Would you choose 53c per hour?

When the Mattel- lead paint scandal hit the headlines back in August I have to confess I was less concerned about any trace amounts of lead my daughter may have ingested than I was about the probably much larger amount than the Mattel workers faced. Turns out that may be the least of thier worries. As Julie has posted on her blog onehandclapping, the National Labour Committee (NLC) has just released a report revealing the extent of abuse and rights violations workers in Mattels Chinese factories face:

The horrific conditions at these factories are detailed in these reports. Basically young women making Barbie Mattel toys for Walmart are paid just 53 cents an hour and $21.34 a week. “Forced to work excessive overtime, the toy workers are routinely at the factory 82 to 87 hours a week, while toiling 66 to 70 hours. The standard shift is 14 ½ hours a day, from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., six days a week. Mandatory overtime at the Xin Yi Factory exceeds China’s legal limit by 260 percent!

Mattel also received waivers to unilaterally extend allowable working hours to seventy-two hours per week, which exceeds China’s legal limit on overtime by 295 percent.” Oh and this is also the Mattel whose CEO paid himself $7,278,178 last year in wages and other compensation—which is 6,533 times what he pays his toy workers in China.

I guess my little girl won’t be getting Mattel toys for Christmas.

Interestingly, over the past week or so I have also been following a discussion of labour practises and the NLC on an internet forum I belong to. Another report from the NLC has condemned Alcoa’s auto parts sweatshops in Honduras, with allegations of starvation wages, human rights violations (including denial of permission to use bathrooms), forced overtime and union busting. While most forum members were justifiably horrified, others tried to defend the factories and maquila system. The basis of the defense seemed to be that the workers had the power to choose where they worked. This to me shows at the very least a huge misunderstanding of the situation of impoverished peoples in developing nations. And I wonder if that is really at the root of the problem. Living in a place where we have the ability to choose our workplace, and to leave if we need to, it is very difficult for westerners to understand the position of those who have to accept 53c an hour without bathroom breaks. And of course it is much easier on our consciences not to to have to think the products we buy are made by people who do not have a choice. To believe the world we live in is the norm allows us to remain ignorant of the reality of the impact our culture of consumption has on the rest of the world, and to be able to continue to enjoy the benefits of that culture.

Added: After I finished this post I went to my feed-reader, and almost immediately found a post about child labour in Gap factories. The report states that “the Gap clothing chain has withdrawn a line of embroidered blouses and ordered an internal investigation after a news report alleged that the garments were stitched by children in a Delhi sweatshop”.  I wish more people in the West would pay attention.

Filed under: Honduras, development, news, poverty, social justice , Alcoa, China, Gap, human rights, India, labor violations, Mattel, National Labour Committee

Free Rice

I’ve found a new little addiction.  Free Rice is a site that has two goals.  To provide English vocabulary to everyone for free, and to help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free. For every word you get right in the quiz, Free Rice will donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program, paid for by advertising on the site.

While I think the idea is great, and certainly should help raise awareness of global hunger the critic in me just can’t resist a little critique.  The concept is a variation on the ‘click a link and we’ll donate’ type of site, and the rice grains and words games are nice way of catching- and holding attention.  However it doesn’t go any further than that really.  There is little attempt to provide information about the root causes of poverty, or to encourage people to do any more than to continue to sit in thier cosy spot in front of the computer while appeasing thier conscience.

But I have to say I still managed to get to level 44 and  to donate 1000 grains of rice (a bowl full?) in the process. It does feel kinda good anyway.

Filed under: Thoughts, campaigns, poverty, social justice , Free Rice, global hunger, UN, United Nations World Food Program, word games

Semantic absurdity

Following from my recent post about Terrorism in New Zealand, I enjoyed Finlay MacDonald’s opinion piece in the Sunday Star Times today.  Here’s my favourite quote:

Leaving the legal niceties aside for now, there is something semantically absurd about a single word underpinning the redrawing of boundaries in a free society. At its root, “terror” is just a noun meaning “extreme fear”. George Bush didn’t just declare war on a noun, as has often been jokingly claimed, but on an emotion, too. Even if you use “fear” as a verb, it only means to be afraid of something. But then, the War on Being Extremely Afraid of Something doesn’t have quite the same ring.

Filed under: New Zealand, news , George Bush, Sunday Star Times, Terror

Getting Motivated

I have been doing a lot of thinking about my PhD plans over the past few weeks, really wondering if I am doing the right thing for my family, and for myself and my career. While I’ve come to some peace over that- I’m fairly certain it is a positive step, I’ve also been struggling to complete my research proposal. I am hoping I am not setting myself up for trouble. What if the topic doesn’t hold my interest? Gets too boring? Do I really want to spend all day sat at a computer, writing and reading?

But yesterday I had a bit of an epiphany. It was a public holiday so instead of going to work I took the opportunity to sit down at the computer and actually try to get my head around the research proposal. I was mildly sucessful in that (although I did get terribly distracted- more about that in a moment), but the main sucess of the day was just how much I enjoyed myself. I did some reading, took a few notes, laid out the outline of a proposal, and before I knew it it was 4pm in the afternoon and my husband and daughter were begging me to get away from the computer and go out in the sunshine with them for a while.

What I realised was this. I enjoy this kind of work. I had “flow“. The silly thing is, one of my reason’s for doing a PhD is because I did enjoy much of my Master’s work. While a PhD is a far larger and much more daunting prospect, and I know this alone will not be enough to carry me through it, it is reassuring to know it does not have to be a struggle all the time, and that quite possibly I may even enjoy the process. I certainly hope that is the case.

The other thing that got me excited, and completely distracted me, was the discovery of OneNote and EverNote. I can’t believe I’ve not heard of these programs until now. I was typing some notes into Word and started thinking that there should be a better way of recording, storing and searching notes. I did a bit of googling and came across first OneNote and then EverNote. I could immediately see how useful such software could be both for academic and personal uses and have downloaded both (EverNote is free, OneNote has a free trial period) to play with.

Evernote (top) and OneNote (bottom) screenshots.

I am wondering if any of my readers have used either of these, particularly for academic purposes. Has anybody got any advice? I am already leaning towards Evernote (and not just because it is free), as I really like the catagories system and the never-ending paper tape concept. However I do wonder if OneNote is better for more structured notes, and it does have better features including sychronising video/audio with notes which would be invaluable for fieldwork. I guess I will just have to double enter data and play for a while to see what works.

Filed under: Thoughts, life, study , , evernote, onenote, phd

Tips and Tricks

From PhD Comics

Yes, I’ll confess I’ve done this before… and that I am a little worried about what I’m letting myself in for by starting a PhD.

Filed under: study , comics, phd

Terrorism in New Zealand?

Tonight I’m sad to say I’m worrying about my country.

Maori, environmental and political activists were targeted by raids across the country this morning, and tonight several activists are behind bars facing firearms charges- and possibly more.

From stuff.co.nz:

Police this morning executed search warrants around the North Island with Police Commissioner Howard Broad saying they had moved “in the interests of public safety”.

Firearms were seized and Mr Broad said the raids resulted from an investigation into suspected weapons training camps held over the past year in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

A high level secret government group based out of Prime Minister Helen Clark’s office has been involved in the unprecedented operation.

The search warrants were carried out under the Firearms Act and the Terrorism Suppression Act.

This is the first time the Terrorism Suppression Act has been used, although it appears that so far charges have been laid under the Firearms Act only. More may follow once evidence from the raids has been analysed.

Most of those charged have been given name supression, although the most prominent- Maori activist Tame Iti (whose property appears to have been at the centre of the investigation) has not. The media was asked to leave the courthouse as the hearings took place.

While I have no problem with people being charged with offences under the firearms act- indeed a cache of rifles, shotguns and Molotov cocktails appears to be at the centre of it all- it seems overkill to use the Terrorism Supression Act, and worrying that legitimate activism and community groups have been targeted. There is also something odd about the level of secrecy around it all. Then again I also dislike the sensationalist media reporting of it all- terror plots, guerrilla style training camps and all that fear inducing stuff, so maybe some exclusion of the media wasn’t such a bad idea!

I guess in this day and age we can never be too careful about terrorism…

The numbers of people attending the camps had been in the “tens”, he said.

I’m sure over the next few days and weeks we will hear much more about the threat these tens of activists terrorists posed to New Zealand and New Zealanders.

Filed under: New Zealand, news, politics , activists, New Zealand terror op, Tame Iti, terrorism, Terrorism Supression Act

A horribly complex issue

This morning I attended a workshop on FGM (Female Genital Mutilation or “female circumcision”). We care for a lot of refugees at the health centre where I work, including a significant number from Somalia and other African countries where FGM is practised, and so although it is uncommon and illegal here it is something we do see regularly and need to know about.

Female genital mutilation (FGM), often referred to as ‘female circumcision’, comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural, religious or other non-therapeutic reasons. (WHO)

Girls usually undergo FGM prior to puberty- the average age is 6-8.  While it is increasingly done by health professionals under local anaesthetic, in rural areas it is still carried out without anaesthetic, with scissors, razor blades or knives while the girl is held down by female relatives.  In the short term the girl may experience excrutiating pain, shock infection, haemorhage, urinary retention and fractures.  But it doesn’t end there.  Long term issues caused by FGM include difficulty passing urine, pelvic infections, scars, cysts, fistulae, difficulties with menstruation, increased risk of HIV transmission, sexual complications, childbirth complications and negative psychosocial impacts.
While the physical trauma that girls go through is horrendous and quite harrowing to contemplate, what I found most disturbing was the psycho-social issues they face, the fact that even in New Zealand women see the pain and long term complications of FGM as preferable to the socially ostracised life they and thier daughters would lead without it.

FGM is a complex multifaceted practice deeply rooted in a strong cultural and social framework. It is endorsed by the community and supported by loving parents with what is believed to be the best interests of a young girl at heart. FGM can only be understood within its cultural context, for in the societies where it is practised — despite its harmful physical affects — FGM provides women with many social and cultural benefits…

Whether the practice is shrouded in rituals and celebrations, or whether it involves a visit to the local midwife, FGM is an integral part of a girl’s social development. The practice is deeply embedded in the social norms of the community and there is immense social pressure on all young girls to conform. A girl who does not undergo FGM is likely to be severely socially penalised, and is often despised, taunted, ostracised and made the target of ridicule. No one in her community may want to marry her, and what is clearly understood to be her life’s work — marriage and childbearing — will be denied her.

For a woman living in a patriarchal society with no access to land or education and no effective power base, marriage is her main means of survival and access to resources — and FGM is her pre-requisite for marriage. With the beliefs surrounding FGM deeply embedded from childhood, the social approval associated with FGM and the sanctions women face if they don’t undergo FGM — the benefits of FGM would seem to outweigh the physical difficulties. FGM is inevitably viewed in a very positive light and this can explain why women continue to cling to the tradition, colluding in their own daughters’ circumcision.  (fgm.co.nz)

It makes me incredibly sad and angry that women and girls are faced with these kinds of realities. I have the utmost of admiration both for the women who live daily with the impacts of FGM on thier physical and psychological health, and for those who have taken the huge step of refusing to have thier daughters circumcised.

Filed under: Africa, health, refugees, social justice , female circumcision, female genital mutilation, FGM

One Blogpost for Burma

Filed under: blogging, campaigns, news, religion, social justice , Burma, monks, Myanmar

Free Burma

Photo from dailymail.co.uk

On Oct 4 I will be participating in the International Bloggers “Free Burma” action-

International bloggers are preparing an action to support the peaceful revolution in Burma. We want to set a sign for freedom and show our sympathy for these people who are fighting their cruel regime without weapons. These Bloggers are planning to refrain from posting to their blogs on October 4 and just put up one Banner then, underlined with the words “Free Burma!”.

I challenge others to join this, or other actions such as the Avaaz Stand with Burma campaign. It might not seem like much, but I think every voice counts.

News coming out of Burma indicates the military junta has reacted violently to the uprising, with estimates of a few hundred to thousands killed and monastries desecrated. Background information about Burma and the story about the protest can be found in the New Statesman Burma Special.

Filed under: blogging, news, social justice , avaaz, Burma, campaign, Myanmar