By Lynda Lopez. News and Public Affairs Intern

In 2010, President Barack Obama signed his long debated health care bill into law, but it still remains an issue of controversy among concerned Americans.

While the United States deals with its own share of health care issues, there is another world of health concerns on the other side of the world and some inquisitive University of Chicago students in a new student group have taken notice.

The Global Affairs Leadership Society (GALS) became a Registered Student Organization (RSO) in the fifth week of the first quarter. The basic premise behind the group is to provide a place where students can discuss issues of conflict within women's rights in the Western and in the developing world. Not only do they seek to talk about these important issues, they also want to take an active role in combatting them.

"So many people spend their time talking about important issues, but spend no time doing anything about it," says Molly Cunningham, a GALS board member and 2nd year in the College, "GALS is 'doing' rather than just talking."

One of the first issues the group has sets its eyes on is the high maternal mortality rate in India. According to save-a-mother.org, over 160 women in India die each day due to problems from pregnancy and complications in childbirth, over 50 times higher than the rate in the United States. Statistics and concerns such as these spurred the members of GALS to become involved with Save A Mother, which is a local organization that is working to reduce the maternal mortality rate in India by educating villagers regarding better ways to maintain good health while in pregnancy. Eventually, these educated villagers become health activists in each of their villages.

Hoping to learn more about this organization, GALS held a special event at the Center for Gender Studies on January 10th. Dr. Shiban Ganju, founder and chief volunteer of Save A Mother, visited the university in order to talk further about the organization's work and to inspire the group to further the organization's cause.

Cunningham says that his visit definitely motivated the group. "After hearing him speak, we felt that we could truly change the world," she says.

Throughout the upcoming quarter, GALS is going to work on strengthening its relationship with Save A Mother and continue furthering the organization's cause.

Besides their work with Save A Mother, GALS has also been thinking of unique ways in which to spread the word about their unique RSO. Since their inception as a RSO, they have carried out a series of social experiments intended to gain insight into the issue of women's rights. One of the first and most interesting social experiments was implemented at the end of last quarter. Each of the members of GALS changed their Facebook status to "people like people who like women's rights."

"Our generation is constantly checking their emails, phones, and Facebook, so we knew we should take advantage of this connectivity," says Cunningham. "This social experiment gave us further insight into the thoughts of men regarding women's rights."

Cunningham says that she received many playful, silly comments on her status that day, which, she says, indicates the unclear role that women's rights tends to have in society. What does it truly mean to have rights as a woman? GALS plans to continue its social media experiment throughout the quarter in order to further explore this question and many more.

Despite all of the different endeavors that GALS is working towards, including a conference on women's rights, all of these activities have an underlying theme: Education.

"Ignorance kills even the best of ideas," says Cunningham. "We are hoping to raise awareness about important issues and even if the students we talk to don't get involved, it is still a better world because we opened their eyes a little more."

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