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How Cellphones Change Lives
by Cherie Blair
Natalie Behring-Chisholm / Getty ImagesAccess to a mobile phone can raise a woman’s income and give her the power to send her daughters to school. Cherie Blair on why the developing world’s women should be talking and texting.
I was an early beneficiary of the way in which new technology can transform a woman’s life. In the 1980s, when my older children were still toddlers, it was the arrival of the personal computer that allowed me to combine child-rearing with continuing my career as a barrister, largely from home. Computer literacy was rare at that time in the legal profession, so I was something of a pioneer.
Today, in an age defined by technology, those cut off from the information revolution are at a huge disadvantage. So it is worrying, as recent research from the GSMA and my own foundation has confirmed, that women in particular are missing out on this revolution in many parts of the developing world. Women are 23 percent less likely than men to own a mobile phone than men in Africa, 24 percent less likely in the Middle East, and 37 percent less likely in South Asia.
One student from Afghanistan told me that without a mobile phone to allow her family to keep in contact at all times, they would simply have refused to allow her to leave their community and go to university.
Women in those countries have testified that there are wide-ranging benefits that simply owning a mobile phone brings to their lives. In parts of the world where there are few if any landlines (indeed, the emerging, almost universal nature of mobile coverage means these networks will never be built), nine out of 10 women said a mobile phone made them feel safer, and almost as many said it made them feel more independent. But, importantly, 41 percent say it has increased their income.
In the long run, it is mobile phones’ power to expand women’s economic opportunities that is potentially the most transformative. Women in Asia, Africa and the Middle East have impressed on me how having their own income gives them more confidence and status within the family, which leads to their having an input into key decisions.
They are, for example, much more likely to be able to insist that their daughters receive an education, something very important to many mothers. Greater financial independence gives women more control over their own bodies—the power to insist on safe sex, for example. And because women spend 90 percent of their income on their families—a far higher proportion than men, who, studies show, spend more on themselves—women’s personal economic success can boost the income of the whole family and is key to combating poverty and ill-health. Outside the family, too, financial independence gives women a much more powerful voice in their community.
But how can merely having access to a mobile phone improve a woman’s business prospects? Women farmers—and they are mainly women—use text messaging to check on prices for crops so they get the best deals at markets. A case study from India featured the mobile phone being used to place direct orders with wholesalers, thus “cutting out the middleman.”
In areas where transport links are poor and banks few and far between, texts are used to operate bank accounts and send payments to suppliers. One small businesswoman in Tanzania recently told me how her phone helped her avoid a two-hour bus journey each way.
Mobile phones are also being used innovatively to offer wider social benefits. Texts pass on important health messages and even facilitate schemes to improve the literacy of girls and women. In Senegal, a UNICEF education program reinforces women’s literacy skills through the use of mobiles. Teachers send text messages to their students on a wide range of subjects, engaging them on different levels. Financial literacy, too, can be improved through mobile technology in the same way.
Even for those women who have already overcome many barriers in their lives, mobile phones are seen as essential. I have just returned from a visit to the Asian University for Women, an extraordinary initiative based in Bangladesh that aims to provide higher education to those drawn from traditional backgrounds across the region.
One student from Afghanistan told me that without a mobile phone to allow her family to keep in contact at all times, they would simply have refused to allow her to leave their community and go to university—no matter how marvelous the opportunity she was offered.
There is mounting evidence that women are likely to be the main drivers of economic growth in the coming decades. Those societies that fail to make the most of half their population will be left badly behind. Our hopes of spreading prosperity and opportunity will also be dashed.
That’s why it’s important that more effort is made to address the gender gap in technology. If it were closed, there would be some 300 million more women in the developing world with access to mobile phones and the benefits this brings to them, their families, communities, and economies.
Closing this gap would bring a $13 billion boost to the mobile-phone industry too, so they have a huge incentive to do more to help women. This includes not only imaginative financing schemes. The industry also needs, as some companies have already understood, better targeted and more sensitive marketing.
Helping women to talk more may seem like the start of an old Music Hall joke, but the personal, economic, and development impact of closing the technology gap is no laughing matter.
And among the teachings of His Holiness Bah'u'llh is the equality of women and men. The world of humanity has two wings -- one is women and the other men. Not until both wings are equally developed can the bird fly. Should one wing remain weak, flight is impossible. Not until the world of women becomes equal to the world of men in the acquisition of virtues and perfections, can success and prosperity be attained as they ought to be.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 288)
On Something More Astounding Than Winning a Grammy: Music with a message is well worth the investment of my lifetime.
February 3, 2010
I won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nope. Not the lottery. Not a Grammy. Not American Idol
. SOMETHING EVEN MORE ASTOUNDING!
At the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Public Awards Program Saturday night at City Council Chambers I was awarded the 2010 Baha'i Unity of Humanity Award! Without warning me first, Dottie Henderson of Unity Church had written a glowing nomination for me, and she was so eloquent that the committee couldn't resist! I've read over the nomination, and Dottie seems to have the idea that I write songs about peace, personal growth, and social justice and then live my life like I believe my own songs! (Probably a dangerous thing sometimes!) I was so HONORED. Thank you so much, Dottie, for recognizing that there really IS some method to my madness! And yes, I truly do believe that music is magic. Music is medicine. Music can work miracles. And music CAN help us remake the world. Moreover--music with a message and peacemaking with music is well worth the investment of my lifetime.
http://www.danaclarkmusic.com/
Church music director receives award Dana Clark, music director at Unity Church of San Antonio, was awarded the 2010 Baha’i Unity of Humanity Award by the San Antonio Martin Luther King Jr. Commission last month.
Dottie Henderson, who nominated Clark for the award, wrote to the city commission: “Clark is in service to humanity and the world through a ministry of music as a singer, songwriter, musician, poet, music teacher and writer. A review of her work consistently presents themes of unity, harmony and oneness in the world, healing differences, and treating everyone with dignity and respect.”
Clark founded the San Antonio Peace Choir in 2006 and is co-founder of the Lewis and Clark Musical Expedition band,
Among some of the nations of the Orient, music and harmony was not approved of, but the Manifested Light, Bah'u'llh, in this glorious period has revealed in Holy Tablets that singing and music are the spiritual food of the hearts and souls. In this dispensation, music is one of the arts that is highly approved and is considered to be the cause of the exaltation of sad and desponding hearts.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 377)
Iran’s Baha’is Deprived of all Human Rights
By Smile Rose
Fariba Davoudi-Mohajer
نشر موقع منتدى جوزار للديمقراطية وحقوق الانسان هذا المقال بقلم فاريبا مهاجر فى 25 يناير 2010 تناولت فيه الحقوق المسلوبة من البهائيين فى ايران
January 25th, 2010
Recent weeks have seen Iran’s Baha’i community come under maximum pressure. Twelve Baha’i citizens were arrested and nine Baha’is were sentenced to five-year prison terms and barred from exiting the country for ten years. These sentences were meted out to two Baha’is in Mashhad, Babak Rouhi and Ezzatollah Hamidian, while the seven Baha’i leaders arrested in June 2008 are also due to receive sentences shortly. These individuals are accused of “spying for Israel,” “blasphemy,” “propaganda against the system,” and “moral degeneration on earth.” <!–<if !supportLineBreakNewLine>–><!–<endif>–>
Diane Ala’i, the Baha’i International Community’s spokesperson in Geneva, rejected these charges and stated that these individuals are neither spies nor have insulted Islam, and were arrested solely because of their religious beliefs. According to the International Covenant on Human Rights, no person may be arrested or harassed on this basis.
According to Article 13 of Iran’s constitution, the country’s officially recognized minority religions include only Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity, while Baha’ism is excluded. Yet this cannot justify the systematic harassment, imprisonment, torture, and civil rights violations of Baha’is.
Iranian state media broadcasts and prints negative propaganda against all non-Shiite religious minorities, especially Baha’is, Sufi Muslims, Christian Evangelists, and Sunnis. The Baha’i community, numbering 300,000 to 350,000, constitutes Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority.
The “blood price” of Baha’is is not equal to that of Muslims, and since their faith is not considered a religion, it is possible to spill their blood and avoid punishment. They are banned from freely performing their religious duties and from teaching their religion. Baha’is are strictly prohibited from working in government posts, the education system, and the armed forces.
The Islamic Republic regards Baha’is as a political sect. According to the Ministry of Justice, Baha’is can enroll at school on the condition that they refrain from identifying themselves as Baha’i. In 2007, a brief policy change allowed Baha’is to enroll in university. But soon the former policy was reinstated, whereby Baha’is must list themselves as non-Baha’i in order to register for the national university entrance exam. This poses a serious barrier to their opportunity for education, because one of the tenets of Baha’ism is that a Baha’i must never deny his/her religion. Roughly 128 Baha’i students were expelled from universities across the country in the 2006-2007 academic year. The order was issued by Asghar Zarehei, head of the central security department of the Ministry of Science and Technology, barring these students from studying in Iran ever again.
Baha’is are also excluded from social security coverage. They are prohibited from receiving financial reparations for physical injuries, blood price, and inheritance. Their marriage and divorce is not officially recognized, but the government accepts notary receipts in lieu of a marriage certificate. The government frequently rejects requests for issuing or extending work and business licenses for Baha’is, and constantly hassles them to “repent” from their faith, if only to escape these types of pressure!
In February 2009, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported that the General Prosecutor in a letter to the Ministry of Intelligence warned that Baha’is have widespread and strong ties with the “Zionist regime” <Israel> and that Baha’i followers are gathering intelligence and infiltrating the public with the aim of destroying <Muslim> beliefs.
When arrested, Baha’is are usually accused of violating articles 500 and 698 of the Islamic penal code – “acts against the establishment” and “publishing propaganda”, and sometimes even “moral degeneration on earth”.
June 18 is the anniversary of the execution of 10 Baha’i women who were executed in 1983 in Shiraz’s Adel Abad prison. Mona Mohammadnejad, the youngest of this group, was arrested and executed together with her father on charges of espionage.
The harassment of Baha’is extends even to the desecration of their cemeteries. For example, in January 2009, a cemetery in Ghaem Shahr <in northern Iran> was destroyed for the fourth time, when municipality officials bulldozed the cemetery overnight. The cemetery was known as the “Unbeliever’s Graveyard.” Anti-Baha’ism is rampantly seen in setting fire to or damaging cars, offices, and properties belonging to Baha’is.
Websites, blogs, and state media try to discredit Baha’is in public opinion. “Sarab Baha’i”<!–<if !supportFootnotes>–><1><!–<endif>–> is one of these blogs, which accuses Baha’is of involvement with counter-revolutionary systems under the guise of not being politically involved. The blog goes on to accuse Baha’is of ties with the U.S. and Israel and claims that during the Shah’s time, Baha’is infiltrated top government posts and used governmental funds to promote Baha’ism. Of course, no evidence is ever presented to back up these and other claims.
“Yousef Zahra” is another website set up to fight Baha’ism. The homepage of “Girls Against Baha’ism in Rafsanjan” asks viewers to report the identities and activities of any Baha’is living in the town of Rafsanjan. On the site, in an article entitled “Bahai’s Nighttime Meeting at Ovaisi’s Garden in Qom” writes: “On the eve of Ashura, Baha’is kidnapped a Muslim child and took it to this garden. Stamping their feet and cheering, they murdered the child and while drinking, they stuck the body’s child with the alcohol bottles.” The website obviously had not done the slightest bit of research about the Baha’i faith –for example, that drinking alcohol is banned in Baha’ism!
Kayhan, a hardliner daily, is also very active in this regard. In an article titled “Baha’is are not Iranian citizens,” Kayhan writes: “We have irrefutable evidence of <their> Zionist identity and the true role of the Baha’i Party as an Israeli group and the fifth column of Israel.” It goes on to say that following the arrests of members of this “party,” Ayatollah Khomeini wrote to Iranian officials of the time: “Baha’ism is not a religion; it is a party. A party formerly backed by Britain, and currently backed by the US. Baha’is are spies.”
The brief article above shows that Iranian Baha’is in Iran are not presented or treated as citizens and are deprived of basic human rights. Because of their religion, they have been made to endure various difficulties after the Islamic Revolution. Many of them have been executed. The Islamic Republic’s actions against Baha’is has constituted a blatant violation of their rights. Perhaps if a warning bell is not sounded in their defense, we will witness countless more atrocities committed against this minority in Iran.
Persian:
http://www.gozaar.org/template1.php?id=1416&la...
English:
http://www.gozaar.org/template1.php?id=1416&la...
O people of Justice! Be as brilliant as the light, and as splendid as the fire that blazed in the Burning Bush. The brightness of the fire of your love will no doubt fuse and unify the contending peoples and kindreds of the earth, whilst the fierceness of the flame of enmity and hatred cannot but result in strife and ruin. We beseech God that He may shield His creatures from the evil designs of His enemies. He verily hath power over all things.
Baha'u'llah
Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 122
On Avatar Snubbed: But not for long
TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2010
Re: Avatar completely snubbed at the SAG awards
by JMCompt Tue Jan 26, 2010 10:44 am. The SAG awards is by and for Screen Actors, right? It is focused on their own assessment of the performances. I have no doubt that many of the Guild-members felt there was not enough actual screen-time for the actors and actresses to warrant the receipt of an award. Out of curiosity, how many actual animated films have resulted in SAG awards for their talent?
Also, just because you might not have heard about something does not mean that it has little to no validity. How many people here have heard about the Baha'i? I didn't really know anything about China outside of Kung-Fu flicks 10 years ago, and I only recently learned about the art of Bento. I am so very thankful learning is a lifelong task.
Sooner or later Avatar the movie will get its just due, just as Baha'u'llah, the Avatar of this age, will come to be recognized by the masses of humanity. -gw
Bahۡ'u'llh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Later, `Abdu'l-Bah stated that Bahᡡ'u'llh was the Kalki avatar, who in the classical Hindu Vaishnavas tradition is the tenth and final avatar (great ...
See Phillipe Copeland's blog post: http://www.bahaithought.com/2009/12/avatar-some-in...
The spiritual light of the world has risen again from the eastern horizon. The night is finished; the day is come and the first rays of the dawn are destroying the shadows, dispersing the clouds, making the plants to grow, the trees to become verdant and ornamenting the flower-beds with roses. The sun of reality hath reappeared with tremendous power and soon the light of BAHA'U'LLAH will be diffused throughout the world. See how the light of Christ's shining star took three hundred years to shed its rays on the world, whereas the light of BAHA'U'LLAH has permeated all regions in less than half a century. His cause has been spread in every country and the mention of BAHA'U'LLAH made in every tongue. In nearly every country there is an assembly of friends from Teheran to Paris, to San Francisco, to Japan. This is a different age and light is spreading with great rapidity.
Abdu'l-Baha
Divine Philosophy, p. 80
“Baha’ism” behind Iran unrest, says political analyst on Iran’s state TV
Updated: Thursday, December 31, 2009
15:50GMT—11:50AM/EST
Washington, 29 December (WashingtonTV)--The state-owned television of the Islamic Republic of Iran broadcast on Monday a live interview with a political expert who blamed the Baha’i “sect” for the latest wave of unrest in Iran.
According to the Fars News Agency on Monday, Ne’matollah Bavand, told the network in this interview that “there is no doubt that Baha’ism, led by global Zionism, is behind these currents.”
Bavand’s remarks come in the wake of a violent crackdown on anti-government protesters during the observance of Ashura ceremonies last weekend, which left at least eight people dead and hundreds arrested.
“Baha’ism infiltrated the country’s management in the nineties,” said Bavand, adding that “some of the managers of that decade were influenced by Baha’ism and carried out certain projects.”
Bavand went on to implicitly attack Mehdi Karrubi, the failed presidential candidate and one of the leading pro-reform figures in Iran, accusing his “advisor” in the June presidential election campaign of supporting Baha’ism.
“The female advisor <Hengameh Shahidi presumably who was advisor to Karrubi on women’s affairs during the election campaign> of one of the presidential candidates - the turbaned one - defended Baha’ism,” Fars quoted Bavand as saying.
“Until when does the <Islamic Republic’s> system want to tolerate these individuals? These contradictions have failed to convince the people… the advisor of this pseudo-cleric who was also <at one point> the speaker of the Majlis <parliament> , has explicitly defended Baha’ism and now, she, along with her husband are completing training in Britain to become spies,” added Bavand.
This is while Hengameh Shahidi, who is a journalist and women’s rights activist was arrested on 30 June this year and sentenced in November to six years’ imprisonment for charges that included “gathering and colluding with intent to harm state security” according to various reports including Amnesty International.
Bavand concluded his comments by calling for “key players” to be put on trial.
“The people see these events and become upset. Is there no way to tackle this problem? The key players leave Iran and it is the second and third lot of players who are put on trial, whereas it is the key players who should be tried,” Bavand said according to the agency.
Such simultaneous processes of rise and of fall, of integration and of disintegration, of order and chaos, with their continuous and reciprocal reactions on each other, are but aspects of a greater Plan, one and indivisible, whose Source is God, whose author is Bah'u'llh, the theater of whose operations is the entire planet, and whose ultimate objectives are the unity of the human race and the peace of all mankind.
Shoghi Effendi
The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 72
