Educate a girl, change the world – Malala Yousafzai
Being a young lady and living in Lebanon, we always heard stories of women being beaten up, tortured, or killed by their husbands from our family members or friends. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Nearly half of women who die due to homicide are killed by their current or former husbands or boyfriends.” Many articles are bringing to light this issue especially with the start of the Covid19 pandemic, where we have seen a spike in that subject due to quarantine and home stays.
As generations, we have progressed in many fields, but we are still lacking a lot in that domain. How is that possible? One main reason for domestic violence’s on-going presence is that, on average, 37.75% of women around the world believe that a husband is justified in beating his wife (percentage from 2000 till 2020). That’s a huge number! Many women justify this type of violence as “normal’” and give the right to their partners/ husbands to beat them. But why are women justifying and accepting domestic violence? Why is that number this high nowadays?
To dig deep into the subject, I decided to evaluate potential factors that could affect women’s decision in justifying domestic violence such as poverty levels, literacy rates, and early marriages rates around the world. It was found that:
On average, 75.96% of Female aged 15+ are literate around the world (from 2000 till 2020)
On average, 3.63% of the global population live under Poverty Gap at $1.90 a day (from 2000 till 2020)
On average, 6.78% of Female between 20 and 24 years old married at the age of 15 around the world (from 2000 till 2020)
The results showed that countries with low literacy rates in female adults have higher percentages of women who believe that a husband is justified in beating his wife (stand with domestic violence) such as Ethiopia who has a low literacy rate of 28.53% in female adults and a very high percentage of women who justify their husband’s violence (74.23%).
On the poverty level, it was found that countries with higher poverty gaps rates have higher percentages of women who stand with domestic violence such as Congo who has a poverty gap of 51.7% and a very high percentage of women who justify their husband’s violence (75.2%).
Also, when comparing that percentage with the percentage of women who married at the age of 15, it was found that countries with higher numbers of early marriages have higher percentages of women who stand with domestic violence such as Chad who has a percentage of early marriage of 29.47% (of female between 20-24 have married at the age of 15) and a very high number of women who justify their husband’s violence (67.9%).
Poverty, Literacy rates, and Early Marriages in the country affect heavily the perception of women in whether domestic violence by their partners is acceptable or not. High poverty rates increase the justification of domestic violence, low literacy rates increase the justification of domestic violence, and high early marriages rates increase the justification of domestic violence.
Increasing educational benefits in underprivileged countries would be a great initiative to increase literacy rates among women and stopping abuse among families. Introducing educational programs such as Girls’ Education by the World Bank Group which focuses on ensuring that young women receive a quality education, and raising awareness about physical abuse would also encourage the fight against domestic violence. Some countries such as Indonesia have increased the age of marriage of adolescent girls which would contribute to less early marriages, and less acceptance of violence.
Throughout history, women’s primary role was to be homemakers that would only perform domestic chores, raise children, and continue the bloodline. A childless woman was branded as barren, and she was frowned upon. In the Middle Ages, people called infertile women witches and followers of the Devil. Motherhood was a moral obligation.
Unfortunately, we still witness such cases in the current era, particularly in African and Middle-Eastern countries. Nafissa, a girl from Niger, is one victim of such a case. “I stopped (going to) school in order to marry,” says the young teen, “It was because of people’s mentality and their prejudices. I was married during a school break, and I became pregnant before I could return. After that, I never returned.” Nafissa now has 5 children and forced to carry out the household chores and take care of her children. How many girls in this world are like Nafissa? How could her life change if she pursued her studies and got a job?
According to World Bank data, the fertility rate was 2.6 births per woman in 2019. A value that is approximately half of what it was in 1960 (5.5). Emerging countries, on average, have greater fertility rates than prosperous countries. Women tend to give birth to fewer than three children in countries where GDP per capita is below $1,000 per year. In countries where GDP per capita is above $10,000 per year, women give birth to no more than two children. The decline in the world fertility rate can be attributed to three main factors:
1. More women are getting an education and seeking to establish their careers before—and sometimes instead of—having a family. SDG-4.3
2. Fewer childhood deaths. SDG-3.2
3. More women in the workforce. SDG-5.5
4. Access to contraception. SDG-3.7
Let’s look at one of the world’s most advanced economies South Korea which has a fertility rate of 1 in 2020. This means South Korean women have, on average, one child, and many others do not have children. The reason behind this is the involvement of women in the economy (60% – female labor force), fewer infants’ death (2.7% mortality rate of infants per 1000 live births), and women pursuing tertiary education (88.6%). On the other hand, Niger recorded the highest number of births per woman over the last years on average, Niger women gave birth to 7 children on average in 2020 with the numbers shown in the dashboard.
However, the relationship between lower fertility rates and higher GDP per capita has been controversial in the last few years. The lower the number of births, the lesser number of individuals joining the workforce, and the slower the economic growth. Would the “replacement value” for dying populations suggested by the UN of 2.1 kids per woman solve the problem? Despite all the efforts to increase fertility rates in developed countries like South Korea and Japan, having a child or not having a child is a choice.
In brief, low fertility rates are a leading economic indicator that women’s empowerment can achieve. The mentioned factors are closely linked: educated women are more likely to know about and use contraception, and contraceptives give women the option to continue their education or career instead of raising multiple children. Also, in an environment with low child mortality, women will give birth to fewer children as they ensure the survival of children.
At the dawn of the 1990s, the People’s Republic of China was a typical developing nation. The majority of its population lived in poverty mainly in rural areas. The country’s GDP per capita was $318 which was almost equal to that of the African nation of Mali ($317) and much less than the GDP per capita of the South American nation of Guyana ($533.5). However, the most challenging problem that the Asian dragon faced was the high infant mortality rate of 42.7 deaths per 1000 births which was considered high according to UN standards (12 deaths/1000 births). Since then, the government implemented ambitious and bold economic reforms and opened gradually its economy to the rest of the world. The country witnessed an influx of foreign investment that resulted in the increase of the nation’s GDP per capita from $318 in 1990 to $10,144 in 2019! Beijing took advantage of its miraculous economic growth by incrementing investment in its health system. It focused on health financing, human resource development and health information systems and promoted the equalization of health services including maternal and child health services. As a result, the infant mortality rate in China decreased from 42.7 deaths/1000 births in 1990 to 5.9 deaths/1000 births in 2019. In other words, China triumphed in decreasing its infant mortality rate by 86% in almost 20 years, an achievement that even the most developed nations of the world did not accomplish. China is the example of a nation that has benefited from its economic development to decrease infant mortality rate. In this way, it achieved target 3.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations for countries to reach by 2030 -the ending of preventable deaths of newborns to less than 12; and most importantly achieved the health and welfare of its population.
References:
Guo Y, Yin H. Reducing child mortality in China: successes and challenges. Lancet. 2016;387(10015):205-207. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00555-3
Department of Economics and Social Affairs, United Nations: Sustainable Development Goals, Goal 3: https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal3
Going through the different phases of the data visualization chain, from data exploration to creating a fully functional and adaptable Tableau dashboard, reinforced the important role that data analysis plays in today’s world, and no company should be falling behind the wave – including our client. A growing jewelry brand with creative collections, our client found itself at a cross-road in designing its business strategy post COVID-19. They hired a new senior manager, who was keen to get up to speed as fast as possible. Through our investigation of the data at hand, data transformations, analysis and visualizations, we were able to highlight not only the key metrics for her to focus on, but we also uncovered several underlying issues that were brought by the transition from an Excel reporting system to a POS one.
Our work highlighted the importance for the company to rely on data-driven decisions going forward, using our dashboard as a stepping-stone for the further development of their analytics infrastructure. Modifications within the business model have been flagged, including improved data entry to avoid further mistakes and higher reliance on what the data is telling, such as increasing the focus on the most selling collections and colors, as well as efficiently channeling promotional efforts. Combining the creativity of the collections offered with the right sales and marketing strategy is bound to create a successful story – empowered by data.
On a more general note, our dashboard can also be applicable to a wide range of businesses. We built a story in an adaptable way, whereby any new senior manager wanting to understand a business can take this dashboard as an initial reference, as it highlights all the key KPIs for one to look for – including general sales trends, sales by transaction, most and least profitable customers and margin trends, among others.
Data-driven decision making is no longer an added value to a company – rather it has, and should, stand at its core, connecting different business departments, translating business decisions into actions, and bringing creative strategies to life.
This work is done by Dalal Darwich, Maha Weiss, Maya El Gharib, Samer Batlouni, and Stephanie Khabbaz
FROM “Man up, you can’t be depressed just because this happened!” TO “Why are you looking so sad and tired? Are you depressed? You can talk to me if you want..”
To begin with, according to the World Bank dataset on development indicators, it is clear that men’s average suicide mortality rate is significantly higher than females.
Surprisingly, males are three times more suicidal than females, reaching an average of 14.3 male suicides per 100,000 males, while 4.4 female suicides per 100,000 females.
But why is this the case?
While comparing countries with high unemployment rates and countries with low unemployment rates, the following analyses were investigated:
To begin with, in Countries with highest unemployment rates, the suicide mortality rates for both men and women are higher.
However, when faced with difficult economic situations:
Females suicide mortality rates were higher by 150%
Males suicide mortality rates were higher by 217%
This leads to the conclusion that men’s mental health tends to be more susceptible to financial burdens.
So, what should be done?
A potential solution would be providing unemployment benefits, which are governmental compensations that are provided for unemployed people. These compensations help secure a stable income after the layoff of an employee, and they improve unemployed people’s productivity in the labor market by improving job matching and connecting employees to employers.
In addition, this solution can be helpful in mitigating the impact of unemployment on the psychological wellbeing of people.
As the following illustration shows, both females’ and males’ suicide mortality rates are higher in countries with loweradequacy and coverage of unemployment benefits
More specifically, males’ suicide rates are 31% lower in countries with high adequacy and coverage of unemployment benefits.
Thus, in order to mitigate the males’ suicide mortality, several recommendations are suggested to be effective.
First, it is highly recommended that suicide prevention groups intensify their focus on men and encourage them to express themselves and seek psychological help.
Equally important, in countries with high unemployment rates, governments should work on providing unemployment benefits and ensure their wide coverage of the unemployed.
“He beat me for a year, he would beat me with a belt, wiper sticks, and an empty trash can.
Every time, I would cry and beg him to stop, but he never did” says Nisreen.
Growing up in Basra, Nisreen dreamed of pursuing an education, even though girls were not expected to complete high school.
Nisreen was forced to drop out of high school. When her relative from Baghdad suggested that she marry his son. She did not complete the education that would allow her to get a decent job, she was financially dependent on her husband. Nisreen is not the only one who is subjected to physical violence and keeps silent!
There are women who also believe that husband violence towards them is justified!
What if Nisreen continued her studies and got a Job?
She could have had totally different life!
Women’s education is a crucial condition for women’s empowerment, a woman who is educated is much more aware of her rights in first place to fight for them and not to accept or normalize any kind of violence. Education equips women with more skills and knowledge that qualify them for better job opportunities and financial independence as 85% of women who leave an abusive relationship return. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, a large percentage of women who have returned to a relationship attribute their inability to handle their finances as a major contributing factor.
The first map above shows the literacy rates by country, and the circles highlight the percentage of violence against women. We can clearly see that in countries where literacy rate is low, the percentage of violence against women is higher. The map also shows that Africa has the lowest literacy rate.
When we look at the graph of early marriage by region, we note that Africa has the highest rate of early marriage. Most likely, women married at an early age could not continue their education and this could be a reason for the high level of violence against women.
A woman’s awareness of her rights is so important to women’s empowerment that when we look at the percentage of women who think a husband is justified in beating his wife and compare it to the literacy rate in the scatter plot, we find a strong negative correlation between the two “as the literacy rate increase, the percentage of women who believe a husband is justified to beat his wife decrease”
In conclusion, education is an important factor in women’s awareness of their rights and in reducing violence against women by providing better opportunities for women to have a job and be independent.
We recommend and suggest governments and international organizations to ensure that women have access to quality and appropriate education by implementing policies that mandate female education. This will increase their awareness of their own rights and increase their participation in jobs that will affect their independence and the interest of society as a whole.
Now, do you want to know what happened with Nisreen?
Nisreen’s aunt visited and suggested that she enroll in Women for Women International’s program (develop programs to provide skills, knowledge, and resources that create sustainable change for women )to give her some time away from the depression she felt at home.
With the support of the women in her class, Nisreen recognized that what was happening to her was not right. “My confidence grew, and I decided that I wanted to take action. I finally found the courage to tell my brothers about my husband’s beatings. I told them that I wanted a divorce.
“With my improved situation and the ability to earn income, I feel more confident now to face life and the future.”
While comparing countries with high unemployment rates and countries with low unemployment rates, the following analyses were investigated:
