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 Annual Meeting 2008 Seminarzentrum Heidelberg, Germany February 8, 20008 Symposium Theme Challenges for Home Economics – Equality of Women and Men in Responsibility for Family and Housework Demands from Societies and Tasks for Home Economics Associations By: Geraldene B. Hodelin, Ph.D. IFHE President (2006-2008) Former Dean Faculty of Education and Liberal Studies University of Technology, Jamaica At a first glance, it appears that modernisation in society has created the impression that much of the education that has been inherently a part of home economics is obsolete. It is this illusion, I believe, why many home economics programmes have failed in institutions across the globe. On closer examination, however, perhaps it is not so much that our brand of education is obsolete; maybe it is the way we package and make this education available that has cause the impatience in the modern user. Perhaps it may even be a reflection of what we research and with whom we share our findings. As educators most of us have been schooled in sharing our knowledge, especially with those we believe ‘ought to know’. The early home economists felt strongly that people from certain social background “should be instructed in doing certain domestic activities not only better but in using a certain method, because those were the middle class standards and the status quo. As a professional group, home economists defended these standards and these were and still are reflected in our prescriptive textbooks, our essays and our conversations with individuals and groups. Our research validated these ways of doing things and this validated our scholarly pursuits. So convinced we were that these ways of doing things were sacred that we lost some scholars along the way. Many of these ideas have been challenged not only by home economists themselves but by other professionals whose philosophical basis hinges on the everyday living. Some home economics scholars and practitioners redefined their home economics activities as other disciplines like social work and workforce education. Home economics got labelled old fashioned. Some onlookers and decision-makers too, thought that our work was not progressive enough to be seen as professional work. Several professional associations changed names, mission and outreach activities. Despite these changes, many of us home economists had not learnt how to reinvent ourselves and how to update our thinking and our professional work including the things we research and teach convincingly enough to appeal to a changing world. So the struggle for recognition and relevance continues. In many cases we panic as a professional group and say “they do not understand us” although we do not take the time to “articulate to them how we wish to be understood”. In my view, it seems that Home economics professionals and their associated groups spend many productive hours looking back at the “good old days” and very little time examining the here and now and the way of the future. As we seem to lose credibility with our own audiences, other individuals and professional groups, perhaps motivated by opportunism and ambition or even from being tired of waiting for us to deliver, have repackaged our accepted body of knowledge, wrap it up in modern methods of education and sharing and have created successful “new” careers for themselves. In the mean time, and by our absence of timely action, we have cast doubt on our own professional future. Our societies are not just waiting around for home economists to provide the answers they seek to address the recurring problems that face families and communities. I also acknowledge that home economics is not the panacea for all family problems encountered in some societies. But as a professional group we can help in the re-education of families in ways that will make positive changes in a frequently confused world. Governments and families will take the solutions from whoever can provide it. The technology of house work has changed in the last hundred years alongside with the career interests of women and men; it is incumbent on the discipline that promotes reasonableness in the quality of life for children, men and women as individuals and as families in all societies to acknowledge these developments and integrate them in the alternatives we advocate for doing and living. Wars and conflicts seem determined to destroy the notion of peaceful coexistent for some families forever. How can home economics associations, that are community based, change that mindset and help transform the quality of life for families so that we can contribute to the reducing the occurrence and impact of conflict on families? I realise that some things are outside our control but can the profession begin somewhere, for example, let us begin with conflict in the home, child and spousal abuse. What are the demands from societies? Society demands answers for its everyday problems! They need answers that will entice and hold people’s interests. Not answers that are the rehashing of procedures and dispositions that did not work well the first time around. Some givens are the same and some have changed. Society expects us to know the current state of affairs at least within our own context and to adjust our ways of thinking that will positively propel families and communities in their developmental efforts. Society is demanding that the modernisation that is occurring as part of this globalised world needs to be accurately interpreted and appropriate adaptations adequately researched in ways that keep citizens and nations at the cutting edge of knowledge, technology and peaceful coexistence. This must become the everyday offering of professional groups like home economics associations that will also boost our visibility as an important community resource. It is tempting for Home economics Associations to become self serving and look inwards mostly because we believe that it is too difficult to battle the outside world. Sometimes the issues are so big and because we are a professional group of mostly women, we often take the path of least resistance. So our outreach projects become activities for our members to do in order for us to keep their membership in the group. Members can then write academic papers about the “project” and meet their publishing needs especially for enhancement on the job. This is a good reason I promise you, but it should not be the only reason. We must remember the bigger mission of guiding others and influencing positive family life. We are the ones who profess that we are in business to serve families and individuals. We are the ones who say the we believe that there is good in promoting good business practices that help families to develop and grow economically, socially and physiologically and at the same time assist cooperate citizens to become benevolent partners with us in helping us achieve our mission. Should we not now be identifying specific tasks or actions for our professional associations that truly promote this thinking? Should our programme committees embrace more activities that facilitate helping others rather than helping ourselves? Should we be partnering more with other NGOs as well as with government departments and the private sector on select projects? Should we not be researching more about understanding the current and emerging needs in our communities that we can help address as a professional group, and further, develop solutions to those needs and share those solutions with our decision makers as a priority? Should our home economics professional groups dialogue more with the educational bureaucracy in our respective countries with a view to end the closing of home economic departments and to make home economics mandatory for all students? I believe that we should recognise the collective voice of our professionals as they speak through our professional associations. Should we just be holding meetings or strategizing about deepening our influence with governmental and non –governmental organisations in order to stay relevant and futuristic in our ever-changing world. As we close the first 100 years of our Federation I believe it is time to rethink our role as professionals. So what are society’s expectations? • Stay relevant and in context • Be visible in our work • Articulate more to those who can effect desirable changes in family and communities • When it is appropriate, challenge the status quo • Update and upgrade our pedagogical approaches • Target the right audiences – young, old, men, women, policymakers, media agents • Keep the research current and active. As Professionals we need to research what we advocate and advocate what we research.  An adventure in Caribbean Cuisine 2006 A collection of recipes indigenous to the caribbean as well well as recipes born out of research by Caribbean Home Economists. http://www.macmillan-caribbean.com/pages.aspx (For more information contact Janice Maison cahe1972@yahoo.com) World Home Economics Day 2003 Janice Archibald, President CAHE 2003 Home Economics Competencies for Everyday Living The Caribbean Association of Home Economists is a Professional body of women who have joined hands across the seas in conducting programs in improved housing, backyard gardening, better nutrition, management in the family, consumer education, clothing and textiles and Human Relations.¡¨ This statement taken from the report on the Home Economics Conference in April 1980, very aptly describes the various aspects of Home Economics while clearly indicating that as professionals¡¨ we would have had to acquire specific competencies in order to be able conduct those programmes. I must pause here, in acceptance of our changed times, to make adjustments to this description of CAHE in acknowledgement of our male counterparts even though they are few. These times have also dictated name changes that have evolved over the period with the trend towards emphasizing the scientific and philosophical in addition to the practical. Over the years as Home Economists we have become proficient in the skills which are more practical-oriented and while some of us may have been exposed to complementary training which have honed our techniques, we must recognize the need for other competencies which will enable us to perform with confidence and efficiency. My firm belief is that it is essential for these competencies to be complemented with characteristics or qualities that should be inbred into Home Economists during our training and become more firmly ingrained into the fibre of our personality. These qualities should enhance the use and transfer of the other competencies. Fellow Home Economists we must continue to function effectively, not only within our workplaces but also within our communities. We need to recognize and use those competencies that will enable us to act as: Advocates Motivators Coordinators Let us examine each of these briefly within the context of Home Economists operating in a community. A qualified Home Economist should be able to stimulate persons within a community to seek opportunities for improving themselves, and ultimately the society. This will need advocacy skills which are usually strengthened by good communication techniques. Persons will readily participate in an activity if they are convinced by a clear message. The Home Economist should be a person who can effect change and encourage persons within the community to make decisions which would help to improve the quality of life within their communities. This needs the motivator¡¦s competency that is enhanced by interpersonal skills as well as the use of language which is geared towards influencing persons to act. One particular strength of our feminine component is the ability to use more conditional, tentative language that encourages others to express themselves. Once decisions are made then there is need for the community to implement their plans and here the Home Economist will draw upon organizational skills, a coordinating competency which would have been developed from training in Management of Resources such as personnel, finances and time. These competencies are essential not only to adults but also for the personal and cultural development of children, through an informal Home Economics Education process. Our understanding that a community comprises diverse ethnic groups with their concomitant cultures will be an asset. Let us therefore be reminded as we observe World Home Economics Day 2003 that as we are involved in our ¡§everyday living¡¨, that the competencies which Home Economists have attained are key to improved quality of life for everyone. Expanding the Role of Home Economics ¡V Improving Living Conditions and Fostering Human Rights: An IFHE Response to the Keynote Address By Geraldene B. Hodelin, Ph.D. Dean, Faculty of Education and Liberal Studies University of Technology, Jamaica 237 Old Hope Road, Kingston 6, Jamaica WEST INDIES Email: gerihod@utech.edu.jm Tel.: 876-927-1612 Fax: 876- 977-9676 Madame chair; President of IFHE; Executive committee, Council members, Members of the Federation; Mr. Ambassador from Germany; Madam Minister, Hon. Patience Adow, Ghana; Our special guest speaker, Dr. Ursula Eid; colleagues; ladies and gentlemen. First, let me thank you for the opportunity to share with you today at this our Organization¡¦s historic Congress in Africa. For us in the Caribbean, Africa has very special meanings and to be able to participate in a World Congress held on the continent is even more special. Secondly, it is my pleasure to bring to this forum, a Caribbean perspective to the central issues of this Congress, and, Thirdly, please accept special greetings and for continuing successes at this Congress from my own institution, the University of Technology, Jamaica; the Jamaican Home Economics Association and the Caribbean Association of Home Economists. Our main speaker today, Dr. Eid, has given us much to think about. She has drawn our attention to the United nations focus on a number of global quality of life issues such as fertility control, poverty alleviation,¡K¡K. The Response: Madame chair, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, our focus at this plenary has been on: Expanding the role of Home of Home Economics in Improving Living Conditions and Fostering Human Rights ¡V A Task for Development. Depending on the particular way you currently practice in the field of Home Economics, you may or may not fully appreciate the range of the challenge for our profession, or, depending on how you look at it the extent of the possibilities and opportunities embedded in these challenges for professional Home Economists who are serious about their role in enhancing and improving the living conditions of others can be limitless This morning, I would like you to journey with me as I share these few thoughts on the subject of human rights and quality of life for families. Let us first look briefly on the notion of Human Rights. The notion of human rights is grounded in the precepts of Democracy. So therefore, democracy must necessarily be an important assumption in any discussion to do with Human Rights. Consequently, if democracy is an illusion for some individuals and families, then our challenges in addressing human rights issues--particularly as they affect families in places where fundamental human rights are constantly under assault, then our task will be daunting. The United Nations Development Programme ¡VHuman Development Report 2000, focuses on ¡¥Human Rights and Human Development¡¦. I urge everyone here to at least browse this document, if you have not done so already. Global issues concerning the quality of life for peoples of the world are brought into sharp focus for those of us who are concerned with the issues of human rights and living conditions. It was noted by keen observers that it has taken the United Nations 55 years after its founding and 52 years after its Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to explicitly acknowledge the inextricable link between democracy and human rights and the importance of the market economy for human rights. Furthermore, it is also noted that the ideas and ideals of democracy, freedom and human rights, are western ideas and ideals, which have been gaining universal acceptance, as they decisively demonstrate, in practice, that modern human development is achieved on the basis of these ideas and ideals. While some of us may disagree with some of these ideas and ideals, as a World body we cannot deny their existence and influences in all our lives. We are gathered here today because of these ideas and ideals. The Caribbean¡¦s first Nobel Prize winner, Sir Arthur Lewis is quoted at the top of Chapter 3 of the Human Development Report 2000 as saying, The primary meaning of democracy is that all who are affected by a decision should have the right to participate in making that decision, either directly or through chosen representatives¡K To exclude the losing group from participating in decision-making, clearly violates the primary meaning of democracy. While I do not wish to categorize families around the world as losers, it is difficult to perceive the subsistent quality of some people¡¦s lives as triumphant, even though some live in many of the world¡¦s greatest democracies. The Human Development Report makes it clear that: ¡¥Democracy is the only form of political regime compatible with respecting all five categories of rights ¡V economic, political, civil, social, and cultural.¡¦ It is no wonder, then, is democracy intrinsic to quality of life issues. What are the Rights and Freedoms advocated by the Human Development Report? In the report, the original 1948, 30-point list of Human Rights have been digested into 7 key freedoms. As I present these 7 key freedoms here today, I ask you cast your thoughts on your own situations and on to those of others of whom you are aware. Think of the presence or the absence of these key freedoms in the lives of individuals- families, women, men, the aged, the disabled and most of all, children. Think about how you may have responded to the circumstances of their lives as they may have presented themselves to you as home economists for advice, for direction and for help in general. As a professional home economist, as a national and regional professional group, as a World Federation, what should our responses be to those who struggle daily in search of these basic human rights? How can we position our selves to act locally and yet have a global impact on the quality of the everyday lives of people who lack access to these basic human freedoms? The seven key freedoms postulated on the Human Development Report are: 1. Freedom from discrimination by: gender, race, ethnicity, national origin or religion. 2. Freedom from want ¡V to enjoy a decent standard of living. Important questions we should all ask ourselves relating to this freedom are: Who defines a decent standard of living for families? What is our role in coming up with that definition for families in our communities? 3. Freedom to develop and realize one¡¦s human potential. Again I ask, who has the right to put limits on the potential of others? What is our role in helping families develop their true potentials? 4. Freedom from fear - of threats to personal security, from torture, arbitrary arrests, from enslavement of one form or another, and other violent acts. As a descendant of the African slave trade speaking to you at this World Congress in Ghana Africa, I believe that you all understand the importance of this freedom to me, as well as to the world at this particular time. 5. Freedom from injustice and violations of the rule of law. 6. Fr |
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