I am sure many of you have run across the New York Times' special issue called "Saving the World's Women: How changing the lives of women and girls in the developing world can change everything," but if you haven't, you are really missing out. Inspired by the current election in Afghanistan, there are several articles about women in Afghanistan, India, Saudi Arabia, and many more.The Daughter Deficit, written by Tina Rosenberg, explains the importance of educating girls in India, and how it can immediately reduce poverty.
A New Gender Agenda written by Mark Landler is an interview with Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. It describes how the US plans to handle international issues involving women, which in her opinion means ALL issues.
A School Bus for Shamisa written by Dexter Filkins describes how the Taliban in Afghanistan have prevented girls from attending school, primarily through acid attacks. It futher delves into interviews with the men that had actually done the acid burning, an interesting perspective that is not normally reported about.
In one article called The Women's Crusade, co-authors Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn include numerous issues facing women and girls globally, and is utterly fascinating. Amazingly enough, what stuck with all of the numerous topics in the article including the wonders of micro finance, women being beaten and sold into slavery, and the gendercide in China, was a quote from Bill Gates. ( It is terrifying that I have become numb to these horror stories, after reading them so many times.) To summarize, Gates was asked to speak in a conference in Saudi Arabia about technology, where the audience was 4/5 male (seated on the left side of the room), and 1/5 female (seated on the right side). When an audience member "noted that Saudi Arabia aimed to be one of the Top 10 countries in the world in technology by 2010 and asked if that was realistic, [Gates replied:] 'Well, if you’re not fully utilizing half the talent in the country, you’re not going to get too close to the Top 10.” The small group on the right erupted in wild cheering."
All of the articles are incredible, but never before have I read an article like The Women's Crusade article. It is 7 pages long, but WELL worth your time. This article is part of a book that both authors are collaborating on, which is called “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,”which sounds fascinating.
Please, do yourself a favor and take the time to read these articles. If you don't learn something new, or gain a rekindled passion for women's issues, I would be very surprised.
4 comments:
Thanks for the great post, Laura! We miss you around here!
Sheryl Wudunn & Nicholas Kristof's "Women's Crusade" article in the NYTimes magazine does contain searing and moving exposure of the horrific conditions of women around the globe and this is most necessary. But what they prescribe as the way forward along with their blotting out 27 years of pathbreaking history is dangerous. Sunsara Taylor has written and spoken on this widely. Listen to her response to Wudunn & Kristof: http://sunsara.blogspot.com/2009/08/sunsara-taylor-speaking-against.html
And read A Declaration: For Women's Liberation and the Emancipation of All Humanity: http://www.revcom.us/a/158/Declaration-en.html
I love getting comments on blog posts, but I found this response to be very hostile. More than anything, the point of this NYT article was to educate viewers about international women's issues, and it did a great job of doing so. It didn't claim to have found the solution for gender inequalities, but showed that progress was occurring. While I realize you don't think that the article was nearly as in depth as you would have hoped for, it was a 7 page article, which is long for NYT standards. So many more men and women know about these issues than they most likely did before this weekend, and I think that you underestimate the importance of this new awareness.
I think that Sunsara Taylor's argument is flawed on many levels. She needs to do more research about microfinance and NGO's, as certainly more than "one or two women" have been helped by these establishments.
The fact that she believes that the communist revolution in China ended prostitution and empowered women also seems untrue. What about the millions of Chinese women that are missing due to gender inequalities today? The article addressed this, and as an article in the NYT gains credibility and readership (awareness that hadn't been there before), it is likelier that these problems can be solved when more of the public is aware of such issues.
She is right, women are not necessarily empowered by working in sweatshops; that is well understood. But, they are providing for their families, and she forgets that MEN work in sweatshops too. There are lesser professions that they could be working in, and with a country that has a population as large as China's, people tend to follow rules of basic economics; following the laws of supply and demand. If jobs are available and people don't have money to pay for food, shelter, or to raise their children, they will take the jobs.
So please, reconsider the point of the NYT article, and try to see what good has come from it, not what was left out.
I think this has to be the most important book - not just for women’s rights globally but for human rights - published in my memory. Kristof and WuDunn weave together a most compelling story of how culture and customs historically suppress women. They tackle many tough, taboo topics - for example honor killing. But more importantly, they champion the stories of heroic women worldwide wholly committed to changing the many evils of the status quo.
What is more, they posit a kind of general framework theory that the really important advances in human rights that are going to be made in the near future are going to be brought about by these entrepreneurial pioneering women. In essence, that the backbone of the human rights movement and of real change across all societies is going to be a direct function of brave women who give themselves permission to say “NO” to thousands of years of (to most Westerners) unimaginable oppressive cultural customs and who take it upon themselves to lead to a new way. Once you have read the book, it is very hard, if not impossible, to disagree with Kristof and WuDunn’s general theme. To wit, the brave women of Iran who took to the streets to protest the results of the recent election.
Among many other “super” women, HALF THE SKY spotlights the following inspirational Ashoka Fellows:
• Sunitha Krishnan (India), founder of Prajwala, a citizen sector organization in Hyderabad, India, fighting forced prostitution and sex trafficking, rescuing women and children from sexual exploitation, incestual rape, sexual torture, and abuse in prostitution. Her organization helps former prostitutes learn vocational skills so they can move into new careers. “Prajwala” means “an eternal flame”.
• Sakena Yacoobi (Afghanistan), founder of the Afghan Institute of Learning, a citizen sector organization providing teacher training to Afghan women, educating and fostering education for girls and boys, and providing health education to women and children. Her organization also runs fixed and mobile health clinics that provide family planning services. Sakena holds the distinction of having been Ashoka’s first Afghan Fellow. Educating women and girls was banned under the Taliban and is controversial under Islamic law.
• Roshaneh Zafar (Pakistan), founder of Pakistani microfinance lender, Kashf. A former World Bank employee, she was inspired after a chance meeting with Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank. “Kashf” means “miracle” and Kashf is indeed fostering a miracle by leveraging microfinance to women to transform the role of women in Pakistani society and bringing about a poverty-free world. To date, Kashf supports 305,038 families in Pakistan, has disbursed $202 million, and has 52 branches nationwide.
I am not alone in my enthusiasm for this book! Last Tuesday, September 15, 2009, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (“UNODC”) hosted a panel discussion and booksigning with Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn in the UN Trusteeship Council Chamber at UN Headquarters. All 550 seats in the Trusteeship Council Chamber were filled. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon delivered opening remarks. Special recognition goes to Simone Monasebian and Anna Rosario Kennedy of the UNODC for putting together this behemoth of an event.
Five out of five stars. An absolute must read for anyone who cares about women’s rights or human rights. A genuine eye popper that moves so fast, tackles so much that has hitherto been taboo and unmovable, and interweaves the unbelievably positive stories of the very heroic women already leading and creating change in a tapestry that is glimpse of a brave and very different, humanitarian new world.
Once you pick this book up, you will not be able to put it down. And once you have read it, you will be moved to help bring about tomorrow. Absolute proof that the glass (or the sky) is half full. We just have to give ourselves permission to make change. Or as Gandhi said, “we must be the change we wish to see.”
BUY IT. READ IT. PASS IT AROUND.
-Tom Boone, Ashoka
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