March 8th is International Women’s Day

and while most of the world celebrates, some people write nonsense like that. really? clever little things? a woman’s work is never done? can you say r-u-d-e? yes, even on International Women‘s Day, some men feel the need to make it about themselves.

Costa Rica, for the first time in history

I think a whoohoo is in order. (read more)

Not as you might have expected.

Chanced upon this earlier today and was surprised. Who’d have thought?!

This either supports the rise of microblogging sites such as Twitter, or is data suggesting our teens just don’t have too much to say, nothing more than 140 characters at least.

When international agencies disagree

Yes, some countries are indeed more successful than others in fighting global poverty. This is a classic case study of what happens when international aid agencies disagree and have conflicting priorities and objectives. How then, can we resolve this? From a humanitarian perspective, it is the hungry (in this case) who will continue to suffer. Is there a hierarchy of NGOs that can provide insight for which objectives are met, preferentially, over others?

Protected: To my students: 4J

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Not enough progress has been made to achieve gender equality.

Perhaps the biggest step towards achieving equality is admitting there’s much to be done. Case in point: Australia.

1 in 6

The latest figures from the UN World Food Programme estimate that more than 1 billion people go hungry. (link) This is a world of plenty. This is unacceptable.

Dressed and ready for school?

Saudi Arabia’s new university to let women unveil and study alongside men. Does the rest of society concur?

Punishing views

An open opponent to abortion was shot and killed in Michigan, possibly because he was openly protesting in front of school-going children. (news) As much as the First Amendment protects freedom of speech in the US, is it acceptable to target school-going children and subject them to a social battle they are too young to understand and participate in? By that same logic, is it acceptable to take the law into your ow hands and punish people for their views, and the means by which they express these views?