PUBLIC PROBLEM: Human Trafficking
HARMS:
ISSUE AREAS: Human rights/services, pubic safety, forced labor, involuntary servitude
JURISDICTION: federal, US Government (Department of State)
MANDATES:
INDUCEMENTS: reward to citizens who report suspected trafficking
CAPACITY BUILDERS: workshop to understand human trafficking in other countries
https://www.state.gov/policy-issues/human-trafficking/
When I was in high school, I had a year-long internship (that was unpaid, but counted for school credit) at a Head Start program in Harrisburg, PA. A Head Start program is a program within the US Department of Health and Human Services that works to provide education, nutrition, parental involvement, and more to low-income families. My program was named Capital Area Head Start, which was a sub-program within Keystone Human Services.
Every weekday for the entirety of my senior year, I traveled to Harrisburg where I spent roughly two hours assisting with miscellaneous work around the school. The children ranged between ages 3-5 and they were such a joy to grow relationships with. I taught morning lessons to the kids, I set up breakfast, or I would even spend time with our social workers performing home visits.
These visits were particularly memorable to me because I was able to see first-hand what the home lives of some of our students looked like. I would tag along with the program’s social workers and the student’s teacher and observe how these visits went. The school staff would often ask questions to the parents about their financial situation, how they are doing emotionally, if they are satisfied with food and clothing, goals for the future, etc.
I was pleasantly surprised with how casual these visits were. The family would often welcome us into their home and ensure that we were comfortable by offering food and refreshments, as well as a comfortable place to sit and talk on their sofa. This allowed me to get to know the families on an intimate level, and it encouraged honest and trusted communication between the staff and the families.
I think that there is often a misconception that low-income families may be unwelcoming to visitors because they feel their home is unequipped for the public eye. Prior to my senior year of high school, I often assumed that these families were the ones that were constantly busy trying to work hard and grow their income, so much so that they did not make the time to build relationships with people outside of their families. After my experience with these home visits, I realized that my presumption could not be more wrong.
There is one family in particular that I still keep in touch with to this day. They are from Nepal and they love to invite me over and make me their authentic Nepalese food. They always ask about how I am doing, and I never feel as though I am forgotten. I will now forever hold a special place in my heart for families that are struggling financially because of my experiences with these kids and families. My time at Head Start taught me that poverty is more apparent in the United States than I ever could have imagined, and it is important to keep these individuals in mind.
Thank you.
As I continue to expand on how representation for women in the workplace has changed throughout history, I want to specifically focus on healthcare professions. In the year 1950, women only made up 6% of America’s medical workforce. However, women have continued to grow their place in the medical facilities, and “for the first time in history, 2017 saw more women entering medical school than men” (American Medical Association).
According to the United States Census, “The number of full-time, year-round workers in health care occupations has almost double since 2000, increasing from 5 million to 9 million workers… Women account for three-quarters of full-time, year-round healthcare workers today.”
Since the turn of the century, women have driven the extreme increase in health care positions that we see today. Not only are women representing more full-time healthcare positions, but they are also taking over more higher-paying occupations in healthcare. The wide range of earnings in healthcare is directly a result of one’s educational experience. Prior to 2000 when women were not as likely to attend higher-level education like graduate school or medical school, men were holding more higher-paying positions like physicians or surgeons. However, as of now, “women make up majority veterinarians and pharmacists, and have made strong gains, doubling their representation, in other occupations such as dentists and optometrists.” Additionally, the largest healthcare profession is registered nurses and women make up 85% of this occupation.
There are several reasons why the nation has seen such an increase in female representation in the healthcare field. According to a 2021 study by McKinsey & Company, women are better than men at things like: Providing emotional support to employees (19% of men and 31% of women); Intervening to prevent or deal with employee burnout (16% of men and 21% of women; Leading and supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion (7% of men and 11% of women). Not only are women seeing more representation in healthcare in general, but because of these traits they are also obtaining higher-level leadership roles.
Citations:
Jennifer Cheeseman Day and Cheridan Christnacht. “Women Hold 76% of All Health Care Jobs, Gaining in Higher-Paying Occupations.” Census.Gov, 28 Oct. 2021, www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/08/your-health-care-in-womens-hands.html.
“Women in Health Care Leadership: Past, Present and Future.” USC EMHA Online, healthadministrationdegree.usc.edu/blog/women-in-health-care-leadership. Accessed 27 Feb. 2024.
“Women’s History Month: Women in Medicine: Amn Healthcare.” Women’s History Month: Women in Medicine | AMN Healthcare, www.amnhealthcare.com/blog/physician/perm/women-in-medicine-a-timeline-of-15-pioneers-and-innovators/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20American%20Medical,entering%20medical%20school%20than%20men. Accessed 27 Feb. 2024.
I would like to continue my travel stories from Guatemala by specifically touching on the children that I spent time with during my trip. As I previously mentioned, I volunteered at an after school program where children ages 2-9 could resort to after class and get help with homework, as well as spend time with their peers.
The other volunteers and I would structure the short 4 hours that we were there each day by distinguishing “work time” from “play time”. What I mean by this is that often the children would not want to do homework immediately after class, so we would spend the first hour or two playing soccer in the field and eating snacks that we supplied to the students. This allowed the kids to get their energy out before being able to focus on their school work.
The other part of the afternoon was spent helping the students with learning their English and practicing school objectives. We found it extremely beneficial to create interactive activities for the students that were on the younger side. For example, the 3-6 year olds had trouble writing English words, so we decided to implement a buying and selling game instead. We bought fruit at the market on the way to the village, and then we used it to pretend play a grocery store. Not only was this extremely helpful for socioemotional development in the younger children, but it was also a great way for them to practice their manners in English, their English fruit words, and their understanding of English monetary values. For the older children, they benefitted most from writing words out on paper and pencils that we supplied to them.
It was through these activities with the students that my eyes were immediately opened to the kids’ access to a solid education. Coming from the United States, I felt well equipped with teaching skills that came from my own experience in American education to help these children with their schoolwork. However, I noticed that the Guatemalan kids did not have the same experiences as me. They did not have the same access to qualified education experts or additional help for schoolwork (besides volunteers such as myself).
I hope that one day the children of Guatemala and other developing nations can have access to an enjoyable and effective education system just as we do in the United States. Every child should grow up feeling worthy of a good education.
Thank you.
After I finally started embracing the discomfort of a new culture and the shock that comes from being in a brand new environment, I was able to focus on my reason for traveling to Guatemala: to understand the living conditions for children in other countries, and to do my best to help in any way that I could.
Around one in the afternoon every weekday, I would walk to a corner close to my host home, and I would meet up with other volunteers. These people were from all over the world; some of my closest friends from the trip came from Switzerland and Italy! We would all walk towards the bus stop together to embark on our volunteer experience for the day. It was the sweltering heat of August in Central America, and I remember passing through the town and seeing how hard the natives were working by selling their goods and socializing with tourists to make money. We would walk through the fruit market each day, and I absolutely loved seeing all of the fresh mangoes and bananas, as well as so many other fruits, being sold by so many lovely people. It was extremely common for newborn babies to be strapped to their mothers, and for toddlers to be helping with the business. This was so interesting for me to see because children in the United States are seen as much less capable in society compared to children in Guatemala.
When we finally arrived at the bus stop, we would wait until the colorful ‘chicken buses’ arrived. These are old school busses with the doors taken off and the windows open with an array of colored paint on the sides. They are incredibly cool to look at and even a little silly! We would ride about 35 minutes south of the city to a village known as Santiago Zamora to volunteer each day. The ride was intriguing, but extremely sad. We would pass through towns that I could not believe were some peoples’ living conditions. The houses were built with cardboard and tin roofs, and children sat on the streets looking for something to do.
When we finally arrived in the village we would walk towards the daycare center that we would volunteer at. The children would walk to this shack on the side of a mountain in a farming community after school, and they would go there to play with their friends, learn English, get help with homework, and stay supervised while their parents continued to work.
These children were the best! They ranged from ages 2-10, and they were so much fun. They enjoyed playing soccer in the nearby field, they loved learning our English slang words, and they loved when we brought treats to share!
These trips to the village outside of the city and away from the tourism were a true learning lesson. There is poverty everywhere you go. Communities all around the world face hardships that I never even imagined possible. But this does not change who these people are. These children were facing some of the most extreme poverty with hard home lives, and they were still incredibly wonderful children that taught me a lot about accepting others no matter where they came from.
Thank you.
When I was in sixth grade, I developed my passion for animals on a deeper level. My family always had dogs growing up, and by middle school I had three of them at one time. It wasn’t until I chose to spend one of my summers volunteering at a local animal hospital that i developed a passion for caring for animals.
It was at this hospital that I witnessed routine check-ups with families and their pets’, stray animals that were brought in to be rescued, and surgeries to save animal lives. I enjoyed that every single day brought a different type of animal or breed of dog. The days where we would lose an animal were some of the hardest experiences that I had during my time there, but I was thankful to have known the animal during its life.
There was one scenario where a family received the terrible news that their family pet has been diagnosed with Lymphoma. This is an intense form of blood cancer, and treatment options are limited. This dog meant everything to the family, but after finding out that each cancer treatment would cost thousands of dollars, they had no choice but to reject treatment. The chemotherapy would give their four-legged family member an estimated additional year of life, but the cost was just too high.
This saddened me so much. As a young person without a sense of money, I did not understand how a family could choose an option that involved their dog dying sooner. I could not understand why this family was not doing everything in their power to save their family member. It broke my heart.
I began to look into cancer treatment for dogs across the country, and what kind of damage chemotherapy does to a family’s wallet on average. It was remarkable to find out the cost of animal cancer treatment, especially since these pets are a considered a part of the family to many. It was in this moment that I learned how unfair the system treats animals and how limited the resources are.
Although I could not save this dog’s life, I hope that one day we can create a world in which families do not have to decide between taking care of their home and children, and taking care of their pets.
Thank you.
Women have not always had a place in the workforce. In order to appreciate how far our society has come with representing women, it’s important to examine where we came from.
19th Century
In the first half the century, women mostly worked inside of their home. This included things like cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children. However, none of these activities allowed for women to make an income for themselves. Marriage was an entirely different concept in the 19th century, and it was expected that the husband support his family financially, not the wife.
It was not until the middle of the century when women were beginning to find jobs outside of the home. Women held jobs such as laundresses, bath-house operators, mid-wives, and nurses. Some women also worked to take care of others’ homes, as hotel operators, and seamstresses.
20th Century
This type of work continued for women into the 20th century. Even though women were beginning to earn a place in some areas of work, their wages were seen as secondary to that of men. Their money was often seen as less important than their husband’s, but it was crucial to maintaining the family and household. “According to the 1911 census, domestic service was the largest employer of women and girls, with 28% of all employed women in England and Wales engaged in domestic service. Many women were were employed in small industries like shirt making, nail making, chain making, and shoe stitching” (Striking Women). These jobs were often known as ‘sweating industries’ because women were often forced to work very long hours with extremely low pay.
Between 1950-1960, the United States saw a rapid increase in population; the United States also saw an increase in labor force. By 1980, the labor force participation rate of women was growing largely and reached a high of 52%. Toossi states in the Monthly Labor Review from 2002 that, “women in the 25-34 and 35-44 age groups increased by 20.5 percentage points and 14.4 percentage points, respectively. No other labor force group has ever experienced an increase in participation rates of this magnitude in one decade” (Toossi).
21st Century
There is no doubt that women have climbed the ladder towards the top of the workforce by 2023. A large 75% of women ages 25-54 are working today, and this compares to only 67% a decade ago. Additionally, women are working longer hours as 84% of working women are in full-time positions. Not only are more women working for longer hours, but their job titles are equal to that of men.
Although this century has not been “smooth-sailing” for working women, the improvements since the 19th century are drastic, and I imagine that they will only improve over the next century.
Thank you.
Citations:
Almeida, Beth, and Isabela Salas-Betsch. “Fact Sheet: The State of Women in the Labor Market in 2023.” Center for American Progress, 2 June 2023, www.americanprogress.org/article/fact-sheet-the-state-of-women-in-the-labor-market-in-2023/.
“Striking Women.” 19th and Early 20th Century | Striking Women, www.striking-women.org/module/women-and-work/19th-and-early-20th-century. Accessed 8 Feb. 2024.
Terroil, Rubye Du. “The Role of Women in Nineteenth Century San Antonio – Journal of San Antonio.” The Role of Women in the 19th Century, www.uiw.edu/sanantonio/TheRoleofWomen.html#:~:text=In%20the%20first%20half%20of,%2Dwives%2C%20nurses%2C%20governesses. Accessed 8 Feb. 2024.
Toossi, Mitra. A Century of Change: The U.S. Labor Force, 1950-2050, 2002, www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2002/05/art2full.pdf.
Overall, I had a decent experience with this assignment. It was definitely uncomfortable and very vulnerable to share what I believed in, but I enjoyed being able to tell a story in order to express my belief. I think that it made it easier to tell others what I believed about church and religion when they know that my belief came from someone who has experienced many years in the church. I think that this adds a layer of both pathos and ethos to the piece because my experience is trustworthy, and no one can take those beliefs away from me.
In high school, I was the Vice President of my school’s Key Club. This was an organization that worked to provide service to its members, and our main goal was to execute our Annual Walk for Clean Water. Growing up in my town, I always knew how big of a deal this event was in our community. When my junior year of high school came around and I was elected Vice President of the club, I was extremely nervous to take on the role of being “behind-the-scenes” and having to plan the fundraiser.
This event is a 3.75 mile walk around my hometown, and it represents the average distance that someone living in the Eswatini Kingdom in Africa has to walk to access clean drinking water. All of the money that is made through participant registration for the walk, as well as donations and sponsorships, is donated to the Thirst Project to build safe drinking water wells in Africa.
Despite my anxiety about planning the event, I attacked the organizing head-on. I knew that it would require months of planning, hours of communicating with businesses for sponsorships, and a ton of teamwork with the other Key Club officers. Knowing that the annual event was always held in early April, we began our planning during the first semester of school. The entire process was exciting from setting up donor drives to receive donations to having a photoshoot to advertise our event. However, not every part of the journey was easy. There were weeks on end where our club would receive no communication from the companies that we relied on for money and supplies. It was extremely hard to stay optimistic during this time, but knowing what cause we were working towards kept us accountable.
When the time had finally come for the walk to happen, our plans finally fell into place. We had received thousands of dollars in participant registration, and even more money in donations. We had gotten chocolate bars from the Hershey company, water bottles from a local business, and raffle prize donations to give to our participants. We had three food trucks at the event who were all willing to donate a portion of their profit towards the cause. It was incredibly rewarding to see months of preparation before our eyes, and it was emotional.
At the end of the event, we totaled all of our money raised and found that we had exceeded our goal by so much money. We had raised over $22,000, and all of it would go towards something that we took pride in being a part of. Although the planning and responsibility of this project was incredibly intense, the outcome of it all was more than worth it. I was beyond proud to be involved in this project to ensure more people have access to safe drinking water.
Thank you.
There is no doubt that women have been striving to move up the “workforce ladder” and to gain recognition for their abilities outside of the home for decades. It was not until well into the 20th century that women began growing their place in the workforce, and it has not proved to be an easy battle for women since then.
The COVID-19 Pandemic that hit the United States in early 2020 left even more of a struggle for working women, particularly those that also had the job of being a mother. Due to the spread of COVID, many people lost their jobs overnight. Women tend to be overrepresented in low-income service jobs like hospitality and retail, and these were the jobs where employees suddenly found themselves unemployed. Additionally, schools and daycares closed during this time leaving mothers no choice but to stay home with their children. Not only were women not working during this time, but many of them were not even looking for jobs. According to the American Bar Association, “In February 2021, women’s labor force participation rate hit a low last seen in 1988, losing an entire generation of gains” (ABA).
Fortunately, the job stress of COVID seems to be far behind us as women are working 1.5 million more jobs in the United States than they were in 2020. However, the pandemic brought light to the lack of childcare and job protection that was available to women prior to 2020. Women have always been very vulnerable in their jobs, but they crumbled even more under the pressure of COVID.
It would be insensitive to claim that only women were faced with job insecurities during COVID, but one can see how drastic the employment disparity was between men and women during this time. According to a survey conducted by the National Women’s Law Center in February 2022, 42% of mothers reported that they could maintain their typical work hours during the pandemic when their children were not in school, while 58% of fathers reported they could maintain theirs per usual. For children under five, the results proved to be even more drastic: only 28% of mothers with children under five years old could maintain their typical work hours, compared to 54% of fathers.
How can we enforce public policy to support women in the workplace who are also caregivers? I believe that fair and predictable work schedules are something that every employee deserves. As mentioned before, a lot of the women that fell unemployed during the pandemic were those with low-income service jobs. These kinds of jobs are generally known for calling in their workers last minute, or publishing schedules with little to no notice. This is extremely unfair to working parents that are trying to organize their chaotic home lives. Not only can fair and predictable scheduling help, but public policies relating to paid family leave could be crucial in ensuring that mothers are not left to choose between their income and their family.
Thank you.
Citations
Jacobs, Elisabeth, and Kate Bahn . “Women’s History Month: U.S. Women’s Labor Force Participation.” Equitable Growth, 22 Mar. 2019, equitablegrowth.org/womens-history-month-u-s-womens-labor-force-participation/#:~:text=Gradually%2C%20beginning%20after%201890%20and,as%20a%20U%2Dshaped%20curve.
Martin, Emily J. “Women and the Workplace — What We Learned from COVID.” American Bar Association, 31 Oct. 2023, www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/labor-and-employment-rights/women-and-the-workplace/#:~:text=The%20job%20loss%20that%20flowed,in%20the%20wake%20of%20COVID.