Women Work Harder Than Men (and other interesting facts)

Women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, buy earn only a tenth of the world’s income.

I found this fact to be particularly disturbing, although not really that surprising. There is still huge inequality in the developing world, however, that’s not to say we don’t have our own issues here in Britain, like the inequality of wages. If we are all being fairly remunerated for our efforts then what’s the problem with making the figures public knowledge? Problem solved. Some would argue this would be a breach of privacy, they are probably the same people earning more than they are worth.

Other facts included;

Women produce half the world’s food but own less than 2 per cent of the world’s land.

Domestic violence, where women are predominantly the victims, kills and injures more people in the developing world than war, traffic accidents or cancer.

A third of the world’s women are homeless or live in inadequate housing.

It’s easy to forget that there are huge swathes of the world where women do not enjoy the same level of equality that we currently enjoy in the west.

(Source: OU Social Science Newspaper)

Teachers Stifle Pupils Interest in Current Affairs

Stories like these are appearing more often, perhaps because of the social appetite to criticize our education systems, or maybe it is representative of the actual situation, who knows… There’s always some news piece about children being prevented from going on vacations (educational or not), or taking time out of school to do something other than study within the constraints of four walls. Four walls are not a prerequisite to learning, and neither is a formal teacher for that matter, every man (woman, or child) is capable of being his own teacher. That’s not to say that I don’t hold our teachers in high regard, I do, I just believe that there is more to learning that being taught (within four walls) and we, as a society, are missing a trick not to recognise this. I’ve always felt that a more flexible education system is what is required for the future, a flexible and dynamic education system which will nurture tomorrow’s generation of free thinkers.