I Am Malala.

 

 

     As I delve into the insanity of finals week, I have become quite overwhelmed. Papers, on projects, on presentations, on exams can be stressful for any student experiencing those weeks before freedom. However, this afternoon, I am taking my time away from the studying and cramming for a story that has truly shook me. Most, by this time, should know who Malala Yousufzai is. Malala Day was earlier this month, November 10th, and I am disappointed in myself that I have not decided to write about this hero sooner.

The girl is unbelievable.

      For those of you who don't know, Malala is a now-fifteen year old girl, who was shot by Taliban members on her way home from school in Swat, Pakistan. She is currently recovering from the near-fatal threat on her life. In deciding to do more research about Malala, I learned so much more about this beautiful girl that can become a spearhead for girls education around the world. Malala started blogging when she was 11 years old. That, in itself is incredible-I still get nervous about sending my writing out into the cyber world. She has been doing this since she was pre-adolescent. Anyways, Malala blogged. About her life under the Taliban-ran Swat in Pakistan, the injustices she experienced, how she had to hide her schoolbooks, in order to receive the education she so greatly desired. Malala also became the chairperson of the District Child Assembly in Swat, was nominated by Desmond Tutu for the International Children's Peace Prize, and won Pakistan's First National Youth Peace Prize. Her father and mother encouraged her studies, and she excelled in all her classes, when they were available to her. She had also just recently started the Malala Education Foundation, to help finance poor girls in Pakistan and ensure their right to an education.

     On October 9, two men stopped the van that the girls were travelling in from school and asked "Which one was Malala Yousufzai?". Out of curiosity, when some girls turned to look at Malala, the Taliban members were able to decipher, which child was Malala. The men shot Malala in the face and the neck twice, in addition to injuring two other girls on the bus. Malala's treatment is currently being paid for by the Pakistani government and we can all hope that this brave child will make a complete, and full recovery.

     The amount of worldwide recognition that this story has received could not be greater. Malala's perseverance for her education has become a global fight, and is FINALLY putting the right for girl's education on the table.

     Malala's story is one of inspiration, yet it chills me to the core. In this world, how is it possible that some young women have to face assassination in order to receive the education they so rightly deserve? I know at fifteen, I did not value my education as much as I should have. At twenty-one, I still may not value and fully take into consideration, how extremely lucky I am to have education at my fingertips. It may be a stressful time during finals, but I am thankful for this chance to better myself, learn of my surroundings, and be given the opportunity to have a voice and dream of changing the world. This inherent right to education, and learning is something so beautiful, it should be celebrated world-wide. I can only hope that this day of celebration, thanks to Malala and the other girls in developing countries that risk their lives for learning everyday, can be right around the corner.

I am Malala.

Just saw this and my heart completely melted! Found on Blogher.com, the link is an interview with Mona Gable a blogger for the Huffington Post and Razia Jan, a nominee for the CNN Hero of the Year. Razia Jan is an Afghan woman that just recently returned to Afghanistan to create a free private school for girls. The Taliban controlling the country there has made this extremely difficult and dangerous for Razia Jan and the students, but Razi Jan has still persevered. You Rock, Girl!

 

 

Razia Jan's Amazing Story

 

 

Congratulations, Elizabeth Warren!

 

     Well, election day for 2012 has come and went. I hope everyone mustered up their best Susan B. Anthony attitude, headed out to the polls, placed their ballot in the ballot box gratefully thanks to our suffragette history and received their "I Voted Today!" sticker, which they proudly brandished the rest of the day. Can you tell I was a little over-zealous about election day? As a political nerd, I barely slept the night of the November 6th, anxiously anticipating the outcome of all of the races throughout the state. Murphy or McMahon? Would Akin get his butt kicked? Please, please, tell me no one voted for Mourdock? And of course, the one for all the marbles..Obama or Romney?

 The results came in and I was pleased.

     My most over-joyed election result however, did not have to do with the presidential election. Nor did it have to do with the CT Senate race. I am happy to congratulate the new Massachusetts senator, Elizabeth Warren. By doing so, I am dedicating my blog to her this week!

     Elizabeth Warren, by being elected Tuesday night, is the first woman to be elected to the Massachusetts Senate. Not only that, but she is an EDUCATED woman! Warren has most recently been a law professor at Harvard University for the last twenty years and has written nine books. She has worked to protect middle class families and hold Wall Street accountable for the economic crisis of 2008. The National Law Journal named her one of the Most Influential Lawyers in the Decade and the Boston Globe named her the Bostonian of the Year in 2009. She is truly an inspiration for all women and I am so thoroughly excited for her to be serving this country in the Senate in Washington, DC. I firmly believe that educators make the best politicians, and I can only foresee great things from this incredible woman. Congratulations, Elizabeth Warren!

Halloween: The Holiday for the Slut?

 

"In the real world, Halloween is when kids dress up in costumes and beg for candy. In Girl World, Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything else about it."

 

      We all know the famous quote by Cady Heron in Mean Girls. When this movie came out, it was one of the first real movies that addressed these types of things in high school. Everyone knew that slutty costumes were common, yet no one talked about it. It was like Fight Club.

     In more recent years, companies have monopolized the "lingerie" costume for Halloween. A girl can be a sexy cat, a sexy nurse, a sexy cop, a sexy prisoner, and even a sexy Santa Clause. Halloween has over-sexualized women and this has even trickled down into young girls costumes. Now, don't get me wrong. I enjoy dressing up for Halloween. I do it every year. Some years I have dressed a little more scantily than other years, but it was my intention. I wasn't trying to dress conservatively and did not have option. It was my choice.

     However, last night I went to a bar for Halloween in New Haven. I dressed as a nerd. And it wasn't a sexy nerd. I bought suspenders, had a long sleeve top, buttoned to my neck that was not form-fitting. I wore a bowtie and braided my hair into two lopsided pigtails. I wore highwater jeans that didn't form to my body and sported my argyle socks above my converse. I even wore my retainer out. I was impressed with this costume. I had perfected every detail and was thrilled about it. However, when a guy came up to me and started talking to me last night, he asked me why I didn't make my nerd costume sexy? I told him because I wanted to dress as a nerd, not as a sexy nerd. He then proceeded to tell me all the things I could have done to my costume to make it sexy. Short tight shorts, a shirt with cleavage, tighter suspenders.

     I understand having fun and dressing cute to impress someone. As much as we say it shouldn't happen, it does. Women do it all the time. I have a problem with the fact that when women do not dress in this specific manner, they are questioned. Accused. Misunderstood.

 

     Slutty costumes have become expected. How far away are we from being questioned when we don't act like a slut, rather than dress like one?

Election Season a Starting Point for Activism

Just this week, the Indiana Republican Senate candidate made a very poor lapse in judgment with the statement during the debate, "I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen." Since the statement, Mourdock has apologized for the misinterpretation of his statement, however it has very clearly gotten the country riled up. As it well should. Journalists at the Senate debate in Indiana, tried to clarify the statement by asking Mourdock if he thought that when women get pregnant by rape that God intends it. Whether Mourdock was having a slip-up for his words, or he actually truly thinks this, which most would agree he does, it is exciting to see the country getting riled up over this comment. This means things are changing!

Very possibly, the media coverage of this statement has much and everything to do with election day so close to our nose. Both Romney and Obama administrations were asked to take a stance on the ignorant comment made by Mourdock. His senatorial campaigning is also working avidly to gain back those women voters that he most likely lost from the comment. However, it saddens me to think that if it were not election season, would these comments go unnoticed? Earlier this summer, Missouri Republican nominee, Todd Akin, made an illogical and mindless statement that in rape, women have the power to shut their body off, and prevent pregnancy. Therefore, if pregnancy occurs, it is usually a illegitimate rape.

And this man was going to be nominated to run the country?!?!

Obviously, he is unaware of the way a female body works. I suggest he go back to a public school health classroom and find out..oh wait, that's only if he allows something other than abstinence-only sex education programs in the state. Maybe there is a reason he thinks this way...

Either way, the amount of publicity Akin received on his idiotic comment did not receive as much mainstream attention as Mourdock's did. Akin has since apologized for the way his statement was interpreted (...we seem to have a trend here?), yet has anyone gotten fired up about it?! I hope one day, there will be people in this country paying attention to things that affect them, even when it isn't election time. I guess we have to start somewhere though.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2012/10/24/mourdock-god-intended-for-babies-to-result-from-rape/

CEDAW

 

 

This is the Wiki Link to my CEDAW wiki.

 

https://sites.google.com/site/statesagainstdiscrimination/

Indonesian Victim

     So being involved in political culture and women's rights, I always enjoy reading different news sources outside of the United States. My focus in my major is international relations, and I love love love discussing the developing world and the human rights violations that may occur in these areas. This past week, I began following a case that to say the least grinded my gears.

     A school in Depok City, Indonesia recently expelled a female student of theirs because she was raped by a sex trafficking syndicate in the Depok City area. The reason she was expelled was because of the tarnished image that she purportedly placed on the school after the rape. She was fourteen years old. According to the Jakarta Post, she was kidnapped and gang-raped by this well-known syndicate.

 

Anybody else have a problem with this?!?!

 

Fortunately, as I followed the story, the teenage girl was allowed back to the school. After meetings with the school administration, the girl's family and the NCCP, which is the National Commission for Child Protection, the decision was revoked and she was able to go back to school. However, now the Education Minister of Indonesia is facing a lot of scrutiny about his comment, where he expressed that rape victims are sometimes at their own fault and that the girls, "do it for fun, and then allege to the rape". Hey buddy, not only do you have many livid Indonesian mothers and fathers angry at you for that comment, but a ton of feminists around the world, and the majority of sane, educated people around the globe siding with the complete lewdness and inappropriateness of that comment?

 

     All in all, the child is back in school. But has this really solved the problem? She is literally living in a society, where not only is she punished for being raped against her will, but being told it was her fault? Unfortunately, I can say that this is not the only case where this has happened. Most of the time it goes unnoticed, and the girl does not get to go back to school. The only thing I can really say about this is that advocacy and aid need to be proponents in this global world so that one day these horrific things will cease to exist.

So You Want to Change the World?

     

      "So You Want to Change the World?" by Michele Tracy Berger

 

      This article found in the Ms Magazine Issue of Fall 2012, discusses the impact of women's studies programs in colleges and universities around the world. The article begins with a listing of different professions of both men and women and reports the idea that all of these individuals had majored in women's studies at their respective college or university. Some such professions were a basketball player, a HIV/AIDS policy analyst, a civil rights lawayer and a coordinator of a breast cancer non-profit to name just a few. The article continues to discuss that beginning in 1970 with a plethora of social justice missions and overall want, a women's studies program was born in San Diego State, as the first ever. From this one program, the major has grown into being offered as both a major and minor in places all over the world, as well a graduate and doctoral programs in the area of study. It has made both men and women realize that the way they may have been looking at world may not be the most open and welcoming way to actually see. The major promotes critical thinking, creativity, and empowerment among women to not accept injustices in their lives. I definitely would not be the woman I am today without a women's studies program, and for that I am truly grateful.

"Women's studies teaches them that they can change the world-and they often do."

Half the Sky

 

     Earlier this week, the international broadcast of the documentary "Half the Sky" aired on PBS. The documentary was shown both Monday and Tuesday nights, October 1st and 2nd, showing the full four hour length documentary.

 

Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

 

This documentary was groundbreaking. It sprouted from Sheryl WuDunn's book titled "Half the Sky" as well as Nicholas Kristof's journalism excellence. The documetary was shot in ten different countries, all of different development levels, religions, ethnicities, economic status and geographic locations. It interviewed many different women in these countries that dealt with a mass amount of cultural and economic struggles. It was a beautiful portrayal of the world around us and how little you may know about this globalized world and the role fifty percent of society plays in it.

 

"When you educate a girl, you educate a village."

"You know what lasts longer than beauty? Being smart."

"The girl is an agent for change."

 

 

The website is a plethora of different resources branching off from the live streaming of the series, ways to get the book by WuDunn, different organizations you can volunteer for and how to simply ACT and help this worldwide cause. I highly suggest you don't walk, but SPRINT to this website and find out a little bit more about your role as women and the world you live in.

 

halftheskymovement.org

 

 

Careers in Technology

     I thought it was very interesting to have Sgt. Kevin Albanese and Trooper David Aresco to come in and speak with the class. It was amazing to see what a career in technology can do for this state. If you were to think of the amount of development and information that these men have the ability to find out through their database years ago, it would be unfathomable.

 

     I am a huge advocate of social media. I think it is one of the greatest tools of the century and has given people a way to connct on so many different levels. It is difficult to find any type of organization, job, or really any aspect of our everyday life that does not have a twitter, facebook, etc. This globalized world is learning how to reconnect. However, there can be some catastrophic dangers when participating in social media in an ignorant way. It is important to constantly know what you are putting out into the web. Just like our technology is developing, so is the technology of hackers, exploiters, and others who have the ability to invade the privacy of a person behind their computer desk. I think it can sometimes be difficult to take all of this in and it was extremely vital that Sgt. Albanese nd Trooper Aresco were able to show us just how invasive a pedophile can be.

 

     I truly appreciated the talk and think that it is vital for this type of class to be aware of the dangers, but also benefits of the power of the Internet.

Shes the First!

Considering this class seems to fit me so well, I decided my first blog post to be about something I am so passionate about. I have considered myself a feminist for quite a few years and have always fallen head-over-heels in love with development organizations for women and girls around the world and corresponding non-profits. One of my first true loves (I guess you could say) would have to be this little gem...



                                                                     www.shesthefirst.org

This little baby, thanks to a close friend, found me. Or rather I found them and have participated in a couple of events that promote girls education in the developing world.


And to think, it all started with a tweet....

https://sites.google.com/site/ljpuopolo/

Hey guys,

As the first post for the WMS class this is the wiki created for the term United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM).