Development of Womens Rights in Afghanistan

Development of Womens Rights in Afghanistan Progress, Stagnation and Regression A lot needs to be done before the equality of political rhetoric becomes an everyday reality for  women in Afghanistan (Amnesty International UK, 2013). Since the disempowerment of the Taliban, the status of women’s rights has seen  progress, stagnation and even regression. The Bonn Agreement of December 2001, endorsed  the establishment of a â€Å"gender-sensitive† government and laid the groundwork for the  Ministry of Women’s Affairs. In addition to MOWA, the Afghan government also created the  Office of the State Minister for Women and set up a Gender Advisory Group (Sarabi, 2003:  3). Moreover, the Bonn conference endorsed the establishment of the Afghanistan  Independent Human Rights Commission which is, amongst others, responsible for the  advancement of women’s rights. Over the years the Afghan government continued its efforts to promote women’s  rights by adopting its Constitution on January 4, 2004, that incorporates the principle of  equality in article 22 as well as a guaranteed quota for women in the bicameral National  Assembly in article 83 and article 84 (Ballington; Dahlerup, 2006: 253). On October 1st, 2004,  after years of political oppression, women voted in the first democratic elections; over the last  years, women held 27-28 percent of parliamentary seats in the Wolesi Jirga (The World Bank,  2013). These positive developments, however, are not secure. For example, the latest electoral  law has reduced the quota of guaranteed seats for women in provincial assemblies from a  quarter to a fifth (International Crisis Group, 2013: ii). Furthermore, it is often criticized by  feminists from within and outside of Afghanistan that those women who hold a political  mandate are only there to symbolize the Western su ccess, and simultaneously support with  their presence the Western imperialist as well as the Afghan patriarchal oppression, but in fact  have no say in politics (Franks, 2003: 148; Wajika, 2008: 140). An example for this claim is  the report of Malalai Joya, a former assembly women, who was pelted with water bottles by  other male assembly men and threatened by â€Å"Rape her!† calls (Ihlau; Koelbl, 2009: 253)  while delivering a speech in parliament. Another issue is the serious discrepancy between theory and practice, between words  and signatures on paper and effective actions to implement signed conventions and approved  laws. The Afghan government ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of  all Forms of Discrimination against Women in 2003, and adopted the Elimination of Violence  Against Women Law in 2009, what can be described as positive developments. However,  often not all adopted laws are known by judges, prosecutors and lawyers, nor are they always  agreed to, and therefore are not applied. Furthermore, that conservative members of  parliament oppose, for example, the EVAW law, calling it â€Å"un-Islamic† (International Crisis  Group, 2013: ii), is an example of the fundamental incompatibility of article 22 and article 7  (compliance to the UN Charter, inter-state agreements, international treaties to which  Afghanistan has joined, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rig hts) with article 3 (no  law shall contravene the tenets and provisions of the holy religion of Islam) of the Afghan  Constitution. The interpretation of what counts as â€Å"un-Islamic† differs immensely in  Afghanistan. That girls and women now have the right to education and to employment is also a  very positive development. However, statistics show that the proportion of girls who go to  school and university is not only lower than that of boys, but declines with every level of  higher education; less than one in five women in Afghanistan is literate (CSO; UNICEF,  2012: 110). Also the female labor participation rate did not significantly increase over the last  ten years (World Bank, 2014). But with the historical background of women’s rights  violations under the Taliban regime as well as the decades of war in mind, no one can expect  women to suddenly break out of the traditional role allocation between men and women in  Afghanistan. Furthermore, it needs to be pointed out that not all Afghans support the  emancipation of girls and women. Girls’ schools are burned down as a symbol for the fight  between tradition and change (Brieger, 2005: 134). There is a com mon use of â€Å"night letters† – messages of insurgents groups to threat women and girls who go to school or to work, leave  their homes, speak to non-family men, or call radio stations with music requests (ACUNS,  2013: 108). Last year, UN Women condemned the increasing intimidation and targeted  killings of Afghan female government officials and public figures and called for justice (UN  Women, 2013). Moreover, it has to be mentioned, that in 2011 Afghanistan was named â€Å"the  most dangerous country for a women to live in†, because of high levels of violence, poor  healthcare and poverty (BBC, 2011). Especially domestic violence against women is a  problem that has become a regular feature of almost all households, and that shapes every  aspect of women’s and girls’ lives – their health, their livelihoods, their access to social and  cultural resources, and their educational opportunities (Global Rights Partners for J ustice,  2008: 1). Besides, many cases are not reported to the police nor prosecuted. The continuing  practice of child marriages and forced marriages is one of those forms of violence against  women and girls. Although getting reliable data is difficult, it is estimated that 60-80 per cent  of all marriages in Afghanistan are forced (UNFPA, 2012). All in all it can be said that there are improvements of the situation of women and girls  in Afghanistan. However, the level of progress differs between the regions of the country,  urban and rural areas, and between those districts where ISAF troops are present and those  where they are not. In a country where the emancipation of women has always been a  controversial issue (there have been multiple efforts to establish women’s rights in  Afghanistan from above in the past one hundred years – see AmÄ nullÄ h KhÄ n, Mohammed  Zahir Shah, Sardar Mohammed Daoud Khan, or the PDPA) a change of the status of women  in society is a long-term process. After thirteen years of intervention in Afghanistan, the IC  has to recognize that fact and has to admit that a lot of mistakes were made. In their article  Schwere strategische Fehler des Westens, Mariam Notten and Ute Scheub cited the survey of  the Afghan author Lina Abirafeh about the counterproductive gender-strategy of the West. Abirafeh criticizes different circumstances that led to the partial failure of Western attempts to  establish gender equality in Afghanistan. Amongst others, she mentions the fact that many  Afghan women feel like their own wishes of a self-determined life are not heard by the IC,  but rather ignored. The stigmatization of Afghan women as victims and not as active members  of the Afghan society is considered to be problematic. The result of this treatment is that there  is resistance against the Western efforts to enhance women’s rights in Afghanistan (Notten;  Scheub, 2009: 34). The IC has to recognize that it is not only necessary to establish a legal  framework for the implementation of women’s rights, but that the volition to actually live in a  community where men and women are equal has to come from within society. Therefore it is  important, for instance, to support NGOs in their grass-roots work. Also in the future.

Medical Tourism : Introduction

During the past four years, the market grew at a whopping rate of 20-30% and is expected to grow further. Considering this growth the current market size is estimated to be $100 billion. Medical Tourism industry offers tremendous potential for the developing countries because of their low-cost advantage. The advantages of medical tourism include improvement in export earnings and healthcare infrastructure. Many people in westernised world are accustomed to visit other nations which can offer medical treatment and very economy rates.In other words high quality health care treatments can be best available abroad at a very affordable prices (Herrick, 2007). Medical tourism has been very popular among the nations like Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, India, Cuba, South Africa, Singapore etc (Bookman, 2007). In order to realize the full potential of the industry, it is imperative for these countries to develop a strategic plan for coordinating various industry players –the medical practitioners, private hospitals, policy makers, hotels, trans portation services and tour operators.This report presents the strategy that needs to be implemented by India, one of the key destinations for Medical tourism, in order to achieve industry-leadership. The reason for rapid growth of the medical tourism may be attributed to long waiting lists, opened channels for a high quality treatments etc (Carrera and Percivil, 2008). The Medical Tourism Industry in India is poised to be the next big success story after software. With a great information technology (IT) hub in India, it has got great potential for medical tourism (Connell, 2006).According to a Mckinsey-CII study the market size is estimated to be Rs. 5000-10000 Crores by 2012. The key concerns facing the industry include: absence of government initiative, lack of a coordinated effort to promote the industry, no accreditation mechanism for hospitals and the lack of uniform pricing policies and standards across hospitals . 2. 0 Aims To analyse business strategies of medical tourism industry and based on the data analysed necessary recommendations are provided in order to develop the efficacy of the this industry in India. . 1 Objectives * To explore the field of medical tourism and different business strategic approaches followed by other developing nations * To analyse the current position of Medical Tourism in India * To evaluate business strategies thrusts for the future * To provide necessary conclusion and recommendation. 2. 2 Scope of the study: There has been a considerable improvement in medical tourism all over the world. However, the developing nation like India needs to develop its own areas to contribute more towards medical tourism.The research had found suitable hypothesis for this study which will be helpful to be tested and effectively practiced in India. The conclusion may provide additional plans for the sustainability of medical tourism in the state. 3. 0 Reasearch Methodology Res earch helps in exploring the new things in certain area of interest and enhances the knowledge (Jenkowicz, 2003). It helps in analysing the conflicts in that particular area and tries out in finding some solutions for a particular conflict. It is the logical and systematic exploration of particular area of interest (Collins, 2003).These acts as template for carry out research. This further enhances the quality of the research (Malhotra, Birks, 2005). Research design can be classified as follows: Figure 3. 1: research design (Malhotra and Birks, 2005) The current study primarily focuses on the business strategies medical tourism in India. An exploratory research is adopted for this current study whereby the key problematic area is not yet identified. On the other hand the conclusive design has only very confined or specific hypothesis. This is a complex study which will have a small sample size.Hence the data thus collected can be quantifiable. The questionnaires in case of the descr iptive study are pre-formulated. Of all the different types of studies the cross sectional studies are considered to be the commonest approach. In case of simple cross sectional studies the respondents will be interviewed only one time where as in case of multiple cross sectional studies the two or more respondents will be interviewed at one time. Cohort analysis, which will be categorised under the multiple cross sectional studies, group of individuals will be exposed to equal traits at given time period.There has been a significant difference between longitudinal and cross sectional research however, longitudinal sample remains same unlike of cross sectional research. The size of the smaple will always remain same if both the researches such as casual and descriptive research are equal in representation (Malhotra, 2006). Research methods According to Blaxter (2006), the research skills constituting selection, analytics and presentation of data explore facts through some distortion s of any interested subject. The research methods have been broadly classified.However, critically evaluating the data through further research would be carried out with help of previous research validation. The methods could be in mixed approach such as quantitative and qualitative methods. The researcher understood that there should be a deep understanding of the tools before incorporating it into the research (Grix, 2004). The researcher finds interpretivism as best approach to explore the subject and to identify the data using qualitative research techniques. There are two different types of approaches commonly used such as inductive and eductive approach. The research is purely based on the end result which is much similar to inductive approach so, the deductive approach is eliminated from this research. The researcher is very keen on identifying suitable tools and techniques to derive appropriate research methods and data collections for which a proper research strategy is to be used which would be critically analysed and confirmed through case studies (Punch, et al, 2004). 3. 1 Data collection: It is the important aspect in the research process.All the research tools and techniques used to collect data is performed with subject to personal interaction, focus groups, observation and artefacts. All the data collection are identified with two segments such as primary data collection and secondary data collection. 3. 1. 1 Primary data: All the data related to qualitative and quantitative methods are observed through this technique. In this primary research, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews are considered as important. The researcher chosen closed ended questionnaire which will be more suitable for the research undertaken (Naoum, 2006).Based on the qualitative type, interviews were performed to derive data required for this research. The researcher had chosen telephonic interview which could be more reliable and can provide deep insight data rel evant to research study. All the interviews are preceded with questionnaire to probe the participants based on the response to previous questions (Collins, 2003). 3. 1. 2 Secondary data: The researcher had gone through a rigorous study based on books, journals, online articles and newspapers. Most of research related journals are derived from science direct and EBSC host websites.However, there is a considerable amount of vagueness found by the researcher during the collection of secondary data. The researcher had followed probability sampling technique to use in the current study which could produce accurate results needed for this research (Breweton, 2001).

Medicine

Social Science Addresses Issues of Public Debate Free Essay Example, 1500 words

While as sexuality remains to be vague in its description The Civil Rights Act of 1964 defines ethnicity, race and sex as explicitly protected by law. Laws that affect a sheltered group of people within the society tend to be subjected to high levels of strict scrutiny. By rendering particular groups of people as unconstitutional, the government shows interest in discriminating the particular group. Failure to protect a peculiar protection of the constitution to a protected community allows for rationality (Berg, 2009). Discussions held earlier failed to classify the LGBT individuals as a people of a protected class. Contrastingly, the Federal Courts seem to be unshaken to reverse this conception. However, other states concluded that the LGBT individuals need to be incorporated in the constitution. This would also include allowing gay marriage. Hawaii became the first state to do so following the outcomes of the Baehr v. Lewin court case of 1993.The court found out that prohibiting gay marriage equalized violation of equal constitutional protection. The court further described a protected class with a basis on sexuality (Ekins & King 2006). Any equitable logic that the policy promotes state welfares would be sufficient to reckon the law as constitutional. We will write a custom essay sample on Social Science Addresses Issues of Public Debate or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The identification of a protected community relies on four principles characteristically. These principles include history protection or lack of protection for the class, whether the contribution to society varies between protected class and the general public. Thirdly, the status of political power of the protected community and, lastly whether the protected community portrays immutable characteristics. The concept of immutability mainly arises from the biological facts of sexual orientation (In et al. 2015). Theories on Homosexuality Various aspects contribute towards the element of identification of gender. First, the strategies of upbringing as applied by parents; and Secondly, the development of oratory skills. Thirdly, approaches in naming sexual behaviors, as well as the processes related to sexual behaviors. Identification of gender develops gradually along with a combination of other aspects. These aspects include the robustness of play in childhood, patience of aggression levels and regularity of both paternal and maternal interactions. The Parental Manipulation Theory suggests that evolutionary fitness relies greatly on the ability of individual parents to control and neuter offspring. When parents select and uphold only the heterosexual practices, they would be attempting to ensure evolutionary fitness.