Category Archives: Writing

Staycations – Yay or Nay?

Posted on by
Reply
Source

Staycations, which usually means staying in a hotel or resort which is either in your own town or city and does not involving travel. The traditional meaning does not even include overnight accommodation, but today’s definition does include an overnight stay. Most people replicate a traditional vacation, with a defined start and end date, just without getting on a plane or travelling far from their own town or city. The word is a a portmanteau of stay (meaning stay-at-home) and vacation.

Staycations achieved popularity in the US. during the financial crisis of 2007–2010 and in the UK in 2009 as a weak pound sterling made overseas holidays significantly more expensive. Staycations have been popular in Singapore for many years now and especially in the last decade or so. Today, the staycation holiday has become popular worldwide due to travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The earliest reference to the term staycation came from a 2003 article by Terry Massey in The Sun News. The word became widely used in the United States during May 2008 as the summer travel season began with petrol prices reaching record highs, leading many people to cut back on expenses including travel. Merriam-Webster cites the earliest use in the Cincinnati Enquirer on  July 18, 1944 and the term was added to the 2009 version of the Merriam–Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.

Source

So why do people take staycations? Most people take staycations for many reasons.

Staycations are easy. You avoid the hassle of actually going on a holiday by bypassing flights, tickets and the other inconvienances and get straight to enjoying your holiday. There’s also no hassle of packing and unpacking, sometimes multiple times, no jet lag and long drives and endless waiting at airports.

Staycations are also cheaper than a holiday. A hotel accommodation is not just the only cost in a holiday. You have to also factor in transportation costs, food and other living expenses in the destination make any holiday, especially for a family an expensive affair.

Staycations can be quite the experience. You can choose different accommodation, based on your budget and experience life differently, maybe even altering your mood and making you feel you are not in your own city.

Staycations benefit the economy. Staycations benefit local businesses who get customers from locals and boost local economy. Especially in times like this when many cities are in a lockdown and both domestic and international tourism is severely impacted, a staycation can mean a full house for the hotel and the difference between the hotel staying in business and closing down forever.

Staycations are good for the environment. Air travel’s environmental impact is significant. By avoiding travel, a staycation may reduce the carbon emissions associated with travel greatly.

Staycations start earlier and go for longer. Without the hassle of travel, your staycation starts the minute you drive into the hotel which may be less than an hour’s drive from home. Again, since you don’t need to travel back home, you can stay as long as you want, coming home just when you need to.

Staycations allow you to experience affordable luxury. When you travel traditionally, because of budgetary considerations, you may not be able to spend as much on accommodation as you like. But with a staycation, you can afford accommodation at a higher price point than what you would be able to afford at another place and enjoy luxury that otherwise you would not be able to afford.

Source

But contrary to all that I wrote above, I feel a staycation is a waste of your money. Why?

A room in a good hotel in Singapore does not come cheap and is a minimum of $200 per room per night. With this amount, I can easily get a couple of tickets to a southeast Asian destination in say Malaysia, Thailand or even Cambodia.

Here’s what I think I would do with $200 which would be spent in one night in a mid-sized hotel in Singapore. I prefer to sleep in my own bed, so that’s accommodation taken care of. With the money, I don’t have to lift a finger in my own home for a day by ordering food and even a cleaner to come a couple of hours to clean my home. In addition, this money can pay for entertainment like a streaming subscription for year which I can enjoy for a long time. The money will also pay for the entrance fee to local attractions which I have not visited in many years like the Singapore Zoo, Night Safari and River Safari as well as the Art Science Museum, Singapore Flyer, Gardens By The Bay, Marina Bay Sands and Sentosa with the Universal Studios. I can do atleast a few of these attractions with the money I would spend staying one night in a hotel.

So this is why staycations are a Nay from me and I would probably not do a staycation, but rather spend money on experiences. What about you? Are staycations a Yay or a Nay? I would love to read your opinion.

International Day of the Girl Child

Posted on by
Reply
Source

Also called the Day of Girls and the the International Day of the Girl, the International Day of the Girl Child was first declared by the United Nations on 11 October 2012 to increase awareness of the gender inequality faced by girls worldwide and support more opportunity for girls. The inequality faced by girls include areas such as access to education, nutrition, legal rights, medical care, and protection from discrimination, violence against women and forced child marriage. The celebration of the day also reflects the successful emergence of girls and young women as a distinct cohort in development policy, programming, campaigning and research.

Source

In 1995, before the girls of today were even born,the fourth World Conference on Women made history for the women’s rights agenda with the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted, the most visionary blueprint for the empowerment of women and girls. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action is the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing the rights of not only women but girls. Now, about half a century later, the Platform for Action remains a powerful foundation for assessing progress on gender equality. It calls for a world where every girl and woman can realize all her rights, such as to live free from violence, to attend and complete school, to choose when and whom she marries, and to earn equal pay for equal work. The Platform for Action specifically calls on the global community to eliminate all forms of discrimination against girls; eliminate negative cultural attitudes and practices against girls; promote and protect the rights of girls and increase awareness of their needs and potential; eliminate discrimination against girls in education, skills development and training; eliminate discrimination against girls in health and nutrition; eliminate the economic exploitation of child labour and protect young girls at work; eradicate violence against girls; promote girls’ awareness of and participation in social, economic and political life and strengthen the role of the family in improving the status of girls. 

Source

The International Day of the Girl increases awareness of issues faced by girls around the world. Many of the global development plans do not include or consider girls, and their issues have become “invisible.” More than 62 million girls around the world had no access to education, as of 2014, according to USAID. Worldwide and collectively, girls ages 5 to 14 spend more than 160 million hours more on household chores than boys of the same age do. Globally, one in four girls are married before the age of 18. Each year, 12 million girls under 18 are married; 130 million girls worldwide are still out of school; and approximately 15 million adolescent girls aged 15-19 have experience forced sex. The International Day of the Girl Child helps to raise awareness not only of the issues that girls face, but also of what is likely to happen when these problems are solved. For example, educating girls helps reduce the rate of child marriage, disease and helps strengthen the economy by helping girls have access to higher paying jobs.

This day began as a project of Plan International, a non-governmental organisation that operates worldwide through their “Because I Am a Girl” campaign, which raised awareness on the importance of nurturing girls globally and in developing countries in particular. Awareness for the initiative grew internationally and soon the United Nations got involved in this campaign which finally became the International Day of the Girl Child with the inaugural day on October 11, 2012.

The resolution states that the Day of Girls recognises the empowerment of and investment in girls, which are critical for economic growth, the achievement of all Millennium Development Goals, including the eradication of poverty and extreme poverty, as well as the meaningful participation of girls in decisions that affect them, are key in breaking the cycle of discrimination and violence and in promoting and protecting the full and effective enjoyment of their human rights, and recognizing also that empowering girls requires their active participation in decision-making processes and the active support and engagement of their parents, legal guardians, families and care providers, as well as boys and men and the wider community.

Each year’s Day of Girls has a theme; the theme for this year’s celebrations is “My voice, our equal future” where girls, especially adolescent girls will focus their their demands to live free from gender-based violence, harmful practices, and HIV and AIDS; learn new skills towards the futures they choose and lead as a generation of activists accelerating social change

If you want to get involved in the International Day of the Girl Child, you can do so by sharing stories of inspiring adolescent girls or girl-led organisations who are developing innovative solutions or leading efforts towards positive social change, including gender equality, in their communities and nations. Let’s amplify their leadership, actions and impact to inspire others. You can also participate in a youth-led digital activation which will be launched on the 11th. This will be led by young people across the world who are developing a digital activism campaign, aiming to raise the diversity of girls’ voices and their vision for a reimagined future.

World Mental Health Day

Posted on by
1
Source

Mental health is essential to our overall well-being and as important as physical health. When we feel mentally well, we can work productively, enjoy our free time, and contribute actively to our communities. Tomorrow is commemorated as World Mental Health Day to put a spotlight on what mental illness is and how it can affect large portions of society.

Today, more than ever before mental health has come front and centre of people’s conscious. Because of the pandemic that’s hit our world, there are many, due to various reasons, who have reached the end of their teather, mentally and physically. Physical symptoms are very visible and treatable, but what about mental symptoms? Mental illnesses are the silent killers of our century and is one of the most neglected areas of public health.

Close to 1 billion people are living with a mental disorder, 3 million people die every year from the harmful use of alcohol and one person dies every 40 seconds by suicide. And now, billions of people around the world have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is having a further impact on people’s mental health. Yet, relatively few people around the world have access to quality mental health services. In low- and middle-income countries, more than 75% of people with mental, neurological and substance use disorders receive no treatment for their condition at all. Furthermore, stigma, discrimination, punitive legislation and human rights abuses are still widespread.

Source

The limited access to quality, affordable mental health care in the world before the pandemic, and particularly in humanitarian emergencies and conflict settings, has been further diminished due to COVID-19 as the pandemic has disrupted health services around the world. Primary causes have been infection and the risk of infection in long-stay facilities such as care homes and psychiatric institutions; barriers to meeting people face-to-face; mental health staff being infected with the virus; and the closing of mental health facilities to convert them into care facilities for people with COVID-19. The current worldwide pandemic arose against an already dire mental health landscape that saw mental health conditions on the rise across the globe. About 450 million people live with mental disorders that are among the leading causes of ill-health and disability worldwide according to the WHO World Health Report of 2001. One person in every four will be affected by a mental disorder at some stage of their lives while mental, neurological and substance use disorders exact a high toll on health outcomes, accounting for 13% of the total global burden of disease according to a WHO report from 2012. The World Health Organization in 2018 stated that every 40 seconds someone dies by suicide. Annually, this represents over 800 000 people that die by suicide, which is more than people dying by war and homicide put together. For every suicide, there are many more people who attempt suicide every year. A prior suicide attempt is the single most important risk factor for suicide in the general population. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15 to 29-year-olds while 79% of global suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries. Every suicide is a tragedy that affects families, communities and entire countries and has long-lasting and devastating effects on the people left behind.

Source

The World Economic Forum in 2018 noted that mental health disorders are on the rise in every country in the world and could cost the global economy up to $16 trillion between 2010 and 2030 if a collective failure to respond is not addressed. We are faced with an international mental health crisis and have been forewarned over the past two decades of this imminent catastrophe. This has been compounded by the need for psychosocial support and mental health interventions during this trying time. This bleak picture necessitates that we ensure that mental health is prioritised now more than ever before.

So this year’s World Mental Health Day’s message is a call for the world to come together and begin to readdress this inequality in the treatment of mental health. According to the World Health Organisation, unless the world makes a serious commitment to scale up investments in mental health now, the health, social and economic consequences will be far-reaching.

Countries are estimated to spend, on an average, only around 2% of their total healthcare budgets on mental health and  international development assistance for mental health has never exceeded 1% of all development assistance for health. This is despite the fact that for every US$ 1 invested in scaled-up treatment for common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety, there is a return of US$ 5 in improved health and productivity.

Because of the global pandemic, this year’s World Mental Health Day event will be online and the WHO will host a global online advocacy event on mental health. You can click on WHO’s social media pages to follow the event.

If you or someone you know are stressed and need resources to keep mentally healthy and reduce stress, here’s a link where you can find many resources to help you. In cases of mental distress, the first step is to talk to someone you trust. If you feel you need it, seek help from a professional.

International Day of Non Violence

Posted on by
Reply
Source

In honour of the man who probably showed the world what non violence can achieve, 02 October, the birth anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who led the non violent uprising leading to India’s independence, has been declared the International Day of Non Violence by the United Nations on 15 June 2007.

According to the resolution which established the commemoration, the International Day is an occasion to “disseminate the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness”. The resolution reaffirms “the universal relevance of the principle of non-violence” and the desire “to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence”.

The principle of non-violence, also known as non-violent resistance, rejects the use of physical violence in order to achieve social or political change. Often described as “the politics of ordinary people”, this form of social struggle has been adopted by mass populations all over the world in campaigns for social justice.

Professor Gene Sharp, a leading scholar on non-violent resistance, uses the following definition in his publication, The Politics of Nonviolent Action: “Nonviolent action is a technique by which people who reject passivity and submission, and who see struggle as essential, can wage their conflict without violence. Nonviolent action is not an attempt to avoid or ignore conflict. It is one response to the problem of how to act effectively in politics, especially how to wield powers effectively.”

While non-violence is frequently used as a synonym for pacifism, since the mid-twentieth century the term non-violence has been adopted by many movements for social change which do not focus on opposition to war.

One key tenet of the theory of non-violence is that the power of rulers depends on the consent of the population, and non-violence therefore seeks to undermine such power through withdrawal of the consent and cooperation of the populace.

There are three main categories of non-violence action: protest and persuasion, including marches and vigils; non-cooperation; and non-violent intervention, such as blockades and occupations.

Source

Why is such a day important for us to commemorate? Days like these raise awareness because the term, “non-violence,” has been used so often in the last century that its meaning has taken on new forms. Often believed to be a synonym for pacifism, which it can be, it’s also been adopted by groups around the world to be a force for social change, rather than strictly opposition to war. Non-violence is a proven method for social change because the term “Non-violence” is a broad umbrella term under which there are several categories. Non-violent actions include protests, marches and vigils, which were successfully employed in the 1960s to bring about social changes in America. Non-cooperation and non-violent intervention, such as blockades and sit-ins, were also successfully used in America to demonstrate further inequalities. All of these efforts led to the peaceful spread of ideas. And lastly world over there are plenty of conflicts to solve as globalisation has given us a more productive global economy but it’s also led to more complex issues that need solving. To help keep these problems from escalating to violence, spreading the ideas and success stories of nonviolence will be crucial.

Source

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, known in India as Mahatma Gandhi and the Father of the Nation was a was a lawyer, an anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist, who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India’s independence from British rule, and in turn inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahatma which in Sanskrit means a great soul, first applied to him in 1914 in South Africa, is now used throughout the world.

Born and raised in a Hindu family in coastal Gujarat, western India, Gandhi trained in law at the Inner Temple, London, and was called to the bar at age 22 in June 1891. After two uncertain years in India, where he was unable to start a successful law practice, he moved to South Africa in 1893 to represent an Indian merchant in a lawsuit. He went on to stay for 21 years. It was in South Africa that Gandhi raised a family, and first employed nonviolent resistance in a campaign for civil rights. In 1915, aged 45, he returned to India. He set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers to protest against excessive land-tax and discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women’s rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, and above all for achieving Swaraj or self-rule. The same year Gandhi adopted the Indian loincloth, or short dhoti and, in the winter, a shawl, both woven with yarn hand-spun on a traditional Indian spinning wheel, or charkha, as a mark of identification with India’s rural poor. Thereafter, he lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community, ate simple vegetarian food, and undertook long fasts as a means of self-purification and political protest. Bringing anti-colonial nationalism to the common Indians, Gandhi led them in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in calling for the British to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years, upon many occasions, in both South Africa and India.

After independence as many displaced Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs made their way to their new lands, religious violence broke out, especially in the Punjab and Bengal. Eschewing the official celebration of independence in Delhi, Gandhi visited the affected areas, attempting to provide solace. In the months following, he undertook several fasts unto death to stop religious violence. The last of these, undertaken on 12 January 1948 when he was 78, also had the indirect goal of pressuring India to pay out some cash assets owed to Pakistan. Some Indians thought Gandhi was too accommodating. Among them was Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, who assassinated Gandhi on 30 January 1948 by firing three bullets into his chest.

In fact, in India, his birth anniversary which falls on 02 October is one of the three mandated national holidays in India. In a country with a multi religious population, public holidays which are usually holidays for festivals are mandated mostly by the state government and at work, a lot is left to individual companies to decide on holidays based on their workforce. Gandhi Jayanti, as his birth anniversary is called, is one of mandated holiday, irrespective of what other holiday you get, along with Independence Day on 15 August and Republic Day on 26 January.

I, for one, believe violence is over-rated. While I don’t want to get into any arguments, I personally believe that the money spent on shoring up their military, sometimes up to almost 10-15% of their GDP (depending on which report you want to use) could be used for the betterment of their citizens by providing more aid to the more vulnerable portions of their society, providing those without access to food, education and healthcare to what they lack and so much more. But this is an argument or a blog post for another day.

International Equal Pay Day

Posted on by
Reply
Source

Today is the International Equal Pay Day. World over, irrespective of where women work, they always earn less than a man in the same position. This is something I have always rallied about why a man should earn more than a woman when both are doing what is essentially the same thing.

Across all regions, women are paid less than men, with the gender pay gap estimated at 23 per cent globally. Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls continues to be held back owing to the persistence of historical and structural unequal power relations between women and men, poverty and inequalities and disadvantages in access to resources and opportunities that limit women’s and girls’ capabilities. Progress on narrowing that gap has been slow. Women earn 77 cents for every dollar men earn for work of equal value – with an even wider wage gap for women with children. At the current rate of progress, the World Economic Forum predicts that it will take another 217 years before the gender pay gap finally closes. While equal pay for men and women has been widely endorsed, applying it in practice has been difficult. Women are concentrated in lower-paid, lower-skill work with greater job insecurity and under-represented in decision-making roles and women carry out at least two and a half times more unpaid household and care work than men.

Recognising this to be something the world needs to take note of, this year for the first time, the United Nations has declared today, that is September 18 to be the International Equal Pay Day.

This day calls attention to the severe gender pay gap and the reasons for this gap are manifold and intertwined. The major causes of a pay gap between men and women include factors like women’s work being undervalued, the lack of women in certain sectors like perhaps construction and STEM subject fields, women still face a glass ceiling when moving up the career ladder, women working part-time more often than men, women interrupting their careers more frequently due to family-related breaks, and of course the widespread prevelance of gender stereotypes. Cultural bias, societal assumptions and a lack of progress in workplace design all contribute to the gender pay gap.

So why does this pay gap exist between the genders?

There are many reasons for this. At the heart of which is the assumption that senior roles can’t be done by women who can’t spend a lot of time at work which women who have to work at home too can’t do. And women who are in senior positions have not had the gender pay gap reduced in over almost half a century. But today with the world working from home and showing it can be done and effectively too lets us know that women can manage a home and a senior position, so that’s one excuse which can be thrown away.

Another reason for this pay gap could be attributed to the maternity leave that women of certain years take. Though it is illegal to ask this question in many countries, there are many Asian countries in which hiring managers do and will ask women who are in their twenties and thirties this question and not only does this discriminate hiring practices, it also enables hiring managers to offer women a lower starting pay as compared to a man with the same qualifications and career trajectory. Unfortunately, even if women try to return to work after having a child, they often face what is known as the “motherhood penalty”. As most workplaces still don’t offer much flexibility for mothers, they are often forced to take on lower-paying and less demanding jobs. However, even if they are able to find a job that suits them, mothers are much less likely to get an interview compared to fathers and childless women. What’s more, while women are penalised for having children, men are rewarded, with research from the University of Massachusetts finding fathers are more likely to be hired than childless men and tend to be paid more.

The third reason is that there is perceived wisdom that women choose low-paid occupations like that of teachers and nurses because they offer more flexibility, or are more family-friendly. Again, the perception that it is a choice to prioritise children over paid work, rather than being due to a lack of viable alternatives, positions the gender pay gap as a fact of life, and releases employers from responsibility for changing it.

Another reason is that although a study by Harvard Business Review found that women actually rank more highly than men in 12 out of the top 16 leadership qualities – including problem solving, communication skills and innovativeness – women are consistently overlooked by employers, who still tend to view men as being more competent.

And not only are women being short-changed when it comes to hiring decisions and negotiating salaries – we’re also receiving less in performance bonuses. An Australian study by Mercer found that men were receiving up to 35 per cent more in performance bonuses than women, despite receiving the same performance rating.

In some more developed countries like South Korea the gap is as much as 33% while other developed countries don’t fare well either with countries like Germany has a 22% income gap and the United Kingdom has 20%, Switzerland has 17%. On the other hand, less developed countries seem to have lower gender income gaps, with countries like Pakistan and Vietnam having a gap of almost 11%, Colombia with a gap of 0.3% and countries in southeast Asia like Thailand and Malaysia having a negative gap, meaning here women tend to earn more than men with women earning more than men by about 2.25% in Malaysia and 21.5% in Thailand.

So what can be done to bridge this income and pay gap between men and women? Economists say one thing hiring managers could do is share salary information during the hiring itself and not make sharing of your pay an unwritten offence in a organisation. The more information that is available, the easier it will be able to know what a man gets for the same role and women can be in a better position to negotiate salaries.

When both parents share in the household chores, it makes it easier for mums to be able to spend more time at work and is able to climb the career ladder. So if the mother is the one who is always called by school and child care about her child and is expected to drop everything to get there, then her career is bound to suffer. When both parents are equally responsible, then both will have a career trajectory. This is something cultural and will take some time before men step up, though many men are staunch defenders of a woman’s right to a successful career.

Women should be encouraged to work in occupations which are not traditionally female-centric like nursing and teaching. Yes, today more and more women are joining occupations not traditionally female, but there is still work to be done for more representation in sectors like construction and STEM related fields. I also believe that women should seek out and search for mentors in their fields of study and work who can guide them so they can achieve the success they deserve.

Source: United Nations

This gender pay gap is something all of us, women and men have to work on to ensure that our children and grandchildren get paid fairly for the work they do. Nobody should be penalised just because of their gender and everyone should have access to equal pay for the work they do. Let’s all work together for this!