Published on MTV’s international pro-social website MTV Voices on 21.03.13
What’s Up World?
Between the cracks of the world’s news headlines
Sexist tablet?
Hey ladies, having trouble working a Kindle or an iPad? Fear not – the ePad Femme is here.
Created specifically for women by the Middle East-based Eurostar Group, the ePad Femme is pre-loaded with a pink background and apps focused on shopping, cooking, perfume and clothing sizes.
Eurostar say, “It makes a perfect gadget for a woman who might find difficulties in terms of downloading these applications and it is a quick reference.” But women around the world say it’s pretty much the worst thing ever. According to Saudi-based blogger Eman Al Nafjan, the women of the Middle East “are extremely tech-savvy… Whoever made this tablet doesn’t understand us very well.”
What do you think? Useful for women who aren’t familiar with emerging technologies or moderately insulting, considering a four year old can use an iPad?
Because clothes don’t matter, intentions do…
Online protesters, sick of seeing and hearing stories of horrific violence against women in their native India,have started a revolution with a Tumblr page.
Got Stared At invites victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault to post photos of what they were wearing when they were harassed on the blog, in order to dispel the notion that women and their clothing choices are to blame for street harassment.
After receiving thousands of submissions from all over the world in its first few months, Got Stared At now has over 15,000 Facebook followers and was awarded the UN Millennium Development Goals’ World Summit Youth Award last year. Props to the blog’s creator, Dhruv Arora!
The tragic side of a culture clash
A wave of teen suicide attempts has hit Afghanistan and it’s difficult to say why.
The recent deaths of sisters Nabila and Fareba Gul in Mazar-i-Sharif have drawn major attention to the issue, particularly because they were seen to be well off, educated and from a progressive family, living on the outer edges of traditional Afghan conservatism.
While the government doesn’t keep track of specific numbers, staff at Mazar-i-Sharif’s main hospital say they typically see cases of attempted suicide three or four times per day, compared to one or two per month 10 years ago.
The cause of the growing crisis isn’t easy to identify. But the general consensus, according to opinions gathered by the New York Times, points to the clash in cultures experienced by young women living in a cross-cultural hub like Mazar-i-Sharif, where they are exposed to the social norms of the West through television and the internet but are physically living in Afghanistan’s strictly conservative, male-dominated society.
Hunger isn’t a game
Ever stare blankly in the fridge and whine, “There’s nothing to eat”? Well, for a scary number of people around the world that’s actually true…
Fact of the day: Nearly one in seven people around the world don’t have enough food to eat. That’s more people than the populations of the USA, Canada and the entire European Union combined. Outrageous huh? Hungertakes more lives AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined, making it the biggest global health risk in the world today.
In order to raise awareness of the situation, the lovely team over at Good are putting out the challenge to host a dinner party and cook a meal using fewer ingredients than the number of people on the guest list. Beans on toast anybody?
Something brewing in your part of the world? We want to know about it. Tweet @its_alicia or @mtvvoices using the hashtag #WhatsUpWorld
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