Katerina's page

## Gender Inequality

### **In Japan**

**The Global Gender Gap Report 2016**, an annual benchmarking exercise by the **World Economic Forum** (WEF), found that despite Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push for women to play a greater role in society, the nation had done little to make more use of its female talent since its ranking at 101st last 2015 to 111th last year.

The percentage of **women lawmakers, senior officials, and managers** declined a point to 9% over the last decade, ranking Japan near the bottom. Japanese men spend roughly half the amount of time on domestic chores as their counterparts overseas, illustrating how **traditional gender roles** of working husband and stay-at-home wife remain firmly rooted in society.Japanese companies still revolve around **full-time male employees** working long hours. The country lacks support system for mothers wanting to return to work after giving birth, which places women in the **difficult situation of having to choose** between either forging a career or becoming a stay-at-home mom.

### **Around the World**

**Child marriage and female genital mutilation** (FGM) are widespread, women in developed and developing countries shoulder the majority of unpaid work and, despite representing half the global population, they hold less than a quarter of parliamentary seats.

Example: **15 million girls** still marry before the age of 18. The practice is most common in **Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa**, with rates of 44% and 37%, respectively.

FGM (female circumcision) is particularly prevalent across **Africa, the Middle East and Asia.** In Somalia, the worst-affected country, 98% of women have been cut.

## **People from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds**

### **Benefits**

1. learn **new culture, language** from other people
2. understanding that even if people have cultural differences, they **desire the same things**: acceptance, well-being, security, esteem and equity.
3. *UNESCO* reveals that policies for participation and inclusion of all people promote **social cohesion, peace** and the vitality of a culturally diverse society.

### **Drawbacks**

1. **language barriers - Social segregation** often occurs when speakers of two mutually unintelligible languages live side by side.
2. **Social tension** can occur as a result of cultural and linguistic differences. The tensions caused by culture are thought to be exacerbated by economic differences, as European Muslim populations are frequently **disadvantaged in employment** due to a lack of educational opportunities.
3. **workplace issues** - African-American employees often feel **socially discriminated** against in diverse workplaces, especially when the workplace has an all-white management team.

## Should there be limits on the freedom of speech?

### **Yes**

1. to avoid to **maintain peace** between nation-states - ex. to **prevent** more killings like the Charlie Hebdo. Freedom of speech doesn’t erase the essence of **respect and empathy**, freedom **doesn’t license one to offend**.
2. some people tend to **abuse** this human right - ex. **bullying** which can lead to someone committing suicide or losing their insanity, **journalists** are often **vulgar and aggressive** to acquire the information they need to write news.

### **No**

1. practice **respecting** other people's opinions and learning how to **tolerate** each other perspectives - part of growing up as an individual. It is not necessary to ban a word or a statement every time a person is offended by it.
2. leads to **ignorance** - if the government restricts the media, people would **not be aware** of what is happening around them, can lead to **misinformation** and misunderstanding
3. opposes the real meaning of having a **democratic nation** which focuses on freedom - free speech is a natural human right. People should be able to distinguish the difference **hate speech** from free speech. If not, it might lead to debates and quarrels.

## Useful language

* as a result, for this reason, in this way, as a consequence
* the proposition that
* we can make the case that, it could be argued that
* this is detrimental because
* critics might say that
* the notion that
* furthermore, in addition, additionally, moreover, also