The famous Rio Summit will take place this summer June 20-22, 2012 to commemorate the 20^th anniversary of the UN Conference on Environment and Development which took place in 1992. As a world summit on the environment the key focus for Rio is to focus on sustainable development, a term which seeks to meet the needs of the present moment without obscuring the capability of future generations to meet their own needs. The Rio Summit elevated the importance of environmental protection and sustainable development as international institutions began to be involved in addressing environmental problems. Among the many issues which will be discussed at this year’s conference, gender is unequivocally one which will attract much attention. But why would gender be such an important part of discussion of the environment, climate change, and the global community? To answer this question, I will address some of the key points addressed in a short book published by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) entitled “ Gender, Climate Change, and Community- Based Adaptation” which essentially is to be used as a guidebook for designing and implementing gender- sensitive programs and projects.

Incorporating men and women into sustaining the planet and become independent rather than dependent on resources is an important part of any society. According to the guidebook gender is defined as follows, “gender refers to socially constructed roles, responsibilities, and opportunities associated with men and women, as well as hidden power structures that govern the relationships between them.” The definition furthermore notes that “inequality between the sexes is not due to biological factors, but is determined by the learnt, unequal, and inequitable treatment socially accorded to women”. The role of gender and its relation to development essentially characterizes the ways in which the roles of men and women hold different positions and responsibilities which inhibit their ability to contribute to the benefit of their community and society at large.

There is some evidence for women’s subordination relative to men according to Box 2.1 of the handbook. It notes that 70% of those who live on less than $1 are women, women work 2/3 of the world’s working hours, yet receive only 10% of the world’s income, women own 1% of the world’s property, and 75% of the world’s 876 million illiterate adults are women. How then should gender quality be promoted? The handbook notes that gender equality is defined in various ways but deals mainly with the following five key points (rights, opportunities, value, situation, outcome and agency).

A well-known Samoan legend about gender tells of men and women who were given a job to finish roofing two sides of a house. The men stopped working at the end of the day, leaving their work unfinished, the women worked through the night and the side was completed by the morning. The moral of the story here is that if you need something to be done you give it to women.

The points mentioned above are examples of how gender has become a universal approach in the international community and in international law. Incorporating gender equality in the environment is one of the ways the Rio Summit has changed over the years. Hopefully, the Rio Summit will answer and offer solutions to the problems that inhibit men and women from developing a better future for their families and for future generations.

*http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/about.html

“Cristiada” Shows the true mexican history in times of Calles, a president who attacked religious freedom.

The cristeros, in those times organized as a civil society to defend the institution of the Church and their faith. Most of them died as martires screaming “Viva Cristo Rey”.

In the movie act Andy García, Eva Longoria and Peter O’ toole

For more information please this site http://www.cristiadapelicula.com/

Article Taken from http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/30/hunger-games-star-elizabeth-banks-promotes-planned-parenthood/

by Steven Ertlet

The movie Hunger Games is the most popular film in the nation and star Elizabeth Banks is already trading in her newfound popularity for a chance to get on the soap box and preach her values to the public.

Banks has written a blog for the iVillage blog series CelebVillage in which she talks about the birth of her son Felix, who turns 1-year-old today, via a surrogate. Pro-life advocates have long held concerns about surrogacy because it takes the focus off of adoption of children who are seeking good homes and because surrogates could change their minds about the surrogacy contract and decide to have an abortion.

Banks also credits birth control pills for allowing her to have her son and promotes their usage.

But the portion of Banks’ column that is sure to draw the strongest condemnation from pro-life advocates is her promotion of the Planned Parenthood abortion business. While it also promotes “women’s health” services, Planned Parenthood is the biggest abortion company in the nation, doing more than one-quarter of all abortions in the United States on an annual basis and aggressively lobbying against any pro-life laws to limit or reduce abortions or to help inform women about alternatives or risks and dangers.

As Banks writes:

Just over a year ago, my son Felix was born via gestational surrogacy. He came out of me nine months early and because of my broken belly, his babycake was baked in a wonderful angel’s oven and now — I can’t believe it — he’s a year old and walking. He has expanded my capacity for joy a thousand-fold.

His life would have been much harder to come by if not for the birth control pill. How’s that, you ask? Well, it’s a simple fact: The pill is used for many situations that have nothing to do with the prevention of pregnancy. The pill was prescribed to me when hormonally induced migraines kept me locked up in dark rooms for days at a time. It was prescribed to me to regulate insanely painful cramps every month — cramps so painful that I often vomited. And here’s a little secret I am happy to blow the lid off of: The pill is often prescribed during the IVF (in vitro fertilization) process to help MAKE BABIES! That’s right, women dealing with infertility are often put on the pill to help regulate a cycle so that they might have a more successful IVF. The pill is used to manage ovarian cysts, endometriosis and other conditions too. Not to mention, it helps couples plan for wanted children.

Obviously, I’m not a doctor. I’m just a woman grateful for my necessary and very helpful medication. And I’m sure glad I don’t have to discuss any of these conditions, including infertility, with my employer.

A girlfriend and I recently wondered what would be more mortifying: having to tell her male employer she needed birth control to mitigate a heavy flow or just bleeding all over herself in the office?

So with that image in mind, I encourage all women — and the men in their lives — to protect access to birth control, and encourage our politicians to take women’s health issues out of the political process.

For more information, please visit the most comprehensive and willing advocates for women’s health in America: Planned Parenthood.

* I hope you reconsider viewing the Hunger Games after reading this.