charged with abuse of power, bribery, embezzlement and illicit negotiations. So, Ericka Miroslava Enciso Limón is defending the impoverished and the environment while battling corrupt government officials. Someone buy this woman a cape and a mask, already, because it doesn't get more superhero than that.

Privilege and Feminism: Do Allies Exist?

My faith in the ability of privileged people to act as allies has been a bit shaken today. My usual confidence in the triumph of compassion over mistrust and blind self-interest faltered after reading the following:

1. A teacher wore a "Got Privilege?" tee-shirt into the fairly liberal Boston-area school in which he works, and was confronted by a co-worker, who insisted that a Puerto Rican man wearing such a shirt is 'offensive to white people.' His story prompted Anti-Racist Parent columnist Liza Talusan to ask:

Privilege. Is it really an ugly word? Why is it so difficult for people to realize and accept that they have privilege? Does having privilege mean people are bad? Selfish? Close-minded?

2. Linda Hirshman writes in The Washington Post that feminism has lost it's focus by concentrating too much on intersectionality. According to Hirshman, we have been placing so much importance on the often divisive issues of race and class, that we've failed to unify around what's best for women. I applaud Jill's response at Feministe:

...my main concern comes at the way the issues are split [by Hirshman] into authentic “feminist” issues and those “other” issues that those “other” women are trying to integrate into feminism. It’s a question of who feminism belongs to, and who is entitled to set out its goals and concerns... I don’t see why middle-class white women’s issues are more purely feminist that the issues raised by poor women or Black women or Hispanic women, or any other group of women. The issues that disproportionately effect middle-class white women are also issues colored by race and class — but because they’re the dominant race and the dominant class, that gets glossed over.

That someone who has spent a lifetime fighting for the rights of the disempowered can so easily shrug-off the challenges faced by others, so long as they are challenges that she won't have to face herself - it saddens me. That people get angry when their privilege is pointed out - angry at people who have traditionally be denied those privileges - confuses me.

All of us enjoy some type of privilege. We are able-bodied, or white, or male, or upper-class, or straight. And for all of us, the types of privilege that we enjoy will sometimes blind us to the challenges that face others. Our differences in privilege will lead us to misunderstand one another, and to mistrust and judge one another. Those of us who are white won't understand that it is a privilege to see numerous and diverse representations of people like us in the media, and won't understand how damaging and morale-beating continual disrespect can be. Those of us who are straight won't understand what a privilege it is to be able to unthinkingly treat our partners with affection no matter where we are, and to not have to worry that our family structure will be misunderstood or used as an excuse to torment our children. Those who are male will most likely not understand how common street harassment and sexual harassment can be, nor how frightening and bewildering.

With so many obstacles to understanding one another, can we ever really be allies?

(h/t to Blue Milk for leading me to the phenomenal Lesbian Dad post on explaining 'two mommies' to other parents, and to Alas, a blog for pointing to Anti-racist Parent.)

UPDATE: The back of the "Got Privilege?" tee shirt reads "If you are neutral in a situation of injustice, you have chosen to side with the oppressor." I realized after posting that the text in the photo might be a bit small to be easily read.

Elderly Women in the USA are Disproportionately Poor

Part of appreciating our mothers and grandmothers on Mother's Day is recognizing the challenges that face them, and making sure that they don't have to face those challenges alone. So after the flowers have been sent and the cake has been eaten (you did get your mom cake, didn't you?), here are some facts to consider, brought to us by RetirementRevisited:

The largest segment of Americans living in poverty is elderly women...

More than 25 percent of all African-American women live in poverty, and 28 percent of older Hispanic women are poor. And single women over 65 (all races) experience a 19 percent poverty rate.

That's right, nearly twenty percent of women in the United States live the final years of their lives struggling to make ends meet below the the poverty line, surviving on less than $9,669 a year. The percentage of women over the age of 65 living in near poverty, with incomes up to $14,504, is even higher.

There are several reasons for why women face so many more financial challenges in their 'golden years' than men do:

First, women earn about a third less than men make during their working lives; that means they generate smaller contributions to Social Security, pensions and 401(k) accounts....

Perhaps most important, women live longer than men. At age 65, a woman can expect to live an average of 19 more years-three years longer than men. That means whatever she’s saved for retirement must last longer.

The result is a yawning retirement security gap. Here’s how it looks by the numbers.

What to do about this yawning 'security gap' is not quite as clear as its causes. Early planning is, of course, very important. So get your moms to start budgeting for retirement before they stop working, and make sure they are keeping some money for themselves rather than funneling it all into care of others. And do the same for yourself. A tip given by WISER Executive Director Cindy Hounsell is to look at what your Social Security will be and compare it to what you live on now. If there's a gap, and there probably will be, it needs to be addressed before retirement.

We also need to be ensuring that this pay gap between the sexes is not allowed to persist. For if it does, it will haunt us for years to come. Of course, making sure that you're making a fair wage isn't exactly easy in many environments, so we have to keep pushing to get the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed. It is the least we can do, for our moms and ourselves.

Thanks to Feminist Law Professors for pointing this inequity out.

Is Life Expectancy Dropping for Many U.S. Women?

Most of us assume that, with advances in medicine and increasing awareness of the heath risks associated with poor diet and smoking, each generation of Americans will enjoy a longer life expectancy than the the generations that came before. Indeed, this has been the case throughout the 20th century. Yet, as the New York Times reports:

...new research shows that those reassuring nationwide gains mask a darker and more complex reality. A pair of reports out this month affirm that the rising tide of American health is not lifting all boats, and that there are widening gaps in life expectancy based on the interwoven variables of income, race, sex, education and geography.
...
The most startling evidence came last week in a government-sponsored study by Harvard researchers who found that life expectancy actually declined in a substantial number of counties from 1983 to 1999, particularly for women. Most of the counties with declines are in the Deep South, along the Mississippi River, and in Appalachia, as well as in the southern Plains and Texas.
...
The researchers found statistically significant declines for women in 180 of the 3,141 counties in the United States and in 11 counties for men. In an additional 783 counties for women and 48 for men, there were declines that did not reach the threshold of statistical significance.

You can read more at PLoS Medicine, in two papers entitled The Reversal of Fortunes: Trends in Country Mortality and Cross-Country Mortality Disparities in the United States and Eight Americas: Investigating Mortality Disparities across Races, Counties, and Race-Counties in the United States.

UPDATE: Since I posted the above, this news has been picked up by Women's Bioethics Blog. Sue Trinidad rightly notes that, since this decline in life expectancy mainly affects poor women, this is not just a health concern, but a social justice issue as well.

Shakira Knows What Words to Use...

Shakira has won and lost my heart a couple of times over the past few years (Platinum blond? Really? Why?), but she definitely won it again with this:

Colombian pop star Shakira was in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday... to lobby Congress to endorse bipartisan legislation that would help pay for education for the 72 million children worldwide who are too poor to go to school...

Shakira is the chairwoman of Education Action Week, which is organized by the Global Campaign for Education. But her work on behalf of the poor is not a new passion. Thirteen years ago, she started the Barefoot Foundation, which aims to help impoverished Colombian children and those who have been displaced by violence.

When reporter Robert Siegel asked her why this issue has been so important to her for so long, she replied:

I grew up in a country where unfortunately education is sometimes seen as a luxury, as a privilege, and not as a human right... This always bothered me. So this is personal to me. In the developing world, people who are born poor will die poor, and that is because of the lack of opportunities, opportunities that come from education. Education can actually save lives.

If you still can't forgive her for her current English-language radio plays, listen to her whole interview with Siegel, in which she also brags on herself for being a big nerd.

Why Feminism Is, Unfortunately, Still Relevant

A U.N. commissioned report shows that women face discrimination worldwide. According to the BBC, the report indicates that:

...70% of the world's poor are women and they own just 1% of the world's titled land ...rape within marriage has still not been made a crime in 53 nations ... [and] other laws discriminating women included statutes on divorce, maternity benefits and pensions.

The U.N. report also notes that "...failure to create genuine legal parity between men and women is having 'a detrimental effect on women in many countries – sometimes to a devastating degree.'” As UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour lamented after the publishing of these findings:

... One of the most dangerous examples of this involves the recognition of sexual abuse as a crime under a country's laws and enforcing related legislation. “Rape is recognized as a crime in most legal systems,” said Ms. Arbour. “But, even when it is, inadequate legislation or local traditions often mean laws are not properly enforced.

Yet, with all these problems still to be faced, our media still loves to paint feminism as a petty pursuit.

(image via)

Build A Better Brain, Build A Better World

Right then. Since I have been traveling for a ceremony, a conference, and out of the country over the past three weeks, I have been remiss in my blog contributions. However, I find that I am not completely out of vacation mode so this post will be an easy one.

I was utterly cut off from the rest of the world while in Belize. Upon returning, I checked in at BBC World News to see what might have transpired during my absence. What I came across was a piece about this website. I have been happily expanding my vocabulary while feeling as if I am making a wee contribution to the world. I assume it is legitimate. If not, at least I know that if I ever have to retake the GRE (heaven forbid I get the brilliant idea to *again* go back to grad school) I will be a leg up on the vocabulary section.

UPDATE I: Here is the BBC article that directed me to the website that I linked above.

UPDATE II:
I noticed that freerice.com has a link over to poverty.com where they have provided pre-written letters encouraging the administration of each country that signed the agreements listed below to adhere to the following: "2002 Monterrey Conference and again at the 2002 Johannesburg Summit to make concrete efforts towards giving 0.7% of our national income in aid to poor countries".

Sadly, and somehow not surprisingly, the US is second to last on this list at a dismal 0.17% with no schedule in place to reach the 0.7%. Once I get back to work and have access to a printer, I will be sending off a letter to good old George.

Anyone else?