Girl's Plight

Girl's Plight

 

Girl’s Plight

Wandering within the great walls of the Boston State house, I came across the Girl’s initiative advocacy day.  Like girls across the world, girls in Massachusetts face specific gender based problems and the advocacy group is working on new policies to bring about a gender-responsive programming for girls. 

At the event I also had the chance to speak with Patricia Driscoll, the executive Director of Girls Inc. of Lynn.  Her institution caters for about 1500 girls between the ages of 6 to 18 in the town of Lynn. The agency believes that it is important to provide a safe and supportive girl-focused environment that empowers the girls to their best potential.  

Girls Inc Lynn

There is a ‘bottom up’ approach and a ‘top to bottom’ approach to women empowerment. Coming to the state house and presenting to the elected officials is a good way to raise awareness and is perhaps a ‘bottom meeting top’ approach.  Although it is a practice that happens, women empowerment literature does not always document the ‘bottom meeting top’ approach except in the form of the clash between the bottom and the top.  An example is the struggle of activists such as Arundhati Roy. 

Perhaps the ‘bottom meeting top’ approach entails that the top and the bottom agree to listen to each other.  In the Girl’s Initiative scenario, there is a good proportion of women in elected positions that understand and listen to the plight of the girls.  Women at the top are then more inclined to take up the issues put forward by those working on the ground with the girls.

What about the girls whose interests are not represented in decision making?  They still face gender specific challenges.  In traditional and very stratified patriarchal societies in the Pacific, girls still have to be given the permission to speak.  In war torn Eastern Congo, sexual violence against women and girls is for the soldiers and militiamen, another weapon of war.  In several states across India, girls are discriminated against even before they are born though female feticide.

Who speaks for these girls?  And the more so, who listens to those who dare speak?

Congo- Why Soldiers Rape

Posted via email from manisha's posterous

Girl's Plight

Girl’s Plight

Wandering within the great walls of the Boston State house, I came across the Girl’s initiative advocacy day.  Like girls across the world, girls in Massachusetts face specific gender based problems and the advocacy group is working on new policies to bring about a gender-responsive programming for girls. 

At the event I also had the chance to speak with Patricia Driscoll, the executive Director of Girls Inc. of Lynn.  Her institution caters for about 1500 girls between the ages of 6 to 18 in the town of Lynn.  The agency believes that it is important to provide a safe and supportive girl-focused environment that empowers the girls to their best potential.  

Girls Inc Lynn

There is a ‘bottom up’ approach and a ‘top to bottom’ approach to women empowerment. Coming to the state house and presenting to the elected officials is a good way to raise awareness and is perhaps a ‘bottom meeting top’ approach.  Although it is a practice that happens, women empowerment literature does not always document the ‘bottom meeting top’ approach except in the form of the clash between the bottom and the top.  An example is the struggle of activists such as Arundhati Roy. 

Perhaps the ‘bottom meeting top’ approach entails that the top and the bottom agree to listen to each other.  In the Girl’s Initiative scenario, there is a good proportion of women in elected positions that understand and listen to the plight of the girls.  Women at the top are then more inclined to take up the issues put forward by those working on the ground with the girls.

What about the girls whose interests are not represented in decision making?  They still face gender specific challenges.  In traditional and very stratified patriarchal societies in the Pacific, girls still have to be given the permission to speak.  In war torn Eastern Congo, sexual violence against women and girls is for the soldiers and militiamen, another weapon of war.  In several states across India, girls are discriminated against even before they are born though female feticide.

Who speaks for these girls?  And the more so, who listens to those who dare speak?

Congo- Why Soldiers Rape

whaling

Dear friends,
The International Whaling Commission is meeting in Morocco to vote on a proposal that would legalize commercial whale hunting. Giving in to commercial hunting is a slippery slope. Once a backing is given to commercial whale hunting. The next step, in a few years, will be for the hunting countries to negotiate a higher level of quota. At what level of quota will the world be able to say no more whaling or no more increases in quota? 
Join me to say no to whaling.
Sign the Avaaz petition (https://secure.avaaz.org/en/whales_last_push/?fp) or join the effort of other anti-whaling organisations; Write also to the decision makers in your country.

Posted via email from manisha's posterous

Common Challenges

I am often asked the question ‘what surprised me most when I came to the US?’ My answer would be the similarities.  I have been struck by how entrepreneurs or farmers from Uttar Pradesh, Mauritius or the US face similar challenges in their day to day struggle to make a daily livelihood of their trade.

For everyone there is supply and demand cycles that makes income generation precarious.  No farmer or small entrepreneur wants to deal with loans, they all prefer grants.  For all farmers, transport is a problem, whether it is the fact that there are no roads between the pineapple farm and the market or that the nearest mill is a hundred miles away. For all of them fees and regulations are problems. 

Government departments around the world make regulations that are well intended; unfortunately these cause discontent as it adds a burden to the enterprise.  The doing business unit of the World Bank, has helped many countries around the world reform their way of doing business and address some of these regulatory problems.  Countries have engaged in tedious reforms to strengthen their business sector.

Besides difficult reform process there are other ways to promote businesses.  An example is the Massachusetts Latino Chamber of Commerce, in Springfield.  The chamber of commerce hosts incubators for small businesses and provides technical assistance to its members.

As I compare and contrast my experience around the world, I would like to explore further how the setting up of business incubators around countries in Africa can further boost entrepreneurship across the continent.   

Posted via web from manisha's posterous