Gender Bias Increases Poverty

By Rori Picker, Associate for Interfaith Relations, RFP-USA

Can inequality between men and women lead to health problems for children and poverty for the entire family? According to a new study, it most certainly does.

The study released by UNICEF today, entitled “Women and Children: The Double Dividend of Gender Equality,” asserts that there would be 13 million fewer malnourished children in South Asia if women had an equal say in the family.

UNICEF surveyed family decision-making in 30 countries around the world and found that whoever brought in the greater share of household income and assets decided whether those resources would be used to meet family needs. In situations where men controlled the household, less money was spent on health care and food for the family, resulting in undernourished children and an increased number of health problems.

The study also found that women worked longer hours than men in the developing world. In many families where women worked, daughters were taken out of school to perform household chores and take care of the younger children, continuing the cycle of undereducated females with inferior employment opportunities.

We must remember that these dialogues cannot exist independently. We cannot discuss peace without discussing poverty. We cannot discuss poverty without discussing equality. And we cannot discuss any of it without committing ourselves to taking concrete steps to improve opportunities for women around the world.

Women must enter this discussion. Our children depend on it.

Cotton: America Makes It, Africa Pays For It

By Rori Picker, Associate for Interfaith Relations, RFP-USA

The United States has dominated the global cotton market for nearly two centuries. Few things in the global market stay constant for so long, but America has worked hard to maintain its position. Every year, U.S. taxpayers spend tens of millions of dollars on research to improve the nation's cotton industry. The federal government also gives cotton farmers more than $1 billion a year in subsidies, which provide even more competitive advantage. There are university and government cotton research centers all over Texas and the South, all of which help U.S. cotton farmers compete in the global market. And it's working: U.S. cotton makes up 40 percent of world exports. No other country comes close.
And they are paying for it.

African governments have long complained that U.S. and European agricultural subsidies drive prices lower, making it difficult for African farmers to make a profit and nearly impossible to end Africa’s cycle of poverty.

A typical African cotton farmer will earn between $300 and $400 a year from his crop. Usually he will grow other food crops to feed his family, but cotton is often the only avenue to cash. Some estimates show that between 2001 and 2003, U.S. subsidies cost African cotton farmers about $400 million. Cutting cotton subsidies would raise prices 10-12 percent, costing an extra $30-$40 per year, an insignificant price for a Western farmer, but a momentous gain for his African counterpart.

Despite falling cotton prices, U.S. cotton production rose 40 percent between 1998 and 2001. This extra cotton is being dumped on the global market at below the cost of production.

Last year, the World Trade Organization upheld a ruling against the United States stating that American cotton subsidies are illegal. The United States has moved to eliminate export subsidies, but under the farm bill which expires in 2007, the vast majority of payments to U.S. growers continue.

America thrives in this new age of globalization, but we must remember that with a global economy comes a global partnership and a global responsibility. Elected officials may have decided that dominance in the cotton industry is worth the billions of dollars it costs taxpayers, but it it worth the hundreds of dollars it costs African farmers?

Source: NPR

America's Growth Spurt

By Rori Picker, Associate for Interfaith Relations, RFP-USA

According to a recent article in the Washington Post, the population of America is expected to reach 300 million within the coming week. America is the third most populous nation, trailing behind China and India. With an estimated growth rate of one person every 11 seconds, it would seem that America, currently in its 230th year, is still in a growth spurt, and a rapidly increasing one at that.

After the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, it took the country 139 years to reach 100 million in 1915, then only 52 years to reach the 200 million mark in 1967, and now another 39 years to achieve 300 million. According to census projections, the next 100 million will take only 37 years. According to William H. Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institute, a change in immigration law in 1965 unintentionally reignited immigration-led population.

As the population rises, though, so does the quality of life. Longevity has increased to 78 years, the percentage of adults with a high-school diploma has reached 85 percent, homeownership has risen to 69 percent, and the cost of a gallon of milk is half its cost in 1967. Immigration may yield even further benefits. Frey believes that foreign-born residents and their children will surge into the workforce, and their payroll taxes will help reduce funding shortfalls for Social Security and other social programs that benefit older people.

However, this assumes that immigrant children will be educated well enough in American schools to find competitive jobs in the global economy. Poverty rates for children have exceeded poverty rates for the elderly for more than 40 years, and Hispanic and black children are between three and four times as likely to live in poverty as whites.

With elections looming in November, immigration has once again risen to the forefront of debate. Political rhetoric is rife with discussions of securing American borders and protecting American jobs. Yet we must ask: Is immigration failing us, or are we failing our immigrant children? By putting their lives and their futures at risk, are we not simply risking our own?

Peace: Not Just About Non-Violence

By Rori Picker, Associate for Interfaith Relations, RFP-USA

In 1864, Cheyenne Peace Chiefs passed through Denver heading for a peaceful sanctuary in Colorado when they were massacred at Sand Creek. This massacre was one of hundreds of such incidents that took place from the colonial era through the end of the 19th century, devastating the Native American population. In 1860, the United States government ordered military troops on the frontier to collect the skulls and other remains of Native Americans and ship them to Washington D.C. for scientific study. Remains - like those of the Cheyenne peace chiefs of the Sand Creek, Colorado massacre - were among thousands that ended up in displays as well as on dusty shelves and in forgotten drawers in depositories, museums, and universities across the country.

In 1990, Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, requiring the return of human remains and sacred objects to Native American tribes and nations from which they came. Yet today over 110,000 remains still cannot be identified as belonging to a particular tribe. These once beloved mothers, fathers, friends, and children are waiting to be returned, honored, and buried with dignity.

In 2003, Native Americans and religious communities joined together to form the Return to the Earth Project, which supports Native Americans in burying unidentifiable ancestral remains now scattered across the United States and enables a process of education and reconciliation between Native and Non-Native people. The project has made significant progress in the past year, including erecting a building on the burial site and producing a study guide to start the healing process. Additionally, an awareness conference is scheduled for Monday, October 9, 2006, featuring Cheyenne Peace Chief, Lawrence Hart and Dr. Timothy McKeown of the National NAGPRA Office as speakers. However, there is still much more that needs to be done.

At the VIII World Assembly of Religions for Peace in Kyoto, Japan, Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan declared, “Now, more than ever, we must remember that peace is not just the absence of violence; it is the active creation of trust, recognition and empathy.” If we, as Americans, hope to facilitate a global peace, we must create trust, recognition and empathy within our own land first.