Women's Lives Around the World : a Global Encyclopedia / Susan M
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WOMEN’S LIVES AROUND THE WORLD A Global Encyclopedia VOLUME 3 ASIA AND THE PACIFIC Susan M. Shaw, General Editor Nancy Staton Barbour, Patti Duncan, Kryn Freehling-Burton, and Jane Nichols, Editors Shaw_Womens Lives around the World_V3.indb 3 15/09/17 2:30 am Copyright © 2018 by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Shaw, Susan M. (Susan Maxine), 1960- editor. Title: Women's lives around the world : a global encyclopedia / Susan M. Shaw, General Editor. Description: Santa Barbara, California : ABC-CLIO, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017015976 (print) | LCCN 2017031062 (ebook) | ISBN 9781610697125 (ebook) | ISBN 9781610697118 (set) | ISBN 9781440847646 (volume 1) | ISBN 9781440847653 (volume 2) | ISBN 9781440847660 (volume 3) | ISBN 9781440847677 (volume 4) Subjects: LCSH: Women—Social conditions—Encyclopedias. Classification: LCC HQ1115 (ebook) | LCC HQ1115 .W6437 2018 (print) | DDC 305.4—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017015976 ISBN: 978-1-61069-711-8 (set) 978-1-4408-4764-6 (vol. 1) 978-1-4408-4765-3 (vol.2) 978-1-4408-4766-0 (vol.3) 978-1-4408-4767-7 (vol.4) F.ISBN: 978-1-61069-712-5 22 21 20 19 18 1 2 3 4 5 This book is also available as an eBook. ABC-CLIO An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 www.abc-clio.com TTiis book is printed on acid-free paper @ Manufactured in the United States of America G Guam Guam has a surface area of 210 square miles and fea- tures 77 miles of coastline. It has a tropical marine climate with little seasonal temperature variation and a rainy Overview of Country season that lasts from July to December. In 2014, Guam’s Guam, an unincorporated territory of the United States, is population stood at 161,000 inhabitants, with the major- the largest and southernmost island in the Mariana Islands ity of people living in urban areas (CIA 2016). Currently, archipelago. Guam’s history is long and rich, with the Chamorros account for 37 percent of the total population, indigenous Chamorro people inhabiting the island since followed by Filipinos at 26 percent, mixed-race peoples 2000 BCE. Ancient Chamorro cultural values emphasized at 9 percent, and Caucasians at 7 percent. The remaining communal interdependence, familial relationships, and 21 percent of the population is made up of other Pacific kin networks. The values and history of ancient Chamorro Islander and Asian ethnicities. culture continue into contemporary Guamanian society. The last 400 years of Guam’s history are marked by a Girls and Teens legacy of colonization, beginning with the Spanish, follow- Women have played an important role throughout the ing the arrival of explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. history of the Chamorro people and Guam. The history of More than two centuries of Spanish colonial rule greatly Chamorro matrilineal family systems has continually influ- influenced Chamorro culture and can still be seen today. enced the island. Women continue to affect the preservation Spanish words were incorporated into the Chamorro lan- of Chamorro culture and are highly involved in familial, guage, as were cultural traditions such as fiestas and the community, political, and business life on the island. Guam practice of Catholicism, which is practiced by 85 percent is not listed in the UN Development Programme (UNDP) of today’s Guamanians. Currently, English is the primary Gender Inequality Index (GII) because it is an unincor- language on Guam and is used by almost 44 percent porated territory of the United States. In 2013, the UNDP of the population. Other prominent languages on Guam ranked the United States as 47th out of 187 on the GII. include Filipino dialects, which are used by 21 percent of the population, followed by the indigenous Chamorro lan- guage, at almost 18 percent. The remainder of the popu- Education lation speaks a variety of other Pacific Islander and Asian Prior to colonization, Chamorro children learned skills languages. that were essential to ancient society, such as canoe making 67 Shaw_Womens Lives around the World_V3.indb 67 15/09/17 2:30 am 68 Guam and weaving. Formalized European-style education began close to 3,000 students, and women account for 55 percent on the island with the arrival of the Catholic clergy. The of the student body. first Spanish school in Guam was a seminary that became The University of Guam is a four-year land-grant insti- fully operational in 1673 and remained open for more than tution that serves almost 4,000 students. The university 200 years (Rogers 1995, 50). Schools during the Spanish opened in 1952 as a two-year teacher training junior col- colonization era emphasized written language skills, such lege and has since grown to offer an associate’s degree as reading and writing, as well as Christian doctrine. Chil- program, 35 bachelor’s degree programs, and 15 master’s dren learned gender-specific subjects in schools: girls were degree programs. During the fall of 2012, 59 percent of taught cooking and sewing, and boys learned carpentry. enrolled students at the University of Guam were women. Under U.S. naval government, gender-segregated The University of Guam offers an interdisciplinary minor schooling continued. In 1917, Naval Government Execu- and certificate program in Women and Gender Studies. tive Order Number 243 was enacted, banning the speak- ing of Chamorro except for translation purposes. This Sex Education was applied to areas of public life, such as classrooms and on baseball fields. Additional general orders issued In 2011, the Risk Behavior Survey conducted in Guam’s by naval governors continued to force the use of English, public schools by the Centers for Disease Control and such as General Orders 12 and 13. General Order 12 dealt Prevention (CDC) found that 49 percent of high school with the education system on Guam, emphasizing that students reported having sexual intercourse, and only 32 classes should be taught in English, and General Order 13 percent reported that they use protection during inter- instructed that all island residents should do their best to course. Two years later, the 2013 Guam Youth Risk Behav- learn to read, write, and speak English. Education under ior Survey found that among high school students, 37 the naval government faced problems of overcrowding percent had engaged in sexual intercourse, and 59 percent and insufficient facilities. Following the reclamation of of those students had not used a condom during their last Guam from Japanese forces in 1944, the military govern- sexual encounter. The 2012 Guam School Health Profiles ment acted quickly to open new schools on the island shows that 100 percent of high schools on the island taught (Rogers 1995, 201). students how to access reliable health information related Currently, the Guam Department of Education oversees to HIV, STDs, and pregnancy in health education classes. the public education system for the island. There are 39 However, only 75 percent of schools utilized a health public schools on Guam that serve nearly 32,000 students, education curriculum that addressed all eight national including Head Start and kindergarten to 12th grade. In standards for health education. Additionally, none of the the 2012–2013 academic year, the Guam public school sys- schools provided curricula or supplementary educational tem had a graduation rate of 68 percent and an average materials that engaged in the five practices related to les- dropout rate of 4 percent. Of the 32,000 students in Guam’s bian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) education system, 47 percent are girls (Fernandez 2013). youth (CDC 2016). Outside of the school system, another resource for sexual education on the island is Guam Sex Ed, an organization that provides information on compre- Universities hensive sex education as well as other health and wellness Guam has two public institutions of higher education— resources available on Guam. the University of Guam and Guam Community College. Guam Community College was established in 1977 to serve secondary and postsecondary students on the island. Health The college manages all of the career-technical educational Contemporary issues facing the youth of Guam include the programs on Guam and offers adult education programs, use of tobacco, drugs, and alcohol and suicide. In Guam, including adult high school, English as a second language approximately one in five youths smoke—a decrease from (ESL), the general education degree (GED), basic skills, previous years. However, the use of smokeless tobacco and family literacy. The college also maintains important products is rising among both adults and youth on the relationships with the island’s public high schools through island (David 2012). The prevalence of teen drinking is their programs of study. Guam Community College serves also in decline; in 2011, nearly 25 percent of high school Shaw_Womens Lives around the World_V3.indb 68 15/09/17 2:30 am Guam 69 students reported drinking. Teen girls use tobacco and Maternal Health consume alcohol at a comparable rate to boys on Guam, In 2012, Guam’s birth rate was 22.5 births per 1,000 peo- unlike their adult counterparts, who use at lower rates than ple, with a teen birth rate of 21.7 births per 1,000. In 2012, men. Chamorro youth have the highest rates of tobacco there were 27 fetal deaths—a fetal death rate of 7.4, which use and alcohol consumption in Guam.