Question # 1
Mexico has got a long record of failed public policies. During the 90’s “ Progresa” afterwards “Oportunidades- Vivir Mejor” and currently “Cruzada Nacional Contra el Hambre”. The three of them, are basically the same, nevertheless names were changed when a new president got into office. The aim of this three programs was to “empower the most vulnerable population, which lives on extreme poverty”. Progresa and Oportunidades gave a bi-monthly stipend to women who had one or more kids on school age; the stipend was calculated according to the number of children in each household. The requirements for receiving the cash were: every month the entire family should attend the community health center for a routine checkup and all children under the age of 18 must be enrolled at school (attendance sheets were verified). The stipend was supposed to be used on school supplies and meals. However, rather than tackling the structural inequality (no sources of income, no job opportunities, precarious roads and infrastructure, and so on) the poorly designed policies resulted in the following: • An increase in domestic violence: women’s husbands try to take the money away from them, through physical violence. • An increase in the birth rate: more children meant more money, • A decrease in education quality: kids were supposed to go to school in the same village they lived, there were not enough teachers and classrooms were not big enough to fit them all. • A disruption in traditional health systems: these villages were characterized by the use of traditional medical treatments, which were antagonistic to the Western-style community clinic (which is also short of personal, medical supplies and medication). Doctors and nurses refused to attend families who were also using traditional forms of medication. • Disempowerment of elders (mainly women): Elder women’s only income (that could either be paid on cash or with goods or services) was being midwives, and due to the prohibition …show more content…
Furthermore, lack of an education plan adapted to local-cultural norms, was another evident sign that these policies were heading towards failure.). One of the biggest critiques against it, is the high degree of gender insensitivity it has. It is obvious that the designers, were not aware of the gender roles in rural Mexico, in their mindset, rural women were vulnerable because they did not have access to paid labor, they disregarded the roles they played in their community, the “solidarity linkages” that these women used to protecting themselves in health issues and against structural inequality. The most affected sphere of social life, was women’s health and physical security, because despite what policy-makers things, charity does not solve gender …show more content…
Women tend to constantly be victims of sexual harassment in the garment industry, they are also underpaid and have no access to maternity leave, is mandatory to take into consideration a gender-based perspective. A feasible way to integrate a gender-based perspective in our approach is to, first, consider the Vietnamese gender identity context and secondly putting special emphasis in specific women’s needs in the garment industry. Considering that every industry’s contexts are different, it is important to analyze what are the specific health problems that arise in this specific type of companies. It is also fundamental to consider, that the category of women is not homogenous, and that it encompasses a very diverse group which includes it is not restricted to age, ethnicity, marital status and
Mexico has got a long record of failed public policies. During the 90’s “ Progresa” afterwards “Oportunidades- Vivir Mejor” and currently “Cruzada Nacional Contra el Hambre”. The three of them, are basically the same, nevertheless names were changed when a new president got into office. The aim of this three programs was to “empower the most vulnerable population, which lives on extreme poverty”. Progresa and Oportunidades gave a bi-monthly stipend to women who had one or more kids on school age; the stipend was calculated according to the number of children in each household. The requirements for receiving the cash were: every month the entire family should attend the community health center for a routine checkup and all children under the age of 18 must be enrolled at school (attendance sheets were verified). The stipend was supposed to be used on school supplies and meals. However, rather than tackling the structural inequality (no sources of income, no job opportunities, precarious roads and infrastructure, and so on) the poorly designed policies resulted in the following: • An increase in domestic violence: women’s husbands try to take the money away from them, through physical violence. • An increase in the birth rate: more children meant more money, • A decrease in education quality: kids were supposed to go to school in the same village they lived, there were not enough teachers and classrooms were not big enough to fit them all. • A disruption in traditional health systems: these villages were characterized by the use of traditional medical treatments, which were antagonistic to the Western-style community clinic (which is also short of personal, medical supplies and medication). Doctors and nurses refused to attend families who were also using traditional forms of medication. • Disempowerment of elders (mainly women): Elder women’s only income (that could either be paid on cash or with goods or services) was being midwives, and due to the prohibition …show more content…
Furthermore, lack of an education plan adapted to local-cultural norms, was another evident sign that these policies were heading towards failure.). One of the biggest critiques against it, is the high degree of gender insensitivity it has. It is obvious that the designers, were not aware of the gender roles in rural Mexico, in their mindset, rural women were vulnerable because they did not have access to paid labor, they disregarded the roles they played in their community, the “solidarity linkages” that these women used to protecting themselves in health issues and against structural inequality. The most affected sphere of social life, was women’s health and physical security, because despite what policy-makers things, charity does not solve gender …show more content…
Women tend to constantly be victims of sexual harassment in the garment industry, they are also underpaid and have no access to maternity leave, is mandatory to take into consideration a gender-based perspective. A feasible way to integrate a gender-based perspective in our approach is to, first, consider the Vietnamese gender identity context and secondly putting special emphasis in specific women’s needs in the garment industry. Considering that every industry’s contexts are different, it is important to analyze what are the specific health problems that arise in this specific type of companies. It is also fundamental to consider, that the category of women is not homogenous, and that it encompasses a very diverse group which includes it is not restricted to age, ethnicity, marital status and