Even though I lived in Uganda for one year, I can't presume to know Ugandan society inside and out--by ANY stretch of the imagination. What I can say is that there are still a lot of factors in Ugandan society that make it harder for girls to attain the same level of education as the boys in their community. At the same time, I was privileged to know many strong Ugandan men doing a wonderful job of taking care of their families and raising their children.
It's really easy to get behind Nike's The Girl Effect video. It makes the point that education is something that has a benefit beyond that of the immediate receiver. But..(and you know there's a but!)..as Tom from The Cave points out here, nothing is so simple.
The parody (the second video) is fantastic. It uses irony and humour to help us understand how equating good development directly with female empowerment is dangerously simplistic.
(ie You can have a fantastically educated work force but if there's no jobs because 'developed' countries are dumping cheap imported goods that make it impossible for local people to compete against them in their local markets...you've got yourself a problem).
Anyway, compare the actual Nike video with a parody to get a better understanding of what I mean (and maybe laugh a little...)
The real video...
And here is the parody--it's all good, but the really great part starts at 1:20.
What do you think? I would especially love to hear from my fellow CreCommers--and I also know that I have at least a few East African men who read my blog, but due to ridiculous bandwidth problems, will be unable to watch these videos and comment...but still..I'd love to hear from you!
2 comments:
I understand the problems but what can I do to help eliminate them?
Eileen
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