ON THE SPOT

The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries marked the first wave of feminism. We are now in the 21st century and the fight for feminism continues with more women fighting towards the same cause for gender equality. The main goal across continents has been to dismantle partriachal systems, however, the differences in geographical location have made the rates of attaining gender equality difficult to judge. The rate at which Africa is advancing the case for feminism is much lower than other continents and this can only be attributed to differences in context and location. Feminism has proved to be a contextual movement which should be tackled accordingly. Women in different societies are subjected to different challenges: women in North Africa fight more against traditional practices such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), whilst women in Europe fight more to enter political spaces. These are both fights against patriarchy but their intensity differs according to region. “Gender ...

Out of the 1.8+ billion young people in the world, how many have been empowered to participate in civic processes? There has been a huge difference in the way young people in developed countries and those in less developed countries react to the political and non-political affairs of their countries. Many reasons have been brought about to highlight reasons why young people in less developed countries have been less engaged in civic processes. Civic participation or civic engagement involves “working to make a difference in one's community and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values, and motivation to make that difference”( Erlich ). Civic participation is simply taking ownership of the affairs of the community and contributing towards its development. The United Nations defines youths as people between the ages of 15 and 24, whilst the African Union regards people between the ages of 15 and 35 as youths. Age is a major factor in civic participation. According ...