A couple of weeks ago, a friend was asking me..."So, what's up with this situation in Guinea?" and I laughed--"You know, I know I may give the impression that I am reading everything about everything going on around the globe but I'm not really, of course, there's no WAY I can know what's going on everywhere..." and then she mentioned "I heard women were getting raped in the streets or something?" and I went "Ohhhhhh Yes. I do know what's going on there. And proceeded
to fill her in on the horrific situation that arose at a recent pro-democracy public rally, where military forces opened fire on the peaceful crowd, killing close to 200 and wounding hundreds of others--as well as publicly attacking and raping women in the streets. And less you think this is just par for course in Guinea--the case seems to be not so. This event has completely shocked the entire nation, as well as generated massive public outcry globally.
News about women globally is near and dear to me. Especially issues surrounding women in war zones, women's health, women's struggles for equality and access. Many of these stories sadden me--as one might surmise, if you have any sense of the situation of women on our planet in our time (and how could you not? But I suppose some don't?)...I do pay attention to these stories and these issues. Having started reading "
Half the Sky", it's all of them all over plus more and all rolled together...it makes me want to turn my anger into action.
Not all stories are tragic, though.
This recent story of Rekha Kalindi, for example. Coming from extreme poverty in remote India, where child marriages are the norm (and repeat the cycle of poverty), Kalindi has become a national hero and inspiration both within and beyond her village, across all of India, for her refusal to marry at 13, and instead insisting on going to school. She had to go through much to get her parents to agree--but they have, and in fact it has now changed the fate of her younger sisters as well as that of many of the other girls in her village. Most of them had been working since childhood and had no previous schooling; the school was set up recently as a part of a NGO working in the area.
Yet, overall, in the big picture--societies failing women is much more the norm.
We are failing to meet women's needs globally when it comes to health care in a massive and deadly fashion;
unsafe abortions alone kill 70,000 women a year, and the World Health Organization just released its findings that
HIV-AIDS has become the leading cause of death for women globally aged 18-44. Add this to the reality that in countries where women and girls are undervalued, they are more die of neglect, starvation, and lack of treatment when they become ill; and add to that the findings that globally, somewhere between 60 and 107 million females are just plain
missing...you start to get an idea of the picture. I'm not even going to go into the horrific atrocities and human rights violations committed against women in so many parts of the world--the kinds that don't lead to death.
Harding wrote a great review of
Half the Sky up on Broadstreet, which is worth a read for even more of this big picture...one of the aspects I really like about the book is that it argues the coming century is going to be the century in which women's oppression moves from the fringes, from the margins of the global/political landscape and discussion to the center. And demonstrates just how addressing this issue as first and foremost, not secondary, can actually impact so many broader global issues:
"[A]id has often been most effective when aimed at women and girls; when policy wonks do the math, they often find that these investments have a net economic return ... [I]ncreasingly donors are recognizing that that is where they often get the most bang for the buck."
"Yet another reason to educate and empower women is that greater female involvement in society and the economy appears to undermine extremism and terrorism. It has long been known that a risk factor for turbulence and violence is the share of a country's population made up of young people. Now it is emerging that male domination of society is also a risk factor; the reasons aren't fully understood, but it may be that when women are marginalized the nation takes on the testosterone-laden culture of a military camp or a high-school boys' locker room."
"We trivialize the importance too often of these issues: the 'women's issue' -- you put it in quotes, that little category over there, the box you check. What we have to do is realize these are the issues; if we want societies to prosper and if we want our own security, we have to raise the status of women."
"The world is awakening to a powerful truth...Women and girls aren't the problem; they're the solution."
I certainly do hope so. The
UN has finally approved a women's agency with some actual power...and I have to say, Secretary Clinton has been all over these issues--she does not let up on calling out human rights violations against women and girls and making it front and center.
The holidays are coming...there are many, many places you can by products and gifts online (google fair trade, women, and any product you like--scarves, purses, toys, you name it--you can buy it from a woman somewhere in the world who'll benefit from your decision to purchase it there--there's so many I know of I'm not going to list them all here but feel free to share in the comments; almost every agency doing work in this area also has shops whose proceeds go to benefit women and girls). I will highlight two things I've come across that I'd recommend.
One--
Kiva Loans. This is an incredible program, where you get to make direct microloans to participants globally. You can choose to direct yours towards women if that's your passion, and something you see as an effective means of change. I do.
The second is
Mercy Kits. I've got a particular interest in global maternal and child health care, so the kits going towards women's and children's health issues caught my eye--but there are actually many great ones to choose from.
Hey, if you have to give gifts, why not give one that makes an actual difference. Lord knows none of us need any more tchotchkes round these parts.
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amused
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