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.

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.

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.

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.”

My Sister in the Congo

Yesterday I returned from my vacation in Ireland to some very exciting news!

I have been matched with a sister through Women for Women International!

I said in an earlier entry that I would talk more about Women for Women International – so here goes: This organization helps women survivors of war rebuild their lives. For just $27 a month ($162 semi-annually, $324 annually), you can support a “sister” overseas in the organization’s year-long educational program in which women learn their rights, and gain leadership, vocational and technical skills training. You can choose to support a woman with “the greatest need” or support a woman from a specific country, including Afghanistan, Bosnia, Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Iraq, to name several (a complete listing is on the organization’s website).

I received my sister's name and her picture in the mail, know that she is from the Congo, is married and has four kids. I am told that when she attends her first WFW class she will provide more detailed information about her life and her circumstances.

To everyone who wants to make a difference in the life of a woman, I urge you to sign up as a sponsor today. It's so easy. Two of my colleagues are sponsors (one recommended it to me) and after hearing the founder of the organization - Zainab Salbi - speak, you know that helping women on a global level is her life cause and passion and that your money is going to help transform lives for the better.

In my welcome packet I also received information on 'a day in the life' for women in the DRC, what I can expect on this journey, FAQs, and tips on how to connect with my sister. Beyond sending a check to your sister, the program encourages you to exchange letters, pictures and cards. We are told that many sisters are illiterate, so visual correspondence (pictures, drawings) are specifically valued. We are also told that even if sisters do not write back (though most sponsors do receive letters), we should keep writing. Sometimes sisters are depressed or too traumatized to write back.

But between you and me - I really hope my sister writes back (after I introduce myself, of course).

I'm really excited to begin but do have the same concern as many sponsors, that is, what exactly can I tell this woman whose life is so drastically different from mine? We are instructed to tell about our home and family life, but I'm thinking that "Hi, my name is Carly. I am 25, unmarried, and live with my boyfriend in Brooklyn," may not go over that well. Or how about, "Hi, my name is Carly. I work in NYC in healthcare public relations." To a woman who is getting trained in something along the lines of textile producing or livestock rearing, what in the world is public relations? So there are definitely barriers, but hopefully the differences will make the relationship more interesting. Above all, I really just want to hear her story and make a difference in her life. I'm sure she will make a difference in mine.

Please join me in helping these women.

Baby Steps (On a Long Road Ahead)

One week ago, on July 2nd, the U.N. General Assembly voted unanimously to create a new agency dedicated to championing the rights of women and girls across the globe – UN Women.

In my opinion, this is great news - and long overdue!

While UN Women is not a completely new animal – it merges existing UN gender issue entities, it has been hailed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as a “major step forward.”

Most notably, it provides increased funding to women with a budget projected at $500 million (according to Paula Donovan, co-director of AIDS Free World and interviewee on Voice of America, this is double what UN agencies focused on women have been given in the past). The other notable difference is that the head of UN Women will be an undersecretary-general – a much higher rank than the head of UNIFEM – which sent out a celebratory note announcing this step forward to members of its Say No - UNiTE to End Violence Against Women” campaign this week.

According to an article in The New York Times (which mostly focuses on the poor choice of the group’s moniker), “the basic idea behind U.N. Women is to pull together four small, fragmented agencies that worked on women’s issues, with much duplication. By reconstituting the agencies into a single entity, member nations are hoping the organization will provide the United Nations with more clout in addressing women’s problems.”

I really hope that this organization is able to move beyond policy measures to affect action on the ground. I also hope it sheds greater light on the grave issues affecting women around the world (limited rights, no access to education, genital mutilation, child marriage, sex-trafficking - need I go on?). Not enough people are aware of these issues. Case in point: I was recently at a party and told someone I had a women's rights blog and was met with "women already have enough rights!" as a response. I understood this response too. As women gain a stronger foothold in the US job market, "women's rights" seems like a played out cause - but it's not. Just read The New York Times, Human Rights Watch, Women's eNews - there are women out there that need our help attaining very basic rights - and the first step is awareness of their plight. I hope UN Women brings awareness to this issue.

What do you think?

How Lovely to be a Woman…I Think

In the July/August issue of Atlantic Magazine, Hanna Rosin wrote an article titled, “The End of Men,” which reports that for the first time in U.S. history, women have become the majority of the workforce and are earning college degrees at a faster rate than men. She reflects upon the question that rather than it being an issue of equality, is a modern post-industrial society simple better suited to women?

While women have made very significant strides over the years towards gaining an equal footing in society, and I understand the article’s argument that a society which values “social intelligence, open communication," and "the ability to sit still and focus” could reap benefits for women, I think this article misses the boat in its depiction of women’s current economic status and applauds women’s efforts too early in the process. Through taking a US-focused approach and carefully selecting global tidbits that support its argument (majority of women in Parliament of Rwanda, Liberia’s female president), the article systematically leaves out some glaringly obvious facts regarding developing countries disregard for women who cannot produce sons, the still-practiced marriage of prepubescent girls to men three times their age and the rampant lack of access to education for poor women abroad.

According to The United Nations Interagency Task Force on Adolescent Girls (March 2009):

• Girls represent 55 per cent of the more than 75 million children who are not enrolled in primary school.
• Worldwide, more than 60 million women aged 20-24 were married before they turned 18 and if present trends continue, more than 100 million girls will probably be married as children in the next decade.

After reading Half the Sky a few weeks back and just having put down I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali with Delphine Minoui, both of which depict the global oppression of women (the second one is specific to Yemen), I found that I couldn’t reconcile what I read in those books with what I was reading in this article. Now people could argue that this article is primarily about America – not Yemen or the developing world – and that I’m analyzing this article within a global (and therefore irrelevant) context and missing its point, but I want to argue otherwise. Yes, women have made tremendous progress, but we have a long way to go. An article like this is misleading because it seeks to convince us that the “die has been cast” for women to excel and we can sit back and watch the movement run its course – but until women are respected on a global level then there is far more work to be done.

And even in the US, the article clearly talks about the dearth of top female executives and prevailing issue of unequal pay – so while it’s great that women in the U.S. are empowered to join the work force, let’s not get carried away. As per the title of Congresswomen Carolyn Maloney’s book (it’s on my reading list!): Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated. It is not time to cheer on “The End of Men,” a title itself which I find to be cheeky and patronizing (and makes us all sound like radical bra-burning, man-hating feminists), it’s time to take stock of our progress and realize that there is more work to be done.

I am a believer in applauding progress as a means of encouragement and motivation, but this is the only first act of a long play.

In fact, I was recently at the gym watching Meet the Press with guests Carly Fiorina, Republican Nominee for the U.S. Senate from Californa, and Congresswoman (D-FL) Debbie Wasserman Schultz (among others) debating the BP Oil Spill. I will not get into the intricacies of the actual debate (for which a lot can be said) – I was more interested in what occurred afterwards when host David Gregory asked them whether, based on the steady stream of women who won the primaries and top-tier headlines heralding their victories, they thought that this was the “year of the woman” or if there were other factors at play. Ms. Fiorina said that the “candidates are reflecting the diversity of America” and called it “natural progression” and “worth celebrating,” but Ms. Schultz framed it a bit differently. She said, “I always think it’s funny when the media declares something the year of the woman. I mean, are we only entitled to one every 18 years or so?”

Other guests on the show chimed in, talking about the number of women attaining higher education degrees and the “social revolution” taking place, while Chief Political Columnist of Politico Roger Simon had the last word (with a nod in agreement from Ms. Schultz): “…I hate to rain on the parade here. These women here have won primaries. We [ought] to come back in November and see how many of them get elected.”

See full video here (age of woman starts at 17:24):



As I said, it’s only the first act of the play on the progress of women.

And to go back to my initial point, we’re not even considering all of the (global) players.

So forget the “year of the woman,” and understand “The End of Men,” as the titillating, PR-laden title that it is. I propose that we recognize progress when we see it, smile and applaud, and keep pushing forward.

We’re not there yet.

The Lion Is Out

It is time for us to roar.

So said Zainab Salbi, founder and CEO of a fabulous organization called Women for Women International (which I will cover in a later post) at the UNIFEM / USNC annual conference, No Violence Against Women: Strategic Imperatives for Ending Violence against Women. It was a two-day conference held from June 11-June 12 at Hunter College (NYC) that delved into the global issues of violence, systemic causes of violence, what is being done to take action against this issue (a lot) and what still needs to be done (a whole lot more).

It’s difficult to summarize a two-day conference while avoiding platitudes like “that was inspirational” (though it was) or “the speakers were great” (though they were) – so I won’t try to do that. Instead, I’m making this meeting part of a two-part blog series about violence against women – including next steps so we can ALL take action, because if there is one thing that is clear, it’s that while global attention to violence against women is gaining traction – we need everyone’s help – men and women alike.

Whether you consider yourself a human rights crusader or not, the way that women are treated is implicated in everything: the economy, environment, healthcare, education and war. In a global economy, it becomes impossible to ignore it.

But for this post, let’s focus on just one of these things:

War: What is it good for?

Abigail Disney, Co-President of the Daphne Foundation, sat on a U.S. Foreign Policy Addressing Violence in Global Hot Spots panel at the conference and discussed the film she is working on called Women, War and Peace. The film shows how globally, women have been written out of wars. She talked about a “shared vocabulary of misery of women who are involved in conflict areas.”

I had never really thought about this. My school textbooks seemed to be an exhaustive string of battles and war stories, but the prominent facts I gleaned were the surface causes, countries involved, dates, and what was won. Where were the women?

Below is an interview with Abby and her co-producer so you can hear more about the movie and support their cause. Please note - I do not ask people to do anything I would not do myself, so I freely admit that the trailer on their website was very (emotionally) difficult for me to watch and (at this time), I did not get through the whole thing. But please watch the interview below and look around their website. Their point is incredibly clear – women are inextricably implicated in war. The movie is due out in Spring 2011.



Additional insight came from Salbi, a native Iraqi who, through her organization, works in conflict zones. She was also on this particular panel. She said that “When it comes to war, we only see things from a frontline discussion…that is the fighting and the troops and the army and the bullets…[but] how do you actually keep life going in war? Because it doesn’t occur to people that you actually go to school and have to get a job, and fall in love and get divorced and get married and go to parties and do all the things that one does in peace, except you do it in war within a...very, very fragile, very finite framework...your daily conversation becomes ‘don’t go to this road because there is a bomb in here, go to this road.’ You know, that becomes your coffee conversation.”

With this in mind, Salbi says that we need to have the discussion of what is happening from a backline perspective and how these people are affected. That, she says, is a discussion in which women are needed, and that is missing from the negotiating table. She says that what ends up happening is that war and peace becomes about “the ending of fighting” as opposed to a conversation on how do we build peace, because 60-70% of the population that this affects is not involved in the discussion.

Both womens' points really resonated with me. Next time you hear a news piece on the war in Afghanistan (just check today’s paper or turn on the television), or anywhere else for that matter – ask yourself – where are the women? What’s happening to them? Why isn’t the media telling this side of the story?

I would argue that based on facts alone, it’s not because their side of the story isn’t an important one.

According to Amnesty USA, violence against women is used as a weapon of war to attain military objectives such as spreading terror, breaking the resistance of a community, rewarding soldiers, intimidating the perceived enemy or obtaining information. The same organization notes that impunity for perpetrators (and if there is any word I heard a lot at this conference – it was “impunity”) remains the norm due to a number of factors, including a pervasive atmosphere of indifference towards many forms of violence against women.

Just take a look at this recent New York Times article: Child Brides Escape Marriage, but Not Lashes. That’s impunity.

The reality is upsetting, to put it very mildly. And while laws and resolutions to end violence against women are steps on the right direction, I began to feel very helpless early on in the conference when I saw that in many cases, this isn’t enough.

So I raised my hand.

This was during a Global Action Against Violence session when members of UNIFEM – the United Nations Development Fund for Women, were discussing the resources and campaigns put forth by their organization. I said that they seemed to be creating all these call-to-action programs and encouraging the passage of laws and resolutions, but it didn’t look like things were being implemented to the extent that they should be on the ground. What is going to be the catalyst, I asked.

“You are the catalyst,” one of the speakers responded.

She went on to say – and I love this line – that “advocacy isn’t a fluffy thing.” The law needs to get resources behind it and have people trained to do implementation. Others on the panel echoed her sentiments, and said that while the government may have the political will, they lack the resources and technical expertise. They don’t always know what works, or why it works.

And that’s where UNIFEM comes in – they bring together civil service expertise into these dialogues by funding groups on the ground and implementing monitoring and evaluation measures.

But advocacy is important to their efforts. How do we expect governments to implement changes if there is no call-to-action from the people to do so?

Which brings me to the next step – how can you support the global women’s cause and bring an end to violence against women?

So glad you asked!

Read on.

*************
On Your Mark, Get Set...

For those readers I didn’t lose after the last entry, thanks for sticking around. Here is the fun part – where we get to take action!

At the end of the UNIFEM/USNC conference, attendees were read a list of primary outcomes and actions we can take to move the global women’s agenda forward. I’m combining some of those actions with others that I have come across in my reading and throughout the course of the conference.

Let me also say that, as the description of this blog states, I too am learning about many of these things for the first time and am by no means an expert. So if you like what you hear – feel free research it further. I am not the final word on this.

1) Support grassroots efforts – While there are many NGOs out there that work on the ground in countries where women face severe violence, they can’t do it alone. These groups are limited in their resources and need our funding. They are the experts in their fields, so let’s support the excellent work they’re doing. Check out a list of these organizations here and see how you can support their work. And if you do further research, you’ll see that there are many more.

2) Pass the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) – I kept hearing about CEDAW (pronounced See-Daw in political acronym-speak) and how it’s time the US passes this treaty, called “the world’s most complete international agreement on basic human rights for women.” According to the website, the treaty was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979 and as of March 2010, 186 countries have ratified the treaty – only seven have not. These countries are Sudan, Somalia, Iran, the United States, Nauru, Palau and Tonga.

Yeah. I had the same reaction.

The website has a “take action” tab where you can reach out directly to senators on the Foreign Relations Committee, where the treaty is currently sitting, and tell them to move it through. I personally think that the site would benefit from having an online petition so people can just add their name – I’ll pass that idea along and see if anything happens.

I encourage you to take a look around the CEDAW website and learn more about the issue. If you have a chance, I would also encourage you to read this article written by the chief to the Africa Division of UNIFEM that explains what the UN treaty can do if passed.

3) Sign up to receive daily e-mails from Women's eNews – a non-profit, independent news service focusing of issues on importance to women, this is a great way to stay up to date about the women’s movement. I actually had the privilege of meeting the founder, Rita Henley-Jensen, at this weekend’s conference – she’s an awesome woman and a survivor and her news service is really a labor of love.

4) Take action on the CARE Action Network – You can do this right now, just click on the link and scroll down to see a list of different advocacy actions. I did this last week by supporting the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act. It’s an easy way to add your voice to the conversation.

Thanks for reading.

Okay, now GO!

Fill my Heart with Half the Sky

Welcome to Waking Luna!

For those of you who mourned the demise of my “Ramblings” Blog about single life in NYC – I’m back! And though 19 months later I am no longer single or in the city (read: Manhattan), the theme of this blog, at its heart, is not entirely different from what I wrote about before: women, and the issues we face.

Specifically, this blog is about my journey to immerse myself in the world of human rights issues as they pertain to women and actively involve myself in this cause. Through the stories of my journey, I hope to encourage others to do the same. I also hope that by knowing I have an audience (hi audience!) I will be more motivated to push forward in my efforts.

So now that you know where I’m coming from, I can tell you how it all began – with a simple internet search for topics affecting women on The New York Times website, just because I wanted to see what I would find. A few clicks later, I came across Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Pulitzer Prize winning couple Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. A few days later, I bought it.

The book meticulously documents some of the gravest issues facing women around the globe today, from sex trafficking to genital mutilation, to lack of maternity care and limited to no access to education. It is a CALL TO ACTION for us to wake up and speak out against these issues, not as “women’s issues” but as human rights issues, akin to slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries.

It’s difficult to read this book and not cry, or to close it and act like it never happened. But don’t let that deter you. If you buy one book this year - buy this one.

The stories are both inspirational and heartbreaking.

Consider Meena, an Indian Muslim kidnapped and sold into the sex trafficking business before the age of ten. Savagely beaten and drugged to force her compliance, Meena was a prisoner in the brothel for over a dozen years before she managed to escape, but it would be longer before she could re-unite with her children, both of whom were forced to stay behind by the brothel’s owners.

Or Prudence, a twenty-four year old mother of three dying in a hospital bed in Cameroon as a result of a blocked pregnancy, who endured three days of labor before an untrained birth attendant sat down on her stomach and jumped up and down on it, rupturing her uterus. An emergency cesarean could have saved her but the hospital refused to perform the surgery without the $100 fee and the family said it had no money. Help eventually came – but it was too late.

Half the Sky profiles inspirational women around the world who have already taken strides to end these terrible injustices and lays out a plan of action for us to become involved on our own end and to rally others around the cause. While some of the statistics are numbing (one maternal death every minute) and the issues seem overwhelming in scope (changing cultures’ perceptions of women as inferior) – there is hope yet.

Just read the book to find out.

And be advised - you don’t need to be a feminist to appreciate this book. I wouldn’t call it a “feminist work” at all. You don’t even need to be a woman.

You just need to be human – with an open heart.

Thanks for joining me on my journey. Let’s wake Luna!

Carly

P.S. Tomorrow I am attending the two-day UNIFEM/USNC annual national conference - Strategic Imperatives for Ending Violence Against Women. Stay tuned for updates – good things ahead!

Stay Tuned for Posts!