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16 July 2021 | Global Stem Festival (English)
Newsletter
Welcome to the GSF Newsletter #3!
Welcome to the Global STEM Festival (GSF) 2021 - ‘creating real life solutions for real life problems’!
Check out these videos on design thinking. These videos will help you bring your ideas to life by taking you through the design thinking process.
Missed a newsletter? Don’t worry, you can find all of the previous newsletters alongside the supporting videos on the resources page of the GSF website.
Parents and guardians, don’t forget to have a look at the handy guide on the resources page to help you support the participants on their STEM journey!
Climate and Energy
Economic Growth
Education
Equality
Health
What is Equality?
Equality means to treat everyone the same regardless of their gender, ethnicity, or background. Inequality occurs when we do not have equality in society. In all parts of the world, including your own country, some people are unintentionally treated differently. People can be treated differently due to false assumptions and misconceptions about their identity.
There are various types of equality such as:
Gender equality
Gender equality means treating people the same regardless of their gender. There is a lack of equality globally as girls and women sometimes do not have the same opportunities as boys and men for education and jobs as well as many others. On the other hand, boys and men are sometimes marginalised for taking part in some activities. To be a gender-equal society, we must show that having jobs in certain female -dominated sectors, caring for ourselves, and the wellbeing of others is not just a feminine trait.
Income equality
Income equality refers to how evenly income (or money) is distributed in a country. In 2016, 22 per cent of global income was distributed across 1 per cent of the global population. In the same year, 10 per cent of global income was distributed across 50 per cent of the global population
Ability equality
Ability equality means to treat people the same regardless of if they have a disability. A disability means a physical or a mental condition that has a long-term impact on the ability to do normal day to day activities. For example, a person who needs a wheelchair would be classed as having a physical disability. Some people are treated differently because they have a disability.
There are many other types of equality, such as political, natural and racial equality.
Unequal treatment of people and unequal distribution of power leads to slower intellectual and economic development. A lack of equality can also lead to increased crime and disease.
In the Quran, God speaks about the interconnection of humankind being created from a single soul, therefore making us all equal.
Muslim thinkers and philosophers have elaborated on this idea. Saadi Shirazi, a 13th-century Muslim poet, uses the metaphor of Adam to show this point.
Adam's children are limbs of one body
That in creation are made of one gem.
When life and time hurt a limb,
Other limbs will not be at ease.
You who are not sad for the suffering of others,
Do not deserve to be called human.
As a caretaker (khalifa) of Allah’s creation, what can we do to help address the imbalance of inequality that we observe
What are our Goals?
We are more interconnected than ever before and have a lot of information available to us. Problems and challenges such as the climate crisis, poverty, migration, or economic difficulties exist in every part of the world. In order to achieve sustainable development , we must not exclude people from opportunities, services, and the chance for a better life.
There are several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relating to equality, such as:
SDG 5: Gender equality - aiming to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
SDG 10: Reduced inequalities - aiming to reduce inequalities such as disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion within countries.
SDG 16: Promote just, peace and inclusive societies - aiming to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development
News Updates
Equality at the Olympics
The International Olympic Committee has agreed on a goal to achieve athlete gender parity for the first time at Paris 2024 - with 50 per cent male and 50 per cent female athletes.
The Committee also agreed on a goal to increase female representation in governance and leadership positions across the Olympics, with a target of at least 30 per cent women in decision-making roles by the time of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee hopes that the Olympics games can become a global platform to promote gender equality.
Equality in films and media
The European Commission (EC) has launched an awareness campaign, entitled "CharactHer", to promote gender equality, diversity and inclusion in the film and media industry. Currently in Europe, only 20% of films are made by women. With this in mind, the aim of this campaign is to "encourage young women to pursue careers in areas traditionally considered masculine, showing them that success is possible".
What can we do?
Reducing inequality requires us to be bold and challenge the systems that exist today.
On an individual level, we need to recognise our own unconscious biases we hold towards other members of society and address these biases. Where are our own biases coming from? It could be social media, news, family or friends that influence the way we perceive others. These unconscious biases can be unlearned. Ask yourself why you feel this way about a particular topic or person and challenge yourself to seek out the perspectives of someone that is different from ourselves that comes from a different background altogether.
On a local and national level, we need to promote inclusive groups and ensure equal opportunities that reduce inequalities. We can do this by engaging in grassroots movements, signing petitions, attending government events that call for public voices.
On a global level, governments and stakeholders need to be representative of all communities to make decisions and policies that are inclusive of everyone and make sure everyone has equal access to opportunities.
Spotlight
Ruth Badger Ginsburg
Ruth Badger Ginsburg was an American lawyer who often advocated for women’s rights
She was only one of the nine females in her class of 500 at law school and continued to work hard to excel academically, eventually earning her place as the first female in both Columbia and Harvard Law Review.
Ginsburg was initially turned away from law firms for being a woman, however, she overcame many obstacles in her way. She became the second woman to be nominated into the Supreme Court in 1993 and went on to serve for more than 27 years in the Supreme Court of the United States. She challenged gender stereotypes to ensure that gender equality was inclusive of both women’s and men’s liberation.
During her time, she fought and succeeded in granting women the right to sign a mortgage without a man. She fought for women having the right to have their own bank accounts, to have jobs without being discriminated against based on gender and ensuring that women’s jobs are protected if they have children or become pregnant.
Dinner Table Conversations
Our challenge to you: At the dinner table or when you’re out with your friends and family, think about the SDG theme of equality and discuss further causes of these challenges and ways you can think of to overcome the challenges mentioned above.
We hope that these will spark some insightful conversations and ideas