Understanding Gender Harmony





Women do not have to become like men to deserve equal pay for equal job, or to deserve equal rights, or equal access to opportunities in life. Women can be women and men can be men. We as a society must have a consensus on the balance where peace in the society is based on a solid foundation of harmony between the gender.

As people everywhere continue to progress in line with human civilization, emphasizing a 'comprehensive' approach to families' health and social life takes center stage in public discourse. It became clear that equality is equal access, equal rights, equal opportunity, and meritocratic values that culminate into harmony and peace in the society.

 

Furthermore, the opportunity cost of less than balanced and fair empowerment of women is too high for any community, culture, or country to bear. The alternative approach also breeds further conflicts as women worldwide continue to break traditional barriers of gender inequalities. The backlashes are worrisome on both sides. We must begin to consider what type of precedence gender conflict sets for societies and generations to come.

 

Thus, we must make an effort to have candid discussions that involve both male and female panelists across international and cultural boundaries on how to integrate gender equality and women's empowerment into poverty reduction, democratic governance, crisis prevention and recovery, environment and sustainable development without compromising the integrity one over the other.

 

 The overarching goal is improved humanity, improved society, improved systems, improved performances, and enhanced productivity that enable the Sustainability we want. Then, the discussion for harmony between the gender is inevitable.

 

So how can we use the premise of gender harmony to advance the understanding of gender inequalities, sexual harassment, and sex-based discrimination?  This question is what we hope to educate ourselves on, and we have reached out to experts in the field to speak on this issue. The audience is welcome to ask questions.

 

Gender harmony is when the masculine and feminine are balanced and complementary to each other. Like a harmonious dance, male and female can work together, seamlessly and even more gracefully.  Men and Women can complement each other's strengths and supplement each other's weaknesses to accomplish a purposeful and productive task. This could improve understanding between the sexes and reduce avoidable conflicts in public places, work environments, and domestic abuse.  Eventually, it could increase productivity and bring about Sustainability.

 

Gender harmony initiative is a strategic solution that must be incorporated in the school curriculum from kindergarten to tertiary levels. A basic understanding of how to co-exist without violence, discrimination, abuses, and conflicts due to gender difference is the right path to meritocracy, real democracy, gender equality, and sustainable development goals. 

 

We invite you to join this Commission on the Status of Women's dialogue on how to equip the public with information and instill gender education from an early stage on, enabling self-discovery, recognition and respect of gender, and unabated accomplishment of dreams, freedom from fears, and realization of potential. So, men and women can participate equally in public dialogues, right to worship, as well as make or influence decisions that will determine their future or their families' and societies.'

This conversation needs to be had about a parallel pursuit of gender equality as well as gender harmony.

 

 


Why  it is Important to Support Women

It is vital to support the advancement of women everywhere in the world. Today, there is disproportionate access to decision-making roles in political economic institutions across gender in Africa. Many traditions in our continent have been geared towards educating the men at the cost of the women. Many countries in Africa are paying the premium of the opportunity cost of having cultivated less than equal and fair women's empowerment for too long. Their growth engines are being powered by one wing when it could have been operating at a total (two-wings) capacity. There is a huge gap to close.

 

We understand poverty to be more than just the lack of money. It is also the inability to make a sound judgment. We believe that poor judgment is the root cause of poverty. Empowering women through targeted policy, gender-sensitive legislatures, gender etiquette, and deliberate leadership role for women is the most efficient method of alleviating poverty in Africa. Because women are the family's foundation, does not mean that they should sit at home to anchor the family.  Women need to have equal control of the steering wheel with equal valor and equal expectation. When the society empowers the women, the nation is stronger.


African Views technical, scientific, and cultural research, analysis, reports, and public engagement on Gender Harmony

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT: IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP There have always been female rulers. Egyptian Queens are believed to have governed from around 3000 BCE and the first to be named by the sources without any doubt is Ku-baba, who ruled the Mesopotamian City-State of Ur round 2500 BCE.. However, it was not until during and just after the World War I that the first few women became members of the revolutionary governments in Ukraine, Russia, Hungary and Ireland. Nina Bang, Danish Minister of Education 1924-26, was the first woman to be minister in democratically elected parliamentary government. First female Prime Minister and President in 1960 are Sirivamo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka became the world's first female elected Premier Minister and in 1974 Isabel Perón of Argentina became the first woman President - one woman had been Acting Head of Government and two women Acting Heads of State before that. Nevertheless, development was slow and it was not until the end of the 20th century that female ministers stopped being unusual, though a number of countries don't have women in their governments at the moment. Sweden became the first country to have more female ministers than male in 1999. With 11 women and 9 men and in 2007 the Finish government had 60% women. And, in 2009 Monaco became the last country in the world to have its first female member of government. The United Nation has had 8 Secretaries-General since its inception in 1945. The Secretary-General acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations. The Secretary-General role was envisioned by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a "world moderator," but the office was defined in the UN Charter as the organization's "chief administrative officer" (Article 97). Nevertheless, this Secretary-General role is not restricted to a specific gender and does has not prevented the office holders from speaking out and playing important roles...
Development, Economic Finance, Women and the Workplace Gender inequality has improved over the years. However, it is still a pressing issue and affects women on a daily basis. The accessibility to economic freedom especially the equal treatment in economic terms lessens the many limitations women face. Such limitations exist like: unequal pay, inability to purchase property, limit to education as a means to economic freedom, job opportunities, and social restrictions such as cultural traditions. Fair pay is essential for families to thrive, especially in hard economic times. In the United States during 2009, as stated by the No Limits Foundation, 1.5 million married couples with children relied exclusively on women's earnings at some point; this represents 6.7% of all married couples with children. Additionally, 6.34 million families are headed by working single mothers. Many times certain individuals shy away from providing equal pay because of the stereotypical perspective of a woman's role in society. Economic freedom starts with the breaking of this mentality. Discrimination against women is practiced outside of the workplace as well as in the workplace. Even though men are not directly affected by this type of discrimination men and society as a whole face indirect repercussions for this unequal treatment. "Gender equality is also smart economics. . . . According to a UN study, it is estimated that the Asia Pacific region is shortchanged between 42 and 47 billion dollars a year in GDP because of the untapped potential of women? as said by Ambassador Melanne Verveer. "In countries where men and women are closer to being equal in economic participation, political empowerment, accesses to education and health survivability, these countries enjoy greater prosperity and economic growth. Simply put – no country can get ahead if half its people are left behind.
7th billion reason to invest in women empowerment This week, Ted Turner, founder of CNN wrote an article on the importance of investing in women. His concern was that the world's population has hit the milestone of 7 billion people -- up from 2.5 billion in 1950 -- with almost all of the growth expected to happen in the cities of less developed countries. Universal access to voluntary family planning is a cross-cutting and cost-effective solution to achieving all of the Millennium Development Goals. In addition to reducing maternal mortality, providing voluntary family planning methods and education enables young women to avoid early pregnancy, allows more girls to attend school longer, makes it possible for women to have fewer, healthier children and helps break the inter-generational cycle of poverty. Additionally, it would reduce HIV transmission, empower women to pursue income-generating activities in their communities and promote environmental sustainability. Ted says, the time is now. The investments we make today will shape the world we leave the next generation. If the United States wants to maintain its global leadership role, we must be thinking and making smart investments that will help us address both current and future responsibilities. The best way to do this is to listen to women and fund international family planning. Our future depends on it. What do you think? Host: Dr. Surendra Kaushik Founder and Chairman Mrs. Helena Kaushik Women's College Helena Kaushik Education Foundation http://helenakaushik.org/ Quality Control: Mr. William A. Verdone Producer and Director: Mr. Wale Idris Ajibade Special Advisor Andy Howell
THE CHILD’S RIGHT TO LIFE AND HEALTH This topic is guided by the right to life, a universal human rights principle enshrined in all international human rights instruments, including the CRC (Convention on the Rights of the Child). Article 6 recognizes that every child has the right to life, survival and development. This provision has been interpreted to mean that measures taken by the State should be ?of a positive nature and thus designed to protect life, including life expectancy, diminish infant and child mortality, combating diseases and rehabilitating health, providing adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking water?. That being said, the number of children who die before the age of five is still alarmingly high in some South East Asian and Sub-Saharan African countries. In the worst hit, as many as 1 in 7 are lost before that landmark age. To this end, the United Nations developed the Millennium Development Goals; the fourth of which is to reduce child mortality by two thirds by the year 2015. Let's talk about the first five years of life and explore the reasons why so many African children do not make it to the fifth year. How can we decisively reduce Child Mortality? How much progress has been made towards meeting the challenges to attaining the fourth Millennium Development Goal (MDG)? Join us as we explore the challenges to the attainment of this lofty goal as we join the world in celebrating Human Rights Day on December10. HOST: Dr. Ladi Owolabi CO-HOST: Regina Askia Williams, RN AFRICAN VIEWS
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT: Economic Status of Women The economic well-being of women is often used as an indicator of the overall advancement of a society. The better women fare relative to men, the argument goes, the better the overall society is at creating equal opportunities and benefits for its entire people. Women have always played important roles in matrilineal societies around the world. Traditionally in these cultures, women are the keepers of the family and serve as the all-important conduits through which cultures are shaped. In more recent times, we've seen a surge in the formation of women's groups and more women are taking up key government positions. Women increasingly influence politics and development. But are these recent events indicative of an underlying improvement in the economic status of women? Are women really improving their stations in life, relative to men? More specifically, are they becoming more educated, taking up more jobs and earning better wages? This discussion starts with general hisurestorical activities and earning power of women, their progression to professions and the modern movements to equality of wages based on the idea of "same pay for same work" and eliminating gender as an economic consideration. Policies, programs, ways and means to achieve and various degrees of success in different societies will be discussed within the context of globalization. Global benchmarks set by those countries in Africa, Europe, the New World, and Asia who have achieved or close to achieving gender equality in the market place will be highlighted as goal posts for those countries that have not yet done so. Host: Dr. Surendra Kaushik http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mrs-Helena-Kaushik-Womens-College
Partnering to Improve Women’s Health - Thinking Globally This week's topic is Partnering to Improve Women's Health ? Think Globally Act Locally? Special guest: Dr Beatrice Wiafe Addai, M.D.,PhD Consultant Breast Surgeon; C.E.O; Peace and Love Hospitals, Ghana Beatrice Wiafe Addai has been working a Medical officer in Ghana; since 1989 to the present She has been a Breast Surgeon for the past ten years and a consultant in Breast Cancer Management. From a humble beginning nine years ago, Peace and Love Hospital now serves as a resource Centre for the Diagnosis, treatment, Counseling, Rehabilitation, and Research for Breast Cancer, Cervical Cancer, Hepatitis Infections and Renal Dialysis among others. It is through her work and pioneering efforts of developing the infrastructure of Breast Cancer Advocacy, Breast Care International BCI an NGO that seeks to the promotion of Breast Cancer Awareness in Ghana especially in the Remote communities was concerted in 2002 at Kumasi to intensify public awareness on the disease. She is the Race Chair for the first ever Susan G. Komen Ghana Race for the cure in Ghana. Dr Wiafe addai has been the recipient of many awards Some of these include: 1. The International award for Leadership in the Platinum Category, in Paris, France in April 2011. 2. The African Global Person for the year 2011 . The Peace and Love hospitals in Ghana have been at the ore front in delivering quality care to women in Ghana. They have held educational programs about breast cancer for the community to educate them about the importance of prevention and early screening in saving women's lives.
A Global Overview of Violence against Women At least 1 in 3 women around the world are subject to sexual, physical or other forms of violence during their lifetime. It may take many forms and is not limited to any culture, region or country, or to any specific group of women. It has enormous social and economic costs, and undercuts the contribution of women to development, human rights, peace, and security. Not only does violence against women prevent mothers from raising healthy children, it also hampers the economic development and stability within the country in which they live. It also poses a serious threat to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Despite its high costs, almost every society in the world has social institutions that legitimize, obscure and deny abuse. The same acts that would be punished if directed at an employer, a neighbor, or an acquaintance often go unchallenged when men direct them at women, especially within the family. For over two decades women's advocacy groups around the world have been working to draw more attention to the physical, psychological, and sexual abuse of women as well as to stress the need for action to end all forms of violence against women. They have provided abused women with shelter, lobbied for legal reforms, and challenged the widespread attitudes and beliefs that support violent behavior against women. Experts in related fields from 40 international and 150 U.S. groups are making great effort to legislate the International Violence against Women Act. This week's discussion will start with general historical activities and earning power of women, their progression to professions and the modern movements to equality of wages based on the idea of "same pay for same work" and eliminating gender as an economic consideration.