Congo Ethnic Groups: Erica and Elissa

Language
The official language of the Congo is French, although 242 languages are spoken among the tribes throughout the country. Of those 242 only Kikongo, Lingala, Tshiluba, and Swahili are nationally recognized.

Religion
90% of the population of the Congo is Christian primarily Roman Catholic and Protestant. The remainder of the population is Muslim, Kimbanguist, or another religion.

Ethnic Groups
There are four major ethnic groups in the Congo - Mongo, Luba, Kongo (all Bantu), and the Mangbetu-Azande (Hamitic) making up 45% of the population, however there are over 200 other ethnic tribes.
There are also 60,000 Belgians. The ancestors of this population were the Belgians who used to control the country before the country gained Independence.
The status of women is very low in the social culture of the Congo. Women are underrepresented in leadership positions as well as in law.

Demographics
At birth there are 1.03 males for every female born.
0-14 makes up 46.9% of the population
15-64 makes up 50.6% of the population
65- and up makes up 2.5% of the population
The life expectancy is about 54 years which is clearly indicated by the small percentage of the population who are over 65.

http://www.everyculture.com/Bo-Co/Democratic-Republic-of-the-Congo.html

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Democratic_Republic_of_Congo#Status_of_women
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/country-profile/sub-saharan-africa/congo-democratic-republic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo#Early_history

ESPN Slowly Introducing Online Brand for Women

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/16/sports/16espnw.html?ref=women

Katie Thomas

Over the years, ESPN has defined itself as the "worldwide leader in sports," providing countless stories and tremendous coverage for its die-hard sports fans. The network seeks to interest all sorts of audiences, and it does a fantastic job of targeting those viewers, yet one specific group seems to be left out of the loop: women. Because gender equality continues to expand as a current issue in our global society, ESPN felt obliged to form a new brand marketed specifically to women. The soon-to-appear digital program, espnW, is presently a low-key blog, having pages on both Twitter and Facebook, but it is expected to grow by spring of 2011. So far, many female athletes are ecstatic about the change in direction in news media coverage, and ESPN seems to be making a promising commitment towards establishing espnW as a successful addition to the network. Yet changes come with an assortment of reactions, and many females in the sports field oppose the idea of this new program.

Although the publicity is encouraging to female athletes, the idea of a separate and new program for audiences who hold an interest in female athletics can be patronizing and marginalizing. Laura Gentile, the vice president of the upcoming espnW, described the program as "where we talk about women finding self-esteem in sports and about getting a pedicure." Yet aside from that comment, she claims the main purpose is to discuss female sports, (a little more than they are already discussed in today's sports news,) and to add that attention to the popular male sports topics. This seems to be an easy solution to the lack of publicity that women get on ESPN; the everpopular program only devoted around 8% of its program to women's sports. But would this addition of espnW give ESPN the freedom to drop women's sports from its program as a whole, or would it lead to a greater coverage of the neglected topic on ESPN?

What exactly does this mean for the future of female sports? I think we all can agree that we don't hear much about female athletes in comparison to those NFL quarterbacks and the drama caused by LeBron James. But is the establishment of a new program dedicated to women the approach we should take? Does this lead to gender equality under publicity, or does it just further the gender separation because women need their own program?

Sara Huser

Geography and Natural Resources of The Congo

StephanieHarris and Maya Sirmons

Located in Central Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo has a estimated population of 60,085,804. It is slightly less than 1/4 the size of the United States, with their land totalling to 2,345,410 sq km, 77,810 sq km being water. The Congo is three times the size on Pennsylvania and it surrounded by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and the Angola exclave of Cabinda, with a short stretch of coast on the South Atlantic. Of that vast amount of land only 2.96% is arable meaning the other 96.25 % is not farmable. In result, issues such as wildlife population, water pollution, deforestation, soil erosion, and wildlife poaching. Along with the small amount of land that is arable, there are periodic droughts which are natural hazards to the crops and which becomes a huge problem for the people of Congo. The Democratic of Congo is also landlocked, which means that they are shut in by land completely and they have no direct access to the sea or water for that matter.

Aside from the environmental issues in the Congo they possess a limited number of natural resources which include gold, cassiterite (tin ore), wolframite (tungsten ore), methane, hydropower, and arable land. As of today the Congo continues to develop their natural resources while also attempting to discover new ways to improve their environment.

http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blcrwanda.htm

Danielle found this!

Hey Baby: A Violent Video Game Geared to Women

An article was recently published in Time Magazine regarding anew video game that was released in June, titled "Hey Baby." In this video game, women are approached by men that blurt out random pick-up lines. Some of these lines are as seemingly innocent as, "Hey, how you doin'?" or, "Hey sweetheart." However, they can also be as raunchy as "I want to lick you all over." After hearing these comments it is the female player's decision whether or not she wants to shoot the male offender. This type of video game is not more violent than other video games on the market but it has recieved criticism from both males and females. In response, the creator of this game, Suyin Looui, commented that this violence was supposed to be humorous. She said this game was a, "space to act out their ridiculous revenge fantasies...and have a good laugh about it." When Louii created this game, it seems fairly obvious that it was intended for the female market. And this seems to be for good reasons. According to recent studies 40% of gamers are female. Therefore, video game creators have to keep women's desires in mind when creating their games if they want to be successful. If this game is what sells, is this still a buisness action that we can condone, or does this go too far?

The author of this article also points out the reversed gender roles. Often times in video games, men are the heroes, or they are at least heavily involved in the action. However, in this video game women are the people with the guns and the power. In the hope of eventually eliminating specific gender roles, is it ok to temporarily reverse the roles to get either revenge or equality?

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,2024265,00.html

P.S. Here's a funny and somewhat-related video!

Wait -- Men Suffer from Gender Inequality, Too??

Taken from article, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/weekinreview/20parkerpope.html?ref=men

NYTimes - Now, Dad Feels as Stressed as Mom
By TARA PARKER-POPE
Published: June 19, 2010

     In response to some new studies on parental stress, one New York Times author comments on the expectations of heterosexual parents based on gender. As society (and mothers) begin to expect fathers to devote more time to the home, they are beginning to have trouble finding the family-work equilibrium that mothers have been trying to perfect for decades. Joan C. Williams explains that "This is a pretty sensitive indicator of the rise of the new ideal of the good father as a nurturing father, not just a provider father." Despite this new standard, men are generally not allowed as much time off of work as women when it comes to their kids, even though they want to be involved with their children more than ever. They can not take nearly as much leave as mothers can after having a baby, except for a few choice countries such as Iceland in which they receive only a third of the time off as their female counterparts. Even as men begin to take on more responsibilities at home, many studies show that things that a man might see as household work are often not taken into account when his wife mentally calculates his contribution. Men do not have as much experience or as many role models in this new-found world of male parenting and housekeeping, and so are struggling to keep up and meet expectations.
     After centuries of women's struggles to make their way into a world of work and business which has traditionally been dominated by men, at what point is it time for men to begin forging their way into traditional female territory? Do you think it will be as difficult for men to step into the household as it has been for women to do the reverse, and do you think that it is as important to fight for a man's right to be a part of his family as it is to fight for a woman's right to be a part of the workplace?