Thoughts about the week:Every day I watch my mother work all day. A lot of the night too. She goes on about how we don't have any money, and we're getting by scrap by scrap. I don't blame her. There's still a good 22.3% difference in pay between women and men now. It's gotten better since 1980, when it was down at about 63%, but us women still aren't getting enough.
After doing a little looking up, I was both stunned, and amused, at the numerous sex-discrimination lawsuits that happened in 2000. American express payed 31 million american in settlements. Verizon 49 million, Boeing 73. Shouldn't that send a warning to those companies? I remember working in a place where there was an incident with a man touching a woman innapropriately at work. Not just one though. 3. And they complained to the manager, who simply said, "I can't do anything. He's too important." because he didn't want to fire the man. Needless to say, I quit shortly after.
Out of those cases, still pending are Wal-Mart, Costco, and Bloomber. It's kind of sad to think about it, hmm?
^ AMAZING website. Made me realize how far america's come.
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=EXTRA EXTRA= - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/14/AR2008031403677.html
^ Interesting article
London Review of Books says : 'The American addiction to cheap petroleum has shepherded the brokers, carpetbaggers and hustlers of the oil business directly into political office.' (http://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n08/reto01_.html)**--click!--** http://www.bloodforoil.org/gallery.php
^ Some amazing points there.
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This sign: What does it mean?
Wiki says: 'Fairtrade labelling (usually simply Fairtrade or Fairtrade or Fair Trade Certified in the US) is a certification system designed to allow consumers to identify goods which meet agreed standards.'
Fair trade itself is a social movement, trying to get rid of poverty, and create sustainability.
It would be rather nice to know that the things you're buying are actually going towards the people who made it, or harvested it, or grew it.
This symbol on products mean that it's a Fair Trade. They're getting what they're supposed to, instead of being ripped off.
=EXTRA EXTRA! = - http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/fair-trade/
^ Fair Trade in Canada
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So. How much do I respond to globalization? We know now that globalization can really have it's nasty parts. Human rights are completely ignored, wars rage just for some oil, and women are ripped off for their hard work. People aren't getting the money they're supposed to, and it seems like there's just no end to it.
I can't believe that the amount that we should respond to globalization should just be watching the news, or being aware of it, though it's the first step. We need to make the world a better place, and by just 'being aware' of it won't do much good if nobody takes action. What if Ghandi didn't protest? What would have happened there? What if no one had stood up for the woman's right to vote?
Globalization certainly isn't a bad thing, but there are parts that need to be worked on. It's unfair to third world countries that don't nessicarily have the means to catch up to us. This week I've learned a lot as I read the textbook, and thanks to some research, I know more things than I did before. I'm glad that NGO's are working hard to protest things that aren't right, such as the many no blood for oil organizations. It's sad that humans can have so much sin in their lives to do things like tricking women into prostitution, or drug trafficking. That isn't how it should be. And I think that just sitting and reading the newspaper isn't going to change jack.
Fin.
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**Fun human rights game** - http://www.liftoffschools.com/i/Human_Rights_Timeline.jpg
