Sharing children's upbringing

Swedish parents share paternity leave.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35225982

Emma Watson's UN HeforShe

Emma Watson's UN speech.   HeforShe.  

Important points

If you still think of Emma Watson as Harry Potter’s cute, clever pal Hermione Granger, then you’ve got to read this. Now a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador in addition to being an A-list actress, Emma is spearheading a new international campaign that aims to tackle gender equality around the world. Called HeForShe, this U.N.-sponsored initiative focuses on getting men involved in the fight for equal rights for women. To launch the campaign, Emma took the floor at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Saturday with guns blazing, explaining why feminism isn’t a dirty word, how men are also disadvantaged by a patriarchal society, and why both sexes have to step up to the plate to help advance women’s rights worldwide. Check out some of the most emotional points from her provocative speech, which earned raves from the U.N. audience:

1. The gender-equality movement is not anti-men: "I was appointed as Goodwill Ambassador for U.N. Women six months ago, and the more I've spoken about feminism, the more I have realized that fighting for women's rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop."

2. Many people misunderstand what feminism really is: "For the record, feminism, by definition, is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. I started questioning gender-based assumptions a long time ago."

3. Expectations about how women should behave are made clear from a young age: "When I was eight, I was confused about being called 'bossy' because I wanted to direct the plays that we would put on for our parents. But the boys were not. When at 14, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media. When at 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of their beloved sports teams because they didn't want to appear 'muscle-y.' When at 18, my males friends were unable to express their feelings; I decided that I was a feminist.”

4. Men absolutely must get involved: "I want men to take up this mantle so their daughters, sisters, and mothers can be free from prejudice—but also so their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human, too, and in doing so, be a more true and complete version of themselves."

5. Everyone benefits from a more equal world: "Men, I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. … Gender equality is your issue, too. … I've seen young men suffering from mental illness, unable to ask for help, for fear it would make them less of a men—or less of a man. I've seen men made fragile and insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men don't have the benefits of equality, either."

6. Men suffer from gender stereotypes, too: "We don't want to talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes, but I can see that they are. When they are free, things will change for women as a natural consequence. If men don't have to be aggressive, women won't be compelled to be submissive. If men don't need to control, women won't have to be controlled."

7. It's not enough to expect others to effect change: “We are struggling for a uniting word, but the good news is that we have a uniting movement. It is called HeForShe. I am inviting you to step forward, to be seen, and to ask yourself, 'If not me, who? If not now, when?' Thank you very, very much."

Video Emma's speech

International Women's Day 2015

Camellias are said to be the symbol of International Women's Day in countries such as Italy and Russia. Students of "A Xunqueira" took the opportunity of creating a mural where everyone was invited to contribute with their opinions. The question of what equality means and the importance of working together has been the main focus of this commemoration.

International Day Against Violence

 

Standing Tall

(ANONYMOUS)

Breathing, looking, feeling and walking
Deciding, choosing, living and talking
Just like a developing child; an adolescent learning
Just like an endless beginning a genuine yearning

Independent, supported or alone
Beg, borrow, or maybe one day I'll even own
There is definitely a light and it is calling me
Close my eyes spread my wings and I will fly free

No more shame, pretend, cheap smiles and lies
No more ifs, buts, maybes or whys?
Who are you? What do you want? How do you sleep?
I know now I am not your possession to abuse and keep

You were right, it's dramatic, and all for show
But it was you in the lead role, so desperate to grow
Like a parasite you tried to consume and destroy my life
Like a human being I tried to be your partner, friend and wife

Go back to where you came from; it is what you do best
Go back to being nothing,; an annoying little pest
And when you get there be sure look up high
Can you see me beaming brightly, lighting up the sky

Each night I am reminded that you are evil, selfish and vile
Each night I am reminded how lucky I am, blessed and smile
You should see them now you've gone; happy, confident and born again
All their own work, they erased you and survived any pain

It was much easier than I thought; you can't miss what was never there
But unlike you, I did feel true love, I wanted to grow, experience and share
What a waste, a pointless thought and an unwanted gift
All you saw was credibility, an excuse and blame to shift

It is getting closer, that beautiful light calling me
Close my eyes spread my wings and I am flying free
It's over, just give up and please let us be
Never again imprisoned, now and forever I'm holding the key

Your self-pity and fairy tales fall on deaf ears
Your stories and lies create no sympathy tears
One by one everyone is hearing the truth
T.R.U.T.H. comes with real evidence and proof

I swear this is the final night you will give me no sleep
There's no master plan or cunning revenge for me to reap
You are a lonely little man, idiot, bully, gambling fool
You've lost again; tough guy but I've got it all
Do you feel small?
                                               Pathetic and cruel                                                 
                                                       Down, down you fall                                                                            At last I am standing tall
...We've got it all

 

 STUDENTS COMMENTS:

 When you read this poem at first, you can’t notice how deep and powerful it is. You need to read it a few times. It encompasses many things about domestic/gender violence. It makes you think about how hard and sad  this situation can be and sometimes it makes you feel like you’re the one who’s living that situation. At the beginning of the poem it shows her weakness, but as it goes on, it starts to show that if you’re strong and brave you can get through it, start a new life and be happy. Some mothers, women living a situation of violence, they think they have to stay for their kids, because they don’t want them to grow up without their dad. But sometimes they don’t think about how hard life will be for their kids too. I think she’s trying to say that no one deserves being treated like that or feeling like this. You don’t have to stand that. You can be strong by yourself.

                        -Alba Medina González (1º BAC D)

  This poem about gender-based violence reflects the situation of a badly treated woman, who comes over this fact just with what we consider her children. Although the poem itself is quite fair and shows clearly the feelings of the author, who we know is so strongwilled in a situation of gender violence, the circumstances go beyond the bad-treatment typical from an heterosexual couple and also from men to women (including physical, mental and oral violence). The gender-based violence is extended to lots of contexts. Both individuals and institutions (for example, violence during the pregnancy). Also from women to men (although this derives from patriarchy). And in homosexual couples as well. In my opinion, it would have been better to expose the attitudes of a patriarchal society in general and think about why domestic violence cases are seen as common, rather than simply focusing on one case.

                        -Ana Rodríguez González (1º BAC D)

   This text wants reflect the experience of a girl that needed to get away from her husband’s abuses. At the beginning of the poem, the girl considers herself like an undeveloped person, without freedom to choose or make her own opinions; nevertheless, she wants to get out of that situation. She begins to wonder about her not being an object and reveals her husband’s masquerades. Then, as they were fighting she told him to go back where he came from and when she said ‘’Can you see me beaming brightly, lighting up the sky’’ I think it was to break the chains that hurt her. In the seventh paragraph I think the man went out, the girl keeps talking about her real love but with one difference. He was already alone. In the last part of the poem I understood this in two ways. The first is when she said: ‘’that beautiful light calling me’’ as if she was dying and when she mentioned ‘’T.R.U.T.H. comes with real evidence and proof’’ .  I think the man abused the girl to death and everyone will know who  has been; I confirmed that when I read at the final paragraph ‘’I swear this is the final night you will give me no sleep’’ and she mentioned he is a lonely man. My other way to understand it is as if she says goodbye for all he did and only mentioned ‘’spread my wings and I will fly free’’ like a liberation to living away from him. In general there are many ways to understand it, but in all of those appear the gender violence that causes deaths every day because of selfish and possessive people. Last, I have to say that all violence is bad and we should solve the problems with words, not with our hands.

                         -Miguel Bea Pintos (1º BAC D)