WAG

Well I guess that concludes my Women Studies Praxis Project 2011—WAG—Women around the Globe. I probably should have some wise and witty conclusion for you all, but unfortunately I don’t. All I want to say is thank you so much for reading my blog and supporting me throughout the last few weeks. I hope that I have been able to open your eyes to some of things, both positive and negative, that women around the world are dealing with today and have dealt with in the past. I hope it has inspired you and brought a new sense of connection between women everywhere. And remember it doesn’t really end here, I hope you take what you have learned and share it with others and maybe even be encouraged to do something to make a difference too!

Thank you again and have a good one!

USA

America’s child beauty pageants.
Distrubing...i think yes. Scroll to bottom of this blog for shocking videos.
Taken from this blog ...check it out, also check this one out too!

Population: 313,232,044
Capital: Washington
Language: English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%
Religion: Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%
Life Expectancy: 78.37 years
GDP per Capita: $47,400


• 31% of adult women say they have experience physical abused by a male partner or inmate. Domestic violence costs more than $1 billion a year in medical costs alone; 22-35% of women who visit a hospital emergency room do so because of domestic violence.

• On average 23 women a week are killed by intimates, of all the women murdered between 1976 and 2005 42% were killed by an intimate or other family me member, 74% of all murders of women form domestic violence occur after the woman has left the relationship, filed for divorce or sought a restraining order against her partner

• An estimated 50, 000 women are trafficked the USA each year.

• Up to 700, 000 rapes are estimated to occur in USA each year

• 798 women die each week from breast cancer (second highest in the world)

• USA 2002- 42% of girls in Grades 1-3 want to be thinner, 81% of 10 year old girls are afraid of being fat, the average US model is thinner than 985 of all US women, 80% of 13 year olds have attempted to lose weight.

• US has the biggest cosmetic market at $50 billion

• Cosmetic surgery in the USA 2006- eyelids-240, 763, nose reshaping-151, 796, facelift: 138, 153, Breast augmentation: 399, 4400, Abdominoplasty: 185, 335, Liposuction- 456, 828, botox injection: 2.8 million, chemical peel: 575, 080, microdermabrasion: 829, 658, and laser hair removal 1.4 million

• 11.7 million cosmetic procedures where performed in 2007-91% of them on women

• Americans spent 13 billion on cosmetic procedures in 2006.


So why it is that American woman are so concerned with their looks, their weight and their bodies? Why do some women spend hours getting ready in the morning, or refuse to eat the sufficient amount of food for their bodies to function, or spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on clothes and surgeries? And why is it starting at such a young age? Check out these videos…

This breaks my heart, what is this telling young girls? You have to look a certain way to be beautiful. Makeup, fancy dresses, spending so many hours and money on looks…that is what is important in life? What is our society coming to? What are these girls going to end up like? So much pressure at such young ages. I want to just tell these young girls that they are so beautiful and they don’t need any of that to be beautiful or to be loved or to be successful. I just want to tell every young girl, every teenager, and every woman that they are BEAUTIFUL! We as women, have what it takes, we don’t need products and botex to make us worth something.


Thanks for reading!

Canada

Three truly Canadian Women!
Love you guys!

Population: 34,030,589
Capital: Ottawa
Language: English, French
Religion: Roman Catholic 42.6%, Protestant 23.3%
Life Expectancy: 81.38 years
GDP per Capita: $39,600


So I was trying to figure out what to focus on for women of Canada, in doing research I came across at lot of information on Violence against women in Canada, and then in class today that was actually exactly what we talked about, here is what we looked at in class;

The following statistics come from the Violence Against Women Survey of 1993,

• Half of Canadian women have experienced some type of physical or sexual violence since the age of 18
• 3 out of every 10 Canadian women currently or previously married, or in a common-law relationship have experience at least one incident of physical or sexual violence at the hands of an intimate partner
• 29% of ever-married women have experience wife assault
• 16% have been kicked, hit, beaten, choked, had a gun or knife used against them, or have been sexually assaulted
• 11% have been pushed, grabbed, shoved, slapped
• Children witness violence against their mothers in 40% of violent marriages


I found the following statistics from this website, more heartbreaking numbers; isn’t it crazy that this is happening in our very own country?

• Spousal violence makes up the single largest category of convictions involving violent offences in non-specialized adult courts in Canada over the five-year period 1997/98 to 2001/02. Over 90% of offenders were male.
• Thirty-six percent of female victims of spousal violence and less than 10% of victims of sexual assault reported these crimes to the police in 2004.
• Physical and sexual abuse costs Canada over $4 billion each year (factoring into account social services, criminal justice, lost employment days and health care interventions
• Violence against women occurs across all ethnic, racial, religious, age, social and economic groups. Some women are more vulnerable however, and are more likely to experience violence, including women with disabilities, geographically-isolated women, young women and Aboriginal women.


On a different topic, if you are interested in history here are two sites that talk about the Women’s suffrage movement in Canada 1 and 2
Women in Canada have fought quite hard to achieve the status we have today. It’s amazing; I just want to send out my thanks and appreciation to the women who worked so hard for equal rights for Canadian women!

Moving on, back to violence, another issue that was briefly discussed in class today was the “Montreal Massacre,” I had never heard of it before but it broke my heart and I decided to research it a bit more. This is what our handout in class said about it;

“1989-Montrel Massacre: On December 6th, at L’Ecole Polytechnique (School of Engineering), Marc Lepin murdered 14 women, and injured 9 women and 4 men, before killing himself. In his suicide note, he blamed feminism for ruining his life and described the murders as a political act, he also identified 19 prominent Quebec women as on his ‘hit list,’ saying that they lived because he started to late.”

I found this website which describes the event in much more detail and calls it “the worst single-day massacre in Canadian history.” Here is what his suicide note said;

“Please note that if I am committing suicide today ... it is not for economic reasons ... but for political reasons. For I have decided to send Ad Patres [Latin: "to the fathers"] the feminists who have ruined my life. ... The feminists always have a talent for enraging me. They want to retain the advantages of being women ... while trying to grab those of men. ... They are so opportunistic that they neglect to profit from the knowledge accumulated by men throughout the ages. They always try to misrepresent them every time they can.”

The act of the genocide is also described in detail on the website, I encourage you to check it out, I can’t believe I had never heard of this horrific event before today. It’s heartbreaking, and my condolences go out to the loved ones of those killed and to the entire school.


Thanks for reading.

Guatemala

The Gramma at one of the houses
 i stayed at in a Mayan Villiage!

Population: 13,824,463
Capital: Guatemala City
Language: Spanish (official) 60%, Amerindian languages 40% (23 officially recognized Amerindian languages)
Religion: Roman Catholic, Protestant, indigenous Mayan beliefs
Life Expectancy: 70.88 years
GDP per Capita: $5,200

• More then 2, 4000 women were murdered between 2000-06: 97% of cases are unsolved
• Abortion is illegal or severely restricted only to save a woman’s life
• 50-70% of births are not attended by a doctor, nurse or midwife
• 26-50% of women are illiterate
• Fewer then 75% of girls who start primary school complete it
• 5-14% of women are in government


Guatemala is a country very close to my heart…how could it not be after spending three months living there, exploring and building relationships? Before I traveled to Guatemala I watched a documentary film called “Killers Paradise,” its about the huge amount of rapes and murders that are happening to Guatemalan women and how the government is doing nothing about it. It’s crazy, women fear for their lives every time they go out, in Guatemala City I was never allowed to walk around by myself, not even during the day. I highly encourage you to watch this documentary, its on you-tube in 15 parts (and yes the beginning writing is in spanish, but don't worry the movies are in english!), below is the trailer and part one just to get you interested…

Another thing I wanted to talk about for the beautiful country of Guatemala is a indigenous woman named Rigoberta Menchu, before going to Guatemala I read her biography “I Rigoberta Menchu” (Elisabeth Burgos-Debray (Editor), Ann Wright (Translator)) and was blown away by her story and her bravery. Here is a link to a very short version of her biography. She amazes me, she has gone through so much, almost her entire family killed during the Gorilla warfare, she has worked hard, and had to flee her country but now is an activist of human rights and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, what an inspiration!

People in Guatemala have suffered so much, I remember one lady I met there telling me how when she was born the war was going on and at that time soldiers were outside her home, if her mother screamed while giving birth they would be discovered and most likely killed. Can you imagine, having to be quiet while having a baby! Crazy.

Also in Guatemala few young girls get the chance to finish school, its heartbreaking, but just so you know when I was there I saw lots of hope, I saw young girls actually getting the opportunity to go to school instead of getting married at age 16!

--So once again I highly encourage you to watch the documentary, it will blow you away, and maybe inspire you to do something for the suffering women of Guatemala. If you don’t have time to watch the movie at least read this:

"Deborah Tomas Vineda, aged 16, was kidnapped, raped, and cut to pieces with a chainsaw, allegedly because she refused to become the girlfriend of a local gang member.

Her sister Olga, just 11 years old, died alongside her.

The raped and mutilated body of Andrea Contreras Bacaro, 17, was found wrapped in a plastic bag and thrown into a ditch, her throat cut, her face and hands slashed, with a gunshot wound to the head.

The word "vengeance" had been gouged into her thigh.

Sandra Palma Godoy, 17, said to have witnessed a killing in her home town, was missing for a week before her decomposing body was found next to a local football pitch.

Her breasts, eyes and heart had been mutilated, reports said.

According to Amnesty International, which has collated these stories and others in a new report on the killing of women in Guatemala, the country's leaders must share the blame for an epidemic of violence that has killed more than 1,500 women in under four years”…..

“Neither the police nor the government take the problem of violence against women seriously.” Hilda Morales Trujillo, Network for Non-Violence Against Women…

….."Every day the numbers are growing, and for two reasons," Sandra Moran, another women's rights activist, told the BBC News website.

"Firstly, there is no respect for the body of a woman. People feel they can treat women however they want. Also, there is the idea that women are the property of someone.


If you want to read the rest of this article, here is the Link. The last quote by Sandra Moran rings so true in my experience, the men do not respect the women, everywhere you go there are catcalls and completely inappropriate comments being made to the women, Indigenous, Spanish and White it doesn’t matter, men feel like they can say and do whatever they want, its heartbreaking.



Thanks for reading
Below are a few pictures from my trip of guatemalan women if you are intrested,

Two women working on traditional Guatemalan clothing!
 They spend hours on each one!

A beautiful photo taken by my friend Jeff!
A young Mayan girl.

Here's me with two young Guatemalan girls,
 they were such sweethearts!

We played a mixer game with some of the women,
don't you just love the height difference...it brought laughter to all!

South Africa

Link

Population: 49,004,031
Capital: Pretoria
Language: IsiZulu (official) 23.8% -(has 10 other official languages)
Religion: Christian 36%
Life Expectancy: 49.33 years
GDP per Capita: $10,700


• In 1994 South Africa was the first country to include equal protection for lesbians and gays in a national constitution
• 25%o of adult women say they have experienced physical abuse by a male partner or intimate
• Between 40-70% of female murder victims are killed by husbands or boyfriends
• Is a major source and destination county for sex trafficking
• It is estimated that a women is raped every 83 seconds
• Fewer then 30% of women are in the workforce
• White women won the vote in 1931, Indian and “colored” women in 1984, black women in 1994

This website gives a brief outline of the history of women in South Africa, check it out!

Here’s another neat article about an organization working for women’s rights--article
If you don’t want to read the whole thing, here are some quotes that I liked from it---

“South Africa is supposed to be a democracy. We should be a country that is ‘of the people, by the people and for the people,’ not ‘of men, by men and for men.’ South African women need to benefit from the equality that is spelled out in our Constitution.”

“Leaders in the gender-equity field say women collectively are asking: “If we are the ones who carry water for drinking, collect firewood for cooking, and care for the young, old, sick and dying, then why don’t we have an equal voice in making decisions about government policies and projects that affect our lives, our communities and our country?”


And now here is a video for you to watch if your interested;

Thanks for reading/watching ;) 

Egypt

Link

Population: 82,079,636
Capital: Cairo
Language: Arabic (official)
Religion: Muslim (mostly Sunni) 90%
Life Expectancy: 72.66 years
GDP per Capita: $6,200


• Only males may confer citizenship; children born to women with foreign husbands are not conferred the benefits of citizenship
• 47% of women say they have experienced physical abuse by a male partner or intimate
• Honor killings regularly occur (2006)—47% of honor killing were because the woman had been raped
• Infant mortality rates are higher for girls then boys
• 90% of girls who have undergone female genital mutilation were under 14 years old at the time. An estimated 90% of FGM procedures are performed by doctors or other trained medical personnel.
• Under 5% of women are in government


I’m sure we are all aware of what’s been going on in Egypt over the past few weeks. Take a look at these quotes from this article ; the article talks about women and the recent protests and uprisings that have taken place.


“The revolution called for democracy, equality and freedom. But importantly, it also advanced the position of women, because it allowed women, and other excluded groups in society, to take part in a movement that was redefining society.”


“Egyptian women have the right to an equal position in the new society, and through their role in the revolution they have learned the most important lesson, which is that through ongoing mass protest and determination they will eventually win their demands.”


“This should inspire all fighters for women’s rights around the world. Through building a mass movement for change we can win full equality for women.”


Here some more neat articles if your intrested:


--Egypt protests--thousands of men and no groping!

--Changes in women rights-egypt

--Women inspired by Arab uprisings

And here is my favorite quote from the first one, “Egypt has a sexual harassment problem. In a 2008 study, 86 percent of women said they had been harassed on Egypt's streets—any woman walking through a crowd of men in Egypt braces to get groped. But in the square, crammed in shoulder-to-shoulder, men apologized if they so much as bumped into you. After wandering around the protests for days, it suddenly dawned on me that I hadn't been groped, a constant annoyance when I'm faced with large crowds in Cairo. When I pointed this out to other women in the square, we all took a moment to reflect. "I hadn't even thought of that," one woman in Tahrir told me. "But it's because we're all so focused on one goal, we're a family here."


I find it amazing that what is happening in Egypt is bringing so many people together and also allowing a chance for women to stand up for what they believe in and an opportunity for change, hopefully women around the world can be inspired by these brave Egyptian women!


Thanks for Reading!

Sudan

Link

Population: 45,047,502

Capital: Khartoum

Language: Arabic (official), English (official)

Religion: Sunni Muslim 70% (in north)

Life Expectancy: 55.42 years

GDP per Capita: $2,200

• Has neither signed nor ratified the treaty of the UN convention on the elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
• State laws restrict both women’s movement and dress
• Lesbians and gays are criminalized in national law and subject to the death penalty
• Abortion is Illegal or severely restricted only to save woman’s life
• Over 90% of girls and women between 15-49 years have had female genital mutilation (2001 data)
• Rapes of women in Janjawid militias in Darfur are systematic. Prosecutions are non-existent, and some raped women have been prosecuted for adultery.
• Under 30% of women work for pay

Here is a link to an interesting article, by Jane Edward “reflecting on untold stories of Southern Sudanese women”-- link.  Here is one quote from it that I love;



Link



“The decision of those women and the man to bury my grandmother confirms women’s courage and determination to uphold some of the most important cultural aspects of their society. It is this kind of courage and commitment that makes those ordinary women extraordinary. The actions of those women further defy the traditionally held assumptions that women are “weak,” “disempowered” and unable to perform or to make crucial decisions in difficult situations.”

Here is another article about women protesting in Sudan and being arrested. It’s awful that these women are being arrested and being treated so terribly, but I love that there are women who are protesting and standing up for themselves and wanting to make a difference!-- Link

“The same law that requires giving a woman forty lashes for wearing pants requires giving a man who rapes a boy, a girl or a woman one month in prison.” –Watch the video below to hear more about this;

Ethiopia

LINK

Population: 90,873,739
Capital: Addis Ababa
Language: Amarigna (Amharic) (official) 32.7%
Religion: Orthodox 43.5%, Muslim 33.9%
Life Expectancy: 56.19 years
GDP per Capita: $1,000

• Lesbians and gays are criminalized in national law
• Up to 71% adult women have said they have experienced physical abuse by male partner or intimate
• 75% or more of births are not attended by a doctor, nurse or midwife
• In a 2000 study there were between 700-1000 deaths of mothers per 100, 000 live births
• Female Genital mutilation is a common practice between 50-90%
• There are reports of 1,000 rapes a year in Addis Ababa alone
• Over 75% of women are illiterate

For Ethiopia I just wanted focus on one thing and that is this video of women from an Ethiopian tribe called the Suri tribe. Keep in mind this is just one tribe in Ethiopia and this practice is not very common, however I found it fascinating!

The part that I love is the girl who says that “if a boy likes [her] he will give her cattle, or he can go find another girl!” Ya! You go girl! I love seeing a young girl like this stand up for what she believes is right. That’s not saying what these women are doing is right or wrong, but for them it is an important and standard way of life. And i just love the fact that she is going against that! I wish more women would be like her, seriously, stand up for what you believe in and if I guy doesn’t like you for who you are then he’s not worth it!

Argentina

Link
So beautiful. I love her wrinkles.

Population: 41,343,201
Capital: Buenos Aires
Language: Spanish
Religion: nominally Roman Catholic 92% (less than 20% practicing)
Life Expectancy: 76.76 years
GDP per Capita: $14,700


• In just Buenos Aires province, police receive an average of 53 complaints of domestic violence a day
• 103 women die from breast cancer each week
• According to this website “Argentina has more plastic surgeries and non-surgical procedures than all but 12 countries in the world. That’s the conclusion of a new global survey carried out by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, or ISAPS. Last year Argentines had 132,486 plastic surgeries; according to the survey. Argentina has an estimated 517 plastic surgeons, putting in 11th place worldwide. That’s more than France (464), Canada (425) and the U.K. (274).


For Argentina I want to focus on one group of women specifically, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo is a human rights activist organization that has fought for over thirty years for the right to re-connect with their abducted children. The mothers' children were abducted by Argentine government agents during the "Dirty War" 1976-1983, many of the children were tortured and killed. "The military has admitted that over 9,000 of those kidnapped are still unaccounted for, but the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo say that the number is closer to 30,000" (link)


The 14 founders of the association include, Azucena Villaflor de De Vincenti, Berta Braverman, Haydée García Buelas, María Adela Gard de Antokoletz, Julia Gard, María Mercedes Gard and Cándida Gard (4 sisters), Delicia González, Pepa Noia, Mirta Baravalle, Kety Neuhaus, Raquel Arcushin and Sra. De Caimi. These brave 14 women started the demonstrations on the Plaza de Mayo, in front of the Casa Rosada presidential palace, on 30 April 1977. Since then the women have continued to gather and protest wearing white head scarves with their children's names embroidered on them every Thursday afternoon.


The women have continued to raise awareness and hold on to the memory of their lost children throughout the years by the creation of an independent university, bookstore, library and cultural center. Read more here


Here is another link to the mothers’ website.


Below is a well done video of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, it will at least give you some sort of idea of what it looks like

Also here is the song that U2 wrote about the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo—Its called Mothers of the disappeared.

Thanks for reading!

Brazil

Elaine Davidson is the "Most Pierced Woman" according to the Guinness World Records and she’s Brazilian!! Check her out on wikipedia to see just how many piercings she has….you won’t believe it! I'm not at all saying that this is a common thing to do among Brazilian women, i just thought it was fascinating.  

Population: 201,103,330

Capital: Brasília

Language: Portuguese

Religion: Roman Catholic 73.6% (nominally)

Life Expectancy: 72.26 years

GDP per Capita: $10,900

• 30% of adult women who say they have experienced physical abuse by a male partner or intimate

• 72% of murdered women were killed by a relative of friend

• Abortion is illegal or only done to save women’s life

• 217 women die each week from breast cancer

• Has a total of 6 Miss Universe winners, from 1952-2010, which is one of the highest in the world.

• Is a source country for sex trafficking. In fact, “Brazil has one of the worst child prostitution problems in the world and is one of the favored destinations of sex tourists from Europe and the United States” LINK.

If you’re interested here is an overview of what women in Brazil have gone through throughout history. It’s very straight forward and full of interesting facts; Womens history in Brazil

Now moving on to something a little different, Ms. Rouseff!

Dilma Vana Rousseff is the 36th and current President of Brazil. She is the first woman and economist to hold office in the country, in 2005 she was also the first woman to become Chief of Staff of Brazil. She became a socialist in her youth and "joined various left-wing and Marxist urban guerrilla groups that fought against the military dictatorship. Rousseff was captured and jailed between 1970 and 1972 and reportedly tortured." She help found the Democratic Labor Party in Rio Grande do Sul state. She was included in the Forbes' list of the most powerful people in the world, at the 16th position. You can read all about her here.

"Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said Tuesday on a popular television program that she has opened the way for every girl in the country who dreams of being president."

"What is most important about my being president is that now all girls can aspire be president and it will be seen as completely normal in Brazil that a woman becomes president"

"Rousseff said that her taking office as president represents the breaking of a paradigm and blamed the macho mentality for spreading an image of her as a "tough" woman." "Did you ever see a man who became leader of the country being called 'tough?'" the president asked, adding that "women are expected to be fragile, at least the image people have is that women are fragile...and when a woman takes a position of leadership, of authority, she's seen as stepping outside her proper role."

"She said that since poverty in Brazil is worst among women and children, she will adapt government programs for combating destitution to make them favor women more, especially single parents"

Here is the link to the article that the above quotes are from

Wow! What a role model for girls and women of Brazil and of the world! She's a women who has been through a lot and has achieved a lot. If your interested there is lots of information and biographies on her out there, go ahead and research it! Its so neat to see everything that she has done. She hasn't let the fact that she is a women hold her back! I'm am positive it hasn't been easy for her but now she's inspiring women all over the country, how exciting!



Dilma Rousseff (Kinda opposite of Elaine Davidson eh?)
Link



Sweden

LINK

Population: 9,074,055
Capital: Stockholm
Language: Swedish
Religion: Lutheran 87%
Life Expectancy: 81.2 
GDP per Capita: $43 654 per capita

• In 1999 Sweden became the first country to have a majority of female government ministers
• No other country has a higher proportion of women as parliamentarians (43 percent) and cabinet ministers (50 percent),
• Sweden leads the developed world in the percentage of professional and technical workers who are women. The proportion of women in the labor force is the highest worldwide.
• Sweden is considered a leader in gender equality. Advancement in this arena is a significant national self-stereotype, a symbol of what distinguishes Swedes from others.
• In 1999, Sweden became the first nation to criminalize the buyer, not the seller, of sexual services


Interesting fact: In 1995, Sweden began reserving one month of parental leave for fathers. After the birth of a child, a couple receives fifteen months of paid leave to divide between them, with one month set aside for each parent; a father who chooses not to participate forfeits the couple's parental benefit payment for that month. Check out this website for more info!

Interesting fact: According to many articles, magazines and people Sweden is ranked one of the top places for women to live!


So when I was researching women of Sweden I kept seeing the name Irene Anderson, so I decided to check her out a bit. Turns out she is a Swedish body builder. She is known to many as the strongest woman in Sweden. Here is the link to her website if you’re interested. And below is one of her videos; 

Just for the record “The first U.S. Women's National Physique Championship, promoted by Henry McGhee and held in Canton, Ohio in 1978, is generally regarded as the first true female bodybuilding contest - that is, the first contest where the entrants were judged solely on muscularity (Todd, 1999)” –read more here

I find this concept of female bodybuilding extremely fascinating. Sometimes the extremes that some of these women (and also men) go to seem crazy to me. It’s also interesting to think about it in terms of gender definitions. Most people would not deny that these women do have very masculine bodies…for a lot of us this seems strange and not right, but then the question becomes “who is determining what is right and wrong for females and males?” “Who says women can’t have muscles like men, and who says that muscles like that are solely masculine.” It makes me question the terms and definitions that society and culture indoctrinates into us. Is society right? Is it a nature vs. nurture concept? Hmmmmm….so many questions and thoughts to leave you pending with...and unfortunately i have no set answers for you, but I encourage you to think about it for yourself! 

Thanks for reading! :)

France

link

Population: 60,656,178
Capital: Paris
Language: French
Religion: Roman Catholic 83%-88%
Life Expectancy: 79.6 years
GDP per Capita: $ 41, 051 per capita

• A women dies every four days as a result of partner violence
• 215 women die a week from breast cancer
• In 1991 a constitutional amendment required political parties to put up 50% of women candidates in almost all local and national election
• Women did not receive the vote until 1944
• 82 percent of parliamentary seats are occupied by men.
• French women earn 26 percent less than men but spend twice as much time on domestic tasks.
• They have the most babies in Europe, but are also the biggest consumers of anti-depressants.


I found an article from the New York Times about women in France; here are what I thought were the most interesting quotes from it:

“A recent 22-country survey by the Pew Research Center summed it up: three in four French people believe men have a better life than women, by far the highest share in any country polled”


“French women are exhausted,” said Valérie Toranian, editor-in-chief of Elle magazine in France. “We have the right to do what men do — as long as we also take care of the children, cook a delicious dinner and look immaculate. We have to be superwoman.”


“Irrespective of income, parents get a monthly allowance of €123, or about $170, for two children, €282 for three children and an additional €158 for every child after that.”


“[I] try to stay longer than [my] male colleagues in the evenings. Otherwise, “everyone will just assume that I’m leaving because of my children and that I am not committed to the job.”

You can read the article yourself here
The article talks a lot about how women in France are expected to “do it all.” But for me “Doing it all” just sounds like so much, so where is the balance?
I think it’s really neat how France has free nursery and childcare for children not yet in school, I think that would make such a difference in people’s lives.
Also I found the fact that families get a government allowance depending on the number of children they have and no matter how much money they make extremely interesting. “Family allowance is paid to families with two or more dependent children living in France. It is neither means-tested nor related to previous employment periods. The amount of the family allowance as of 1st January 2010 is 32% of the monthly family benefit base (€124.54) for two children and 41% (€159.57) for each additional child.” link Interesting eh?

Russia

Population: 141, 850, 000
Capital: Moscow
Language: Russian
Religion: Primarily Russian Orthodox
Life Expectancy: 67.8
GDP per Capita: $8 676 per capita

• 36000 women are beaten every day by a husband or partner
• 70% say they have experienced physical abuse by a male partner or intimate (one of the highest in the world)
• In 1994, 565,000 cases of domestic violence were reported to the police
• 32% of all murders are women killed by domestic violence. In fact approximately every forty minutes one women dies from domestic violence, that’s around 14 000 a year.
• Both a source and destination country for sex trafficking

Beautiful art expressing violence against women,

LINK 

Russian proverb – “A beating man is a loving man”

In researching Russia I discovered that domestic violence is a huge problem. And to make it worse police are often hesitant to intervene and “interfere” with family matters. Men who do beat or rape their wives are unlikely to face prosecution; therefore most cases of domestic violence are left unreported. As well women who are looking for help do not have very many options. In 2009 there were only 20 shelters in the entire country for women fleeing domestic violence and not one of them was found in Moscow the largest city in Russia. It’s hard to say that the problem is getting any better, this year alone 18 non-governmental organizations or charities working on issues of domestic violence against women were closed in Russia, due to a lack of federal and local funding. I found and read so many articles that talk about this violence, check them out for your self;

Domestic-Violence-Kills

Russia-domestic-violence-against-women

World Press- Violence against women in Russia

I couldn’t believe these statistics and more then that I couldn’t believe that I had never heard these shocking numbers before. I mean I know that domestic violence is a big problem around the world, but I had no idea Russia was the worst. I can’t imagine what it would be like for those women, having no where to go and no one to turn to…what would you do, where would you go?  

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