WEEK 2

Our problem statement explains about Preeti, one of our team member's (Janita) maids who lives in Asaura village in India. We decided to make her as our subject because she is didn't get to university and is a perfect example that inequality of gender in education exists even around us. Preeti like many other women in Asaura struggle to get even the basic education. According to statistics, the literacy rate of women in Asaura are less than men and this become an ongoing problem for the women in Asaura. We have a total of fifty-one solutions towards the problem at hand. These includes creating an app or mentorship programs with low commitment so that it could be adjustable with the schedule of Asaura women. I personally came up with the idea of creating a monthly mentorship program for addressing stereotyping in women as well as making an app for free tutoring sessions and adding quotas for women in education. Moreover, I also suggest adding more scholarships for women in the application and providing mentorship who will be guided by women experts to inspire other less fortunate women. 

Meanwhile, there are several contributions that I have made in this group. First, I add some idea on why we should solve this issue which is by educating women we also educate a generation to come because mothers usually are the main mentors for their children and eventually pass on their intelligence to their childrens. Then, I also add a problem statement which is called cultural conflict. In my opinion, this problem is something related to religious or cultural factors, in which, women are not able to get higher education due to the constraints from these factors. For example, maybe their religion or culture does not allow them to violate their husbands, so, this could make them unable to go out from their house if their husbands forbid them, so, we must be very mindful about the issue and find the most sustainable solutions. I also do some research and provide some reading by Gregory White about low literacy skills of young girls specifically in India. Then, I also summarized the reading about factors that might influence why many girls are still lacking literacy skills in India. Which turns out to be caused by social and economic backgrounds such as prioritizing sons' education before girls and so on. After that, I also add annual programs in the slides such as STEM and Step Up. STEM is for advancing women in the science and technology sectors while Step Up is a motivational program for women to improve themselves and achieve their goals.

I have gained new knowledge regarding sustainable solutions. An example of this includes the production of bellow for women in rural areas. As mentioned, bellow is a new perfect solution for women in rural areas because it allows women to bring water as well as socializing with their friends during their free time. Because of the strong patriarchal value in rural communities, women have a very small amount of time to go out and meet with their friends due to their husbands' constraints. This resulted into ineffective use of the hand pump installed in the village which created opportunities for a second option like bellow. This product has really achieved the SDGs of reducing hunger but also improve the communities. Thus, we have to always be mindful which means that we do not only look at problems from one side but from different perspectives. From this program, I have learned that not every solution will work especially if we are careless about the situation around us. For example, the hand pump did not provide a good solution for the women in villages because it prevents them from getting their free time outside homes. Thus, the bellow provides a solution particularly for women in villages because it is aligned with the demands of the community. Meanwhile, skills that I have learned are especially about creating a sustainable business or prototype inspired by the examples given in the meeting. Especially the project of creating lights in front of the toilets to indicate how much power has been used. Nevertheless, the outcomes of the presentation were pretty much satisfying. We all successfully delivered our points in the right amount of time. There are some technical things that should be fixed such as changing the virtual backgrounds but overall, I think our presentation went very well.