Monday, March 7, 2011

Will You Be on the Bridge?


International Women's Day is tomorrow!

I'll be on the bridge - where will you be?



Thursday, March 3, 2011

It's Too Late to Turn Back Now


In a globalized world, everything hits too close to home. Nothing feels too far removed or remote. Oceans shrink, lands collide and we find ourselves facing new friends, new challenges and sometimes, terrible enemies.

Perhaps it was this sentiment that led to the extreme sadness and anger I experienced when I received an email from Women for Afghan Women - a non-profit organization dedicated to securing and protecting the rights of disenfranchised Afghan women and girls - informing me that women’s shelters in Afghanistan are under threat of government take-over -- away from the dedicated non-profits that currently run them. Or perhaps it was just that as a woman - one who admires the courage and strength that battered Afghan women find in themselves to flee - I consider any actions against them an outrage.

They have come too far.

And now, there is a crisis brewing – and the effects could be disastrous.

A few reasons that a government take-over could be detrimental to the women who live in Afghanistan:
  • The government has not shown itself to have women’s best interests in mind; it believes without evidence that these shelters are breeding grounds for drugs and prostitution; it is this false belief upon which it is acting.

  • Women would be most likely be required to undergo “forensic exams,” a euphemism for “virginity tests” to see if the woman was “at fault” before allowing them entrance.

  • Women who enter these shelters are often the brave victims of extreme domestic violence at the hands of families, husbands and in-laws who have escaped to safety; the new law could require that women be turned over to these same families if they came to the shelters to receive them.
News of this potential take-over has received widespread coverage and high-level condemnation, from the likes of Gloria Steinem to Hilary Clinton. It is believed that the proposal came to be in the first place as a gesture to conservatives and the Taliban to bring them back to the negotiating table.

Women for Afghan Women is publicizing a petition to President Hamid Karzai opposing this measure.

Let’s sign the petition and keep the pressure going.

For those who have access to a campus or large community of people, I encourage you to spread the word. Host a company event featuring a speaker from a non-profit that supports Afghan women, forward the above petition on to friends, or make a contribution to WAW.

But most of all, keep yourself educated on the issues. Below are a slew of articles put forth as recommended reads by WAW to educate yourself on the shelter crisis:

Afghan Proposal Would Clamp Down on Women’s Shelters

Kabul Seeks Control Of Women's Shelters

Afghan plan poses threat to women's shelters

And if you still need a reason to lend a hand to the cause – this Tuesday, March 8 is International Women’s Day (more to come on that in later entry) – a great time to contribute to the global safety of women.

The above articles may make you upset. They may even make you furious.

For me, that was my first step to action.

I'm Back - Let's Wake Luna!

Hi Lunas!

It has been a while!

But now that I’ve settled into my new job – the blog is back! Thanks for your patience while I’ve been away. Expect more entries, more insights and more ways to get involved!

Happy Reading!

Carly

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Reflections in a Downpour

The skies have opened and the waters unleashed. Heavy rains and windy chills.

Kind of like what’s going on in lower Manhattan – and beyond.

It’s difficult not to find yourself entrenched in the debate on whether or not a mosque/Muslim Community Center (MCC) should be established in lower Manhattan, two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center. On one hand, freedom of religious expression is an intrinsic part of our country’s foundation and to deny a safe space for people of a certain religion is in direct contrast to our most basic principles. On the other hand, people are asking why this establishment needs to be built so close to a sacred space where many people lost their loves ones in the name of this very religion. Isn’t that insensitive to 9/11 families?

I have thought about this a lot, coming to the conclusion that while it is the right of Muslims to build a Muslim Community Center where they currently pray, it would be a kind gesture if this group could change the location of the new and improved establishment to ease sensitivities and alleviate concerns. That is, of course, one opinion, and as the issue crystallizes day-by-day, new information comes to light. Things become more complex. Opinions are no longer black and white.

But this post is not about the mosque debate per se – that’s just where we begin.

As I became more interested in the ongoing mosque/community center debate, I began to think about how society as a whole responds to Islam as a religion. Specifically, I began to think about how Islam is portrayed in the news, and, globally, how women of Islam are portrayed.

Take a look:

A New York Times article, In Bold Display, Taliban Order Stoning Deaths , ran on August 16 reporting on the Taliban’s first public execution by stoning since their fall from power; this time the victims were a young couple who had eloped. According to the article, “the executions were the latest in a series of cases where the Taliban have imposed their harsh version of Shariah law for social crimes, reminiscent of their behavior during their decade of ruling the country.”

Nader Nadery, a senior commissioner on the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission said, “we’ve seen a big increase in intimidation of women and more strict rules on women.”

Or what about the Afghan woman whose nose and ears were cut off by her Taliban husband - a decision dictated by a Taliban court - for running away from him and his abusive family. When that issue of Time magazine (note: graphic image) came out recently I immediately gasped, did a double take, felt nauseous and upset for the rest of the afternoon and got in touch with Women for Afghan Women to see how I could help with their efforts (there has been several email exchanges but next steps are pending).

And the crazy thing is that Bibi Aisha is a survivor. She is one of the women that made it. What about the others?

On May 30 The New York Times ran an article, Child Brides Escape Marriage, but Not Lashes which reported on two young wives that escaped their abusive husbands only to be returned by the police and publicly and brutally lashed under the surveillance of local mullahs and a former warlord. The article includes a quote from Mohammed Munir Khashi, an investigator with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, who says that he was “shocked” when he watched the video of the floggings. “I thought in the 21st century such a criminal incident could not happen in our country. It’s inhuman, anti-Islam and illegal.”

And so one picture of Islam is painted…

In Half the Sky, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn dedicate a chapter to the very question on many peoples’ minds: “Is Islam Misogynistic?” Of course, the simple answer the authors give, “Islam itself is not misogynistic,” is presented as part of a complex system that does hinder the status and role of woman through cultural practices and social norms. Above all, the explanation, while thorough, left me confused.

What do the women themselves think, which brings me back to the current debate in lower Manhattan:

Seeing Daisy Khan of the MCC project speak on This Week with Christiane Amanpour this past weekend helped me understand the larger goals behind the need for a Muslim Community Center similar to the Jewish Community Center on the Upper West Side – a safe place where people can worship, learn, play and enjoy one another’s company. When I watched this interview, I felt a little better. Did I feel at peace because Daisy was a woman, or because she spoke calmly and thoughtfully? Was it because she was sitting next to Rabbi Joy Levitt representing the JCC who was serving as her counsel in support of her project? Was it because it was a kind human face speaking about an oft misunderstood religion?

It was, I think, all of the above – but the fact that she was a woman who believed in this religion, a woman who found that it served her well was a real comfort to me. Of course, when I say “it,” I mean Islam, which inevitably has a different meaning in progressive countries like America than in countries in which women have no rights. Daisy Khan is coming from a modern perspective of Islam, not a traditional by-the-book perspective that seems to be accompanied by the low status of a woman, or a woman with fewer rights than a man. So it is hard to perceive Daisy as thriving in the Islamic world when that world takes different forms in different places, but hearing from Daisy, it sounds like this religion supports her, and she it.

And I believe that. I need to believe it, I want to believe it, because if the women of the world are to have faith in this religion and the culture it has created for women as a whole, then we need to know that the women themselves have faith in it.

And while Daisy is a start, we cannot just hear from those women at home. We need to hear from the woman abroad too.

In Muslim countries.

In Afghanistan.

We need to know that they are okay.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Modern Day Slavery

After months of reaching out via phone and email to various women’s non-profits for volunteer opportunities, I was excited to receive a call on Thursday afternoon from a very special organization, the Somaly Mam Foundation, to learn more about how I can become involved in their efforts.

The mission of the Somaly Mam Foundation is to end modern day slavery in North America and around the globe, specifically Southeast Asia, by freeing victims and rehabilitating them to become strong, contributing members of society who live fulfilling lives.

As a little background, modern day slavery, also known as “human trafficking,” is a term used to describe the activities involved when one person holds another person – usually a woman or a girl – in “compelled service.” Often it is the result of poverty; a destitute family may be told by a “job agent” that their child will be given a good job in another country. According to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, other methods of trafficking include a false marriage proposal, being sold into the sex industry by family or boyfriends and husbands, kidnapping or being told that you owe a trafficker money and must submit yourself to service in order to repay the debt.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), some estimates have as many as 1.2 million children being trafficked every year. Other sources say that every year over two million children and women are sold into sexual slavery. Either way, the numbers are staggering:

• 12.3 million adults and children in forced labor, bonded labor, and forced prostitution around the world; 56 percent of these victims are women and girls
• $32 billion annual trade for the traffickers
• Prevalence of trafficking victims in the world: 1.8 per 1,000 inhabitants (in Asia and the Pacific: 3 per 1,000)

(2010 Trafficking in Persons Report)

But the stories of the women themselves are what truly pains me. I covered sexual trafficking very briefly in my first entry, Fill My Heart with Half the Sky, but its magnitude is such that it deserves more attention. Somaly Mam thought so, dedicating her life to this cause. The full and incredible story is on the Foundation’s website, but in brief, Somaly Mam was born into an impoverished family in Cambodia and sold into sexual slavery by a stranger posing to be her grandfather. Tortured and raped daily in a brothel, Somaly courageously escaped after watching her best friend brutally murdered. She has dedicated her life since then to rescuing and rehabilitating other victims of the sex trade and plays a prominent role in the global anti-trafficking fight. When asked why she continues to persevere in the face of personal threats to herself and her family, she says, "I don't want to go without leaving a trace," words which I find profoundly beautiful if not haunting.

Because neither do I. Neither do many of us, I think.

I hope to become more involved in this organization and document my experiences helping to raise funds and awareness around this cause. In the meantime though, here is one thing that I have already done and encourage anyone who cares about this cause to do the same. Please SIGN THIS PETITION urging the US and Canadian governments to take action to protect and provide care for children and youth who are either victims of sex trafficking or who are at risk of being trafficked.

After you add your voice to this important effort, if you have another moment, visit the Voices for Change section of the Somaly Mam Foundation website to read about a powerful program that aims to transform survivors of trafficking into agents of justice and leaders in the anti-trafficking movement. Meet the survivors themselves.

In addition, here is one of the videos on the Somaly Mam website. It’s an Anderson Cooper 360 segment (2007) and provides an overview of the slave trade in one area of Cambodia.

Click here to view.

Finally, if you want a further introduction to human trafficking, then please pick up the book Half the Sky if you have not already done so.

Once you hear about the horrors of the sex trade industry, it’s nearly impossible to remain quiet.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

WomEnergy

Last Thursday the ball was dropped on a major climate change bill intended to reduce carbon emissions seen as a cause of climate change. Convinced that he did not have enough votes, Senate majority leader Harry Reid tabled this long-time effort and instead chose to focus on a more contained approach to strengthen energy efficiency and respond to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The news is deeply disappointing.

In Thomas Friedman’s We’re Gonna Be Sorry Op-Ed, one of a slew of climate pieces in The New York Times last weekend, he quotes the environmentalist Rob Watson as saying, “Mother Nature is just chemistry, biology and physics. That’s all she is.” In Friedman’s own words, “You cannot sweet-talk her. You cannot spin her. You cannot tell her that the oil companies say climate change is a hoax. No, Mother Nature is going to do whatever chemistry, biology and physics dictate.”

The simplicity of Watson’s words are in stark contrast to the tit-for-tat hullabaloo of Washington. In Watson's world - our world - there are no gray areas. It’s hell or high water – or both. This is not a political issue like its being played out in Washington. Mother Nature does not care if the markets go up or down, if you’re a Democrat or a Republican – she does not care about your paycheck.

So what does this have to do with women?

It was at the June UNIFEM conference where I first heard about the Women’s Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), which, according to their website, is a women’s global advocacy organization based in New York City with a mission to empower women to achieve economic, social and gender justice, a healthy, peaceful planet, and human rights for all.

When I first heard about WEDO, I did not really “get it.” What do climate change and women have in common? It turns out – a lot.

Among the many helpful resources on the WEDO website is a Climate Connections booklet, which helps to explain why women are disproportionately affected by climate change. Here are some straight statistics from the booklet:

• Women and children are 14 times more likely to die than men during natural disasters.
• The 1991 cyclone in Bangladesh killed 140,000 people— the mortality rate of women over 40 was 31 per cent.
• More than 70% of the dead from the 2004 Asian tsunami were women.
• Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans in 2005, predominantly affected African American women—already the region’s poorest, most marginalized community.

The reasons are complicated and yet - surprisingly simple.

If you live in a society with gender inequality where you are already at a disadvantage and have minimal resources, then when disaster strikes you are going to be the least equipped to bounce back and rebuild your life.

According to the booklet, if women lack access to an education, then obtaining information on the weather and climate change is certainly not going to be a possibility, leaving them at a loss to take action. Further, in some societies women cannot leave their homes without a male companion, thereby potentially limiting their ability to respond to a natural disaster in the most effective way. Other potential impacts include women suffering at a greater rate due to lack of survival skills regularly taught to boys and finally – the fact that women are regularly excluded from disaster recovery decision-making – and that’s what WEDO is all about – ensuring that women are a crucial part in the climate change discussion.

And natural disasters are only one example. What about the women who rely on farming to bring in food for their children and families? What happens when there is limited rainfall and a low yield of crops?

Through researching the WEDO website, I learned that international development organization Oxfam is also taking a lead with women and climate change by spearheading a Sisters on the Planet initiative to bring together US women leaders to spread awareness about women and the changing climate, to ensure that vulnerable communities are able to cope with this impending environmental crisis.

I especially appreciated one particular Sisters on the Planet video, included on the WEDO website, documenting how women there are affected by low rainfall. It looks like the video was posted to You Tube in 2008 – but I’m hard pressed to think that much has changed for the better since then.

Grab a water bottle – you will get thirsty just watching.



I would strongly encourage you to check out the WEDO website and read more about their work and rich history dating back to the early 1990s (I know – I make it sound like that was so long ago!) with the likes of Bella Abzug and Gloria Steinem.

And if this blog post is not enough to whet your appetite, perhaps I can tempt you into a hypnosis session with Libana, a global women's music group I just discovered that sings the message loud and clear:

The Earth is our mother. We must take care of her.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Help Annie Bring Legal Support to the Women and Children of Haiti

Last week marked the six-month anniversary since an earthquake hit Haiti killing 230,000 people. To reflect on the past six months, media and non-profits reported on the progress made to date, and the enormous amount of work there is ahead of us. Also in the reports were people’s frustrations about the red tape that is hindering progress (who owns what land, getting items through customs) and observations that six months later, Port-au-Prince does not look much better ("It still looks like a bomb just dropped on this city," said CNN's Ivan Watson.)

To top it off, the U.N. estimates 1.5 million, almost one in nine Haitians, are still homeless.

Really? What about the billions of dollars that our country donated to this relief effort? Where did that go – and was it properly allocated? Why should I donate more when it seems to be getting lost in bureaucratic gridlock and political instability? I want to help the effort, but I need to hear firsthand from people that they are going there to do “x,” or else how do I know that my money is really making a difference?

Enter Annie Gell. This fall, Annie will bring something to Haiti that is desperately needed – accountability and oversight. She has been accepted as a Lawyers’ Earthquake Response Network (LERN) Fellow with organizations Bureau Des Avocats Internationaux and the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti.

But she needs your help. Annie needs to raise $15,000 to support her work for six months in Haiti and is asking people to please provide her with a tax-deductible contribution.

So, if like me, you want to know where your money is going – look no further than Annie. Her cause is a great one to support. Click here to donate.

Annie’s name came to me via my boyfriend who heard about her work and need for funding. Annie currently represents immigrant victims of domestic violence in the New York area, working to regularize their immigration status and bring over their children from abroad to reunite the family on U.S. soil. Her organization is called Sanctuary for Families.

I spoke to Annie on the phone a few days ago and asked her about the need for lawyers in Haiti, specifically for women and children. Annie explained that, for the most part, supporting women’s legal rights in Haiti is low down on the list of priorities.

“In Haiti right now, what we’re seeing is a society in a country that has so many human rights challenges, and women tend to be particularly vulnerable to these human rights abuses, whether its sexual abuse, or access to food and health services,” she says.



Annie’s words of human rights failures against women are echoed by that of others, including a special envoy to Haiti I heard at the June UNIFEM conference, and an article that appeared about a month ago in The New York Times titled Sexual Assaults Add to Miseries of Haiti’s Ruins. The article tells the horrific story of a twenty-two year old woman who was kidnapped and repeatedly raped by two men under the rubble of a destroyed home.

The article says that, “So many cases of rape go unrecorded here that statistics tell only a piece of the story. But existing numbers, from the police or women’s groups, indicate that violence against women has escalated in the months after the Jan. 12 earthquake.”

Beyond a police investigation, the article did not discuss the legal ramifications for rape or how these men would be dealt with if and when caught.

Annie has also learned that in the area of food distribution, it is not unheard of for women to be asked to give men sexual favors to secure food for their family.

This is evidenced by a video posted on the BAI website, which speaks to the victims of rape themselves who provide details of their horrifying ordeals:



While Annie is not sure of her specific charge while in Haiti (yes, the plan right now is to do a follow-up), Annie’s work with BAI will focus on four core pillars: litigation (persecuting those accountable in courts), documentation (going to the source of a crime and gathering irrefutable evidence – “name and shame” – to put international pressure on people), grassroots advocacy (bringing together women from different communities to combine forces to create change) and capacity building (as an example, BAI trains Haitian lawyers, specifically women, to be human rights advocates for the people in their country).

Annie’s particular work, she expects, will be on the documentation part, partnering with Haitian Women’s Rights advocates to serve as witness to what is happening on the ground. She says she will also certainly be involved in litigation and hopes to come up with strategies that will bring abuses against women to international forums and courts.

On another note, Annie and I also discussed the concern of a Haiti fatigue among the public – and why the money that we have put forth is only going so far.

Annie discussed how some organizations are more effective than others because of a low operating budget and high levels of accountability, such as Partners in Health, which Annie called “really effective.” IJDH and BAI, with whom Annie will work, are other organizations making a huge difference. Of them Annie says, “First and foremost, they are looking to do the work and do it well.” They are more accountable and have a small budget, says Annie. The leaders of these organizations “have focused their lives on helping the poor people of Haiti. There is nothing cushy or luxurious about what they do. They are in the trenches.”



And soon, so will Annie. But she needs our help to get there.

Help Annie give women a voice in the legal system and bring greater security and accountability to the people of Haiti who need it most.

Donate here today – and please pass the link along to your friends and family. On the donation page, you can read more about Annie’s work and follow a link to read her full fellowship proposal.

“At the end of the day,” says Annie of Haiti, “it’s about who have you helped and what have you done to make the situation better. A woman who is raped doesn’t care who helps her – she just wants help.”