Empowering Women Worldwide
empowering women worldwide
On Facebook, my political views are not listed as "conservative," "moderate", "liberal," or even the occasional "anything but Obama." I'll bet you that you can't guess what I've set them as.
Feminist.
I get a lot of questions from people, asking me what the heck that is supposed to me, or others who tell me 'feminism' is not a political view. But here's the thing most people don't know: indeed it is. Because here are the facts: Women's rights around the world is an important indicator to understanding global well-being. The best way to fight poverty and extremism is to educate and empower women and girls worldwide, but is this idea, that women are an essential part of the solution to global problems controversial? In many parts of the world, especially developing countries, it is indeed revolutionary, but for many Americans, safe and comfortable in our homes, Blackberrys and MacBook Pros by our side, the atrocities committed against women worldwide take a backseat to economic recession, terrorism and insurgency in the Middle East, and the petty bickerings of Congress.
When women are empowered, all of society benefits, and it is the best investment any government can make to ensure and build a healthier, better educated, more peaceful and more prosperous society.
"Study after study has shown us that when women are fully empowered and engaged, all of society benefits," United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro explained at the 2007 International Women Leaders Global Security Summit. "Only in this way can we successfully take on the enormous challenges confronting our world – from conflict resolution and peace-building to fighting AIDS and reaching all the other Millennium Development Goals."
We live in a 21st century world, with law-making bodies such as the United Nations which are supposed to keep human rights violations at bay and a media with the power to bring such violations to light, and yet women today in many countries face 17th century abuses. In Somaliland, where camels often have more freedom than women, a nomadic woman gave birth in the desert with complications that led to the tearing her bladder. When her husband couldn't stand the smell and wetness, he stabbed her in the throat. In Cambodia, Srey Rath was a 15 years old when she was kidnapped, and taken to a brothel, where she was drugged, beaten, and forced into prostitution. In Darfur and the Congo, governments use the mass rape of village women as a way to control their populations through fear. In many parts of the Middle East, honor killings are seen as not only as socially acceptable, but as a necessary action when a female member of the family has disgraced the family.
As Amnesty International also points out, "Governments are not living up to their promises under the Women's Convention to protect women from discrimination and violence such as rape and female genital mutilation." Although over thirty years ago the UN adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which is often described as a bill of rights for women, roughly 44 of the 161 countries which ratify it express reservations, claiming they cannot implement certain provisions of the treaty on political, constitutional, cultural or religious grounds. The United States of America signed the Convention in 1980, but has not ratified it. Many countries have neither signed nor ratified the treaty, and instead ignore it in its entirety. Country after country, from Algeria, to Egypt, to even Australia readily cite excuse after excuse as to why they are not committed to ensuring the safety and equality of women around the world.
If countries like America and the United Kingdom, leaders of the free world, cannot take a stand for the issue of women's rights globally or even domestically, how can we expect other countries to follow suit? If our politicians say they support women but don't back up their words with policy, what kind of message does that send to not only the governments of the world, but to the women of world? We, as a culture and as a people, must take a stand and demand as a united front to say 'no more!', to spit in the face of the atrocities our fellow human beings suffer at the hands of their husbands, governments, and villages.
Feminism is not just an ideology. It is not something that only pertains to the Equal Rights Amendment or breaking the glass ceiling. Feminism is giving women, all women everywhere, the chance to live their lives without the fear of oppression. Feminism is dedication, it is action, it is policy.
I am a Feminist. Are you?
Feminist.
I get a lot of questions from people, asking me what the heck that is supposed to me, or others who tell me 'feminism' is not a political view. But here's the thing most people don't know: indeed it is. Because here are the facts: Women's rights around the world is an important indicator to understanding global well-being. The best way to fight poverty and extremism is to educate and empower women and girls worldwide, but is this idea, that women are an essential part of the solution to global problems controversial? In many parts of the world, especially developing countries, it is indeed revolutionary, but for many Americans, safe and comfortable in our homes, Blackberrys and MacBook Pros by our side, the atrocities committed against women worldwide take a backseat to economic recession, terrorism and insurgency in the Middle East, and the petty bickerings of Congress.
When women are empowered, all of society benefits, and it is the best investment any government can make to ensure and build a healthier, better educated, more peaceful and more prosperous society.
"Study after study has shown us that when women are fully empowered and engaged, all of society benefits," United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro explained at the 2007 International Women Leaders Global Security Summit. "Only in this way can we successfully take on the enormous challenges confronting our world – from conflict resolution and peace-building to fighting AIDS and reaching all the other Millennium Development Goals."
We live in a 21st century world, with law-making bodies such as the United Nations which are supposed to keep human rights violations at bay and a media with the power to bring such violations to light, and yet women today in many countries face 17th century abuses. In Somaliland, where camels often have more freedom than women, a nomadic woman gave birth in the desert with complications that led to the tearing her bladder. When her husband couldn't stand the smell and wetness, he stabbed her in the throat. In Cambodia, Srey Rath was a 15 years old when she was kidnapped, and taken to a brothel, where she was drugged, beaten, and forced into prostitution. In Darfur and the Congo, governments use the mass rape of village women as a way to control their populations through fear. In many parts of the Middle East, honor killings are seen as not only as socially acceptable, but as a necessary action when a female member of the family has disgraced the family.
As Amnesty International also points out, "Governments are not living up to their promises under the Women's Convention to protect women from discrimination and violence such as rape and female genital mutilation." Although over thirty years ago the UN adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which is often described as a bill of rights for women, roughly 44 of the 161 countries which ratify it express reservations, claiming they cannot implement certain provisions of the treaty on political, constitutional, cultural or religious grounds. The United States of America signed the Convention in 1980, but has not ratified it. Many countries have neither signed nor ratified the treaty, and instead ignore it in its entirety. Country after country, from Algeria, to Egypt, to even Australia readily cite excuse after excuse as to why they are not committed to ensuring the safety and equality of women around the world.
If countries like America and the United Kingdom, leaders of the free world, cannot take a stand for the issue of women's rights globally or even domestically, how can we expect other countries to follow suit? If our politicians say they support women but don't back up their words with policy, what kind of message does that send to not only the governments of the world, but to the women of world? We, as a culture and as a people, must take a stand and demand as a united front to say 'no more!', to spit in the face of the atrocities our fellow human beings suffer at the hands of their husbands, governments, and villages.
Feminism is not just an ideology. It is not something that only pertains to the Equal Rights Amendment or breaking the glass ceiling. Feminism is giving women, all women everywhere, the chance to live their lives without the fear of oppression. Feminism is dedication, it is action, it is policy.
I am a Feminist. Are you?
♠ ♠ ♠
btw I don't have my political beliefs listed as "feminist" anymore. they now say "conservative libertarian-ish" ha! but they really were labeled that way when I wrote this.I wrote this to inspire thought, to challenge the way we look at things. When I posted it on facebook, I had a lot of arguments about it with others so I guess it worked.