NAAM TOWARDS A RESPONSIBLE COMMUNITY
*The Role of Young Women in Social Organisations in Civil Society* *Current Status and Future Hopes* The one-day symposium in Madrid was intended to garner opinions and ideas that would be the travel guide on a journey yet to be taken. The destination is to involve young women to a much greater extent in the social and civil processes of their societies, to contribute their ideas and viewpoints to the general debate of how to construct equable and equal opportunity society for all. The symposium brought together a rich mix of women, with careers that ranged from artists, lawyers, public relations experts and founders and leaders of associations with expertise in inspiring ideas and getting things done. It became clear that the power and energy of young people has in many instances been harnessed in individual organisations. A very practical example that has clear and immediate impact on society was offered by the charity Wonderful Julius that provides an extremely inexpensive water purification system that is saving and transforming lives in remote corners of the world. The young women involved in that project change the social structure of the societies they work in by simply reducing death and disease, thereby by default enabling people to have the opportunity develop social and civil skills by simply being healthier. A correlation between the percentages of women in government was revealed that gave pause for thought. Frequently in less developed and emerging societies, women disproportionately bear the burden of work - often unpaid – but also constitute a major and frequently a majority percentage of the legislature. As the society develops, that percentage often reduces. The question was raised as to why that might be. To understand this, the symposium concluded, might offer an insight as to how that situation might be rebalanced. It emerged during the symposium that in more complex societies with sharply defined institutions and more rigid social structures, where the basic physical needs of food and shelter are catered for, more subtle barriers to development and change exist. Contributors offered suggestions both general and specific. With the phenomenon of social media and entertainment, discussion was lively when focusing on subtle methods of altering widely held perceptions about what young women are capable of, what their skills are and what they are able to contribute to long established and perhaps rigid social structures. Ideas and examples from contributors included the use of art, positive public images, social media and above all entertainment as a medium of influence. The Internet and its de facto power to influence emerged as a prime engine for change. Social media may be effective to an extent and for specific projects; crowd-funding for a particular cause was a good example. For greater, long term and deeper effect, the symposium generally agreed that change in attitude was needed to effect change in fact. To bring this about, then entertainment – particularly film – emerged as the most likely vehicle of change. Traditionally, Hollywood was a main influencer; that role has been challenged by the advent of Internet based film sources. That being the case, creative individuals with ideas that can be delivered, as entertainment will in the long term have an effect on the grand scale, yet through the ubiquity of the Internet, be able to reach anyone with a web-connectable device. During the event, several ideas for progress emerged. • The power of art: Develop the influence of creative women in the arts as they impact on social structures. • Develop reverse mentoring: young people act to engage older individuals in the techniques and power of Internet technology that while not the exclusive province of youth has far wider presence in younger generations. • Role reversal: Young women in particular take up what are traditionally male roles especially in the media. Examples of young women as film producers was but one example. • Discriminate: Distinguish propaganda from information. With information, getting it first does not necessarily mean getting it right. Encourage evaluation. • Energy: Change will not happen without effort. Communicate the ideas, devote energy to changing the demographic balances in civil society. *We would greatly value your contribution, with your original knowledge * *opinions and experience in your own culture and country to establish a valuable knowledge and contact pool. * *Please reply to:* *info @naam.world* *Saleh Mutabbakani * * President of NAAM * -------------------------------- www.naam.world - Lista de correo de Proxecto Trasno - Enviar correo a - proxecto@trasno.gal - Administrador - administra...@trasno.gal - de - Proxecto Trasno - Cancelar a subscrición no URL : http://trasno.gal/web?confirm_unsubscribe=indeed&m=2864&h=6598a6cad72d15640e934625c2449e17053a657e&sa=992192670
