Many recent studies have proved that the economy seems to grow stronger and stronger as women enter the world of high positions in organisations. In fact, it has been proved that firms tend to gain around 15% of productivity when the percentage of women occupying important positions grows from 0% to 30%. However, equality between men and woman at work and more precisely in politics is still way too challenged.

First of all, we can still observe a significant gap between men's and women's wages today, which is one of my biggest concerns as a feminist. This difference in salaries actually rises 24%, every kind and time of work combined. What actually struck me the most was the fact that in 2017, only 13% of professions were declared truly mixed, and only 17% of firms were employing in an equal way both men and women. Men are truly used to occupying high offices, and seem to struggle a bit in letting women in… To give an idea, only 13.4% of women are today able to be part of the executive committee (referring to the central position and the power in a firm) of their company! Recent studies showed that when women are given key positions in a company, strategy, management and even atmosphere seem to  improve.

To me, the first thing we should work on to correct these inequalities would be to focus more on girls' educational guidance, and to convince them that they can become everything they want. Many people made me believe that as a woman, I would never be able to build a decent political career, and that women in general would never be able to be completely part of this world. I want men and women to be respected and treated as equals, and I truly think that it’s time for society to let women enter the world of higher functions, because I’m definitely convinced that we are as appropriate as men to run companies and high positions in politics. It is time for women to empower their skills and to make their voices louder! 

Alice

Why you should shop at thrift stores more

As you may or may not know I’m a big fan of thrifting. My mother handed me down the love of going into a shop and not knowing what great piece I may find when I was young and it still thrills me everytime I go in my local second-hand clothing store.

Indeed not only it is more sustainable for your bank account as you can find great items for way cheaper than if you went to the shopping centre but it is also a way to find some clothes that you wouldn’t find anymore in regular fast fashion shops. Thrift stores are perfect for those who look for a more vintage style and struggle to find it anywhere else; you can find clothes dating 20 years back or even more. Depending on the place you go to and what is there at that moment, it is ever changing !

Only there is a certain mentality that you have to adopt when you decide to go into a thrift shop. If you come in with a specific idea of what you want you’ll have to accept that you may not find it there on the first time in the first store you go to. Moreover to enjoy your experience there it is better to go with an open mind - it is a thrift store, try what you want to try, dare trying on something that you think is out of your comfort zone and even buying it if you love it but are unsure of if you’re going to rock it ! It doesn’t cost much, you will be able to try some new styles and realise that you can wear things that you never thought you could before.

In a nutshell thrift stores are a great way of getting great unique vintage pieces (you’ll never have someone with the same clothes as you), trying new styles for cheap, shopping on a budget (as students we know the struggle), getting rid of old clothing that you don’t wear anymore that will most likely make someone else happy, and last but not least reducing your participation in the fast fashion industry thus being more ethical in your shopping !

Indeed fast fashion (which describes inexpensive designs that move quickly from the catwalk to stores to meet new trends cheaply) has a montruous impact on our world, from contributing to global pollution to modern slavery. Thus changing our shopping habits to more sustainable ones is not only agreeable but more humane. Yes, you cannot change these habits in the blink of an eye but being aware of the choices you make is important and knowing what’s behind the brands you see everyday enables you to have a more critical view of the industry. Yes, you may not be able to go full thrift, local and ethical brands etc, however the most important is reducing your consumption of fast fashion. I believe the human contact made through thrifting whatever your reasons may be to chose that kind of shopping is something very unique and enables clothes to have another life.

In short thrifting is also to me an easy and affordable way to make an impact and shop ethically !

(To get a summary on the impact of fast fashion and the ways in which you can limit your fast fashion consumption you can check out a video from HautLeMode called Fast Fashion is Disgusting ( https://youtu.be/8ox72V4DM2w ), it is actually how I discovered this aspect of the stores that I used to go to without really thinking about the process behind the clothes. Netflix has also a great documentary called The True Cost if you want to get more in depth.)

The reason I am optimistic

There have been a lot of posts here recently talking about problems in our world, like sexism, hunger or climate change. And, while it is important to be aware of these problems and to try to find solutions, I think it’s also important to look at the good things in the world once in a while ; if only to not lose hope in humanity.

            One of those is space exploration. Think about it : we have the capacity to leave our planet. This may sound trivial, but when you reflect on it, it is huge. We can send probes to any corner of the solar system, we can land people on the moon (which is 384 402 km away, almost 10 times the circumference of Earth), and we have even sent objects beyond the Kuiper belt. We are no longer planetbound, and the potential for scientific and cultural advancement is immense. And it also shows how humans can come together to achieve great things and push back limits, with structures such as the ISS or agencies like the ESA.

            In our lifetimes, we will probably see things such as the first human born in space or the first step on Mars. This will open new perspectives : a colony on the red planet would let us experiment with new forms of society and government without the limits present on Earth, experiments which may afterwards have a beneficial impact on our own society. Mining Helium 3 on the Moon could lead to a breakthrough in fusion energy, allowing us to have large amounts of dangerless, non-polluting energy.

            Of course, the changes these events would imply might be scary, but I am confident in humanity’s ability to make them work. After all, our society could have been destroyed countless times in the last century alone, but we are still here. And as such, we can all do our part to help a better future come about.

Florent.

We need to change before the climate does

 

Our earth, home to more than 7 billion people, is now suffering from human activity and its excessiveness.  Pollution of air, water, soil. Greenhouse gases. Climate change. The 6th continent of plastic. All these catastrophes are due to humans. The situation is getting worse and worse. According to the UNO annual environmental report of  2018, the world population only has until 2020 to react and act before the consequences of human activity become irreversible.

The truth is, much damage has been done and for some no solutions have been found yet; but for some others there are still solutions that we need to implement globally. And most importantly, we all need to work on to avoid worsening the situation of the planet.

First of all, awareness must be spread by everyone; people need to understand the depth of the situation. A general awareness is necessary to move forward. Then eventually individuals can start to act on their own. There are a lot of measures that can make a difference. Some simple, others which require going out of one’s comfort zone.

To begin with, we need to reduce our waste and especially single-use plastic which has terrible effects on the ocean, sea life and the earth in general. It might be hard to change habits but it’s necessary. We might also want to reconsider our shopping list and be more careful of the origin of the products we buy. Buying local is always better, for the economy and for the earth.

Here is the mantra of zero waste:

 

We also need to reduce drastically our meat consumption because of the impact it has on climate change. A kilo of meat takes 15,5 L of water to produce, which is an alarming number. The breeding of cattle causes a high rate of greenhouse gases and is also causing deforestation because the farmers need arable land to grow crops to feed the animals.

We also must pay close attention to our water consumption or else there won’t be enough fresh water for humanity, animals and nature in a few decades.

Little steps are encouraged in ecology because it is by starting with them that we can move forward and really make a difference. Don’t go vegan, just eat less meat. Don’t stop shopping for clothes, just buy from more sustainable brands or thrift shops. Don’t live a zero waste lifestyle, just cut out the plastic of your food packaging. And after a reasonable amount of time, you can start to implement more radical measures. It can be at your own pace but always remember that the earth is dying and we need to act.

(In such a limited format I can’t really explain more, but here is a short article from the Guardian that is really interesting to understand the stakes of ecology in our era if you want to know more)

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/18/vegetarianism-save-planet-environment

You can also understand your impact on earth by doing a footprint test: https://www.wwf.ch/fr/vie-durable/calculateur-d-empreinte-ecologique

Romane Muller.

How to enjoy ourselves while struggling against discrimination

One of the things that drives me completely mad is discrimination. Injustice and discrimination are unbearable to me and make me incredibly furious. According to the Oxford Dictionary, sexism is defined as “prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex.” This, in other terms, means that women (especially) are generally seen as inferior to men. Of course both genders are affected by sexism and suffer from stereotypes, but in my opinion (and in fact, really), women are the ones that endure the most discrimination. I could list a series of proportions and numbers that support my point, but I’m starting to get tired of repeating myself and hearing the same horrific statistics over and over again without witnessing a bit of real change in attitudes.

Sexism is considered by a lot of people (by men as well as by women) as a myth, and feminists are often described as hysterics that fight for inexistent problems. I want this opinion to change, which is why I really advise you to look up a channel on YouTube called “Studio 4” and to watch the episodes of the series named “Martin, sexe faible”. In these short episodes, the world is reversed and women exchange roles with men. This perspective shines a light on everyday life details that don’t bother anyone but that look extremely shocking when the genders are exchanged. This series made me realize in a very funny way how unequal society still is, and how bad I wanted it to change. I sincerely hope that it will be the same for you.

Léa

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCWlLCe8vKtX-BfOQxZbd7kV_9JVVJZdd

Why dance class is just as important as maths class

I was reading different articles from TEDtalks when I read this title which aroused my curiosity as it reminded me of our previous spider-web discussion on failure at school.

Sir Ken Robinson, who works with governments, education systems, international agencies, global corporations and some of the world’s leading cultural organizations,

stated in You, Your Child and School : Navigate Your Way to the Best Education, one of his latest book : « Dance can help restore joy and stability in troubled lives and ease the tensions in school disrupted by violence and bullying. »

What I read is just an extract from this book, praising the positive impact of a specific dance program that was implemented in some schools in the USA.

One specific case that can be seen in the article is the one of a young female student that was completely transformed by going through this program. Indeed she changed her attitude towards dance itself and her whole behaviour in school or at home.

It has been observed that dancing together definitely improves the abilities to cooperate and collaborate as well as it encouraging the notion of acceptance and respect among the children.

For some schools that had followed this program it was also discovered that reading skills or even grades in maths had been improved, showing that both art and physical activity might have a real positive impact on memory, concentration and classroom behaviour.

Do you think that school should focus more on dance or another form of art/physical ed in order to improve the students’ way of learning and thinking ?

You can click on the link below to have a broader view on the question and access the full article.

https://ideas.ted.com/why-dance-is-just-as-important-as-math-in-school/

Enjoy !

Flora

Something has to be done...

I wanted to use this weekly blogpost to talk about a paradoxical issue. Indeed, nowadays more than 842 million people are starving to death. Many families around the world have nothing to eat and go most of the time to bed (if they have one) hungry. Solving this problem should be the priority of every country but unfortunately, as you can imagine, it is far from being the case. It sometimes gets on my nerves to see that in the media, journalists are most of the time granting more importance to random things such as the Hallydays’ inheritance instead of talking about burning issues and launching awareness campaigns to try to help the people in need… But there is even worse than that. In fact, we are living in a dangerous society in which we are pushed to buy more and more. Therefore while some people have no food nor clean and safe water to drink, others are wasting a huge amount of still edible food and some are overweight or suffering from obesity. How can one explain this huge gap? Personally I can’t.

Solving the hunger problem is a huge challenge but everyone can, should, must contribute for we, you have the lives of those people in your hands…

M’llal-Boulaguigue Yasmine.