3º British: Safe Urban Planning for Women and Girls

A safe city is one in which both the government and civil society guarantee women’s rights in all spheres.

A safe city is one that promotes the elimination of gender-based violence, while at the same time promoting equal opportunities for men and women in all the spheres of social, economic, cultural and political life. 

Urban programming should be based on an understanding that men and women have different experiences of living and working in the city. It should recognize that there are many different kinds of violence, affecting women and men differently, everyday all around the world. For example:

• Violence can occur in a subway car in the form of verbal harassment.
• Even a lack of basic urban services, which lead to additional burdens for women, is a form of violence. 
• Violence can also occur in a parking lot in the form of discriminatory graffiti messages.

UNITED NATIONS Women’s Global Flagship Initiative, “Safe Cities Free of Violence against Women and Girls” Global Programme, was launched in November 2010 with leading women’s organizations, UN agencies, and more than 70 global and local partners.

You can read more details from the UN Programm in the following links:

What are safe cities and communities for women and girls?

Why focus on safe cities and communities for women and girls?

What inititatives have been developed to date?

Another example: In Cairo, Egypt’s Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Development adopted women’s safety audits to guide urban planning, and more than 100 youth agents of change (50 per cent young men and 50 per cent young women) have been engaged and are leading transformative activities in schools and other settings in the programme intervention sites to promote respectful gender relationships, gender equality, and safety in public spaces.

2º British: Photos from CaixaForum exhibition

Do you remember this interesting (and famous) piece from the "Medieval Europe" exhibition we visited this week?

Here you have the zip file with your photos at the CaixaForum exhibition. As usual, you will be required a password for opening the file.

Have a nice day.

3º British: Gapminder World

It was the last 200 years that changed the world. In 1809 all countries of the world had a life expectancy under 40 years and an income per person less than 3000 dollar per year. Since then the world has changed but it was not until after the II World War that most countries started to improve.

For the first time, Gapminder can now visualize change in life expectancy and income per person over the last two centuries. In this Gapminder video, Hans Rösling shows you how all the countries of the world have developed since 1809 – 200 years ago.

After re-watching the short video and studying the interactive graphic, answer the following questions as complete as possible:

Remember: this activity is volunteer, you will earn two positive marks if you answer the following questions as complete as possible. Send your answers to blogeducativo08@gmail.com until Thursday, 10 November. 

1. Why is good for Goverments to have detailed stadistics of the population?
2. Why do you think some countries are unhealthier than others with the same income? 
3. Why was UK the richest country in 1800? 
4. Summarize the key points of the video.

It is easier that you think... Good luck! 

4º British: French Revolution in Twitter

You are about to start the 4^th edition of your favourite historical activity... twitter in class! 

We are living at the very beginning of the French Revolution. It is May, 1789. Your king, Louis XVI, has called the Estates Generals in order to approve a tax reform to solve the deficit crisis:

“His Majesty has decided to provide for an immediate convocation of the Estates General of his kingdom. His Majesty has not yet decided where the Estates General are to meet, but is able to announce to his subjects that their assembly is fixed for May 1st 1789 [...]”

You must create a twitter account (please do NOT use your personal one) as you were one of the inhabitants of Paris in 1789 (the King? The Queen? A nobleman? A famous writter? A farmer? A young politician?... there are many possibilities, you can review the document “Revolution characters” on this blog... You will find there many characters, in alphabetic order, with a brief description of their roles). With this “historical account” you become follower of @auladeadriana

During the next two weeks you have to create a minimum of 20 tweets (12 of them base on real primary sources) in the name of your chosen character. Try not to be independent, but “talk” with the others (a burguess complaining to the King because of taxations? Jacobin politicians exchanging messages and speeches?...). I would also recommend you to use the hastag #HistoryatVasco in your tweets, to facilitate its reading.

The previous years, this experiment was a total success and your partners really did good performances, so you will have to work hard for leading them...

The activity will start on Monday, 7^th November and will finish on Monday, 21th November . This work is individual and mandatory and will be part of the score at the end of the term. If you fail to finish it, do it out of date, or just copy from a webpage, the mark will be a 0 for this work.

Be creative and enjoy it! J

Sources:

Alpha History (including the King’s call)

French Rev. Legacy (Fordham University)

French Rev. Digital Archive (Stanford University)

Liberty, Equality and Fraternity (including songs!)