Girls and poverty Essay

The gap between the world’s rich and poor keeps widening. Over the last 20 years, the market share of the least-developed countries (700 million inhabitants) has decreased from 1 percent to 0. 6 percent of the world’s total commerce. â€Å"The majority of the population in black Africa is poorer today than a generation ago,† writes French economist Philippe Jurgensen in Challenges magazine. In Ethiopia, for example, 67 million people live on one third the wealth of Luxembourg’s 400,000 inhabitants. Jurgensen notes that European farmers are entitled to receive a daily subsidy of 2. 5 euros per cow, whereas some 2. 5 billion people live on less than that each day. Thus, in many parts of the world, â€Å"a poor person is worth less than a cow,† says Jurgensen. (Bowler, 1983, 15) The present society today is composed of a vast population that is so much divided by the economic status of each individual. There are those who have strived and attained the wealth that they wanted, and there are those who remained in their state and stayed poor all their lives. This is the situation that social Darwinism suggests. (IRN Zimbabwe, 2003, 19) The vast income divide between rich and poor segregates people and even countries from one another. Not long ago the fortune of the richest man in the United States surpassed the combined net worth of more than 100 million of his fellow Americans. Globalization has also favored the growth of rich multinational companies that have practically taken over the world market for certain products. In 1998, for example, just ten companies controlled 86 percent of the $262-billion telecommunications business (Gelb, 1986, 17). The economic clout of these multinationals often exceeds that of governments and, as Amnesty International points out, â€Å"human rights and labour rights are not a priority on their agenda. (Gelb, 1986, 10) Because of this fact, economic prejudice and oppression of the poor is very eminent within the communities of any nation. At so many situations, it could be noted that the poor are the ones discriminated from receiving the needed provisions that they ought to receive from the governments. Their rights are duly suppressed simply because of the fact that they have not much financial source to support their need or even their rights. Sadly, the situation of the poor becomes even poorer every second that the society advances ahead through technology, while the rich ones become richer because of their capability to use capitalism as a source of business, which would give them even more financial freedom. At this point, the existence of social Darwinism already becomes clear. Yes, Social Darwinism clearly portrays the psychological distraction that the poor ones get from their situation in life. Being poor have naturally made people commit the biggest mistake of simply accepting what they are. Their blinded mind that focuses on their misery has dragged them to the dreadful situation of helplessness that they are dealing with right now. Certainly, in relating the said theory to the actual situations of the humanity, it could be observed that the idea of Darwinism is indeed true and is obvious. Because of the fact that there are those who have power, mainly because they have the capability to gain the said authority due to their accumulation of wealth, the oppression of those who do not have the sources to attain power continues to rise. How is this proven? The following paragraphs that would pertain to the actual current issues shall clearly state the situation of the society regarding social Darwinism. With the existence of Social Darwinism as it is, it could be noted that most of the victims of poverty around the world [particularly in America and Africa] are young children and teenage girls as well. Obviously, the main attack of poverty directly affects the lives of the young ones as they stand as the most vulnerable elements of the society during these particular events and social dilemma. To understand better, the situational elements that contribute to poverty both in America and Africa are to be identified herein. Elements of Poverty Poverty is indeed wide spread in the whole world. Because of the lack of ability of the world governments to accurately provide people with what they need due to the fast-growing population, many among the human society are set aside and pushed towards poverty. Hence, as a result, their offspring and the generation that follows their line then remain in the said economic status. There are only a few among the many who are able to succeed in running away or struggling hard to change their status in the community. (Korten, 2001, 17) As a result, those people steadied in their situation of being poor already loose hope in coping up with their needs. The fact that they are suppressed in having the things that they need because of their incapability to pay, they then develop the idea that there are no ways for them to survive from their miseries in life except for the fact that they need to live by and accept their life as it is. It might then raise curiosity among readers on â€Å"what are the real causes of poverty among people in the society? † In the diagram that follows, a summarized presentation of the said issue shall be addressed showing what is actually driving the poor sector of the society remains the way that they are. Analysis of Diagram: In the diagram presented above, it could be observed that there are three major reasons why the poor remain poor. The said reasons are as follows: †¢ Economic Imbalance This factor pertains to the fact that that world’s wealth is not evenly distributed to every person making up the population of the society. Because of the fact that there are those capitalists that aim to put up their own businesses to be able to gain more profit from their original amount of money invested on the said business entity. It is through this that they are able to gain power over the others who are struggling for survival from being poor. †¢ Population Growth It is an irony that those who are poor are the ones bearing many children, children of which they are not able to support. This is because of the idea that they believe in that their children would be the ones who would struggle for better life for them. The more children they have, the faster they would be able to recover from their misery in poverty. However, this idealism has been proven a fallacy. For a fact, as the children of the poor sector add up, the more they feel the terrifying experience of their situation. †¢ Psychological Disposition Based on psychological findings, poor people tend to ease their burden by telling themselves that they are already contented in the lifestyle that they are living in, and that they have nowhere else to go. As a result, the capitalists feed on this thought by contributing to the idea that without ample finances to support their needs, they are not going to get what they actually ought to have for a living. Basing from these three reasons, it could be observed that poor people simply tend to remain the way they are and the rich ones try to support the said situation by gaining more and not sharing what they have to those who are actually needy. As a result, people who are poor gain three major reactions to the situation. The said reactions include contentment on being poor, lack of self-trust and subjection to social discrimination; these are the things that the poor sector of the society needs to deal with everyday. Hence, America, being surrounded by capitalists and investors, has the rich and the poor sectors which are widely separated from each other. The fact that these capitalist know what to do with the money that they have, they are able to come up with ways by which they can still increase the wealth that they already posses. On the other hand, those who are poor have lesser ideas as well as courage in creating new ways to find a way of living. Certainly, the rich ones who have greater education have greater chances of creating possibilities for themselves to attain financial success in their lives. More often than not, the rich ones who are already settled in their situation are the ones who have greater chances of increasing their authority and power in the society through the use of their finances (Gelb, 1986, 22). Meanwhile, the poor one who are receiving lesser than needed are focusing on the things that they could only attain. They have lesser time spent on thinking how to increase their finances since they are already only trying to live by with what they have, and they do not have enough hopes of spending their time in planning, since they are already so consumed with their present situation. The Teenage Girls and their Reactions to Poverty There are likely three major results of poverty among young girls both in America and Africa. The said three major results are as follows: Diagram 2: The effects of Poverty on Young Teenage Girls in America and Africa Explanation: From the diagram presented herein, it could be observed that girls from both Africa and America who for some reasons are afflicted by poverty react in almost the same way to the level of being directly affected by the situation (Tanenbaum, 2000, 13). Most likely, their health and their safety becomes the most vulnerable element that needs some attention from the governing authorities who have concern over the situation (Riordan, 2004, 18). Undeniably, although the said societies are separately identified as somewhat different in terms of economic standing in the world trade, the reasons behind their poverty levels are somewhat identical that brings the results of the said situation in the society towards the teenage girl-population of the said communities somewhat common and identical as well. (Vendela, 2004, 18) Conclusion The belief behind the existence of the poor and the reasons behind the said situation is naturally noted as something that needs to be closely identified to be able to help solve the issues that bind poverty with that of human society today. The young ones, being the main target of the situation [teenage girls in particular] are facing a great challenge of remaining strong in facing the said issues of lacking the needed strength. Psychologists and other government authorities could help much in defining the different solutions that are made available for the ones affected by the afflictions brought about by poverty in both industrialized and still-developing countries such as that of Africa. References: †¢ IRIN News South Africa: Land ownership remains racially skewed May 24, 2005 †¢ IRIN News Land reform in Southern Africa July, 2003. †¢ IRIN News Zimbabwe: Land reform omits farm workers Land reform in Southern Africa July, 2003. †¢ Bowler, Peter. The Eclipse of Darwinism: Anti-Darwinian Evolution Theories in the Decades around 1900. Baltimore, 1983. †¢ Gelb, S. A. â€Å"Henry H. Goddard and the Immigrants, 1910-1917: The Studies and their Social Context,† Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 22 (1986): 324-332. †¢ Rosenberg, Charles E. â€Å"The Bitter Fruit: Heredity, Disease and Social Thought,† Perspectives in American History 8 (1974):189-235. †¢ David C Korten. When Corporations Rule the World. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. (2001): 345-346. †¢ Founou-Tchuigoua, Bernard Food self-sufficiency: Crisis of the collective ideology African agriculture: The critical choices. United Nations University Press (1990) ISBN 0-86232-798-9 †¢ Milich, Lenard (1997) Food security in Pre-Colonial Hausaland . World Commission on Protected Areas (1995-2006) WCPA West and Central Africa Region Key Issues The World Conservation Union National Academy of Sciences Lost Crops of Africa:Grains ISBN 0-309-04990-3 publication announcement March 4, 1996 †¢ Future Harvest With time running out, scientists attempt rescue of African vegetable crops. News Feature November 29, 2001 †¢ Gouse, Marnus et al. Three seasons of subsistence insect-resistant maize in South Africa: have smallholders benefited? AgBioForum Volume 9, No. 1 (2006) †¢ Singh, B. P. (2002) Nontraditional crop production in Africa for export. p. 86–92. In: J. Janick and A. Whipkey (eds. ), Trends in new crops and new uses. ASHS Press, Alexandria, VA. †¢ Leora Tanenbaum. (2000). Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation. Harper Paperbacks; 1 edition. †¢ Teresa Riordan. (2004). Inventing Beauty: A History of the Innovations that Have Made Us Beautiful. Broadway Publishing. †¢ Vendela Vida. (2000). Girls on the Verge: Debutante Dips, Drive-bys, and Other Initiations. St. Martin’s Griffin; 5th edition.