Women and Social Change Movements - Essay Example

? Women and Social Change Movement Maternalistic or Motherist movements are those organizations formed by women from different social and cultural backgrounds that advocate for something in society. These movements are formed by women to create awareness about social injustices present in their societies. They take advantage of their unique position as mothers and care givers to garner attention to the topic they are advocating for. Examples of these women movements are the Madres de la Plaza Mayo in Argentina. They marched in the public square of Rio de Jeneiro to advocate and create awareness about the disappearance of members of their family. Another movement, one based in the United States, is called Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD). The characteristic of all motheristic movements is to demand attention to serious problems (Glazer & Glazer, 1998). Women in these movements use their status as care givers and mothers to propel themselves from the private sphere of the home. According to Glazer & Glazer, by doing so, they are able to engage the public in discourse about the ills that plague society. These groups have received a fair share of both praise and criticism from various quarters of the society. Some critics praised the women for their ability to use their mantle of motherhood to gain support and entrance into fields that were initially out of reach for women. Arenas like politics and some job categories were classified as men-only domains, but women were able to gain entry by using their maternalistic values. They were also able to gain equality on a couple of grounds that were initially privy to men like in the army. These movements also face criticism by some scholars because they argue that these movements created differences in society. This is because they excluded men and those women who did not have children meaning that they could not join these movements and aid in advocacy even if they were interested (Glazer & Glazer, 1998). Women based movements alienated other members of the society who did not have the same grounds as these women to base their activist platforms for advocacy. Lynn Golumbic was a member of AACI which is a volunteer organization headquartered in Jerusalem which advocated for environmental conservation. Lynn Golumbic was passionate about environmental degradation by the government and private entities in Israel which prompted her to join AACC. She was an environmentalist who acted as whistle blower on governments and industries that could not account for their practices that led to environmental destruction and degradation (Glazer & Glazer, 1998). Lynn together with other activists developed strategies that involved collection and accumulation of evidence against rogue entities about the negative impact their activities had on the environment. They presented accumulated evidence to the authorities which made sure that these rogue entities were convicted of their crimes against the environment (Glazer & Glazer, 1998). Golumbic was faced with illegal and ethical opposition from those who viewed her activism as a threat to their enterprise. She faced death threats and bodily harm from her antagonists because her activism exposed their unscrupulous activities which caused harm to the environment and exposed children to toxins of pollution. Glen Avon, CA and Haifa Israel groups were concerned with environmental matters that directly and indirectly affected their communities. These groups were formed by women who were concerned with the negative effects that pollution had on their daily lives. Majority of these women were mothers who had children who were negatively impacted by health hazards posed by pollution. An area like Glen Avon is a Census Designated Place (CDP) that was significantly affected by pollution in its formative stages of development. This saw women group up especially those who had been directly affected to advocate for cessation to environmental degradation by the government and industry (Glazer & Glazer, 1998). Haifa is a place in Israel which acted as the gateway for Israeli settlement in the region during the creation of the state of Israel. The Haifa group is characterized by having few members, fewer than 20 individuals, and their main objective is fighting air pollution. Transportation of dangerous substances away from the city and preventing irresponsible real estate initiatives are other major concerns that this group advocates for in the city of Haifa (Glazer & Glazer, 1998). The common aspect among these environmental groups is that they all have the same agenda of environmental conservation. The main difference is that they all have diverse backgrounds and their membership criteria are influenced by various triggers that do not tally with the rest of the groups. Molly Melching is a human rights activist who heads a nongovernmental organization head-quartered in Dakar, Senegal. The main aim of this NGO is to foster sustainable development and positive social change in African communities through empowerment. While Molly was a university student she development an interest in working with children, and she wrote a book titled Anniko which was illustrated for easier understanding by children. Molly established center called Demb ak Tey that served the numerous population of street children in Dakar. Her success in Dakar city saw her move her program to rural Senegal where she formed the Tostan which was based on a community empowerment program (CEP) developed and natured in the city of Dakar. Tostan’s focus on non-formal education saw the rise in literacy levels among the rural communities, a factor that garnered her support from United Nations agencies like the UNICEF and American aid programs like USAID (Glazer & Glazer, 1998). Tostan also made Molly realize the vital role that women played in the success of her program, which made her develop programs oriented to address women related issues. This contributed to greater empowerment of women in areas that Tostan was able to penetrate bringing with it a lot of positive change to the communities. Molly’s initiative contributed to many women getting involved in health and hygiene projects aimed at improving health care in the community. The issues addressed in this course make relevant points that lead to the question of what role women play in society at the moment compared to their past involvement. In my opinion, women still have great strides to make in the world because there are various agendas that they are best suited to address and they have not been sufficiently filled. On the issue of environmental conservation and the role women have to play, they are best placed to lead this fight because of their nurturing and caring nature. References Glazer, P. M., & Glazer, M. (1998). The environmental crusaders: Confronting disaster and mobilizing community. University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State Univ. Press. Read More