Brittany Awuah - Global Health

Senegal   Senegal is considered to be one of the most stable African Democracies with high economic growth even with their high number of unemployment and fertility rates. They also struggle due to over population, high levels of poverty and low levels of social protection which leaves no room for gender equality. Gender inequality is an issue that is being addressed by the Senegalese government through laws and many other actions and commitments. Unlike other African countries that I have blogged about, Senegal is making huge strides in reaching the gender equality SDG.  How is The Government prioritizing this issue? We know Senegal is taking this issue seriously because of the National Strategy for Gender Equality and Equity that has been developed to "make Senegal an emerging country in 2035 with a society of solidarity in a state of law.. where men and women will have the same opportunities" (UN Women, p. 6). They aim to "eliminate inequalities between women and men....

  Rwanda  Rwanda ranks in the top 5 for gender equality yet roles of men and women are still complicated and just as prevalent as a country who is behind in gender equality. In comparison to the US which ranks number 45 we see how high Rwanda is on the scale. Even though Rwanda is one of the most "pro women" countries in the world "feminism is not seen as a good thing" (npr, p. 9). In a way Rwanda was forced to make drastic changes in gender equality in order for their economy to not suffer which is still not a real way of addressing the issue.   Why is that? The country of Rwanda faced a genocied which followed 100 days of slaughter leaving the society in chaos, with a death toll between 800,000 and 1millions. This left the Rwandan society with more women than men meaning women had to step up in a huge way. "The call for equality was let not by thousands of women but by one man - President Paul Kagame ''  (npr, p. 19). Kagame decided that the Rwandan s...

  Iceland   In my previous blogs we have seen a trend of countries who are behind the rest of the world with poor gender equality. Today we will be talking about the county that leads the rest of the world when it comes to gender equality, Iceland. "Iceland was the frontrunner according to the Global Gap Index of the World Economic Forum in 2017" (Iceland.is, p. 1). People in Iceland take pride in ranking at the top and inspire to continue to work towards complete equality and power of men and women.  How Was Iceland able to close their gender gap? Traditionally in Iceland men would be away from their family at sea which by default left women in the position of power. Women had to take on roles that men traditionally had like hunting, building and farming. Women also managed finances of the household, ran farms and could be wealthy landowners in widowhood. The notion of the 'strong woman" was created and lingered throughout the ages, "women were priestesses, ora...

  Nigeria Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world and gender inequality is one of the biggest reasons they are so behind the rest of the world. Women make up 49% of Nigeria's population and "account for more than 70% of those in extreme poverty" (New Africa, 2019, p. 1). Gender inequality is the centrality of most issues in Nigeria and recognizing it is the most efficient way to achieving progress in Nigeria.  Nigeria tends to hold great faith in tradition and religious leaders instead of judges and laws and these beliefs and traditions tend to not value women. Nigeria still adopts alot of outdated mentalities about what the role of a woman is supposed to be. Almost "7 in 10 women are unbanked, with more than half of them financially excluded" (New Africa, 2019, p. 6).  Even though girls in Nigeria are mostly uneducated they have proven to be very smart with 50.23% of candidates who got 5 credits inclusive of English and Mathematics being girls even though g...