OK so enough about failure let’s talk about success or courage:
As I have said i am very involved in issues concerning women and women’s rights. A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of meeting with an international delegation of women from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Morocco and the UAE. These women are just beginning the fight for women’s rights in their countries. I was so impressed with their courage and determination in these countries where women are still seen and not heard. They have a long road ahead but are determined to have a better place in their society for themselves and their daughters.
We learned during our discussion that though we may be a bit ahead of them in this regard (not nearly enough) the issues and concerns we face as women are not so different regardless of where you live.
Through the wonders of technology we are keeping in touch through Facebook. I am honored to have met them, wish them the best of luck and send them my support.
Carmen
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Success and Courage
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ranist22
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of countries have a long way to go. The yardstick by which one judges the emanicipation of women, for instance (women heads of state). The first three were Golda Meire (Israel),Bandarnaike (Sri Lanka) and Indira Gandhi (India). Eaons ago. Pakistan has had one if not more. Bangladesh has had both a woman President and a woman Prime Minister. The atrocities against women continue all over the world.The subaltern woman cannot benefit from the latest laws or progress because she is illiterate or her life is too haphazard, has to be studied in a context apart. The U.S. still has to have a women's head of state in spite of literacy.
What I'm trying to say is that one model cannot work for the rest of the world, and the models have to be adapted to the country's cultural context. That is, apart from atrocities or violence, which is a human context. A woman who is living in a context where there is a household,not a nuclear family thinks differently. Why only women? Everyone in this complicated structure thinks as a part of a whole.
Having ruminated a lot on this subject, and having lived both in the East and the West, sometimes the issue especially on family matters becomes complex. I would suggest that you read some books by Sudhir Kakar (who found that traditional psyciatry or psychoanalysis was not adapted to specfically the Indian sub-continent, or Gayatri Chakravary Spivak and her studies on subaltern women.
timethief
ReplyDeleteEven the so-called "first world" nations like America have a long way to go when it comes to granting women the full rights that create equality with men and an end to paternalism. Take a look at recent events and you will find that women in the "first world" have still not gained equality as expressed in being paid the same as men for work of equal value, and in terms of having the right to make their own medical and reproductive decisions.
Let's not forget that charity begins at home and charity means "grace". We don't see that "grace" being demonstrated by right wing religious people in the "first world". What we see is their determination to continue to dis empower and subjugate women as they have done for millennium.
Until equality is accomplished in the so-called "first world" nations, IMO it's less likely to be realized in the so-called "second and third world" nations.