Noteworthy. (2015). Solutions 6(4): 6-10.
Idea Lab Noteworthy
Riccardo Romano
Restaurants in social hubs such as markets, this one in Jodhpur, India, should welcome single women.
An Indian Restaurant Tackles the Stigma of Women Dining Alone by Ilina Talwar
In many places across the world, single women dining alone are often subject to society’s disapproving looks. In India especially, eating out alone for a woman is well beyond the cultural norm. It is difficult for women to go to restaurants alone, without being judged or constantly harassed, as men ogle them and restaurant owners ask when the rest of their party is arriving. This ideology is deeply embedded in Indian culture and is a reflection of the society’s view of women as ‘less than independent.’
Take Anasuya Basu, who recently recounted to the BBC her experience of trying to dine alone in an upscale restaurant in central Delhi. After waiting for a table for an extended period of time, she was finally offered one in a dimly lit corner. She refused to accept the table and promptly demanded to be seated elsewhere. This kind of behavior by the restaurant staff is not uncommon and can be witnessed at several establishments around the city. But things may be changing in South Delhi, where a new restaurant is catering to single women looking to eat in peace, and by themselves.
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Manager and chef Mary Lalboi differentiates her restaurant from others through her treatment of female customers. “I never turn away a lone woman customer no matter how busy the restaurant is. I am here to build a brand on the strength of the quality of my service and goodwill to my customers.” A rare gem, Mary Labloi’s establishment reflects a more forward thinking and accepting ideology. Having lived in Delhi my entire life, I don’t think I have ever dined alone. With areas such as Khan Market and Hauz Khas Village serving as social hubs, restaurants here should be more open to single women looking to grab a bite.
Idea Lab Noteworthy Electric Car-Sharing Introduced to Disadvantaged Communities in Los Angeles by Zafirah Mohamed Zein
Residents of Los Angeles’ low-income neighborhoods will soon be the drivers of California’s clean energy movement with the introduction of an electric car-sharing project. The pilot program, made possible by a US$1.6 million grant by the California Air Resources Board, will make alternative transportation more available to the communities most affected by climate change. This trailblazing initiative hopes to serve around 7000 residents in the city’s working class communities,
starting with a 100-vehicle fleet of advanced technology electric vehicles (EVs). Residents will be educated on the benefits of car sharing and clean transportation, as well as introduced to EV charging stations in their own housing developments. This will help advance Los Angeles’ Sustainable City pLAn’s 2017 goal of having 1000 public charging stations to reduce petroleum dependency and cut down greenhouse gas emissions. These stations will push California closer to attaining its climate change goals of having 1.5 million electric vehicles on the road by 2025 and cutting petroleum use by half by 2030. This project is also in line with Senate Bill 1275, the Charge Ahead
California Initiative that was enacted last year. SB 1275 aims to ensure that low-income Californians who disproportionately suffer from the effects of air pollution have greater access to clean transportation. At a neighborhood event celebrating the project, Sharon Feigon, executive director of the Shared-Use Mobility Center, said, “The size and scope of this endeavor make it an unprecedented public investment in shared mobility. This unique project will increase access to transportation for hundreds of thousands of Angelenos, while at the same time attracting new private-sector investment, increasing public awareness of electric vehicles, and cutting congestion and harmful emissions.”
Antonio R. Villariogosa
An electric car on display at the Electric Vehicle Conference held at the Los Angeles Civic Center in 2010. www.thesolutionsjournal.org | July-August 2015 | Solutions | 7
Idea Lab Noteworthy Female Anti-Terror Organization Arms Mothers for Fight against Extremism by Zafirah Mohamed Zein
Mothers around the world are banding together as agents of change dedicated to combatting violent extremism. Mother Schools, a pioneering European project by Sisters Against Violent Extremism (SAVE), empowers women to take action against the radicalization of their youth and includes them in international peacemaking and the prevention of violent conflict. SAVE was borne out of Women Without Borders, a research-based NGO founded by Austrian activist Edit Schlaffer. “The first school that any human being comes into contact with is the home, and the first teacher is the mother. So we are going to use this as a strategy,” said Khadijah Hawaja Gambo, one of the mobilizers spearheading the campaign in Nigeria, in a film by SAVE. The Mothers School model was developed as a result of SAVE workshops in Tajikistan three years ago where it was first launched. The world’s first female anti-terror platform found that women were increasingly concerned about the safety of their children and how vulnerable they were to the spread of violent extremism. Mothers Schools were thus established to equip mothers with the skills and knowledge needed to recognize and respond to early warnings of radicalization within their families and communities. The schools received positive feedback in Tajikistan, where communities feared the rise of
Vicki Francis / Department for International Development
Mothers Schools empowers women to play an active role in countering violent extremism. Schools have been implemented in high risk areas, and are affecting mothers and families such as this one in Sindh, Pakistan.
Taliban ideology with the departure of American forces in 2014. Mothers Schools have since been implemented in high-risk communities across India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Zanzibar, and Indonesia. Esther Ibanga, President of the African NGO Women Without Walls Initiative, said, “A lot of women do not even know they have that power, do not even realize that they have that much influence to shape and form their children. So I think that the Mothers Schools is teaching the women, ‘Hey, you have some power. Use it.’” Mothers Schools are currently being implemented in Europe as Syria continues to welcome an alarming number of foreign fighters from the region. Young women are included
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in those flocking to ISIS territory as recruiters connect with them on social media and lure them into becoming wives and defenders of the self-proclaimed state. In a New York Times article, Schlaffer said of the troubling phenomenon, “All of a sudden, [women] have such a huge role to play in a new society—they think. We must not forget that young women are also political minds and might respond to the same push-and-pull factors as their male counterparts.” SAVE aims to expand the Mothers Schools model into a global movement that allows women everywhere to play an active role in countering violent extremism on the home front, making them international allies in peace and security.
Idea Lab Noteworthy Women-Only Center in Rural India Challenges Cultural Norms by Zafirah Mohamed Zein
At the edge of India’s Thar Desert, in a dusty village called Bhikamkor, women are breaking barriers and feeling empowered through their craft. Known mainly to passing tourists for its historical-fort-turned-elegant hotel, Bhikamkor is also home to a caste-ridden community of 5000 people that largely relies on the land for sustenance. Its remote location leaves it neglected by the government, and its conservative society means women are even more isolated. However, this is changing with the establishment of Saheli center, a women-run community center developed by the Indian NGO Institute for Philanthropy and Humanitarian Development (IPHD). It has become a safe space for women to gain skills in handicraft work and learn the tools of financial independence. The Saheli center is named after the fashion microenterprise Saheli Designs, currently managed by Bhikamkor’s women. Saheli is the brainchild of IPHD founder Madhu Vaishnav and Australian intern Jacklyn McCosker, who now serves as its director. Meaning ‘female friend’ in Hindi, Saheli aims to empower and connect women from all over the world through their brand of socially conscious and locally sourced products. After receiving skills training from international designers and a local seamstress, 10 women are currently employed in the center and getting paid for the handmade accessories they produce. These products are sold in Australia, where India’s exotic style is trending among the country’s youth.
Andrew Miller
The Saheli center aims to empower the women of Bhikamkor beyond traditional gender roles, connecting them to skills training, employment, and education. www.thesolutionsjournal.org | July-August 2015 | Solutions | 9
Idea Lab Noteworthy In a village where there are no female doctors and 80 percent of its women are anemic, Madhu’s dreams for Saheli have the potential to transform the lives of Bhikamkor’s women. Madhu admits there were initial obstacles that preceded the success of Saheli. Due to the community’s fixed perceptions of gender roles, many women are denied access to education and ways of earning an income. The women themselves also harbored doubts due to the legacy left by previous government projects that were never sustained. Furthermore, the rigid class system still entrenched in rural Indian society led to class discrimination within the Saheli community at the beginning. However, a diverse bunch of women from different religions and castes now socialize and work together in the same compound, forming a sisterhood espoused by the message of Saheli. “The aim is to make this community thrive, not just survive,” said Madhu, who has plans to set up a women’s library, a community garden, and a mobile health clinic in Bhikamkor. “In four years we hope to bring real change.”
OneNYC Links Social Justice and Sustainability by Colleen Maney
This spring, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new environmental agenda. He unveiled his plan not at City Hall, or from the iconic greens of Central Park, but from Hunt’s Point in the South Bronx—a community struggling with poverty and environmental hazards brought by multiple waste transfer stations. From the headquarters of The Point, an environmental justice organization,
Kevin Case
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s new sustainability policy OneNYC recognizes the links between environmentalism and inequality.
de Blasio recognized what the people of Hunt’s Point know to be true: that poverty, inequality, and environmental issues are all inextricably linked. This premise is the underlying basis for the city’s new environmental agenda, called OneNYC, and heralds a welcome departure from the city’s previous sustainability programs. OneNYC recognizes the social injustice of the city’s low-income communities disproportionately bearing the burdens of polluting facilities, and the factors that keep people trapped in those communities, including lack of access to workforce training, livable wages, and affordable housing. The highly ambitious plan aims to lift 800,000 New Yorkers out of poverty over the next ten years. Some of the plan’s most potentially powerful initiatives include the following: • Leveraging investments into green infrastructure and energy
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efficiency to create training and job opportunities; • Establishing a new “triple bottom line” for capital planning that includes economic, environmental, and social indicators; • Investing US$30 million in community resiliency projects in the city’s most vulnerable neighborhoods; • Establishing a Zero Waste program for large commercial waste generators and reducing commercial waste overall by 90 percent by 2030. While the impacts of the plan are yet to be seen, OneNYC is indicative of the shift in environmentalism to recognize the relationship between climate change and economic inequality. As de Blasio emphasized at a press conference, “Environmental sustainability and economic sustainability have to walk hand in hand.”