"TV Show seeking out-going socially and politically liberal family who would be willing to pull up roots for two weeks and swap places with a conservative family in another part of the country. Compensation: All expenses will be paid and each family will receive an honorarium. Please e-mail us at purple@creatvdiff.com or call us at 1-877-736-3827 or send us a note or tape to PURPLE, 11684 Ventura Blvd., #804, Studio City, CA 91604 telling us why you think your family would be right for the show, make sure to leave your name and phone number so we can contact you."
Saturday, March 05, 2005
[Borgen Project] Family Wanted for TV Show
The Borgen Project is unofficially Hollywoods link to global poverty and occasionally politics in general. Below is an opportunity we were asked by the producers to post.
"TV Show seeking out-going socially and politically liberal family who would be willing to pull up roots for two weeks and swap places with a conservative family in another part of the country. Compensation: All expenses will be paid and each family will receive an honorarium. Please e-mail us at purple@creatvdiff.com or call us at 1-877-736-3827 or send us a note or tape to PURPLE, 11684 Ventura Blvd., #804, Studio City, CA 91604 telling us why you think your family would be right for the show, make sure to leave your name and phone number so we can contact you."
"TV Show seeking out-going socially and politically liberal family who would be willing to pull up roots for two weeks and swap places with a conservative family in another part of the country. Compensation: All expenses will be paid and each family will receive an honorarium. Please e-mail us at purple@creatvdiff.com or call us at 1-877-736-3827 or send us a note or tape to PURPLE, 11684 Ventura Blvd., #804, Studio City, CA 91604 telling us why you think your family would be right for the show, make sure to leave your name and phone number so we can contact you."
[MDGs] Clock Ticks for Twin Aims of Equality and Prosperity
By Isaac Baker
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 4 (IPS) - Making faster progress on gender equality is essential if states are to reach the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by their deadline, U.N. officials and women's rights experts said during the first week of the world body's international women's conference. The conference, which ends Mar. 11, has been focusing on the interdependency of ensuring women's rights and achieving the MDGs, eight development objectives that all 191 U.N. member states have pledged to help each other meet by 2015. "There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said at the opening of the conference. "No other policy is as likely to raise economic productivity, or to reduce infant and maternal mortality." "No other policy is sure to improve nutrition and health," he said. "No other policy is as powerful in increasing the chances of education for the next generation." The MDGs include a 50 percent reduction in poverty and hunger; universal primary education; reduction of child mortality by two-thirds; cutbacks in maternal mortality by three-quarters; and the reversal of the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. The third MDG is the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. While this is the only goal to explicitly speak of fighting gender inequality, U.N. officials say all the MDGs must include gender-based initiatives if they are to be fulfilled. "Gender equality is not only a goal in its own right," Zephirin Diabre, associate administrator of the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), said Thursday at a panel discussion on women and development. "It is clear that the other goals cannot be reached without gender equality." The conference, titled "Beijing at 10," marks the 10-year anniversary of the Beijing Conference and Platform for Action and aims to analyse the progress of implementation of the conference's action plan. While advances have been made in overcoming gender inequality in the decade since the Beijing convention, officials said, women are far from enjoying rights on an equal platform with men, a situation that is jeopardising the development goals. With the 10-year review of the Beijing conference, and the MDG deadline a decade away, U.N. officials and women's advocates are looking at 2005 as a turning point for gender equality. "It is clear that if we continue on this trajectory, we will not reach the MDGs," Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini Zuma, South Africa's minister of foreign affairs, said Thursday. "But with commitment, both national and international, it is still possible." In order to halve poverty, the first goal, individual states and the international community must create gender-sensitive anti-poverty measures, officials say. U.N. officials and members of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) spoke Thursday of the "feminisation of poverty" and criticised anti-poverty action that does not specifically target women. "Women still live in conditions of abject poverty," Diabre said, adding that women spend twice as much time in unpaid labour as men. "It is clear that the fight against poverty is a fight against women's poverty." While it is difficult to assess the exact number because gender-stratified statistics on the MDGs are limited, officials say women are especially vulnerable to poverty due to discrimination in employment and many other factors. Women and girls are also more often deprived of education, which only fuels the prevalence of poverty among women. Achieving gender equality in primary and secondary education is one of the development goals, and is also at risk of failing. "Education is the right of every one of the world's daughters," Annan said in a message Wednesday. "It is also crucial to our progress in reaching many other development goals." "If we are to succeed in our efforts to build a healthier, peaceful and equitable world, classrooms must be full of girls as well as boys," he said, adding that the most of the 100 million children not in school are girls. "By educating girls, we will trigger a transformation of society as a whole -- social, economic, political." By the end of 2005, all states pledged to have reached gender equality in primary education -- secondary by 2015. However, Caren Grown of the International Centre for Research on Women told member states Thursday that if current trends continue, 19 states will miss the 2005 goal and 24 will miss the 2015 goal. The goal of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS must also include gender-sensitive initiatives, U.N. and NGO officials said this week. The increase in sexual trafficking of women and girls, continued sexual violence against women, and other factors leave women unequally susceptible to infection with HIV/AIDS. Improving maternal health, also one of the MDGs, can only be accomplished when coupled with reproductive rights and proper health care, women's rights experts said this week. Planned births and protection from unwanted pregnancies also increase a woman's chances of employment, Diabe noted.
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 4 (IPS) - Making faster progress on gender equality is essential if states are to reach the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by their deadline, U.N. officials and women's rights experts said during the first week of the world body's international women's conference. The conference, which ends Mar. 11, has been focusing on the interdependency of ensuring women's rights and achieving the MDGs, eight development objectives that all 191 U.N. member states have pledged to help each other meet by 2015. "There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said at the opening of the conference. "No other policy is as likely to raise economic productivity, or to reduce infant and maternal mortality." "No other policy is sure to improve nutrition and health," he said. "No other policy is as powerful in increasing the chances of education for the next generation." The MDGs include a 50 percent reduction in poverty and hunger; universal primary education; reduction of child mortality by two-thirds; cutbacks in maternal mortality by three-quarters; and the reversal of the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. The third MDG is the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. While this is the only goal to explicitly speak of fighting gender inequality, U.N. officials say all the MDGs must include gender-based initiatives if they are to be fulfilled. "Gender equality is not only a goal in its own right," Zephirin Diabre, associate administrator of the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), said Thursday at a panel discussion on women and development. "It is clear that the other goals cannot be reached without gender equality." The conference, titled "Beijing at 10," marks the 10-year anniversary of the Beijing Conference and Platform for Action and aims to analyse the progress of implementation of the conference's action plan. While advances have been made in overcoming gender inequality in the decade since the Beijing convention, officials said, women are far from enjoying rights on an equal platform with men, a situation that is jeopardising the development goals. With the 10-year review of the Beijing conference, and the MDG deadline a decade away, U.N. officials and women's advocates are looking at 2005 as a turning point for gender equality. "It is clear that if we continue on this trajectory, we will not reach the MDGs," Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini Zuma, South Africa's minister of foreign affairs, said Thursday. "But with commitment, both national and international, it is still possible." In order to halve poverty, the first goal, individual states and the international community must create gender-sensitive anti-poverty measures, officials say. U.N. officials and members of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) spoke Thursday of the "feminisation of poverty" and criticised anti-poverty action that does not specifically target women. "Women still live in conditions of abject poverty," Diabre said, adding that women spend twice as much time in unpaid labour as men. "It is clear that the fight against poverty is a fight against women's poverty." While it is difficult to assess the exact number because gender-stratified statistics on the MDGs are limited, officials say women are especially vulnerable to poverty due to discrimination in employment and many other factors. Women and girls are also more often deprived of education, which only fuels the prevalence of poverty among women. Achieving gender equality in primary and secondary education is one of the development goals, and is also at risk of failing. "Education is the right of every one of the world's daughters," Annan said in a message Wednesday. "It is also crucial to our progress in reaching many other development goals." "If we are to succeed in our efforts to build a healthier, peaceful and equitable world, classrooms must be full of girls as well as boys," he said, adding that the most of the 100 million children not in school are girls. "By educating girls, we will trigger a transformation of society as a whole -- social, economic, political." By the end of 2005, all states pledged to have reached gender equality in primary education -- secondary by 2015. However, Caren Grown of the International Centre for Research on Women told member states Thursday that if current trends continue, 19 states will miss the 2005 goal and 24 will miss the 2015 goal. The goal of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS must also include gender-sensitive initiatives, U.N. and NGO officials said this week. The increase in sexual trafficking of women and girls, continued sexual violence against women, and other factors leave women unequally susceptible to infection with HIV/AIDS. Improving maternal health, also one of the MDGs, can only be accomplished when coupled with reproductive rights and proper health care, women's rights experts said this week. Planned births and protection from unwanted pregnancies also increase a woman's chances of employment, Diabe noted.
[Africa] From the Ashes of Genocide, a True Democracy Rises
By Katherine Stapp
NEW YORK, Mar 4 (IPS) - In an inspiring victory for African women -- and women everywhere -- Rwanda has surged to first place on an international scorecard for gender equality in political representation. Seven developing countries -- Rwanda, Cuba, Costa Rica, Mozambique, Argentina, South Africa and Guyana -- now rank among the 17 top performers, with more than 30 percent women parliamentarians, according to the World Map of Women in Politics 2005, released Thursday. Sweden dropped to number two after Rwandan voters elected a parliament with 48.8 percent women in the lower house and 34.6 percent in the upper house. Eleven years ago, Rwanda was the scene of a horrific genocide. At least half a million people were killed over a 13-week period in 1994, perhaps as many as three-quarters of the ethnic Tutsi population. Thousands of majority Hutu who opposed the murderous campaign also perished. "If you look at African countries, there are a number that have gone through periods of upheaval, such as the liberation movements in South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia," said Anders Johnsson, secretary-general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which publishes the map together with the U.N. Division for the Advancement of Women. "In the case of Rwanda, it was something similar in the sense of very severe internal strife. In the reconstruction period afterwards, women played a prominent role as local administrators -- and when women get to play a large public role, they are reluctant to go back," he told IPS in an interview from Geneva. The transition period included the drafting of a new constitution, with leaders bringing in legal experts to look at gender issues, and the creation of a series of seminars to help women prepare for the electoral campaign. Rwanda's new constitution ultimately set a minimum of 30 percent for women in parliament and in the executive. Other countries in a post-conflict transition, like Burundi and Afghanistan, have followed suit, developing mechanisms to ensure that women are guaranteed a quota in decision-making bodies. "If you look at where we are coming from, the proportion of women in government has unfortunately always been dismal," Johnsson said. "For two decades, women's presence hovered between 11 and 13 percent." "Now suddenly, in all regions, we are on an upward curve and for the first time have crossed the 15 percent mark. It's a very significant and very positive sign -- although this is not good enough." Since the last assessment in 2000, the proportion of women parliamentarians grew from 13.4 percent to 15.7 percent. Of the 58 countries that held elections last year for the lower houses of parliament, 49 show an increase in the percentage of women. However, if this pace fails to pick up, Johnsson points out, it would take until 2025 for women's overall representation to reach the critical mass of 30 percent, and until 2040 to achieve gender parity. The report was released at the United Nations in New York to coincide with a two-week meeting on progress achieved in the decade since world leaders made broad gender rights commitments at World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, China. The 2005 map also breaks down the data on women parliamentarians by region. It shows little change in terms of regional rankings, with the Nordic countries in the lead, followed by the Americas, the rest of the European continent, Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific, and Arab countries. Promisingly, the biggest change was a near doubling of the percentage of women MPs in the Arab world, from 3.5 percent to 6.5 percent. While this number is relatively modest, the report predicts that the trend is likely to continue with the results of elections in Iraq and of political reforms in a number of countries. "If I can look into the crystal ball, the indication we have from quite a few countries in the Arab world and African countries is a commitment to doing affirmative action," Johnsson said. "In developing countries, women are taking on much more public and important roles in economy and administration, and this creates a demand for a public role in politics," he said. "More women are also receiving higher educations than ever. All these things are coming together to motivate and give capacity." However, the count of women heads of state or government declined in the last five years (from 4.7 percent in 2000 to 4.2 percent today). And the list of countries in which women are either presidents or prime ministers is very similar to that of five years ago, with the exception of Philippines and Mozambique. While Rwanda and Sweden top the list in terms of gender equality, some powerful Western-style democracies did not fare so well. "If you look at numbers 49, 60 and 70 (in the ranking) they are the United Kingdom, the United States and France. It's a bit disappointing," Johnsson said. Even within parliaments, it remains disproportionately difficult for women to become presiding officers, the report notes. Interestingly, women in developing countries and transition countries are actually more likely to be speaker of parliament than those in developed countries. "A great example of this is South Africa, where lot of the senior ministers are women, including the deputy minister of defence, the speaker and deputy speaker in parliament," Johnsson said. "Five years ago (women representatives) were a novelty, but it's the most normal thing in the world now."
NEW YORK, Mar 4 (IPS) - In an inspiring victory for African women -- and women everywhere -- Rwanda has surged to first place on an international scorecard for gender equality in political representation. Seven developing countries -- Rwanda, Cuba, Costa Rica, Mozambique, Argentina, South Africa and Guyana -- now rank among the 17 top performers, with more than 30 percent women parliamentarians, according to the World Map of Women in Politics 2005, released Thursday. Sweden dropped to number two after Rwandan voters elected a parliament with 48.8 percent women in the lower house and 34.6 percent in the upper house. Eleven years ago, Rwanda was the scene of a horrific genocide. At least half a million people were killed over a 13-week period in 1994, perhaps as many as three-quarters of the ethnic Tutsi population. Thousands of majority Hutu who opposed the murderous campaign also perished. "If you look at African countries, there are a number that have gone through periods of upheaval, such as the liberation movements in South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia," said Anders Johnsson, secretary-general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which publishes the map together with the U.N. Division for the Advancement of Women. "In the case of Rwanda, it was something similar in the sense of very severe internal strife. In the reconstruction period afterwards, women played a prominent role as local administrators -- and when women get to play a large public role, they are reluctant to go back," he told IPS in an interview from Geneva. The transition period included the drafting of a new constitution, with leaders bringing in legal experts to look at gender issues, and the creation of a series of seminars to help women prepare for the electoral campaign. Rwanda's new constitution ultimately set a minimum of 30 percent for women in parliament and in the executive. Other countries in a post-conflict transition, like Burundi and Afghanistan, have followed suit, developing mechanisms to ensure that women are guaranteed a quota in decision-making bodies. "If you look at where we are coming from, the proportion of women in government has unfortunately always been dismal," Johnsson said. "For two decades, women's presence hovered between 11 and 13 percent." "Now suddenly, in all regions, we are on an upward curve and for the first time have crossed the 15 percent mark. It's a very significant and very positive sign -- although this is not good enough." Since the last assessment in 2000, the proportion of women parliamentarians grew from 13.4 percent to 15.7 percent. Of the 58 countries that held elections last year for the lower houses of parliament, 49 show an increase in the percentage of women. However, if this pace fails to pick up, Johnsson points out, it would take until 2025 for women's overall representation to reach the critical mass of 30 percent, and until 2040 to achieve gender parity. The report was released at the United Nations in New York to coincide with a two-week meeting on progress achieved in the decade since world leaders made broad gender rights commitments at World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, China. The 2005 map also breaks down the data on women parliamentarians by region. It shows little change in terms of regional rankings, with the Nordic countries in the lead, followed by the Americas, the rest of the European continent, Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific, and Arab countries. Promisingly, the biggest change was a near doubling of the percentage of women MPs in the Arab world, from 3.5 percent to 6.5 percent. While this number is relatively modest, the report predicts that the trend is likely to continue with the results of elections in Iraq and of political reforms in a number of countries. "If I can look into the crystal ball, the indication we have from quite a few countries in the Arab world and African countries is a commitment to doing affirmative action," Johnsson said. "In developing countries, women are taking on much more public and important roles in economy and administration, and this creates a demand for a public role in politics," he said. "More women are also receiving higher educations than ever. All these things are coming together to motivate and give capacity." However, the count of women heads of state or government declined in the last five years (from 4.7 percent in 2000 to 4.2 percent today). And the list of countries in which women are either presidents or prime ministers is very similar to that of five years ago, with the exception of Philippines and Mozambique. While Rwanda and Sweden top the list in terms of gender equality, some powerful Western-style democracies did not fare so well. "If you look at numbers 49, 60 and 70 (in the ranking) they are the United Kingdom, the United States and France. It's a bit disappointing," Johnsson said. Even within parliaments, it remains disproportionately difficult for women to become presiding officers, the report notes. Interestingly, women in developing countries and transition countries are actually more likely to be speaker of parliament than those in developed countries. "A great example of this is South Africa, where lot of the senior ministers are women, including the deputy minister of defence, the speaker and deputy speaker in parliament," Johnsson said. "Five years ago (women representatives) were a novelty, but it's the most normal thing in the world now."
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
[Global Poverty] Child poverty on the rise in rich nations
by Honor Mahoney
2 March, 2005
BRUSSELS - A United Nations report has shown that child poverty is on the rise in the majority of the world's richest nations.
The report by UNICEF, released on 1 March, shows that the proportion of children living in poverty has risen in 17 of 24 industrialised countries examined.
The report defines child poverty as children living in households with an income below 50 percent of the national median.
Presenting the report in Brussels on Wednesday (2 March), Marta Santos Pais, Director of UNICEF's research centre said the figures "were dramatic and difficult to understand".
She added that it showed that "child poverty has clearly not been a political priority".
The figures show that of the EU countries surveyed, only France, Greece and the UK showed a reduction in child poverty.
In Poland, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic, by contrast, the child poverty rate rose by 4.3 percent, 4.2 percent and 4.1 percent respectively.
EU countries with the highest child poverty rates are Italy with 16.6% of children living in poverty; Ireland with 15.7 percent and Portugual with 15.6%.
The worst overall are the US (21.9%) and Mexico (27.7%).
Hugh Frazer, a European Commission expert on the issue, said the report "challenges any complacency" about the rates of poverty and the belief "that a rising economic tide will solve all problems of social inclusion".
Remarking on the accusations that the Commission is pursuing a neo-liberal agenda to the detriment of social policy, Mr Frazer also said that the EU's commitment to social inclusion will become clear after EU leaders decide on the revised economic goals for the Union later this month.
At the other end of the poverty scale, nordic countries do the best. Denmark tops the league with 2.4 percent followed by Finland with a 2.8 percent child poverty rate.
According to Ms Santos Pais, "governments have the capacity to reduce child poverty when they invest in social spending in a sustained manner" - as is the case with Nordic countries.
She also pointed out that putting the issue high on the political agenda also brings results - a case proved by the UK.
Political priority
Although the UK has a high rate of child poverty (15.4%), it has made the issue a political priority which means, says the report, that its first target of a 25 percent reduction by 2004/5 is likely to be met.
According to UNICEF, child poverty has longterm negative effects on society.
"There is a strong statistical correlation between poverty in childhood and a variety of very well documented problems in later life. The likelihood of poor health, of educational underachievement, of dropping out of school early and of long-term welfare dependence", said Peter Adamson of UNICEF.
The report acknowledges the difficulty of deciding on factors to measure poverty but quotes Amercian Sociologist Susan Mayer who has written that "income is positively correlated with virtually every dimension of child well-being that social scientists measure, and this is true for every country for which we have data".
2 March, 2005
BRUSSELS - A United Nations report has shown that child poverty is on the rise in the majority of the world's richest nations.
The report by UNICEF, released on 1 March, shows that the proportion of children living in poverty has risen in 17 of 24 industrialised countries examined.
The report defines child poverty as children living in households with an income below 50 percent of the national median.
Presenting the report in Brussels on Wednesday (2 March), Marta Santos Pais, Director of UNICEF's research centre said the figures "were dramatic and difficult to understand".
She added that it showed that "child poverty has clearly not been a political priority".
The figures show that of the EU countries surveyed, only France, Greece and the UK showed a reduction in child poverty.
In Poland, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic, by contrast, the child poverty rate rose by 4.3 percent, 4.2 percent and 4.1 percent respectively.
EU countries with the highest child poverty rates are Italy with 16.6% of children living in poverty; Ireland with 15.7 percent and Portugual with 15.6%.
The worst overall are the US (21.9%) and Mexico (27.7%).
Hugh Frazer, a European Commission expert on the issue, said the report "challenges any complacency" about the rates of poverty and the belief "that a rising economic tide will solve all problems of social inclusion".
Remarking on the accusations that the Commission is pursuing a neo-liberal agenda to the detriment of social policy, Mr Frazer also said that the EU's commitment to social inclusion will become clear after EU leaders decide on the revised economic goals for the Union later this month.
At the other end of the poverty scale, nordic countries do the best. Denmark tops the league with 2.4 percent followed by Finland with a 2.8 percent child poverty rate.
According to Ms Santos Pais, "governments have the capacity to reduce child poverty when they invest in social spending in a sustained manner" - as is the case with Nordic countries.
She also pointed out that putting the issue high on the political agenda also brings results - a case proved by the UK.
Political priority
Although the UK has a high rate of child poverty (15.4%), it has made the issue a political priority which means, says the report, that its first target of a 25 percent reduction by 2004/5 is likely to be met.
According to UNICEF, child poverty has longterm negative effects on society.
"There is a strong statistical correlation between poverty in childhood and a variety of very well documented problems in later life. The likelihood of poor health, of educational underachievement, of dropping out of school early and of long-term welfare dependence", said Peter Adamson of UNICEF.
The report acknowledges the difficulty of deciding on factors to measure poverty but quotes Amercian Sociologist Susan Mayer who has written that "income is positively correlated with virtually every dimension of child well-being that social scientists measure, and this is true for every country for which we have data".
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