First Blog: The Start Of A Plan

Today, I started to research problems that I can bring awareness to for my semester long project. I started with researching social and environmental problems in Morocco, Barbados, and Kazakhstan. I read about gender equality in Morocco. Even though Morocco has adopted certain laws promoting gender equality, Moroccan women are still treated more poorly then Moroccan men, often because judges are finding ways around these protective laws. I also read about the problem of human trafficking in Kazakhstan. Traffickers target young girls and women, luring them with promises of employment as waitresses, models, or babysitters in large cities. The government of Kazakhstan has increased spending for human trafficking awareness campaigns and  has adopted laws to allow funding for long term shelters and services for victims of human trafficking. That being said, police officers still are not conducting proper investigations and the government is not prosecuting many criminals. I also read about the problem of water scarcity in Barbados. The problem of water scarcity is growing due to the agriculture and domestic sectors in Barbados. The water use in the country is greater than what is naturally available in Barbados. The Barbados Water Authority has released suggestions to help save water such as, using appliances efficiently, making sure your house does not have any leaks, turning off the water when your not using it, and using a broom instead of a hose to clean decks and driveways. After looking at these specific social and environmental problems, I have chosen to bring awareness to gender equality in Morocco. My plan is to raise awareness about gender equality in Morocco by using social media, and specifically creating an Instagram page.  I will research effective ways and ideas to spread awareness about an important social cause or problem using Instagram. Using social media, like Instagram, will be an effective way of bringing awareness to this social problem because it is current, used by many people worldwide, and can utilize resources not just in Calgary, but also other places in the world given the availability and access to the Internet.