MEHMET AKSEL
I haven’t been able to write for the past two weeks, partly because I was tired and partly because I was busy, I apologize…
The other morning as I was having a coffee and reading newspapers on my iPad after breakfast at home in Lisbon, Teri came up to me and said, “I’m going shopping, do you want something from the market?” to which I responded, “Can you get me a newspaper, please?”
It wasn’t that I was going to be able read it but that I had been reading such horrible, depressing, boring news and heart wrenching articles that I wanted to see what the Portuguese newspapers had in comparison to find out what these people were suffering from in their own world.
Teri was surprised, obviously, but thankfully she still got me my newspaper.
Despite the gloomy cover pages, the third pages that are dominated by femicides and the pessimism of the economy section of our newspapers, one can say that Portuguese newspapers have a similar structure.
They too have an abundant coverage of the current Russia-Ukraine tension; a serious section devoted to Covid 19, and of course highly thorough sports and comprehensive cultural sections.
As far as I could understand, the cover page was split into two main topics.
One was dedicated to Cascais (a city 20 minutes from Lisbon), and the various demands put forth by the city’s residents regarding its history and a particular skate park, and the impending public vote on these issues.
The other half of the cover page was dedicated to a list of 100 different ideas from 100 businesswomen, offered as recommendations for Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa’s new government program. This one really intrigued me.
This project with women proved to be a serendipitous encounter for me, especially after my lovely chat with Gülseren and Hüsam Abi (Onanç), over a glass of drink on my last evening before returning to Lisbon.
To summarize, the section went like this…
They make up the majority of the population, but are often not heard. It’s time to make a promise to them. In an unprecedented initiative, 100 women present 100 ideas they would like to see implemented in the country’s government program.
In our country, women make up 52.4 percent of the population and are responsible for 85.5 percent of single-parent families.
Despite constituting 58 percent of the population who have post-graduate degrees, they still have great difficulty making it into the top positions in companies and government institutions, and remain underrepresented in politics. In the new parliament, women MPs hold only 37 percent of the seats. The composition of the executive branch is not yet known, but the socialists argued for equal gender representation.
We reached out to 100 women for suggestions regarding things they would like to be implemented into government policy in the name of equality. The idea for the initiative came from Susana Carvalho, leader at the multinational company JWT and founder of Earth Watchers, and Susana Viseu, president of Business as Nature, an NGO that promotes sustainable production and consumption, and pays special attention to women as influencers.
Expresso (the newspaper I was looking at) joined the challenge and presented all of the ideas. Here is the top 40.
I have read all of them with interest and curiosity, but I am only sharing a summary of the ones that are related to my own subject, and here is the website for those who are interested in looking at the whole report (while imperfect, Google Translate does a pretty good job of translating it into English and Turkish).
I would like to draw your attention to the abundance of suggestions (25-30 percent) devoted to the field of education.
Ana Rita Bessa, CEO Leya
The discussion of the necessity of preparing Generation Z and its teachers in a context where 6G, and not just 5G, and artificial intelligence becomes common data, in parliament as part of the mandate of accelerating the digital transition in education.
Angela Barreto Xavier, historian
Starting from the digital infrastructure, the further development of digital content by the government, private institutions, private schools, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders, and making it available and accessible to families in all regions.
Beatriz Camacho, National Youth Council board member
Recognition and acknowledgment of skills acquired through non-formal education and learning in accessing higher education and the job market, as well as the contribution to the well-being, integration and individual and social participation of young people. Restructuring access to higher education, taking into account an increase in entry grades for young people with skills gained through volunteering, sports or exchange activities and projects.
Carolina Mendonça, coordinator responsible for Sustainability Management of the Azores Tourist Destination
The reform of the education system, from preschool to secondary and higher education, with an innovative interdisciplinary reorganization of curriculum plans, aligned with complex challenges such as climate change.
She said: “Imagine a scenario where tomorrow’s agents of change are equipped with tools for action! Trained to solve problems with manuals in their hands with practical exercises of ‘systems thinking’, where they come to understand complex challenges and identify opportunities. Imagine the range of innovative solutions with social and environmental impact if these young people can see a stimulating challenge in every problem.”
Cecília Meireles, lawyer
She said: “Of all the consequences of the pandemic, I think the most serious has to do with students and children. We have to be aware that, obviously, this generation had their lessons in perfectly abnormal conditions for at least two years. For many children, online classes didn’t work; there was no follow-up at home and much less explanation. For these children, the school is the guarantor of equal opportunities and social mobility. Therefore, Portugal urgently needs a more ambitious and above all much more concrete plan for the recovery of lost learning.”
Cláudia Almeida e Silva, managing partner at Singularity Capital and co-founder of the ‘A Praça’ project
She recommended three measures for three key areas: education, employment and natural resources.
Creating and establishing an ‘academic passport’ in education that values the diversity of knowledge domains and interaction with society. This passport would count towards the university entrance grade point average. We would have students who were more involved, curious and less indecisive about which areas to follow.
Launching a ‘financial pact’ to reward rather than tax companies that reduce their ecological footprint and promote inclusion, diversity and training.
Placing water and biodiversity as strategic areas of national interest in the natural resources and environment division.
Fernanda Freitas, managing director at communications company Eixo Norte-Sul
Raising children with the desire to change the world by implementing a laboratory practice in all schools, for innovation and social entrepreneurship, inclusion and volunteering work, and where each student researches the problems they want to solve in their environment, tries and evaluates innovative solutions, reveals their feelings and expectations.
Francisca Assis Teixeira, coordinator of the Ubuntu Leaders Academy
The Global Risks Report 2022/World Economic Forum report lists mental health as one of the foremost risks. The reasons are countless and prevention requires serious investment. Education is the primary prevention area, promoting the development of socio-emotional skills, which are essential for navigating a VUCA World (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous). Thus, the proposal is to create responses in teacher training that integrate training in Socio-Emotional Skills (CSE), in a transversal and in-depth manner, and to develop CSE programs at all levels of education, from preschool to higher education, with assigned teaching times and timetables.
Isabel Mota, President of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
She said: “Since 2020, due to the successive suspensions of face-to-face teaching activities in Portugal, children and young people have not only been deprived of the education they need so much, but also have seen the social inequalities inherent in access to distance learning and study support accentuated. As a structuring measure, we need a major initiative to support learning in basic education. With a focus both on curricular content and on the basic and fundamental conditions for learning—in particular the existence of mentors and teacher training—it is necessary to ensure that students of this generation reach, at least, the competences of the previous generation.”
This is all great. But do you know what blew my mind?
They are not at all happy with the fact that female MPs will only occupy 37 percent of the seats in the newly formed parliament, and they are arguing for ‘a 50/50 representation in execution’.
Here’s to echoing such representation in all smart governments.