The week in review

The week in review 09.02.2012

Hello, glad you could join us for the Wikiprogress week in review -- a handful of headlines that have caught our eyes over the last week. You can find all news articles and blog posts on the progress community in the  Wikiprogress Community Portal      

On subjective well-being

Bronwyn Bare, a nurse working in palliative care in Australia has recorded the most common regrets of the dying: first on her blog, Inspiration and Chai and more recently in her book: The Top Five Regrets of the Dying - A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing, (Balboa Press, 2011).  Her findings from conversations with people in their last 12 weeks of life have resonated strongly with current discussions on subjective well-being.

Read the Guardian article on the top five regrets of the dying. Read also, commentary from The World Bank Impact Evaluations blog and commentary by Nic Marks, well-being expert at the new economics foundation.

See more and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on Subjective Well-being

On peace
Measuring Peace in the Media (VOH 03.02.2012)
For the second year, the Institute for Economics & Peace and Media Tenor have jointly analysed global television networks coverage of peace and violence issues. The report found that the only two networks which were either 50% accurate or more were SABC News @ One and ABC World News with 56% and 50% accuracy, respectively.
See more and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on the Global Peace Index

On Revolution 2.0
Wael Ghonim on Egypt's uprising (The Economist 07.02.2012)
One of the most recognised faces of the Arab Spring, activist and Google executive Wael Ghonim, speaks to the Economist about the role the Internet played in bringing down the Mubarak regime and what the future holds for Egypt.
See more and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on the Arab Spring

On gender equality
Women, Girls and ICTs (Wikigender debate)
This week Wikigender hosted its first online discussion on the role that access to ICTs can play in promoting opportunities for women and girls.  Direct discussion comments and comments from Twitter all leaned towards the added value of social networks in empowering women and girls.
Have your say: contribute to the Wikigender online discussion until Friday 10 February! A summary of the discussion will then be posted on Wikigender.

Report releases:
Two report released this week caught our eye:
Multidimensional Poverty Analysis – Looking for a Middle Ground , February 2012, Francisco Ferreira and Maria Ana Lug, World Bank Development Research Group Poverty and Inequality Team & Latin American and the Caribbean Region, Office of the Chief Economist

Caribbean Human Development Report 2012 , February 2012, UNDP

We hope you will tune in the same time next week. In the meantime, if anything interesting passes your desk that you would like to see in the next Wikiprogress week in review, please tweet it to us  @Wikiprogress  or post it on our  Facebook page . 

The week in review

Hello, glad you could join us for the Wikiprogress week in review -- a handful of headlines that have caught our eyes over the last week. You can find all news articles and blog posts on the progress community in the  Wikiprogress Community Portal      

On the MDGs
Who's going to pay for the MDGs?  (Guardian Blog 23.01.2012)
OECD Development Centre publication 'Revisiting MDG Cost Estimates' estimates achieving the first six MDGs globally will require $120bn more to be spent every year on health, education and poverty reduction.
See more and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on the Millennium Development Goals


On gender equality
UN web portal launched: Girls in ICT (UN 24.01.2012)
The UN launched a web portal this week aimed at helping women access jobs, training and career advice in the information communication technology (ICT) sector. The Girls In ICT Portal aims to not only inspire young women to pursue careers in ICT but to develop a network of women working in a male-dominated industry.
See more and contribute to the Wikigender article on gender equality and ICTs

On WEF
Davos 2012 starts with worries about the Eurozone crisis (25.01.2012)
The Eurozone crisis is set to dominate the 42^nd World Economic Forum, with over 40 heads of government and 19 of the world’s 20 most influential central bankers. Other issues on the agenda include the rise of China, the Arab Spring aftermath and financial regulation
See more and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on economic growth

In the Spotlight:

Egypt, one year on
The uprising on January 25^th 2011 in Cairo’s Tahrir Square began a wave of protest that spread throughout Egypt and lead to the fall of the Mubarak regime. In honour of the one year anniversary, the Thomson Reuters Foundation has released a documentary on the Egyptian revolution.

See more and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on progress and the Arab Spring in Egypt


We hope you will tune in the same time next week. In the meantime, if anything interesting passes your desk that you would like to see in the next Wikiprogress week in review, please tweet it to us  @Wikiprogress  or post it on our  Facebook page

Yours in Progress,

Philippa Lysaght

The Arab Spring: a Booster for Women’s Emancipation!?

Many Arab countries are on their way to reduce gender inequalities. The Arab Spring reinforced this movement in several regions. Yet, the battle for an expansion of women’s rights has just begun and continuous progress cannot be taken for granted.
In the 1950s, Tunisia undertook as first country in the Arab world steps to eliminate early marriage by setting a minimum age and was among the first Arab countries to assign women the right to vote. Since then, Tunisia has long had the most progressive and liberal stance towards women in the Arab region. In recent years successive steps have been taken to further improve women’s rights. Domestic violence has been criminalised, contraceptives have been made available, and regulated abortion has become legal. Recently, Tunisia ruled that parties are required to have equal numbers of men and women in electoral lists.

Image source: http://thepathans.blogspot.com/

Since the 2000s, many other countries have followed Tunisia on some points. Egypt, Libya and Morocco have introduced reforms to give women greater rights to pass on citizenship to children. In Algeria, Iraq and Morocco, sexual harassment in the workplace is banned legally.
There is justified hope that the Arab spring will further boost the emancipation process in the Arab world, as women’s participation in the Arab Spring has been significant. Many women have been participating in sit-ins and marches and have become politically engaged.
However, the expansion of women’s rights in Arab countries cannot be taken for granted, as gender norms are very rigid and change, if at all, very slowly. In some regions, one can even observe a rising conservatism going hand in hand with the Arab spring. Women have been criticized by some male protestors for their public involvement in the Arab Spring, as women being active in the public sphere are considered as acting against religious norms. Moreover, in times of high unemployment and uncertain economic conditions, some voices are advocating that women should be banned from the workplace as a way to solve male unemployment.
This call is done in disregard of the fact that the female share of the labour force is relatively small. On average, female employment rates account only for one third of male employment rates in the Arab region. Restrictions from working the same hours and from taking up the same jobs as men significantly limit women’s job opportunities and therewith their income and career perspectives. Moreover, due to a strong adherence to traditional gender roles, there is little concept of sharing household or childcare responsibilities among spouses, which urges many women to renounce their chances of a career.
However, in most Arab countries, women do not only face discrimination when it comes to labour market activities.  One of the most discriminatory aspects for women concerns their physical integrity. In Libya, gender-based violence continues to escalate as a weapon of war. In Egypt, female genital mutilation is still widespread even though illegal since 2008.
Another problem concerns women’s personal law status, which governs things such as marriage, divorce and child custody. Sometimes, Muslim women are not allowed to marry a non-Muslim man, although a Muslim man can be married to a non-Muslim woman. It is also common that divorce proceedings initiated by women are cumbersome and difficult. Indeed, in most Arab countries there is progress concerning women’s legal situation.  However, women often lack the economic resources to petition courts and cultural norms dissuade them from filing complaints in court. Hence, there is a strong need to ensure that laws, once created, are applied regardless of people’s sex, their geographical location or their socio-economic condition.
To further increase women’s participation in the economy, in the public sphere and in society, it is necessary that women continue to make their voices heard in the Arab world. Therefore, women need moral and financial support, provided not only by national governments but also by the international community. The progress of the feminist movement in the Arab world is actually highly dependent on a successful democratisation. To date, the overall representation of women in parliaments is still very low in the Arab region, ranging around 10% on average. However, in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco, considerable efforts have been made over the last 10 years to increase women’s share in parliaments. This raises hope that the emancipation progress, which has just been starting in many Arab countries, will step up over the next years.
By Angela Luci from Gender Debate
Sources: blog author’s own contribution, Gulfnews, Masterpeace, USIP

Making headlines...

We are only mid way though the shortest month of the year and already the Wikiprogress Media Review is exploding with news articles and blog posts. We would like to share a few of the highlights with you. We have also included a new feature on Wikiprogress, the Number Crunch, which we hope will give you food for thought.

Governance and civic participation are hot topics at the moment, with protests continuing to rage in Egypt.

• The Shoe Thrower's Index (The Economist 09.02.2011)
• Egyptians', Tunisians' Wellbeing Plummets Despite GDP Gains (Gallup 02.02.2011)
• Students Index Corruption (The Prague Post 02.02.2011)

Number Crunch: In Egypt, GDP per capita has increased 33.7% over the last 5 years, while overall wellbeing has dropped, with Egypt falling 18 percentage points since 2005 on the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Ladder Scale

In the UK, the decision to measure national wellbeing is still a buzz in the media, while Obama's announcement to measure 'real progress' in late January is finally getting the attention it deserves.

• America should measure progress differently (Kansan 06.02.2011)
• Obama measures 'true progress' (CNN 05.02.2011)
• Should governments measure wellbeing? (The Politics of Wellbeing 03.02.2011)

Number Crunch: In 2010 the UK ranked 21st in the world for GDP per capita (IMF), 74th on the Happy Planet Index and 26th on the Human Development Index

That's just a few snippets of what's been happening in the media. To stay up to date be sure to visit the Wikiprogress Community Portal which is updated daily. The Number Crunches can be found on the Wikiprogress homepage.

Until next time, yours in progress... Philippa