Zach LarkinsMAY 8 - INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
There are still some nimrods out there who want us to cut and run from Afghanistan. Maybe they've forgotten just what some of it is that we're fighting for. May 8 is designated International Women's Day and just maybe, some of these same peaceniks need to be reminded of it.
Men in Bangladesh, Pakistan vowed to fight disfiguring acid attacks, as the UN and European Union marked International Women's Day today. In India, a Mumbai company launched a new taxi service for women, with female cabbies at the wheel to make the customers feel safer. Prices of flowers doubled in Vietnam as men presented bouquets to their girlfriends and wives in the communist country's version of Valentine's Day. Afghanistan reports progress in improving women's access to education and to political office, with two million girls returning to school since the fall of the ultraconservative Taliban regime, but widespread discrimination and domestic violence continue.
The UN Development Fund for Women says that one out of three Afghan women are beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused, with the abuser usually a family member or someone she knows and rarely is anyone prosecuted or reprimanded. The UN Security Council marked International Women's Day by calling for an end to pervasive violence against girls and women during armed conflicts and demanding that perpetrators be punished. "Violence against women is both a cause and a consequence of discrimination against women," said Rachel Mayanja, special adviser to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on gender issues. "It is based on social and cultural practices that hold women and girls as subordinate to men." The ultra conservative Taliban are behind much of this violence and part of what we are fighting for is to bring them into 21stcentury thinking where such things are not tolerated. Say what you will about a war for oil or the fight to replace poppies (heroin) with new crops, this abuse against women is every bit as important.
Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of the UN Development Fund for Women, says 89 countries currently have legislative provisions on domestic violence, 104 countries have made marital rape a crime, 90 countries have provisions against sexual harassment, and 93 states prohibit trafficking of women and men. "Around the world women continue to suffer horrific domestic violence, discrimination and persecution. Protecting women's rights and empowering them as decision-makers are fundamental principles of the European Union's work across the globe," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said.
In Bangladesh, male celebrities, athletes and students pledged to fight acid attacks, which generally target women and are carried out by men. The attacks most often involve flesh-burning acid thrown onto young women's faces or bodies by spurned suitors or angry husbands. I suffered a severe acid burn years ago and believe me, when I read about someone throwing acid in their wife's face, it makes me cringe. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. The assaults disfigure, maim or kill dozens of people a year. It is beyond comprehension.
Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed vowed to punish abusers of women and children, however the Muslim-majority nation has been ruled by female prime ministers for the past 15 years and yet women still suffer from high levels of violence, and poor levels of health, nutrition and education. She may have her work cut out for her. The problem is not unique to Bangladesh. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that ruling party legislators would conduct a fresh investigation into the military's use of brothels during Second World War . Yet just last week, he triggered outrage across Asia by saying there was no proof that thousands of women had been coerced into prostitution while historians say as many as 200,000 women, mostly from Korea, China, Southeast Asia and Japan, worked in Japanese military brothels throughout Asia in the 1930's and '40's.
Meanwhile, over in Afghanistan, a woman named Qamar laughs bitterly at the idea of International Women's Day, as if it were a cruel joke. She was encouraged by relatives to marry her stalker, a man 20 years her senior, who has three other wives and beats her regularly. She finds it quite preposterous that anyone would ever celebrate her existence. Nowhere else in the world do women more desperately need a day to celebrate their existence. Since the fall of the Taliban regime five years ago, two million girls have returned to school, and women can leave their homes unaccompanied. They also hold 68 seats in the 249-member National Assembly. Yet officials estimate at least half of women are forced into marriage and one out of three has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused. And you thought this war was all about oil.
Her husband lost his defence ministry job after the Taliban came to power and the couple moved to his home in Kapisa, north of Kabul, where his other wives lived. He fell in love with his third wife there, who bore him children, and the beatings began with Qamar suffering complications in her first pregnancy and is now unable to have children. She threatened divorce and ran out of the home to complain to a district elder and a mullah, or religious leader, as she is allowed under Islamic law. Her husband dragged her back inside the house so violently that one of his older sons demanded, "What are you doing? You're killing her!" Remember, a Muslim man is not allowed to touch a Muslim woman, or so I have been told by the experts. I guess dragging doesn't count. Her husband threatened to kill her brother if he interfered. She then stayed with a cousin for three months, but he called her a ‘burden' and so now she's back in her abusive home.
Her tale is echoed by millions of women in Afghanistan, where domestic violence is socially tolerated. Roughly two out of five Afghan marriages are forced, while 45 per cent are married by age 18, says the country's Ministry of Women's Affairs. You have to give it to the Muslims for putting their women on such a high pedestal. Not all Muslims act this way. There are those who do actually have a clue, but those who still live in the 8th century need their heads shaken.
One young mother sitting in the Women for Afghan Women's office exemplifies the challenges. Beshta married at the age of 14. Her husband was killed under the Taliban regime, and she and her 4-year-old daughter now live with her father and his second wife. She has been beaten so often her memory has faded. She does not know her age, but looks as though she is in her early 20's. Her speech is punctuated by long, pensive pauses. Asked what she most wanted now in life, Beshta thought for a while and muttered softly: "Somebody to take care of me and my child."
The war on terror, the war on drugs, the war for oil. Chalk up the war for women's rights alongside these others. And some people still don't know what we are fighting for. How sad.
Sources: Alisa Tang Women's Day in Afghanistan CanWest News
Parveen Ahmed UN, EU Urge End To Violence CanWest News
Men in Bangladesh, Pakistan vowed to fight disfiguring acid attacks, as the UN and European Union marked International Women's Day today. In India, a Mumbai company launched a new taxi service for women, with female cabbies at the wheel to make the customers feel safer. Prices of flowers doubled in Vietnam as men presented bouquets to their girlfriends and wives in the communist country's version of Valentine's Day. Afghanistan reports progress in improving women's access to education and to political office, with two million girls returning to school since the fall of the ultraconservative Taliban regime, but widespread discrimination and domestic violence continue.
The UN Development Fund for Women says that one out of three Afghan women are beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused, with the abuser usually a family member or someone she knows and rarely is anyone prosecuted or reprimanded. The UN Security Council marked International Women's Day by calling for an end to pervasive violence against girls and women during armed conflicts and demanding that perpetrators be punished. "Violence against women is both a cause and a consequence of discrimination against women," said Rachel Mayanja, special adviser to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on gender issues. "It is based on social and cultural practices that hold women and girls as subordinate to men." The ultra conservative Taliban are behind much of this violence and part of what we are fighting for is to bring them into 21stcentury thinking where such things are not tolerated. Say what you will about a war for oil or the fight to replace poppies (heroin) with new crops, this abuse against women is every bit as important.
Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of the UN Development Fund for Women, says 89 countries currently have legislative provisions on domestic violence, 104 countries have made marital rape a crime, 90 countries have provisions against sexual harassment, and 93 states prohibit trafficking of women and men. "Around the world women continue to suffer horrific domestic violence, discrimination and persecution. Protecting women's rights and empowering them as decision-makers are fundamental principles of the European Union's work across the globe," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said.
In Bangladesh, male celebrities, athletes and students pledged to fight acid attacks, which generally target women and are carried out by men. The attacks most often involve flesh-burning acid thrown onto young women's faces or bodies by spurned suitors or angry husbands. I suffered a severe acid burn years ago and believe me, when I read about someone throwing acid in their wife's face, it makes me cringe. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. The assaults disfigure, maim or kill dozens of people a year. It is beyond comprehension.
Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed vowed to punish abusers of women and children, however the Muslim-majority nation has been ruled by female prime ministers for the past 15 years and yet women still suffer from high levels of violence, and poor levels of health, nutrition and education. She may have her work cut out for her. The problem is not unique to Bangladesh. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that ruling party legislators would conduct a fresh investigation into the military's use of brothels during Second World War . Yet just last week, he triggered outrage across Asia by saying there was no proof that thousands of women had been coerced into prostitution while historians say as many as 200,000 women, mostly from Korea, China, Southeast Asia and Japan, worked in Japanese military brothels throughout Asia in the 1930's and '40's.
Meanwhile, over in Afghanistan, a woman named Qamar laughs bitterly at the idea of International Women's Day, as if it were a cruel joke. She was encouraged by relatives to marry her stalker, a man 20 years her senior, who has three other wives and beats her regularly. She finds it quite preposterous that anyone would ever celebrate her existence. Nowhere else in the world do women more desperately need a day to celebrate their existence. Since the fall of the Taliban regime five years ago, two million girls have returned to school, and women can leave their homes unaccompanied. They also hold 68 seats in the 249-member National Assembly. Yet officials estimate at least half of women are forced into marriage and one out of three has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused. And you thought this war was all about oil.
Her husband lost his defence ministry job after the Taliban came to power and the couple moved to his home in Kapisa, north of Kabul, where his other wives lived. He fell in love with his third wife there, who bore him children, and the beatings began with Qamar suffering complications in her first pregnancy and is now unable to have children. She threatened divorce and ran out of the home to complain to a district elder and a mullah, or religious leader, as she is allowed under Islamic law. Her husband dragged her back inside the house so violently that one of his older sons demanded, "What are you doing? You're killing her!" Remember, a Muslim man is not allowed to touch a Muslim woman, or so I have been told by the experts. I guess dragging doesn't count. Her husband threatened to kill her brother if he interfered. She then stayed with a cousin for three months, but he called her a ‘burden' and so now she's back in her abusive home.
Her tale is echoed by millions of women in Afghanistan, where domestic violence is socially tolerated. Roughly two out of five Afghan marriages are forced, while 45 per cent are married by age 18, says the country's Ministry of Women's Affairs. You have to give it to the Muslims for putting their women on such a high pedestal. Not all Muslims act this way. There are those who do actually have a clue, but those who still live in the 8th century need their heads shaken.
One young mother sitting in the Women for Afghan Women's office exemplifies the challenges. Beshta married at the age of 14. Her husband was killed under the Taliban regime, and she and her 4-year-old daughter now live with her father and his second wife. She has been beaten so often her memory has faded. She does not know her age, but looks as though she is in her early 20's. Her speech is punctuated by long, pensive pauses. Asked what she most wanted now in life, Beshta thought for a while and muttered softly: "Somebody to take care of me and my child."
The war on terror, the war on drugs, the war for oil. Chalk up the war for women's rights alongside these others. And some people still don't know what we are fighting for. How sad.
Sources: Alisa Tang Women's Day in Afghanistan CanWest News
Parveen Ahmed UN, EU Urge End To Violence CanWest News
