by Wassim Radwan | Apr 15, 2022 | Visualization
in 2015, the United Nations Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. One of those goals is gender equality (i.e., goal #5).
Gender Inequality has been an imperative social issue in India for centuries. India lags behind when it comes to education for women, and this lag hinders a woman’s role in their society. Some symptoms of the problem are:
- The role of women living in a traditional Indian society is to look after the home and children which requires no schooling.
- The Indian society is organized in a way that it is patriarchal i.e., it revolves around the male and the female occupies a negligible role. The sons are considered as assets whereas the daughters are considered as liabilities
- If the family is living in poverty, then the female child is tasked with household chores and taking care of her siblings. Thus, no time nor money is spent on the female child’s education
- If a woman is able to earn money after receiving education, then there is a concern that she will hurt the male ego due to her independence.
According to the above bar chart, the literacy rate of Indian women as a percentage of the total population of women in India in the year 1981 was found to be approximately 25.68%. However, India did not remain idle when faced with such a conundrum. In 2009, they implemented a program called the Saakshar Bharat program that aims to promote and strengthen adult learning, reaching out to those who missed the opportunity to access or complete formal education as well as basic literacy/education. This program involves the government of India acting as a facilitator and resource provider while simultaneously working closely with many local communities in order to design educational programs tailor-made to their specific needs. After the implementation of the program, the literacy rate among Indian women reached 65.78% in 2018.
This result alone proves that the program has been successful in eliciting change for Indian women via education. Therefore, the Indian government should continue offering the program and invest more funds into it to target more local communities within the region.
by kmh21 | Apr 15, 2022 | Uncategorized
Kassem Hajjoul
Women rights is a critical topic that has been highlighted on in the past few decades with the uprising of feminist movements around the world calling for gender-equality and women rights. Women are not treated fairly in comparison with men in most of the sectors: economic, social, political and cultural. The women participation in the political arena is limited and minor, this world is ruled by men exclusively as the women participation in the political-decision making process is lower than 25% (UN women).
On the world map, we can display using tableau this low participation we discussed and this ratio varies between countries with the variation in the socio-political and cultural spectrum. A potential solution is to legislate a women quota in the parliament where women can prove themselves in ruling the political scene and set a great example of women in politics, later on this quota can be removed with the potential change in the cultural and social identities thus women having a fair competition with men in this arena.
Most of the countries having a high female participation in the parliament have a legislated fixed quota with a number of reserved seats, For example: Rwanda,61%; UAE,50%, New Zealand 48%, Sweden 47%
The evidence can be shown in an evolution of women participation in a country before and after a quota was applied in the parliament. Poland is a great example of that, after applying a 20% quota in the parliament, the women participation in the parliament increased from 3% to 28%
Female quotas can be an effective solution in the political arena and in other sectors, yet this should be a temporary transitional solution to assure competency and fairness as women will not need a quota after proving themselves and contributing in shifting the cultural and social mentalities. Let’s fight for a world with equal opportunities for women and men.
by Jana El Oud | Apr 15, 2022 | Visualization
According to the World Health Organization, global spending on health was rising reaching up to $8.3 trillion in 2018. However, lower income
countries face severe health financing constraints, which slow their progress towards health security and universal health coverage.
With more than 445 million cases, 6 million deaths, and $10.2 trillion in Global healthcare, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating
impact on health systems globally.
Why aren’t lower-income countries financing the healthcare sector efficiently?
Domestic health financing by lower income countries was financed primarily by private sources. The average finance of health sending was
69% by private sources in low-income countries. On the other hand, in upper middle and high income countries, private financing was only
38%.
Visual:
The visual below shows how different countries’ healthcare expenditure per capita (as a percentage of GDP) throughout different years
preceding the pandemic. It indicates that countries with lower GDP, spend less on healthcare.
The US has significantly higher healthcare expenditure per capita in comparison to other countries (16% of GDP).
On the other hand, being a low-income country, Pakistan’s healthcare expenditure does not exceed 3% of GDP.
Recommendations:
– International Comparisons to study whether countries with higher expenditures were able to fight the pandemic in a more efficient manner.
– Increase aid in lower-income countries to ensure equal access to healthcare.
– Invest in global common resources for health to enable global health security to fight any future health challenges that arise.
by Abed Estwani | Apr 15, 2022 | Visualization
Steve: “I would kill for – I would kill for sex! YES! KILL!”
The Board lights up with “KILL” as the no. 2 answer, the audience in the studio laughed, the audience at home laughed, and the video went viral of yet another successful episode of family feuds. Good job Steve, you are one hell of a host.
That night, the audience in the studio went home after a good laugh. After all, it is all good, if it is just a joke, right? But guess what, this isn’t a joke. This is a reality that many women face on a daily basis. That’s already horrendous, yet there exist an even harsher and more terrifying reality.
Meet Fadimata,
a young woman, married at the age of 18, a mother of two, and she spends her day roaming around carrying a basket over her head selling fresh produce to help support her family. She never got the chance to continue her education, but she’s doing her best to survive.
But once she gets home, that’s when her hell begins.
She gets beaten up by her husband if she doesn’t service him sexually. Let that sink in. She goes back home… only to get beaten if she refuses to sex her husband.
If that wasn’t bad enough, wait for the uppercut.
She believes her husband IS justified for beating her when she refuses sex with him.
Now imagine that is YOU…
Unfortunately, more than 60% of women in Mali believe that a husband is justified to beat his wife if she refuses to have sex with him; quite. Similarly, countries like Guinea, Niger, Burundi, Chad, Senegal, etc… also experienced a relatively high rate of women accepting that notion.
On the other hand, countries like South Africa, Albania, Dominican Republic, and Colombia had shown that the percentage of women accepting the notion of a husband being justified to beat his wife if she refuses to have sex with him is to be at 1% or less.
Drilling down into this alarming phenomenon, and trying to understand why such a phenomenon even exists, we discovered yet another factor that might play a significant role in that.
The dropout rate for female students from the educational system (especially at the primary level) is astronomically higher in countries where women believe in the notion compared to the countries where women do not share this notion.
As such, one way to combat this notion is to heavily invest in the educational sector and facilitate accessibility in order to empower women and break these hellish chains.
However, as demonstrated by Burundi, while education might be key, it is not enough. It should be coupled with awareness and empowerment campaigns in order to reinforce the self-esteem and self-worth of these marginalized female groups.
Let’s work together to make this world a better place for all of us!!!
by gmr07 | Apr 15, 2022 | Visualization
Suicide is a severe public health problem that affects people all around the world. Every year, 703 000 individuals die by suicide over the world. It is one of the most common causes of death. Suicide kills more people around the world than any other cause (Malaria, HIV/AIDS, breast cancer, and other diseases). Suicide claimed the lives of more than one death in every 100 (1.3 percent) of people in 2019.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has made suicide mortality reduction a global priority and included it as an indicator in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under target 3.4, as well as in WHO’s 13th General Program of Work 2019–2023 and the WHO Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2020, which has been extended to 2030. Suicide prevention requires a comprehensive and coordinated response to ensure that the tragedy of suicide does not continue to claim lives and touch millions of people via the death of loved ones or suicide attempts.
WDI-DATA shows that the suicide mortality rate is decreasing at low rates from 2000 to 2019.
Taking Action!
Action should be taken to reduce the suicide mortality rate worldwide. What if we raised the educational level in each country? Will the suicide mortality rate decrease?
Data from the WDI (World Development Indicators) are used to study the impact of education level on the suicide mortality rate.
From the visualization, we noticed that the higher the level of educational attainment, the lower the suicide mortality rate, such as in the US and vice versa.
Final Recommendations:
Data demonstrates the importance of education and its effectiveness in decreasing the suicide mortality rate.
Education assists people in becoming better citizens, obtaining a higher-paying career, and demonstrating the distinction between good and wrong.
That’s why the law of compulsory education should be enforced worldwide.
