When a Phrase Really Strikes You, Again
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2017/07/23
I was struck by a phrase from Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka some time ago. It was a phrase around and associated with feminism and women’s rights. I liked it. It sparked a short article, which I am splitting into two for the convenience of reading in paces. Here you go, part 2.
Much of the information I’ve learned or reviewed, in the process of researching and writing this article comes from the comprehensive statements by her.
“Investment into the care economy of 2 per cent of GDP in just seven countries could create over 21 million jobs. That would provide child care, elderly care, and many other needed services.” Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
Women are left behind economically. When women are deprived of the equal access to the jobs market or the training for the jobs market, and I mean this emphatically, societies lose. Maybe, that’s another tacit take away, or even explicit, from the extensive statement by Mlambo-Ngcuka.
A modern problem without a single solution, which needs a multipronged approach. The relatively developed and the undeveloped, and outright failed, states in the early to middle 21st century might be the ones, most else considered, that provide the implementation of women’s rights through advocacy followed by empowerment. It feels good.
It sounds easy, but, quite frankly, it will very much be a difficult road ahead of us. How do we move ahead and change the situation? How do we forge a new path into the world worth preserving? Identifying the problems – somewhat done, and staking out evolving ideals seems reasonable – more or less accomplished. Solutions, anyone?
I see predictive statements tied to a bunch of “ought to” or “should.” ‘Such, and such, a series of measurements in national performances correlate positively with the health of a nation and the empowerment of women’ – but then I think about it. What does this actually mean? And I kind of know.
These measurements are the basis for confidence in furtherance of women’s rights through these means without specification on the exact means in each case – cultures differ, histories differ, economies differ, and educational and literacy levels differ.
So within the statements by Mlambo-Ngcuka, I feel as though this means the specific solutions within ‘such, and such’ a set of boundaries will improve the economic performance of nations, which happen to, at the same time, improve the implementation of women’s rights. It’s moral if you want moral reasons. It’s economical if you want economic reasons.
But the trend lines are clear.
“More than half of all women workers around the world—and up to 90 per cent in some countries—are informally employed. We cannot ignore them. This sector is just too big to fail.” Mlambo-Ngcuka said, “…Lessons from countries already making change are important to share.
For this Commission, 35 countries have provided input on the review theme of how lessons from the Millennium Development Goals are being reflected in national processes and policies.”
That’s an incredible wealth of information and is the sincere reason for hope for finding specific general solutions to pervasive problems surrounding women’s rights within the international community.
“At the same time, over the last two years, a resounding global gender equality compact has been accumulated, through the Beijing+20 Review, Agenda 2030 itself, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the New Urban Agenda and the New York Declaration on Migrants and Refugees.”
It’s not only an outstanding reason for hope; it’s an outstanding achievement in motion towards equality by the stated 2030 goal, if not the comprehensive by 2186. And the right attitude can always be a good start. So how? Well: “constructive impatience.”
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