UNIFEM's strategies on women in the Philippines Essay

UNIFEM's strategies on women in the Philippines - Essay Example We have seen throughout history the discrimination that women suffered all parts of the world. Women empowerment in America has come a long way now. However, in other parts of the world, there are still a disproportionate number of women living in poverty. In some countries, poverty has a feminine face.UNIFEM is the women's fund of the United Nations. It seeks to improve women empowerment and gender inequality in all countries by reducing feminized poverty, put an end to violence against women, reducing the spread of AIDS among women and to ensure gender equality in democratic governance.One of the core goals of UNIFEM is to end feminized poverty. To attain this, it has implemented strategies such as putting gender into trade and economic policies and expanding access to markets, goods and services. It also started to working with various countries such as Africa, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Ecuador and Brazil.In the Philippines, the bulk of UNIFEM's work is with migrant workers. They created savings and investment programs for those women returning from working abroad. There are also projects for home-based workers.This paper seeks to analyze how UNIFEM's strategies affect women in the Philippines. Will it work What could be made to improve the strategies Also, towards the end of the paper, I will discuss the impact of feminized poverty in the Philippines in my personal living in America and how it helped me become more aware of gender inequalities in the United States.Women shared an important role in the political history of the Philippines. They participated in the revolt against Spanish colonization in the 19th century. It was also a woman who led the fall of a dictatorship in the 1980's. And at present, the president of the country is a woman. It is safe to say that in the Philippines, woman are enjoy a greater equality with men as compared to its' neighboring countries. In fact, its' Constitution includes a clause imposing equal rights between men and women. And there is a number of anti-discrimination laws legislated. Women's participation in the Philippine economy is also significant. However, they dominate only on the low level jobs like factory work and domestic help. On the contrary, men are still preferred for high position jobs. In a way, the glass ceiling still exists. And this is the reason why feminized poverty still exists in the Philippines. Effect of Promotions for Women Migrant Workers The Philippines have been progressive with respect to women's rights compared to its neighboring countries. As mentioned earlier, equality between men and women are already embodied in their Constitution. They have also adopted gender budgeting already. As such, considering that a bulk of the migrant workers from the Philippines consists of women, the poverty reducing strategy that would have the most impact is the promotions for women migrant workers. Even though Philippine laws already protect women's rights, when women go to another country, they don't enjoy the same privilege. The host country may have a culture of discrimination against women. Their laws may still offer no protection for women. As such, by going to such country, they open themselves to the discrimination and gender biases in the foreign country. And since they are foreigners, the host country owes them less protection compared to its citizens. This is where the program of UNIFEM for migrant workers could be very helpful. UNIFEM could have an information dissemination campaign for women migrant workers so they would be more informed of their rights. If women are better informed of their rights, they would be less prone to abuses. UNIFEM can also establish offices to aid and assist these women migrant workers. Because these women are not in their own country, they do not have their own support group to help them out. If they experience abuse from a citizen of the host country, it is but understandable that they are hesitant to seek help from

Autobiographical Transformation as a Child to an Adult Essay

Autobiographical Transformation as a Child to an Adult - Essay Example My transformation as a child to an adult was in a Toronto suburb as an only son in a family of eight. What made me grow up differently from my siblings was that I always had a carefree and, sometimes, quite reckless mindset towards life. While my seven sisters were either doing their homework or doing house chores, there I was, running up and down my neighborhood searching for stray dogs to terrorize and play football with the neighborhood children. My father, who had waited patiently for a son until I was born, always referred to me as a waste of life, although my mother always defended me. My father was adamant that I was the family’s hope but, at nine, you rarely see yourself as anyone’s hope, so our relationship was a mess. In the summer of 1996, I arrived home from school to a rude shock. My father, finally fed up, had made a decision of leaving my mother and marrying his black mistress who already had his son. When my mother refused to grant him custody of any of us, he seemed quite relieved. I could tell this because, by then, I had begun looking at people and observing their facial expressions. My father could not bear to look at us, but I always knew my mother’s housewife routine had gotten to him. This is an autobiographical paper that discussing the people, places, events, and experiences that have influenced my culture, social class, gender, religion and sexual orientation. Race Growing up as a child, my neighborhood, was predominantly white. However, some of my friends were not white; for example, my best friend’s family had emigrated from Papua New Guinea. My feelings towards racial minorities were non-existent during my childhood, as I even went to my friend’s house for dinner and â€Å"homework†. As I became older, however, I began to have a different outlook towards other races, especially African Canadians. While my attitude was not racist, I had a hard time convincing myself that not all black people were like the woman who took my father away from my mother. I met her once during a school trip to the zoo, as she clung to my father’s arm and I was afraid of talking my black friends after that. However, when I joined high school, my attitude took another turn when I met a black girl who had emigrated from Tanzania. I was amazed at how different she was from what I had envisioned black women to be growing up, and watching my mother struggle as a single mum. When I met my father’s new partner at the zoo, she had sneered at me, which had given me the impression that this was a â€Å"black thing†. However, with Aisha, she had the most loving face I had ever seen. Going to college saw me meet more black people and my attitude by then had changed to one of inclusiveness. This was brought on by my comprehension that we were all after the same things in life. Social Class When I was growing up in a middle-class suburb, my interaction with lower class citizens was lim ited to the mall and school. I remember I always had a â€Å"keep away† attitude towards them. This was informed by an incident where my sister was robbed and almost raped coming from her boyfriend’s house across the rail tracks. I remember my mother being livid that her boyfriend had not even had the courtesy to come and explain the situation. From that day, she forbids us from mixing with those â€Å"uncivilized folk†. When I was ten, my friends and I came up against a gang of youth from the ghetto as we scurried after a stray dog. While they did not beat us as they took our clothes and the little money we had, I still remember their â€Å"rich kids† taunts. I did not consider myself a rich kid at that point since my parents had to take care of eight siblings, so I began to wonder what these rich kids could have done to deserve this kind of treatment. When I joined High School, I came to the realization that the rich kids were not very different from us .