|
Our mission is to provide a comprehensive electronic resource geared toward the advancement of females and their participation in all aspects of life. We believe that by making a site with several resources and disseminating them, we can help raise individual consciousness regarding the status of women. Like early feminists, we advocate social awareness and education as the primary agents to eliminate social, educational, political and economic injustices imposed upon women and their children. We believe that this is best achieved through educational programs designed for continual public acknowledgment of this problem using the latest research, facts, and statistics.
GenderWatchers (GW) is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting social, educational, economic and political development that encourages women's full participation in the world in which they live. GenderWatchers generates quality, empirical information and technical assistance on women's educational research and programs. GW participates in ongoing research using governments' and multilateral agencies reports and information, participates in formal and informal forums, and is linked to "grassroots" information programs to advance women's rights and opportunities. GW was founded in 1999 and focuses principally on issues of females in education. GenderWatchers is also a source for inspiring multiple women's groups to continue their search for their identities and places within society. These days, mainstream feminists hesitate to talk about consciousness raising because of the complexity of the feminist movement in the 1980's and early 1990's; however, our experience as gender researchers and the renewed status of the feminist identity in the late 1990's has prompted us to become a mainstream consciousness-raising group. We are further inspired because the majority of women self-identify as feminists. We also believe that many men view themselves as supporters of the women's rights movement. It is this mainstream of men and women that we want to mobilize through continued feminist identity change and awareness of women's lower social status. What is Feminism? 
Since the 1970's, the world has become more aware of plight of women. In 1995, the Beijing conference established guidelines and precedents for countries to help establish further equity for women. Some of the recommendations set forth by the Beijing conference included women holding 30% of seats in government, having equal access to secondary and higher education and receiving equal pay opportunities. However, these goals are a far cry from fruition. It is an interesting phenomenon that the only group of individuals who are universally discriminated against are women. In all countries worldwide, women have fewer resources and opportunities to pursue a life of economic security for themselves and their children. According to UN statistics, more than 80% of the impoverished worldwide are women and children. Continued ongoing education leading to educational, political, economic and social changes is the perhaps the best solution to eradicate the injustices many women still endure.
Educating women and continuing to reach the mainstream of individuals through consistent effort will insure that the movement to achieve equality is accomplished. Since the 1970's, all the major milestones in achieving women's rights have not been met. By helping to continually educate, GW hopes to continue to eradicate the biases that present barriers to women by mobilizing support for the advancement of women. Feminism should be made a political platform issue, and a social issue, which is addressed in the educational systems, public media and social systems. Gender-based education should be designed to develop greater awareness of assumptions and perceptions regarding gender imbalances and a gender-sensitive issues. Further it should assist in offering areas for improvement by developing ways to provide a more supportive environment for women and men. We believe that gender training should be incorporated into the curricula of grassroots programs, schools (all ages), college courses, management and supervisory training and conflict resolution courses. 
About Us | Updated Worldwide News | Equity Education Programs for Teachers GenderWatchers
|
