If You Are a Woman - Canada Is the Best Place to Live

Photo Credit: Jeltovski, Canada

Today I'm especially proud to be Canadian. A survey conducted by TrustLaw, a legal news service of Thomson Reuters Foundation, was just released. It reports that the best place within the G20 countries for a woman to live is Canada.

Not surprisingly, the worst was Indian, which ranked even lower than Saudi Arabia, until 2011 it did not grant women the right to vote, and still fails to grant women a driver's license.  India ranks so low because female babies continue to be killed, child brides are forced into matrimony, and women are sold into slavery. India is a parliamentary democracy? Yes Siree!

The United States with its poor record on health care and its division over reproductive rights places it at number six. Interestingly, Save the Children recently stated that the United States is the worst place to be a mother. Siting maternity mortality and lack of tolerance regarding breast-feeding.

The six categories the TrustLaw considered were:

• ·      quality of health
• ·      freedom from violence
• ·      participation in politics
• ·      workpalce opportunities
• ·      access to resources
• ·      freedom from trafficking and slavery

      To reach its conclusion, TrustLaw polled 370 gender experts.

I remember a time when there was a great deal of discrimination in Canada. In the 1970s many jobs were closed to women that all began to change in the 1980s. Canadian women worked hard for daycare, reproductive choice and equal opportunities. I know this because I was one of the women who did her part, albeit and ever so small part.

In many ways Canada and the United States are one. We share the same language, watch the same movies and television programs, and listen to the same music. But, I'd like to think that Canada is the kinder, gentler nation. Of course, I'm prejudice.

Source:  The Global Edition of the New York Times, June 13, 2012

First it was the cockroaches, then the bumble bee, now it's a scorpion. What next

I'll start with the scorpion. I was surprised to see it because they are plentiful in Durango, where it is dry, but this is the tropics where cucarachas rule, I didn't think I needed to be concerned about scorpions.

Erik was busy putting the scopion, using pincers, into a bottle with alcohol in it. He wanted the scorpion to die in the alcohol because, he said, the venom from the scorpion mixed with the alcohol is a great medicine to help the pain caused by arthritic joints.

We discussed scorpions and he said this one was on the sidewalk outside, he sees about three a year. If he sees three I'm wondering how many there are that he doesn't see.

Independence Day was unofficially yesterday. But yesterday there was a parade in the Zocalo. The children had their concert and I forgot my camera. They were so cute, again a lot of little Pancho Villas and no Zapatas, I asked one of the mothers why, she said she didn't know. Zapata, unlike Villa was from the south of Mexico.

For those of you that have gotten the impression I've been frustrated with my work at the Oaxaca Street Children Center, things are going very well. My time teaching has moved to the beginning of the day because the children are more alert. They are learning English, and their mothers are noticing. I like having the opportunity to tell a mother that her child is very inteligent and could go to university.

I've never seen a father, and one day I used the word "tomar", which means to take, but in Mexico can also mean to drink. I meant I was taking something, don't remember what. This opened up a conversation about drinking. Many of the children stated their fathers drank too much cerveza, one of the boys, Jonahan, proudly and loudly announced his father did not drink cerveza. I think many of the men feel overwhelmed, drink, and leave all responsibility to the mothers, who sell things in the zocalo, or clean houses, to make ends meet. I wonder how much of the money the women earn goes to cerveza instead of housing, food and clothing.

I keep thinking, women don't hold up half the sky, they hold up a majority of it. All anyone has to do is spend a week with me and you'll be convinced, women are the stronger gender. I admire tremendously the strength of these women.