The Cost of Beauty: Child Labor in Mica Mining
What is in your cosmetics bag? If you use makeup that shimmers, there is a strong chance those products contain mica, a group of silicate minerals that can be ground into a sparkling powder. The Jharkhand state in eastern India, which is home to one of the largest deposits of mica in the world, and southern Madagascar have been identified as places with widespread child labor in dangerous mica mines. How can we advocate for those children and make certain the beauty industry only uses ethically-sourced mica?
"Super Nuns" Fight Back
When human trafficking makes the news, law enforcement and policymakers often take center stage as leaders and heroes in anti-trafficking. But, with far less fanfare, one unexpected group has been implementing successful programs to not only prevent trafficking but to rehabilitate survivors: nuns. Talitha Kum, which loosely translates from Aramaic to "young girl, arise," is a Sister-led coalition that has been operating since 2009 and is present in 92 countries. January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Girl Friday asks: What can we learn from nuns around the world?
Homeless for the Holidays
Enacted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on September 4, 2020, the national eviction moratorium will end on January 1, 2021. The moratorium was designed to help slow the spread of COVID-19 using housing as a means of social distancing, but even this nationwide health policy did not successfully prevent all evictions. Who is tracking evictions and what can we do to advocate for fair and inclusive policies? Girl Friday thinks these questions are worth investigating.
Giving Tuesday & Season of Giving List
Because of the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak, there are so many charitable organizations and communities in dire need of support and resources. Below, with a focus on combatting hunger and supporting farmworkers in the United States, we’ve listed some of our favorite organizations for Giving Tuesday. Want to add to this list? Send us a direct message, or leave us a comment, on Instagram @DearGirlFriday. We’ll make updates and add new categories throughout the 2020 Season of Giving.
In Honor of The Butterflies: Eliminating Violence Against Women
Each year, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is recognized on November 25 in honor of the courageous Mirabal sisters from the Dominican Republic. Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa, better known as The Butterflies, were assassinated by the state on November 25, 1960 for leading a resistance movement against their country's ruthless dictator, Rafael Trujillo. While there's been progress, the United Nations believes every level of our global society can work harder to end violence against women and girls.
75 Years After Nuremberg
On this day in 1945, the Nuremberg Palace of Justice in Germany was filled with notorious Nazis, including Hermann Goering and Rudolph Hess, who had perpetrated some of the most heinous crimes during the Holocaust. Over the course of the trials, Nuremberg became the birthplace of modern international law, cementing concepts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Seventy-five years after the Nuremberg Trials began, antisemitism still exists. How can we spot and stop antisemitism today?