Last week, Steven wrote about Mary Robinson's visit to Penn State as part of SPA's Distinguished Speaker Program. Like I, he was quite impressed with what she said during her hour-long talk. He commented on two aspects of her speech on which I would also like to reflect. The first point he brought up was women's rights:
In the case of woman's rights in Western Asian countries such as India and Pakistan, I'm right there with her. I agree that women should have equal access to secondary education, jobs, and leadership opportunities. However, I'm of the impression that no level of pushing and prodding from the UN or other international figures, no matter how renowned they are, will make lasting change...Rather like all change, through education and outreach from many within the affected communities, can change of social traditions be brought.
While I agree with Steven that change has to come within the society for it to have lasting effects, I do believe the UN and international prodding is vitally important. Without the resources that these entities can provide, the education and outreach cannot occur. I did a project for my English 202H class last semester that focused on the Half the Sky Movement. Husband and wife team Alex Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn went to several countries around the world to "turn oppression into opportunity for women world wide." Their book, Half the Sky, highlights the various struggles that women face on a daily basis. But the book is not all pessimistic; they share the success stories of women who have turned their lives around, mainly through education or supporting themselves in a self run business. I encourage you to read the book (Half the Sky) go to their website (halftheskymovement.org) to learn more.
The second point Steven made was about taxing carbon. He explained that taxing carbon would cause people to adapt to more environmental means of transportation and emission. His argument: money talks. And I agree that money makes a much better case in our capitalist society than the "we have to save our environment" line of reasoning. I wonder though if taxing would solve the problem quickly enough or if there were other methods that could stop or decrease our carbon usage more efficiently.
To those who celebrate, I wish a zissen pesach, have a sweet Passover!
In the case of woman's rights in Western Asian countries such as India and Pakistan, I'm right there with her. I agree that women should have equal access to secondary education, jobs, and leadership opportunities. However, I'm of the impression that no level of pushing and prodding from the UN or other international figures, no matter how renowned they are, will make lasting change...Rather like all change, through education and outreach from many within the affected communities, can change of social traditions be brought.
While I agree with Steven that change has to come within the society for it to have lasting effects, I do believe the UN and international prodding is vitally important. Without the resources that these entities can provide, the education and outreach cannot occur. I did a project for my English 202H class last semester that focused on the Half the Sky Movement. Husband and wife team Alex Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn went to several countries around the world to "turn oppression into opportunity for women world wide." Their book, Half the Sky, highlights the various struggles that women face on a daily basis. But the book is not all pessimistic; they share the success stories of women who have turned their lives around, mainly through education or supporting themselves in a self run business. I encourage you to read the book (Half the Sky) go to their website (halftheskymovement.org) to learn more.
The second point Steven made was about taxing carbon. He explained that taxing carbon would cause people to adapt to more environmental means of transportation and emission. His argument: money talks. And I agree that money makes a much better case in our capitalist society than the "we have to save our environment" line of reasoning. I wonder though if taxing would solve the problem quickly enough or if there were other methods that could stop or decrease our carbon usage more efficiently.
To those who celebrate, I wish a zissen pesach, have a sweet Passover!
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