07

Sept. 17, 2008 Child Mortality

The UN Children’s Fund said recently the number of children who die
before the age of five has declined by 27 percent over the last two
decades, and the rate is expected to continue falling.

Society

News in Brief
Working Women Burdened New Monthly for the Blind
B
A new monthly magazine named ‘Elm-o-Farhang’ (Science

By Tradition
and Culture) will be published soon.
The prepublication issue published in 12 pages in Braille
explains the objectives of bringing out the special publication
for the blind, the magazine’s Public Relations Office reported.
Chief editor of the monthly, Amir Salami, said the first is-
sue includes different sections, including lit-

W
omen’s contribu-
tion to socioeco-
nomic activities
does not necessarily lead
to any reduction in their
home duties, the result of
a new study carried out by
a faculty member of Te-
hran’s Allameh Tabatabai
University showed.
Conducted by Zo-
hreh Khosravi, the study
themed “Survey of Family
Problems” clarified that
women, regardless of their
social status, out-of-home
working hours and in-
come, are also required to
do their household chores
by themselves, Mehr News
Agency reported.
However, the report
admitted that women’s
employment has changed
their views about shar-
ing household chores and
managing the family’s
economy.
Half of the women sur-
veyed believe in sharing
responsibilities and a great
percentage are spending
their total income on family ex- den, women seek part-time jobs.
penses.
Traditional Burden
The study showed that husbands potential and deprives them of ca-
of working women continue to reer promotion and opportunities.
think and act traditionally. To be
Women’s employment changes their views about sharing household chores.
able to handle this traditional bur- obliged to play the role of a ‘su-
perwoman’ for handling all tasks.
The refusal of husbands to share But with the passage of time, they
the household duties prevents become increasingly frustrated and
women from realizing their full depressed.
According to the study, the tradi-
tional stereotyping, contradictions,
As a result, working women are obligations and variety of roles are
erature, Iranian studies, sports, religious arti-
cles, satire, economic issues, tax laws, music,
medical information and stories.
Salami pointed out that a majority of the
blind are not familiar with their rights and
Elm-o-Farhang can help familiarize them.
A total of 1,000 copies of the prepublica-
tion issue has been distributed free of charge, but the main is-
sue will cost 20,000 rials.
Elm-o-Farhang is a private publication that does not rely on
state budget.
Maryam Bahrami, a graduate in education sciences, is the
monthly’s managing director.
West Asia Losing Poverty Battle
A UN report on the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) shows that very little progress has been made in
fighting severe poverty in West Asia.
Recent World Bank figures reveal that the number of
people living under the poverty line of $1.25 a day has
increased during 1990-2005.
The report also said full employment in the region
remains a distant possibility, particularly for women,
as only 22 percent of women of working age are em-
ployed.
The number of those employed but still living below the
poverty line has also increased during the period, Presstv
reported.
The report showed that enrolment for primary educa-
among the main causes of stress tion in West Asia has been slower in comparison to other
and anxiety in employed women. regions, while gender parity in education also continues
The study also proved that al- to remain low.
though a great percentage of The United Nations’ report also touched upon levels of
women are not satisfied with their maternal mortality and childhood pregnancy in the region,
income, they have a significantly which indicated little improvement.
higher job satisfaction compared On the plus points, the report said child mortality, ac-
to working men. cess to drinking water and sanitation, and Internet use has
significantly improved during the period.
The MDGs are eight universal development objectives
that 189 members of the United Nations and up to 23 glo-
bal organizations have agreed to fulfill by 2015.

Mayor Discusses Tehran’s Traffic Problems
Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qali-
baf said on Sunday traffic problems of
the metropolis can be eased under a
four-year plan.
At a meeting attended by a group of
Tehran’s lawmakers and members of
Tehran City Council, Qalibaf stressed
the municipality’s readiness to devise
plans to help reduce the city’s chronic
road traffic, Mehr News Agency re-
ported.
He noted that enforcement of traffic
discipline, strict observation of driving
rules, training and traffic management
can help solve Tehran’s traffic problem.
Qalibaf emphasized the need for a
These goals include reducing extreme poverty by half,
lowering child mortality rates and battling epidemics such
as AIDS.
more serious enforcement of driving
rules and regulations across the country.
Tehran province’s governor general, China Baby Formula
deputy governors general and the gov-
ernor also attended the meeting hosted Scandal Worsens
by Tehran’s mayor for fast-breaking.
Participants decided to establish a China on Monday reported a second baby dead from drinking
committee comprising several MPs and tainted milk formula and said the number sickened had soared
councilors to follow the implementa- past 1,200 as it blamed private milk-collecting stations for the
tion of previous parliamentary ratifica- worsening scandal.
tions on Tehran. The New Zealand partner of the Chinese company San-
On Monday, the names of commit- lu at the center of the storm went further, blaming the con-
tee members for reviewing interaction tamination on ‘sabotage’.
between Tehran Municipality and the The two deaths came in the northwest-
government, as well as other problems, ern province of Gansu after the babies
were announced. drank Sanlu brand formula tainted with the
industrial chemical melamine, Vice Health
Minister Ma Shaowei told a news confer-

Teenage Pregnancy Badge of Honor for Americans ence, AFP reported.

High-school pregnancies, once a mark of shame, have
become a badge of honor--and proved no barrier to Sa-
rah Palin’s campaign. The new mood, fostered by Bush’s
family and economic policies, is not confined to the rural
South, but is apparent even in affluent Massachusetts.
Now many fear the trend is threatening to erode hard-
won women’s rights, Guardian reported.
Mariely is 16. Her baby--a girl--is due in little more
than a fortnight. ‘I am happy about it,’ she says in a quiet
voice. ‘I chose to have a baby.’ Why?
‘Because ... I guess I want to be a mother.’
It is as good an answer as any you will find in
Gloucester, Massachusetts. It is an answer that resounds
far beyond this small working seaport, an answer that
criss-crosses the length and breadth of a country where
teenage pregnancy is worn as a curious badge of honor.
In America it seems that young motherhood has be-
come something to be proud of, a status symbol that is
preferable to abortion, and an ethical choice that speaks
of family values rather than family breakdown. Over
recent weeks it has even become something of a vote-
winner.
When John McCain’s vice presidential candidate,
Sarah Palin, revealed that her 17-year-old daughter was
expecting her first child, it contributed to a 4-percent Re-
publican lead in the polls.
In a country with a strong evangelical streak, there
are a growing number of social conservatives who are,
like Palin, fervently anti-abortion. Increasingly teen-
age motherhood is seen as a responsible social decision
rather than the shameful consequence of a regrettable
mistake.
According to Dr Mike Males, a sociologist and senior
researcher at the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
in San Francisco, young motherhood is now viewed as
a viable strategy for women lower down the socioeco-
nomic scale rather than as evidence of a dysfunctional
society.
‘Because poorer groups tend to die younger, having
babies early in life may ensure that grandparents and ex-
tended family members will be alive and healthy enough
to help raise children,’ he said.
Males cites a 2005 study that found that former teen-
age mothers who are freed from child-raising duties by
their late twenties or early thirties have, by the age of
35, “earned more in income, paid more in taxes, were
substantially less likely to live in poverty and collected
less in public assistance than similarly poor women who
waited until their twenties to have babies”.
The sub-text is clear: that, far from being victims of
deprivation and ignorance, young girls are choosing to
become mothers in a society that increasingly celebrates
teenage parenthood as the wholesome alternative to
abortion. Not everyone agrees. In the days after Palin an-
nounced that Bristol was expecting, Democratic bloggers
accused her of exploiting her own daughter to further her
‘regressive’ pro-life policies.
Back in June, the people of Gloucester found them-
selves at the center of a different kind of storm. At
Gloucester High School, 18 teenagers, aged 14 to 16,
were rumored to have formed a ‘pregnancy pact’. At the
time Dr Brian Orr, the director of Gloucester High’s in-
dependent medical center, diagnosed ‘an epidemic’. In a
school of 1,200 students, the center had administered 150
pregnancy tests between October 2007 and May 2008.
Members of staff saw girls high-five each other when the
results were positive. Some of them broke into smiles.
One of them simply exclaimed: ‘Sweet!’
To an extent, this is true--750,000 American women
aged 15-19 become pregnant every year. According to
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the teen
birth rate rose in 2006 for the first time since 1991 to 41.9
births per 1,000--a 3-percent increase from 2005.
Teen pregnancy rates remain substantially higher in
rural, poorer areas--in 2000 birthrates were highest in
Mississippi, Texas, Arizona, Arkansas and New Mexico.
Single teenage mothers are supported by government
Sarah Palin (r) with her pregnant daughter Bristol at a
Republican convention.
measures offering them subsidized housing and fuel as-
sistance. In a city with few prospects, single motherhood
is seen as a way out. Kevin Curley, a ruddy-faced former
lobsterman with a strong Boston accent, puts it plainly:
“By getting pregnant, these girls can get a free house
from the government. A lot of them saw their mothers
grow up that way and a lot of them want to do the same.
It beats getting a job.”
The first death was reported last week.
Ma also said the number of babies sickened nationwide
had leapt to 1,253, more than double the 580 reported by
state press earlier in the day, and that hospitals had been
ordered to go all-out to save sick babies.
Sanlu issued a public apology on Monday for the
scandal and pledged to recall all the affected milk pow-
der.
Unrest Dashes
Kashmir Tourism Hopes
Protests against India’s rule in the spectacularly beauti-
ful Kashmir valley have brought an abrupt halt to tourism,
which had been showing signs of a hard-won recovery, of-
ficials said.
In the past few months, Kashmir has witnessed the biggest
pro-independence demonstrations since the separatist insur-
gency erupted in 1989, AFP reported.
The protests have triggered a heavy crack-
down by Indian security forces and tourist
numbers have dropped to virtually zero, of-
ficials said.
Last year, nearly 500,000 visitors traveled
to Indian Kashmir, the largest number since
tourists rediscovered the region as violence
declined after 2004.
This year nearly 400,000 people--mostly from India itself--
had visited Kashmir by mid-June, tourism officials said.
But the renewed violence and a series of curfews, quickly
dissuaded anyone planning to flee the summer heat of India’s
plains in search of cooler climes from choosing Kashmir.