GENDER EQUALITY

GENDER EQUALITY

IS THE VIEW THAT MEN AND WOMEN SHOULD RECEIVE EQUAL TREATMENT AND SHOULD NOT BE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST BASED ON GENDER.

·         WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT GENDER EQUALITY?

·         FOR MANY MEN GENDER EQUALITY DOESN´T EXIST.

THE LAST DAYS I WAS TALKING WITH MY FRIENDS, AND THEY TOLD ME SINCERELY THAT THEY DON´T BELIVE THAT GENDER EQUALITY SHOULD EXIST.

·         FOR MANY MEN WOMEN SHOULDN´T HAVE SPECIAL DAY.

·         FOR MANY MEN, WOMEN SHOULDN´T HAVE A GOOD JOB.

·         DO YOU THINK MEN AND WOMEN HAVE THE SAME OPORTUNITIES?

FOR EXAMPLE THE PAY GAP WOMEN HAVE LESS PAY THAN MEN FOR THE SAME JOB.

THINK IN BIOLOGY.

THEY CAN SEE DIFFERENT, THINK DIFFERENT, HAVE DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES THAN WOMEN.

BUT MORE THAN THAT…

MORE THAN THAT WHAT PEOPLE THINK, BATTERED WOMEN REALLY EXIST.

-       70% OF WOMEN EXPERIENCE PHYSICAL AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE THROUGHOUT THEIR LIVES AT THE HANDS OF A COUPLE.

-       HALF OF THE CASES OF WOMEN MURDERED, THE AUTHOR OF THE ATTACK WAS A FAMILY MEMBER OR INTIMATE PARTNER.

-       14% OF WOMEN HAD REPORTED TO THE POLICE THE INCIDENT.

·         WHAT HAPPEN IN THE OTHER PART OF THE WORLD?

-       GLOBALLY, OVER 700 MILLION WOMEN CURRENTLY LIVING MARRIED AS CHILDREN (UNDER 18 YEARS) MORE THAN ONE IN THREE GIRLS, ROUGHLY 250 MILLION MARRIED LESS THAN 15 YEARS. OFTEN MARRIED GIRLS DON´T KNOW HOW TO EFFECTIVELY NEGOTIATE SAFER SEX, PUTTING THEM IN A SITUATION OF VULNERABILITY TO SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS, INCLUDING AIDS, AND TEENAGE PREGNACY.

-       MORE THAN 133 MILLION GIRLS AND WOMEN HAVE UNDERGONE SOME FORM OF FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION IN 29 COUNTRIES IN AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST WHERE THIS HARMFUL PRACTICE IS MORE COMMON.

DO YOU KNOW WHO IS MALALA YOUSAFZAI? I WROTE ABOUT HER... I THINK WE CAN CONNECT THE IDEA WITH GENDER EQUALITY.

SHE WAS BORN IN 1997, SHE IS A PAKISTANI ACTIVIST FOR FEMALE EDUCATION.

WHEN SHE WAS 11-12 WROTE A BLOG UNDER A PSEUDONYM, THAT BLOG TALKED ABOUT GIRLS EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN.

THEN THE TALIBAN TOOK CONTROL OF THE CITY AND KNEW WHO WAS THE GIRL WHO WROTE THAT BLOG, SHE WAS ALREADY KNOWN.

ON THE AFTERNOON OF 9 OCTOBER 2012, MALALA SUFFERED AN ATTACK. A TALIBAN STOPPED THE BUS FROM THEIR SCHOOL AND ASKED –WHICH ONE OF YOU IS MALALA?- NO ONE ANSWERED, BUT ALL THE GIRLS TURNED TO SEE HER.

THE TALIBAN SHOTED IN MALALA´S HEAD, AND HURT OTHER 2 GIRLS. SHE FELL UNCONSCIOUS IN THE ARMS OF HER FRIEND MONIBA.

SHE WAS HIT WITH ONE BULLET, WICH WENT THROUGH HER HEAD, NECK AND ENDED IN HER SHOULDER.

PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD SAID, A PRAY FOR MALALA THAT WAS WHEN I MET HER.

SHE WAS TREATED AT THE QUEEN ELIZABETH HOSPITAL IN BIRMINGHAM. AFTER THAT SHE SAID: I AM STRONGER THAN FEAR.

I THINK WE CAN RESPECT OUR IDEAS, OUR LIFES, OPINIONS, ETC. RESPECT EACH OTHER.

I READ YOU.

BERENICE MENDOZA CARBAJAL