Beneath Her Smile
Written by Atchana S Kanagasabai and Mathusa Thurairajah
This post is part of a series in diverse mediums focusing on the theme “How do we envision equity in global health?”. These submissions are by McGill students who were part of the course, Fundamentals of Global Health, in Fall 2023.
Project Description
Improving health and achieving health equity worldwide is a major challenge. Vaccine inequities, climate crisis, and violence are some examples of challenges (1). Every life on Earth deserves to be treated equitably. Unfortunately, roughly 49.7% of those lives are discriminated against. How can global health be achieved when women are left behind?
Women’s health and rights are necessary for global health. Gender equality, education and good health are part of SDGs (2). It’s a shame to think that these remain goals yet to be achieved. In 2023, why are we getting bombed with news regarding countries removing women’s basic rights, about thousands of women who are killed and sexually violated, and about inequalities in livelihood?
Removing barriers women have is one of the solutions to tackle pressing global health challenges (2). An issue cannot be addressed if its importance is not understood. We hope to achieve global health equity by raising awareness that capable and knowledgeable women are prevented from raising their voices. Allowing intelligent minds to act upon their thoughts will make us progress towards global health equity. In one line, addressing women’s rights will allow improvement in global health.
Our poem describes the injustices that women experience from birth. We discuss infanticide, unequal access to education, domestic and sexual violence, labelling women as just emotional beings, and unequal pay. All these are barriers to women achieving and therefore barriers to advancement in global health.
The drawing on the first page depicts a beautiful woman that seemingly looks happy. As we move forward with the poem, we come across a wounded woman. Although she is forced to keep a smile to hide her pain and scars, it also depicts resilience and the will to bring upon a change.
References
1.Global Health Issues, Challenges and Trends | AUC. (2023, August 28). https://www.aucmed.edu/about/blog/global-health-issues
2. Women and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). (n.d.). UN Women – Headquarters. Retrieved November 18, 2023, from https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in- focus/women-and-the-sdgs