Celebrating with Pride
Happy Pride Month! Girl Friday kicked off Pride Month by highlighting Jen Hatmaker's podcast with her daughter, Sydney. We will continue to spotlight LGBTQ+ change agents and issues that impact this community, starting with inequities transgender people face around the world. Why are homicide and poverty rates so high for this population? Are there any tips for allies who want to help?
Ending the Stigma. Period.
A successful menstrual hygiene campaign in India in 2012 convinced WASH United to propose a global day of action the following year. With every passing year, the annual May 28th Menstrual Hygiene Day campaign attracts support from partners, like UNICEF and World Vision, that want to end "period poverty." What is "period poverty" and how can we help achieve that goal?
"Every War is a War Against Children"
This month marked the most startling escalation in violence between Israel and Hamas since 2014. During Ramadan, Israeli police forces clashed with Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa compound. In retaliation, on May 10, Hamas launched rockets into Israel that were largely deflected by Israel’s Iron Dome. In response, Israel fired on densely-populated Gaza. There have been a number of disconcerting images, including a video of Palestinian children standing in rubble with their pet fish in a bowl. This issue has been painted as complicated and for politicians that might feel true. For Palestinian and Israeli children living through the conflict, however, it is simply terrifying. What can we do?
Crimes Against the Uyghurs in China
There are long standing allegations of human rights abuses against the Uyghurs in China and a new report highlights religious intolerance. The Congressional Research Service says, "By some estimates, between 2017 and 2020, Xinjiang authorities arbitrarily detained roughly 1.5 million Turkic Muslims, mostly Uyghurs and a smaller number of ethnic Kazakhs, in 're-education' centers." What can we do to help?
Equal Pay for Mother's Day
May 5th was Mom's Equal Pay Day. The date acknowledges the unequal pay status of mothers in the workplace. Claire Ewing-Nelson leads the National Women's Law Center's (NWLC) research on gender-based wage gaps. In discussing the significance of Mom's Equal Pay Day falling on May 5th this year, she told Good Morning America, "That means that moms had to work more than 16 months to make as much as dads were paid in 12 months." Has the pandemic worsened pay equity? What can we do to close this wage gap?
India's Battle Against COVID-19
This week the world saw a glimpse of what is happening in India: Photographs of mass cremations on rooftops, patients sleeping on the sidewalks outside of full hospitals, and people begging the world to send much needed aid, especially oxygen. How did COVID-19 surge so quickly in India and what can we do to help?