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The Imperative Of Women's Human Rights
Reflections On The 100th Anniversary Of International Women's Day
This year marks the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. It is a time to celebrate the lives of women and to renew our commitment to women’s human rights throughout the world.
An early International Women's Day event
That it is even necessary to have such a day should give us pause. There is not, after all, an International Men’s Day. But the truth is that while women may be half of the world’s population, they most assuredly are not equal stakeholders when it comes to human rights and empowerment.
Here in the U.S., women’s reproductive health rights are under sustained siege as never before. In the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Sudan women are raped with impunity. In Mexico and Guatemala, thousands of women have gone missing and been brutally murdered and the perpetrators roam freely. Honor killings continue to be a huge problem in the Middle East and female genital mutilation is still a common practice in many parts of Africa. In southeast Asia and eastern Europe, women are trafficked into sexual slavery. In India there are dowry murders.
The above isn’t even close to an exhaustive list of human rights violations perpetrated against women, but merely serves to illustrate that misogyny in its many guises is globally systemic. There are so many people working to stop these atrocities, but yet they continue unabated, year in and year out for the very simple reason that putting a halt to them challenges the patriarchal power structure that controls our world.
It is easy to get overwhelmed by the enormity of tackling even one of the problems discussed above. The idea of addressing them in their entirety seems beyond human power. But indeed, for women to be fully empowered, we must insist that the connections between individual misogynies be made and that the problem be addressed in full. And yes, that implies profound changes for both men and women, but they are changes for the common good and on this 100th anniversary of IWD, we must find the will to make it so. Anything less imperils us all.
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Show AllSeems a shame that there are no answers to this one, so I'll do one. A lot of articles and documentaries have demonstrated that the best way to lift third world villages out of poverty is to empower the women, to give them business. Of course you have to have steps in place to keep the husbands and fathers from killing and mutilating them ("honor" killings my ass), but if that obstacle can be overcome, empowering women works.
Sad that so few comment on this ongoing horror!
Fifteen years ago I wrote a screen play that began with the asteroids crashing into the planet Jupiter. That big planet is the representation of Zeus, a sort of "father" of the gods.
In the script he turns in bed to his wife Hera, suspecting that the attack might represent a covert coup. With unusual humility he asks his wife if she thinks he's been doing a good job managing things. She answers that he's mostly concerned with stock averages and sports scores, and has not had an exactly sterling record when it came to protecting the rights of women... arguably HALF the population of the world to which he's been designated guardian.
The script is quite funny... but so far, it's not won any well-placed advocates in the Hollywood media complex. Often it must be through humor that the king, or kingdom, can be apprised of the horrific truths abounding.
Unfortunately, if you want to find the articles with the fewest comments, all you have to do is look for the word "women" in the title.
The injustice and brutality towards women has deep roots in cowardliness and sin. Only an insensitive and hate-filled man would impose his physical power and economic barbarism on our mothers and sisters. Truly, the secular world is run by men who bask in the drunken fog of total control and manipulation; conscience only of their own self- preservation and drive for wealth. We need to return to the days of "flesh of my flesh" ; to celebrate our uniqueness and beauty; to love outside of ourselves; to sacrifice the me and venerate the you. Changed hearts, or rather, found hearts can make the difference. Without justice there can be no .......
Peace
To all the men out there. Go and take a look at yourselves in the mirror. Repeat after me "I'm NOT all that...I'm NOT the bomb". Now, whilst enjoying that mellow, peaceful, humble feeling go out and tell your mum, grandmother, wife, girlfriend, daughter, friend, colleague that you value and appreciate them - that they are wonderful !!!
Maybe one day we will have a group of congresswomen discussing a bill to impose castration on males for assaults on women. Not to exclude jail time, of course.