Blog 10: Sex trade in Afghanistan has created and Economic Boom

In Mazar-I-Sharif, Afghanistan there is a new boom in economic success. This has much to do with the ease of access to prostitutes. Mazar is considered Afghanistans’ unofficial capital of prostitution. Here, Women can be seen out in public places socializing with men, which, in Afghanistan is not a common occurrence.  The sex trade in Mazar is found in correlation with the boom of business. As the proximity to Central Asia and its relative peace and stability have transformed it into a trading hub, the economy has flourished. Businesses, local and regional are coming to this city, and not because the food is good. Nilofar Sayar, director of a womens rights group in Mazar that offers job training to sex workers, said “mazar is a big city, and compared to the other provinces a lot of prostitutes work here. There are a lot of businesses, which means lots of money and customers.” Prostitution helps bring to light some of the contradictions of the male-dominated Afghan society. For instance, women can be put to death in Afghanistan for even the implication of immorality. The recent boom in sex trade operations leading to the heightened economic success of this city can be found in correlation to the use of technology as well. Technology has made it easier for the men to get a hold of the prostitutes and makes it easier to get away with. In addition to technology, corruption of police officers is why the sex trade is going strong. 

Most of the time, the women in Afghanistan who are prostituting their bodies are impoverished, divorced or widowed, and/or struggling to support a family. Some of these women are forced into prostitution by their families or are doing it to support their husbands drug addiction. Even though the economy is doing great in this city, prostitution isn’t something these women want to do. These women already have practically no rights and they aren’t exactly allowed to work at real jobs to make money to support their families, so they turn to this as a last resort. It is amazing that in this city, women could be killed for prostitution and yet it has helped the city out to a very large extent. Some of these women have to prostitute behind their husbands backs to bring in money to support their family because if their husbands found out they would be killed. How does it make any sense for the “bread winner” to be killed for their job if it is the only thing keeping their family off of the streets? That is right it doesn’t. I think the prostitution problem in Mazar is always going to be an issue, however if women were given the right to an education and opportunities for more jobs there would more than likely be a downward slope of prostitution. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/world/asia/mazar-i-sharifs-economic-success-extends-to-its-sex-trade.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&

Concetta Katz

4/19/13 - 8:36am

Sociology 202-01

Human Rights

Blog 7 - Bill on crime against women passes in India

A new bill was passed in India today, March 21, 2013 , that is intended to deter and punish sexual offenders, including men who stalk and harass women, and to make the police and prosecutors more responsive. This law expands the definition of rape, substantially increases the punishment for sex crimes like gang-rape, makes repeat offenders subject to death penalty, and includes stricter punishments for police officers who fail to properly register complaints of sexual assault. When this bill was passed people were shocked because India’s parliament has a reputation for being dysfunctional and unruly; this just goes to show that the voices of the protestors have been heard. Some critics, however, have argued that in the rush to pass this bill some major issues have been unaddressed. Nirmala Sitharaman, the National spokeswoman for the Bharatiya Janata Party, said, “it’s a step forward, but the government could have done more homework to bring about a stronger legislation.” Other women’s organizations said the law fell short of offering complete protection for women from sexual harassment; also, there was a provision that was rejected by the government that included child trafficking in to the definition of rape.

I agree that the law may have been passed too soon to have all of the information possible to make this as strong of legislation as it could potentially be. Now all they have to do is enforce this new bill to start making a change because it is not good enough to just pass a few laws. I do however think that this is a step in the right direction for women’s rights and helping to improve the quality of life for women in India. What I learned in class about movements and rallies really hit home when I read this article, because this just proves that it just takes some unity and some determination to make a difference in this World even if it is one step at a time. 

 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/world/asia/india-bill-toughens-penalties-for-attacks-on-women.html?_r=0

Concetta Katz

3/21/13 ; 10:24pm

Human Rights

Human Rights - India's Budget Targets Women

India’s government just released a new budget that included increased spending to help improve safety for women and a bank only for women. Where some people are happy about this new revision, others are displeased with the fact that these revisions do not do much to actually help the women in India. The Finance Minister, Mr. Chidambaram has set aside 971 billion rupees (18 billion dollars) for the “gender budget”, which reflects the total spending on programs to benefit women. The government will also contribute 10 billion rupees to a fund to provide better security and safety for women, called “Nirbhaya”.  Some women’s rights activists are pleased with the government’s attempt to ensure women’s rights. However, there are many more women’s rights groups who are displeased with the government’s attempt and say that it was just a “grandstanding gesture” rather than a serious measure. They also said the budget didn’t go far enough into how to help women and other things they were going to implement to ensure women’s safety.

Where it is a great idea to have a budget just for women and all things that have to do with women, it does nothing to help protect the women from violent acts when they go out in public. All the budget does I help with the aftermath of what happened to the woman. Another thing, having a separate bank that only deals with women and only give loans to women is nice and everything but the government should be pushing for all banks being equal in giving to all people. This sets up their society to have gender segregation, which it has enough of already. If they want anything to change in India they are going to need to pass laws that punish the offender of the women and that punish people for discriminatory acts against women.

http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/indias-budget-targets-women/

Concetta Katz

3/1/13 - 1:48pm

Sociology 202-01 

Human Rights - Afghanistan Women

This article talks about how the women in Afghanistan and the relationship between their freedom and the U.S. troops being stationed there. The women are really afraid for the troops to leave because they think that there will be no reinforcement of the new laws and that a Taliban like group may come back. If the Taliban did end up going back the women will most like be murdered. Before the U.S. got to Afghanistan the women basically had no rights and they were treated like prisoners. If women stepped out of line their husbands could beat them, verbally abuse them and sometimes even publicly stone them. Since then women have many more rights, and they are allowed to leave their houses without wearing a burqa to cover their faces. Also, when the constitution of Afghanistan was ratified women were given more freedoms and rights, such as being able to go to school and hold political office. President Obama has not publicly mentioned the women in Afghanistan lately and it is causing some distress for afghan women because they fear that without public knowledge they will be forced back into their old roles. Women who were placed in safe houses will not be beaten or returned to their husbands after the U.S. troops leave they will most likely be killed if a Taliban like force comes back.

                I think it is unacceptable for President Obama to pull the U.S. troops out of a country that needs them there to help change the way they are living, especially since we are the ones who implemented the ratification of their constitution to ensure that women would be allowed their basic rights. It is inhuman to allow women to be beaten and stoned at all let alone publicly. I feel like we should pull most troops out of Afghanistan but leave a few soldiers over there to help ensure the government keeps getting better and doesn’t fall back under rule of the Taliban. We went over there to help change their society for the better and pulling out of Afghanistan now just because we got Osama Bin Laden is unfair to them because they are now relying on us to help them create a more humane place to live and to raise their children.

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/02/15/afghan-women-worry-who-will-protect-our-rights-after-the-u-s-is-gone/

Concetta Katz

2/22/13 3:26 pm 

Socio 202-01

Blog 2 - Saudi teen, 70 year old man married

In Saudi Arabia a seventy year old man went to local authorities to file for a divorce from his twenty-five year old bride. He was telling the officials that his bride’s parents made him pay 20,000 dollars in order to take their daughter as his bride. He then claimed they took their daughter back after he paid them the dowry. Officials say that they believe the man is actually eighty-six years old not seventy, and they think the girl is somewhere in her teens not twenty-five like the man said he thought she was.  The Authorities granted the divorce; however, they are thinking that the girl’s parents sold her to this man because of how large the age gap is. In Saudi Arabia there is no minimum age requirement for marriage, which human rights activists are trying to work on.

I think this is a huge human rights violation. Girls should not be allowed to get married before they are mature enough to handle all of the aspects of marriage, or before their brain is fully developed. Parents should also not be allowed to allow their young daughters to marry significantly older men. One thing that really stood out to me in this article is that the authorities think that the parents may have sold their own daughter to an eighty-six year old man. I understand that is a different culture and they have different views on certain things, but come on she is just a child and she didn’t mean as much to them as the 20,000 dollars the man paid them. A dowry is an offering from the “husband to be” to the “Bride-to-be’s “family; however, I think this amount is way too excessive unless they were being bribed to sell their daughter to him. This really goes against the rights that we as humans have, such as being able to marry who we want and not being forced into a marriage with a significantly older man. Than the acts that husbands and wives do together such as sex comes into play because a child is not ready for all of that especially if they don’t know what sex is yet. 

Fantz, A., & Jamjoom, M. (2013, January 10). Cnn. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/09/world/meast/saudi-teen-divorce/index.html?iref=allsearch

Concetta Katz

2/7/13 5:08 pm 

Human Rights

Women's rights in Bangladesh - Human Rights

I recently read an article about the women in Bangladesh and they way they are treated. The article was about the 'Girls Impact the World 2013 Film Festival'. It focused on one film in particular which was about the women in Bangladesh. The film was created by an Undergraduate student from Asian University, her name is Azmina Karim. She created the film to help raise awareness about the women in Bangladesh and the rights they have, or lack there of. She wants to give insight into the way these women are treated within their families. One of the women she interviewed told a story about how she had sought out help from someone outside of her marriage. This went horribly wrong when the person she sought help from sent her back to her husband. Her husband then increased the torture to his wife because she went in search of help. Also, this article really helps to understand how women in marriages or in families can be beaten by their husbands and any male in their families just because they can. Azmina made this film in order to help women speak up about the abuse and the inequalities they are handed just because they are women. They no longer want to be seen as less fortunate just because of their gender.

I am completely disgusted by the way women are treated in Bangladesh. Just because one is born a women doesnt make her any less of a human. I feel as though women should be treated like Gods because women essentially created the human race. Without women there would be no men. I think these women are right in standing up for themselves and I want to do anything in my power to help them get the freedom and power they deserve.

http://www.toonaripost.com/2013/01/world-news/student-sheds-light-on-domestic-violence-in-bangladesh/

Concetta Katz
1/31/13
4:04pm

Human Rights

I chose human rights because I am interested in learning more about people in other countries and the rights they have in those countries.

4:56pm 1/18/2013
Concetta Katz