Why women's health is fundamental for equality

Improving women’s health is fundamental in reaching the eventual goal of equality. Without proper access to health care that deals directly with the issues pertaining to health problems related to females, women can be severely and unfairly disadvantaged within society, hindering them from
overcoming further hurdles to the path of reaching gender equity. Education is an essential tool in bringing about this valuable change and improvement to women’s health globally.

For developing nations, in many countries, due to lower levels of access to health care services, maternal health, and disease can be large problems that pose an ongoing threat to women. However, these nations can benefit greatly from investing in education.

In reducing fertility rates, education for girls has been an important part in increasing female participation in school and thus decreasing birth rates. In particular, engagement in secondary and further study for women in Mali leads to an average fertility rate of 3 as compared to those without
access to education, with an average fertility rate of 7. This discrepancy highlights the great potential for education to be used as a manner in which we can aim to reduce fertility rates. This reduction is important as young women of high school or middle school age account for 1 in 7 deaths due to childbirth. Also, adolescents who give birth are up to 5 times more likely to suffer complications as a result. Thus, limiting the amount of potential births and delaying them is key in improving women’s health.

Additionally, higher levels of education for women directly correlate to a delay and spacing out of pregnancies as well as a seeking out of health care and support. This means that increasing access to education directly improves maternal health. In Burkina Faso, compared to those who have not had an education, mothers who have completed secondary school are two times as likely to give birth in health facilities, and so give birth in a safer environment. In all, around 2 maternal deaths are avoided in every 1000 women with one additional year of education.

In terms of the prevalence of HIV/aids in women, education can assist in increasing access to treatment, combating stigma and limiting discrimination. Women with post-primary education are 5 times as likely to be educated on the topic of HIV/aids, with HIV having the capability to spread twice as fast amongst girls without an education in Zambia, showing that education is the best way we can reduce the impact of health problems for women.

With generally greater access to health facilities and contraception, and more widespread knowledge about family planning and pharmaceutical services, in developed nations, the most pressing matters for women’s health can be quite different. Mental health issues, such as eating disorders, and depression have been increasing in prevalence over the years, especially amongst girls of primary and secondary schooling age. This provides a massive obstacle for change, as without an empowered, engaged and able collective of young women pioneers for gender equality, a truly just society will be difficult to attain. However, within the context of developed nations as well, education focused around women’s health can provide an important platform to facilitate assistance, raise awareness and transfer information. Undeniably, knowledge of these health problems and de-stigmatisation of such mental illnesses can have a tangible impact, allowing those who suffer from them to identify more easily if they should seek help.

Education, ultimately increases opportunities for women to access pathways to attain health care. It is a key component of working towards gender equality, that assists in reducing the barriers that limit female participation within society.

** Much of the information regarding the impact education can have in developing nations for women can be found in more detail at this link: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001902/190214e.pdf

I’m not making this up! A look at the treatment of women’s health

There are more women and girls in poverty around the world than men and boys.  That’s a fact.  A fact that leads to the inevitable outcome that women and girls are more likely to be denied adequate health care than men and boys.  You can see from this graph that these statistics aren’t limited developing countries either.  http://www.citylab.com/work/2012/11/poverty-gap-between-men-and-women-around-world/3840/ In the USA the gap is larger than the global average.  Why?  Women are more likely to be victims of violence than men, often forcing them to leave their homes, pets, possessions and life’s work behind.   55% of Australia's homeless women are homeless because of domestic violence. This makes women susceptible to further violence and financial difficulties, leaving them unable to afford adequate health care, especially in countries where basic health care isn’t free or accessible.  Maternity care, access to contraceptives and termination services are in limited supply, illegal or too expensive for many women around the globe.

But, there is one issue that affects women with health issues all over Australia and the world on a daily basis that is being ignored; it’s a problem I’ve had constantly over the last five years and it’s something we need to talk about.  It’s a common disease called ‘I’m not making this up’.  It flared for months before I was diagnosed with glandular fever and chronic B12 deficiency.  For years before I received a nervous system disorder diagnosis.  It occurs in hospital every time a doctor reads ‘fibromyalgia’ on a chart or when ‘depression’ or ‘anxiety’ are listed under known health problems.  It must come up in my blood tests every time a health professional asks if I’m seeing a psychologist instead of dealing with my physical health concerns.  It’s exhausting and it’s making the health of thousands of Australian women and girls worse.  Everytime I see a doctor I am torn between trying to appear tough and wanting them to understand the severity of my pain.  I shouldn’t have to worry about that, I should be entitled to feel and respond accordingly without needing to analyse how to best react in order to recieve adequate medical attention.  Many people and health professionals still function with the medieval assumption that some women are hypochondriacs, attention seekers or have low pain thresholds.  We need to work as a community to change the stigma which surrounds conditions and illnesses common to women.  We need to listen to women and stop making them feel guilty for admitting they’re in pain, sick or needing help.  We need to encourage each other to see medical professionals when something seems not quite right because this is the only way we can make sure we catch cancer and other illnesses in their earliest possible stages. As women and girls we need to do these things for ourselves, we need to allow ourselves to be looked after.  As men and boys we need to work on changing these stereotypes and helping the women around us feel comfortable.

I have spoken with so many women and girls who have been frustrated because their doctor carelessly misdiagnosed or dismissed their health concerns.  Although there are fair reasons for denying treatment or tests for a patient, that reason should never be because the patient is a women.  However subtle the discrimination is at times, it still exists and it needs to stop.  If you’re not happy with the way a health professional has treated you, tell them and if you’re still unhappy keep looking until you find someone who treats you and respects you.  In extreme cases, it is okay to report them without feeling like their actions reflect badly on you.  I wish I had.  There are wonderful health professionals out there who want to help.  So keep your eyes out for women who need practical support as well as emotional.  Together we can change the stigma which surrounds the treatment of women and make ‘I’m not making this up’ a disease of the past.

For those struggling with illness and feeling isolated, Facebook is full of support pages with other people going through what you are.  Having a mental or physical illness is never something to be ashamed about.  Lifeline https://www.lifeline.org.au/Get-Help and Beyond Blue https://www.beyondblue.org.au/ are great websites to check out if you ever need help or want to participate in fundraising events.  Check out http://www.may28.org/ to learn more specifically about women’s reproductive health and rights as touched on in the opening paragraph.  If you’re struggling financially there medical services besides a basic GP visit that you can access with government support so speak to you GP about health care plans for mental and physical health.  It’s so important that you keep the chatting about these things.  Every conversation leads to awareness which leads to change.

Equality - Difference - Unity

The issue of gender inequality undoubtedly is a huge and complex one. Therefore, a solution, on a large scale, is equally as complicated. In light of this, two key ideals have emerged and have been proposed as the best methods of female empowerment. This has culminated in a common debate amongst feminist theorists. That is, the debate between equality and difference.

The notion of equality involves women aiming to conform to typically masculine economic, social and political structures, therefore adopting them as their own and gaining equal power to men within them. On the other hand, embracing difference involves women accepting and celebrating their fundamental differences to men and being granted choice in decisions relating to their individual preference for compliance or defiance within patriarchal structures.

Equality is often criticised for its implied acceptance of the rational tendencies of male practices as being superior to the perceived irrational tendencies of women. By simply wishing to immerse themselves in structures that have been established by and for men, it can be argued that the female fight for “equality” with men elevates and promotes the masculine role as being superior within society. Simultaneously, the desire to disassociate from traditionally feminine practises implicitly denounces their value, necessity and importance within society.

Likewise, the acceptance of essential differences between men and women is also often criticised for a number of reasons. It is often said that the “free choice” that this method of empowerment claims to offer is not in fact necessarily free. This is because every decision that is made is always influenced by the social structures that surround everyone within a community. Given that modern society is patriarchal, these decisions will almost definitely be tainted, either consciously or subconsciously, by ideas of male superiority.

Thus it can be seen that both of the fundamental driving solutions within circles dedicated to battling gender inequality seem inherently flawed. So, can we ever reach gender equality? Will it ever be possible with the current structures of our global society?

These are both difficult questions, because whilst we should always remain optimistic, looking forward to our goal of reaching total gender equality, the path ahead seems increasingly tough. However, I think the key idea to take away from all this is that reaching gender equality is an uphill battle that will require the desire to change from all members of society.

It will require the recognition of structural power that some hold, and the subsequent relinquishment of that power because inequalities always stem from an imbalance of opportunity and influence. That is why campaigns such as #heforshe [1] become so important. They allow us to discuss openly the need for the entire international community to be supportive of gender equality in order to move forward and make improvements. So for me, the only real solution here is unity. This involves all members of our society looking within themselves to find how they unintentionally contribute to gender inequality, and cultivating a desire to not only change as individuals, but instigate a change within society.

[1] http://www.heforshe.org/en

Never underestimate the importance of a woman. She can change the world!

As March draws to a close, so too does, what I like to call, the Month of Women.  Although International Women’s Day is but one day and was held on the 8th March, the dialogue it inspires, the awareness that it raises and the action it encourages in raising awareness of international women’s rights, plights and power is something that, once highlighted, only seems to gain momentum.

The truth is that gender inequality is still a monumental, contemporary issue in all global communities.  Even in Australia, gender inequality prevents equal participation in social and employment environments, and sees a gender pay gap of 17.9%.  That’s right. In 2016, women are still earning less than men for doing the same work, right in our own backyard.

However, internationally, the constraints placed on women due to their gender are concerning, appalling, and in some cases, deadly.  For example, arranged marriages in Pakistan can lead to ‘honor killings’ in the case of refusal or marrying below their caste.  Girls in Afghanistan aren’t generally permitted to go to school under Taliban rule, and even where they can (generally families will prefer to invest in a male’s education over their female relatives), they are subjected to acid attacks, segregated education or poisoned water.  In Niger, women are designated domestic duties that tend to transcend any chance at education.  This education doesn’t necessarily need to be in the form of books and literature, statutes and mathematics, but personal development and interpersonal skills, market skills, financial literacy.  But no. What is failed to be realised though, is refusing to invest in the education of women is refusing to facilitate a solution to the global problems of poverty and hunger.

Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2 concern ‘End[ing] poverty in all its forms everywhere’ and to ‘end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and sustainable agriculture’.  Time and time again, it has been discussed and proven that women are key to reducing poverty and ending hunger by increasing education and facilitating their skill development in a similar vein to what men are entitled to.  For example, women are expected to tend the farm as well as look after children, to prepare meals and keep the residence clean, while men hold land titles and make financial and commercial decisions.  Some women have small artisanal businesses that stagnate due to lack of business acumen and access to finance.  Teaching women time management and productivity skills lead to efficiency and better time to invest in diverse pursuits.  Allowing women greater access to resources can all but eliminate hunger for up to 150 million people, according to The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.  Ensuring women are aware of investment funds and micro finance loans that could invariably increase the scope of a business is key to improving female self-sufficiency.

The point is that gender inequality doesn’t just inhibit women; it inhibits the global community.  Educating and increasing access for women to productivity resources, to agricultural education, to personal development and efficiency, to basic education, can almost orchestrate a substantial decrease in global poverty and hunger.  Mobilising women just a little bit - whether it be how to deal in increasingly volatile situations or how to manage their fruit-selling business efficiently and accurately - can create a whole new world, not just for the individuals, but for their children, families and community.

Never underestimate the importance of a woman. She can change the world.  All that we need to do is to facilitate this change by campaigning against archaic discrimination and empowering women.  This is key to working towards the elimination of poverty and hunger on a global scale.

How can "Scrubs" teach us about gender equality?

I’ve spent the last week rewatching episodes of Scrubs. It was a popular TV series in the early to mid 2000’s and has become somewhat of a modern classic.  I love the show, I think it fits well into its time.  However, if Scrubs was airing now it would probably be considered politically incorrect.

It’s the little things in the way we relate to each other that have changed.  It’s no longer okay to insult men by calling them girls names.  It’s not okay to insult someone by saying they do something ‘like a girl’. You can watch a video about that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs.  It’s not okay to dismiss a woman’s opinion because she may be menstruating.   We’ve come a long way in the last ten to 15 years but we’re slowing down and we still have a long way to go before we can say gender equality has been achieved.

It’s International Women’s Day on the 8th of March and this year’s campaign is focused around the theme Pledge For Parity.  Parity essentially means equality of rank.  The International Women’s Day page (which can be found here: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/) tells us that in the last year we have gone backwards.  

In 2014 the World Economic Forum estimated, based on current progress, that the gender gap would not be closed until 2095; last year they estimated that it would not be achieved until 2133.  That means that girls born in the next decade may be lucky enough to have great grandchildren born into a world where women and girls are received as equal world citizens.  

I’m not really okay with that.  

So I have been doing small things like changing AFL teams (even though I don’t really follow football) to the team which has both a women’s league team and the most female board members.  Encouraging our communities to stop victim blaming, keeping up the momentum on the period taxing debate.  Even things as simple as supporting our mothers as they go through menopause, instead of treating ‘the change’ as a taboo subject.  These are things we all can do and a good place to start is to head to the women’s day page and make the pledge.  

This March is also an opportunity to celebrate the work women and men have done and are doing all around the world.  If you would like to do something outside of your local community then head to http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/ to get updated with information.  The page is a partnership of over 600 organisations in 40 countries all determined to end the practice of child brides.  The International Women’s Day page is also full of valuable information on what you can do to celebrate this women’s day.

New school of thought- when it comes to education, girls deserve better!

At an international scale girls and women have faced many gender-based barriers to being in school and getting an education. In some places there are barriers that affect boys in particular (such as recruitment to fight in war and conflicts) and trans* and non-binary people face extreme barriers to education based on their gender identity. However, it is the month of International Women’s Day and so this blog is going to focus on those which disproportionately affect girls.

A lot of research has been done all over the world to try and identify why there were a lot less girls in school that boys and there were found to be a lot of factors involved. There were cultural norms which parents or girls themselves enforce. Many thought that an education wasn’t needed or a waste of money for girls and there are stereotypes about what are ‘girls-subjects’ and what are ‘boys-subjects’ in most countries. Even in the UK and Australia, where we should have equal access to education regardless of gender, these stereotypes influence what people study, the careers they have access to afterwards and the relative value we place on those different jobs – in pay and in prestige. Work to break down these cultural norms has to be sensitive – it might be scholarships specifically for girls so the parents can see an immediate financial benefit to them being in school rather than at work, or wider campaigns such as those about women in STEM subjects that are now visible across many countries.

Then there are other barriers that girls face. Physical provision of facilities can often be a problem – particularly toilets. These might not be provided at all, or if they are, not have the necessary privacy or resources that girls need once they start getting their period each month. If you can’t go to school when you have your period then you end up missing out on up to a quarter of your education and soon fall behind, many then drop out completely as adolescents. Several organisations have investigated different ways to sort this problem by supporting the creation of toilets at school buildings and finding ways to increase girls access to sanitary products. This story gives one such example from India (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26260978).

The third barrier I want to talk about is gender based violence and this is a major deterrent to girls getting an education. This might be harassment from other students or even from teachers. A survey Girlguiding did in the UK revealed that 70% of girls aged 13 and over had experience sexual harassment at school – whilst that might not have meant those girls dropped out of school completely, it is going to have a tremendous effect on the education they are able to receive. There are increasingly campaigns highlighting important concepts such as consent, but to really tackle this problem I think every country needs to invest in comprehensive sexuality education programmes that are a compulsory part of the curriculum. Students shouldn’t be able to opt out of learning about how they should respect their fellow human beings. In the UK repeated calls for this to happen have been rejected by the government, but their campaigning continues and many organisations are developing and refining programmes to provide this kind of education to as many young people as possible.

This isn’t a comprehensive list of all the barriers girls and women face in accessing education, but offers some food for thought. The previous Millennium Development Goals focused on just getting an equal amount of boys and girls through primary school. The new Sustainable Development Goals go much further – wanting everybody, regardless of gender, to have access to high quality education from early years through to tertiary institutions. It also calls on the world to “Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, nonviolent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all” – another step that will address some of these barriers faced by girls. By working together to achieve these global goals by 2030 we can help girls and women to get the education they deserve.

Women on the frontlines of climate change

The poor are exceptionally vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and the majority of the global poor are women. Poorer women living in developing countries are more affected by the impacts of climate change than women in other living situations, as they are more likely to rely on natural resources, or live in places lacking infrastructure.

In these countries more women than men participate in farming for survival and water collecting. This exposes women to more negative impacts from poor quality natural resources. The Women’s Climate Action Agenda by the Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network (WECAN) outlines that ‘men’s work’ is more likely to be paid, and this protects them from the livelihood impacts of resource degradation. 

The Women’s Environmental Network (UK) explains that women are more likely to be affected by natural disasters and extreme weather events, and climate change will worsen things like floods and heatwaves. Studies have found that in countries where women do not have equal rights, they are more likely to die in natural disasters than men.

A team of researchers found that the impact of natural disasters on women is based on their socio-economic status in the affected country. There are several reasons for this, such as social norms and expected female behaviour that make women more vulnerable. For example, women feeling they can’t relocate to safety without permission from male relatives, or their role as carers for children or the elderly limiting their ability to move quickly.

Some scholars have suggested that climate change could worsen existing conflicts over natural resources. This would impact women as the main collectors and managers of these natural resources.

However, women are critical in the fight against climate change. There are many positive, big picture climate actions decision-makers can take, and the Gender and Climate Change Agenda, produced by the Women’s Environmental Network (UK) outlines three broad areas for action:

1. Gender sensitive strategies to mitigate climate change, where strategies to limit the negative effects of climate change consider gender issues
2. Addressing gender inequality, as without dealing with this, women will continue to suffer more from climate injustice
3. Gender-sensitive strategies for adaptation, where strategies to to get used to living with the impacts of climate change consider the specific impacts climate change has on women

Women might be on the frontlines of the climate fight, but they don’t have to be victims. Women can be powerful actors for change. Groups like the Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network, Women’s Environment and Development Organisation, 1 Million Women, GenderCC, and Women’s Climate Justice support women, both as individuals and as grassroots groups, around the world taking climate action. Click to find out exactly how these organisations are making a difference, and to learn more about the female fight for climate justice.

What weighs 20kg but can weigh down your life even more?

Water is one of the most essential elements of life, particularly human life. Safe, clean, accessible sources of water for all is a key goal of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Millennium Development Goal aiming to reduce the number of people without access worldwide by 50% was one of the few met. Unfortunately, there are still many people worldwide without ready access to a safe and clean source of water and the burden of collecting water in most places falls to women.

In the Western world, we expect to be able to turn on our taps and for clean water to come running out for us to drink, brush our teeth with, cook with and wash ourselves and our clothes in. This is made possible, in Australia anyway, by a vast network of infrastructure including water treatment facilities, pipework (big pipes, little pipes and pipes in houses), chemical dosing facilities (chlorine in various keeps the bugs from growing in the water in the pipelines) and a different set of pipes to take away the water for treatment as sewerage. The quality of this product is regulated by legislation and there are many people who work to both produce good quality drinking water and to maintain the infrastructure to make it possible for it to get to us.

A lack of water infrastructure leads to increased work for women providing them with less time to make money for their families or to go to school depending on how old they are. Because we live in a world where boy children are overwhelmingly prioritised over girl children and men are expected to work and women to look after the home, where there is a need for water to be gathered this task falls to the ‘lesser’. The girl child who can spend hours every day walking to the nearest river does not have time or energy to go to school. The woman who can spend hours walking to the nearest well does not have time or energy to raise income to support her family. On average, women and girls can walk between 6 and 10km a day just collecting water. In my house, we use an average of 220 L of water a day between two of us and for Australians we use relatively little water. Most water buckets hold about 20L of water, which at 20kg is pretty heavy anyway. Can you imagine doing enough trips to a river or well carrying 20kg just to get the amount of waste I use daily?

When collecting water from a river or other natural water source, it is often contaminated and highly unlikely to meet the stringent legislation our water is subjected to. This results in high levels of infant mortality and general illness due to diahorreoa from many things including cholera, courtesy of Vibrio cholerae a type of bacteria that loves dirty water. The burden of caring for sick members of the family also falls unfairly on the shoulders of women further impacting their ability to gain an education and earn money for their families. In some parts of the world, like Bangladesh, the natural water sources are contaminated with arsenic making them totally unusable or people are poisoned. And sometimes water infrastructure in the developing world fails. In Michigan in the USA there is a town that has no water because the local source, due to bad management of industry in the area and lack of control of the pipes from rusting, has been contaminated with lead. This is having major impacts on the local population’s health. If this sort of thing is possible in the USA where they have some of the strongest legislation on water quality in the world and possibly the leading organisation to understand and control rust of infrastructure, what hope do places without this have?

There are things we can do about this. Start by checking out WaterAid and Care who both have fundraisers in March to raise awareness and funds to help bring clean water to all and increase the rights and futures of women and girls in the process. Both of them have great websites where I got most of my facts from. Join in on Walk in her shoes or Walk4Water or pledge to only drink water for the month or sponsor someone else you know participating.

http://www.wateraid.org/au 

https://walkinhershoes.org.au/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis

Image: This is me in a water filter trying to work out why it wasn’t performing as well as it should have been. We are lucky to have the infrastructure to produce high quality drinking water here in Australia and we maintain it.