Blog #12 Saudi Arabian women tracked by text messages

Saudi Arabian women tracked by text messages

Women in Saudi Arabia are prohibited to leave the country without authorization from a male overseer. Now to add injure to injury, a new system run by the immigration authorities alerts men via text message when their charges cross the border. A distinguished Saudi women’s right activist by the name of Manal al-Sharif, tweeted information about the new system just last week when a holidaying Saudi couple notified her. The husband was not aware of the new system and did not elect for the alerts . He was aware of anything until a text message came in from immigration that his wife was passing through there. Saudi Arabia is a very religious country and have a strict interpretation of the Sharia, in Islam religious law and moral code. According the Human Rights Watch,  guardians have total control over a woman and can be husband, father, brother, or son. Regardless of age, women are required to have one and the “masters” approve or disapprove of what is does which includes: healthcare, official business, marriages, work, education, and travel. Wajeha Al Huwaidar, a Women’s rights campaigner states that, "Ownership of the woman is passed from the father or the brother to another man, the husband. The woman is merely a piece of merchandise, which is passed over to someone else - her guardian. How do you recognize a maid or a slave? The decision making is out of her hands. Yet there are mixed options, some women look to their guardians as being protectors and that people forget the aspect of love, they do not mistreat them. There was even a facebook page put up called “My guardian Knows Whats Best for Me” that showed support towards the guardians and had a petition rejecting the request of inciting liberty. Equal rights for man and women or the genders mixing  is considered unacceptable behavior.

This new embracing of technology is really nothing new to them because the system was already in place for men to have control over the women. As shocking as it maybe, most women are accustomed to this so they do not want change because this is in their religion. So how can a person judge them on what they believe is right and moral in the eyes of their creator and what Islam teaches? No one can argue with that because none of us have ever been in that situation. 

Here is the article

Blog #11 Ireland abortion policy under scrutiny after woman's death

Ireland abortion policy under scrutiny after woman's death

The death of 31 year old dentist in Ireland has caused nothing less than an uproar in the past weeks. Savita Halappanavar died from blood poisoning  (septicaemia) a week after being found to be miscarrying while at a Galway hospital. Her sudden death intensifies pressure on government to create guidelines on abortion. Ireland’s near-total ban on abortion has come under renewed scrutiny amid an outcry over her death because she was denied a termination. A week earlier she went to the hospital, but was denied the termination because Ireland is a “Catholic country”. At present, abortions are permitted only if there is a “real and substantive” threat to a woman’s life. Ruth Bowie from the group Terminations For Medical Reasons Ireland stated, “"It is devastating to think that if Savita had been in another country she would probably be alive today," she said. "Does it take a death of a young innocent woman to finally make our government stand up and do something once and for all? The expert group report is long overdue, how long more do we have to wait? How many more tragedies are going to take place before action is taken?"  After asking the staff several times to terminate her pregnancy because she was miscarrying, her family claimed medical staff denied her because they detected a foetal heartbeat. They believe this delay in allowing her to abort is what caused the blood poisoning resulting in her death. Even though Savita was neither Irish nor Catholic, a hospital consultant said it was the law and again it was a Catholic country. Her and her husband were on top of the world when they found out she was pregnant. Ivana Bacik, a Labour member of Ireland's second parliamentary chamber, the Seanad, said the time was now right to clarify the law surrounding abortion in Ireland.  Also Clare Daly, MP of the United Left Alliance said, "A woman has died because Galway University hospital refused to perform an abortion needed to prevent serious risk to her life. This is a situation we were told would never arise. An unviable foetus – the woman was having a miscarriage – was given priority over the woman's life," said Daly. Figures released in May by the Department of Health (DoH) showed the numbers of women from the Republic of Ireland travelling to England and Wales for abortions fell by 7% last year, but ASN says the number of women contacting it is set to double for the third year in a row. Read article here

The death of this non Catholic and non-Irish woman is sad to think that if she were allowed an abortion she would still be alive today. I agree that new laws need to be put in place to prevent any more tragedies like this in occurring. I also believe that women should be in charge of making decision about their own bodies not the government. It wasn’t like her and her husband wanted to abort the baby, but in the case of her life she chose to do so because they could have tried again and had a successful pregnancy. If the government of Ireland does not come up with something soon on this law, they will have a lot of lawsuits on their hands. Yet this is indeed a problem seen all over the world of countries trying to control a women’s body and their decisions to terminate or not.   

Blog #11 Angela Berners-Wilson: I was the first female priest in England

Angela Berners-Wilson: I was the first female priest in England..

Reverend Angela Berners-Wilson was one of the first women to be ordained as a Church of England priest in 1994 and is not chaplain at the University of Bath and prebendary at Wells Cathedral. Growing up, her father was a priest and in the 70s, when she was evolved in studying theology, women were only lay workers in a parish or deaconess in churches. She always knew she wanted to be a priest, but the idea of a woman becoming a priest seemed so far away. She evidently found out she was not the only women who felt the same way and joined the Movement for the Ordination of Women in 1978. Though there are still pockets of resistance, there are a lot of women clergy and equal numbers of men and women entering theological college. When she was going through college, only three of those would accept women and a lot men didn’t believed that women should be priest, but surprisingly her principle was a women. I guess they believed this because in the bible Jesus was a man along with his disciplines, and they felt like only males could represent him at the altar, but this is not so. Jesus treated women with much respect, talked with them, and engaged which was drastic for that time and was important in the future of the ministry. In 1992, General Synod finally approved women to be priests and in 1994 the legislation passed and 32 of them were ordained at the same time. When she later got offered a job in a traditional area of Wiltshire, some members of the British Legion were somewhat bigoted to the idea of a women priest still. The first women to be priest had to somewhat prove themselves and be on their best behaviors at all times because if not, (as always) they would hear “She’s a woman, what do you expect?” Her husband was very supportive of the struggles of being a female priest because his father was also a priest and mother was a doctor. Angela’s main concern now is what will happen with thewomen bishops vote. She is worried that if it doesn’t get passed, the Anglican Church will go into a great dishonor in the eyes of the world. As she stated, “It’s the 21^st century, and it seems very discriminatory not to allow women to follow their vocation”.

Around the world, many people are still apprehensive about female pastors and are somewhat threaten by this. Some mostly men, they feel as though a female cannot lead them the way a man can. I think this is total bs, if a woman is called by God, then she is supposed to be in that position to preach his word. Who are we to judge? This is seen all over the world and is more acceptable in more places than others. This is no surprise to me, women are consistently on the attack about pretty much everything now or days and it’s not by everyone, just some people in high position who are afraid to let a pad wearing female lead them. They try to use the bible to back these beliefs up, but if a women id called then she is called.   

Here is the article 

Blog #10 Britain's Women's Role in Government

Fresh questions for PM over women’s' role in government

Dame Helen Ghosh, who used to be one of Britain’s most senior civil servants as permanent secretary at the Home Office, retired after a 33-year career in Whitehall. After retirement, she begins to expose the current government as being a clique and a network of friends that the prime minister hired because he knew them. All of which were men, Dame Helen feels that women don’t network and because of this it is difficult for a woman to get in as a part of an Old Etonian clique. Her departure came with the concerns that the Whitehall was becoming “maler and paler”.  I’m assuming they are referring to gender and race, not sure. Cameron was accused of patronizing two female MPs when he told them to “calm down dear” and referred to his own MP Nadine as “frustrated”.

Women missing in politics are quite apparent around the world and many groups are fighting to change this. If there are no women in politics how can the full view of society be represented by just men. Many countries still are lagging behind in the advancement of women in public positions. Having women take on these more traditional male roles will open up many opportunities into our society that would normally not occur. Also with saying women, I think it should be women of all ethnic groups and races that should hold these high positions, so everyone would feel included into what is occurring in the population. Women have became angry because it affects them disproportionately. 

Here is the article

Blog # 9 Migrant Women Trapped in Sex Trade

Migrant Women Trapped in Sex Trade

In Paris, France, French police dismantled a Nigerian human trafficking ring that forced young migrant women into prostitution. The arrest  brought to light what the authorities call the “modern-day slaves” there and throughout other areas of Europe. The young women were brought into France through Italy and back mailed into prostitution and sex brothels as a means for them to “pay off” their debt of being smuggled into the country. According to the International Labor Organization, these women are a part of the estimated 1.5 million victims of human trafficking in the European Union, where the global number of human trafficking victims is close to 21 million. This as began to be a major problem, and many organizations are pushing public officials to look into these matters and take action against these men who are smuggling them in and taking advantage of them against their will.  “Prostitution remains the a key area where women’s rights are pervasively violated,” said EML’s policy officer and project coordinator of European Women’s Lobby Pierrette Pape. In France however, prostitution itself is not illegal, but pimping and brothel ownership are and some 70% of the country’s estimated 20,000 prostitutes are foreigners mainly from sub-Saharan Africa as well as Eastern and Central Europe.

The women go to these countries to work and instead they are placed in to this dehumanizing jobs away from their families, with shattered hopes and dreams of having that better life they so desperately wanted. Once found they could be sent back to their countries which makes all the degrading things they did done in vain. On top of that, they are not getting proper healthcare from sexually transmitted diseases and I doubt these men are protecting themselves. They are isolated from everything that they know in a new country and even if they find work in a household, they are underpaid and can be targets for abuse in that setting as well. They are pretty much controlled by these pimps and are probably beaten and tormented physically, mentally, and emotionally. Economically they are suffering because they have nothing and are really like depending on those monsters to provide them with everything. Work permits could be expensive, so even if they do escape how will they work, paid for food, clothes, daily needs, etc? And what about birth control and things of that nature. They come into these countries where they do not know their way around and so what are they to do? This is happening all around the world and is happening right here in Greensboro as well. There should be more things set up to monitor things like this and if they do get caught a system should be set in place to help these women gain work permits and attempt to gain what they came here for in the first place, freedom and a better life!!!! (I am aware there are places around that help women do this, kudos to them). It’s interesting to see if there is a number of men/young men being trafficked, cause normally is always young women. Just a thought.         

Here is the article

Blog #8: Some Women’s Groups Say Uruguay’s New Abortion Law Falls Short

Some Women’s Groups Say Uruguay’s New Abortion Law Falls Short

In Uruguay, Congress passed a law yesterday decriminalizing abortion, where it is now legal for a women to have an abortion in cased other than danger to mother's life, incest, malformation of fetus, and rape. Passing that law made Uruguay the second country in Latin America to do so. Many people argue this bill has many holes and it and does not really help or satisfy anyone. With this new bill, women have to tell the doctor why they want to have the abortion, after this they will refer the women to a panel of three professionals: a social worker, a psychologist, and a gynecologist. From there, they will advise her of the law, the risk, the alternatives, and then give her 5 days to decide if she wants to continue with the process of not. If she chooses to continue, she will be allowed to have the procedure in one of the country's clinic or hospitals. Many women against this feel as though they have already gone through the process of deciding whether to terminate the pregnancy or not, so why should they have to go through that process again, with individuals judging her and not knowing her at all. Now in Latin America, abortion is only legal in Uruguay, Cuba, and Mexico City. This is all due to the strong catholic faith in these counties, that the mother's can get abortion under certain reasons and in Nicaragua it is illegal in ALL circumstances. Many groups feel like this is a step forward in women's health and surprisingly according to the MYSU, the highest abortion rates are in Latin America and Africa where in almost every country and where the women have unplanned pregnancies. In a survey conducted in the summer of this year, 51% or people were for decriminalizing abortion.

This is a big step for Latin America especially Mexico City (who has one of the largest populations in the world), Cuba, and Uruguay. Being there is a strong catholic viewpoint in Latin America, I do understand why abortions where outlawed, but I do not agree with it being a crime and women going to jail behind it. In most cases, the women consults with the father before going through with the procedure, so why should she be the only one to go through the panel process or possibly to jail by herself. This is happening in many countries around the world where women are given the short (and I mean tiny) end of the stick when it comes to their rights as human beings. A man can get a vasectomy with no problem or no fear of being a criminal, yet when a women decides for herself to not go through with a pregnancy it is wrong. Men's rights are always seen as the "norm" and when we repeal at times its looks at as being deviant to what society think is the "norm" for a female ie. pushing out babies whether they want to or not. This is a global issue and so is child poverty, abuse, murder and neglect. It's shown that kids are victimized by their parents more than strangers and yet governments still make people have these kids knowing the treatment they would receive if the parents don't want them. I'm sure the issue of abortion for most people is more of a moral value, yet no one should push and force what they believe on someone else, not even the government. It is their bodies let them control their destiny's and if they choose to have kids in that destiny or not.        

http://www.globalissues.org/news/2012/10/18/15079

Blog #7 The Taliban Attack: Why Women's Issues Are a Top Global Concern

The Taliban Attack: Why Women's Issues Are a Top Global Concern

The Taliban will go to extreme measures to silence the voices of women and girls with hatred intended to destroy any advances given to women and girls under the banner of freedom and liberty, in the name of basic human rights. But this is not human rights at all. Earlier this week, a Taliban extremist shot and wounded a young girl in a planned political assassination. The girl is a teenage activist named, Malala Yousafzai, who was targeted for having “western views”. She is known as a peace icon and a tireless activist for the rights of women and girls and became famous for documenting the brutal and vicious world of the Taliban, and having a well known blog that gained global attention. This attack was basically to set an example to women and girls that the Taliban did not want them to adopt western ideology such as: equal rights, education, mate selection, freedom of speech and so on. Yousafzai said that President Barack Obama was her idol; he and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, together for the first time have famed the well-being of women and girls as part of the official U.S. foreign policy strategy. And, thanks to national reform efforts and the presence of U.S. troops and allies in Afghanistan, the rights of women and girls in this region have grown as individual freedoms have flourished. Now women go to school, graduate from universities, are prosecutors, judges, and women healthcare looks better because of the decline in maternal and infant mortality from the Taliban. However, what will happen when our troops leave in 2014?

That question is what should be the most important. Will the Taliban retaliate and kill all women and girls they come across in position of equal standing as men? And will they still be able to live like they are now with human rights. It is very sad that these women still have to go through things like this when all they want to a simple education. Other countries are so threaten by “western views” that they go to extreme links to keep their people from following these ways. Even as far as, walking a bus and shooting a 14 year old girl in the face. Women are constantly beaten, tortured, raped, forced into marriages, and punished in areas controlled by the Taliban. We must all work together to end this because this is not only happening in the middle-east, but everywhere around the globe including America. This month is Domestic Violence Awareness and 9 times out of 10 women are the victims. A change needs to come about not just for human rights, but for the rights of our children who will be growing up to this madness of inequality.    

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cynthia-dill/taliban-attack-on-teenager_b_1956175.html?utm_hp_ref=womens-rights

Blog 6: Bad Idea from IKEA - Removing Women from Saudi Arabia Catalog Versions

 

It seems as though we are advancing in every aspect in the world except for the in pictures where women are being removed from pictures and advertisements. Not too long ago, during the raid of Osama bin Laden’s compound a White House photo captured President Obama and members of his National Security team watching events unfold. The gripping image went on to be reproduced by nearly every media outlet, but one -- an Orthodox Jewish newspaper Der Tzitung -- published its own version, removing Secretary of State of Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason, Director for the picture. When asked why they were removed these two ladies the newspaper responded by saying, “in accord with our religious beliefs, we do not publish pictures of women.” IKEA’s catalog has decided to remove the images of women from their catalogs to “align with cultural standards”. So what exactly are the cultural standards in Saudi Arabia, for women to not be seen in the media as if don’t exist?

 

The problem with the IKEA ad in Saudi Arabia is that it is not showing realistically equality within its society. But this inequality among women is just not in advertisement; it is in religion, jobs, education, healthcare, government, and sexual orientation. This has been passed down from generation to generation all over the world even though we are trying to change around the way society looks at women. Different countries view women in different ways some more equal than others and why is it still some that are not as equal as others when it comes to women views?  

http://womensissues.about.com/b/2012/10/03/bad-idea-from-ikea-removing-women-from-saudi-arabia-catalog-versions.htm?r=et

World's Future Depends on Women's Equality

Blog 5: World's Future Depends on Women's Equality

This article is basically about the importance of women’s rights all over the world. Women in various parts around the globe are going through experiences that are being ignored. For instance, in the Filipino women are dying at childbirth because they do not have access to modern contraception. Also in Pakistan, girls are scarred with acid in payback for refusing marriage proposals. While everywhere, rights to reproductive services are almost always under constant attack.  The human trafficking of girls and women has gotten worse and is happening even in our own backyard of America. With all of this, not one of the inequalities have been geared towards men, why is this? In the Iran society, in the 1980s, the average women would have up to 7 children. When family planning was introduced, that number dropped to 1.6 and as a result, maternal mortality dropped and women’s literacy doubled. Many women entered into the work force to better provide for their families and attended universities. Iran’s leader has called to end the family planning programs and ban the female population from attending college because it is seen as a threat. Yet in the US, we are trying to fight for these women by investing $610 million, which is $2 per American per year, to help with the family planning programs. Maybe this will help lead them to the right direction of having more women’s rights and more power being in women’s hands.

The issues that are happening to women in other countries are unheard of by some Americans and are sometimes being ignored as well. Without their stories being heard, how will any change come about? It is a good thing that America is helping with the family planning in Iran, but what about the other countries that need help with family planning. Even in America, we have issues on our home soil with people trying to get rid of our family planning rights and if they do that then what? Men are going to make all of our decision about our bodies. Everywhere in the world women’s rights need to be reevaluated and equalized because we are half of the globe if not more and we matter just as much as the next male involved. If more women don’t get out and speak about issues that matter to us, there won’t be any more of our issues left because decisions will already be made for us! 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-seager/worlds-future-depends-on-_b_1912820.html?utm_hp_ref=email_share 

Blog #4

Blog 4: Who creates harmony the world over? Women. Who signs peace deals? Men

In the guardian, this week this article struck my attention. Countries around the world are calling for a more balanced approach to finding solutions to conflicts and feel that women’s views on freedom from violence is needed. Because females are naturally great at negotiating conflicts within their personal and work lives, they will also be great at helping conflict between countries. Fewer than one in 40 of the signatories of major peace agreements since 1992 have been female, according to the UN development fund for women, Unifem.   The requests for equal participation for women in “the maintenance and promotion of sustainable peace, have been ignored time and time again, yet not be just the UN itself. A survey done by From the Ground Up on Afghanistan, Liberia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sierra Leone found that,  of the five countries  women and girls had a tendency to form groups and coalitions to deal with problems and got on with resolving conflicts up to the point when the process became formal, when the men took over. The higher and more formal the level of peace-building is, the smaller the degree of female participation. This is a difference considering that men associate peace with absence of formal conflict and the stability of formal structures such as governance and infrastructure. Jackie Ballard, Womankind’s chief executive stated, "Women work together in some of the most difficult and dangerous places in the world to try to build lasting peace for themselves and their families”.

This is a very good point. Because peace will be among billions of people throughout the world, every gender should be able to have a say so in these peace talks. Not all men are conflict driven and strive to have control over everything, there are some who want to be just as peace as women and as women can to keep a level head. Yet in the world, there are still gender bias socially constructed views passed down from generation to generation that prohibit women taking a stand in anything. Just as the global data on females in parliament showed, in most of the countries that were mentioned, there is a lack of female representatives which makes the government unequally gendered. This is a global issue that definitely needs to be addressed and changed. Even though we are a lot better than we have been in the past, as a society was must keep pushing so that hopefully one day the seats in Congress could be filled with half men and half women and even people in that gray area that we talked about in class. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/sep/20/harmony-women-peace-deals