I have talked a lot about oppression and privilege in this blog site, but I have always talked about it from the perspective of an American female. I was outraged by the fact that women weren't allowed to join the Army until the 1970's, and that women do not receive equal pay in modern day society. It is true that American Women face oppression everyday, but we often forget how privilaged we really are.
On a Global Feminist sight, Indira Rana Mager wrote down her story of female oppression. She had been raped by her father-in-law and sent to prison because she had slept with another man, and had been accused of seeking out an abortion. She has already served seven years for her "crime." We are so lucky to live in a country that seeks to protect women from this kind of crime, and allows women to chose for themselves. Mager is in jail because of her rape without a means to take care of her son.
We still need to fight for rights like equal pay, but it is important to remember that many women are not as fortunate. Adultery can be seen as a criminal offense in many places throughout the world rather than being frowned upon like in America.
Global Feminism is an expansion of thought. We need to not only lobby for equal rights within America, but take into consideration the plights of women who are being imprisoned for abortion, adultery, and many other offenses. It is not enough to change the laws forcefully, but we need to inspire a change of thought. Many people believe that abortion should be a criminal offense, but should Mager be arrested because she allegedly tried to get rid of her rapists child? It is not enough to change laws, but we need to understand the definition of feminism in different countries. Global Feminism is all about expansion of thought, and finding equal rights for all woman, not just American.
Hearing stories from around the world will put things back into perspective for us in the US. So often we do not realize how great we have life until we are forced to see differently. We must not only fight for equal recognition within the US, but for fair treatment beyond our borders.
ReplyDeleteI agree we are lucky to live in the US and have the rights that we do, but there is a lot of work in this country to fix women's rights. My aunt is now divorced and is taking care of four boys by herself. The husband cheated on her and because they live in Pa. its a no fault state. So you would think that because he cheated on her she would get this divorced pretty easily.It took her 8 years to get a divorce and he still isn't paying child support. Some of the things the judge had said I couldn't believe that women have to go through what some of them do. Men still in this country have the higher ranking even when they are in the wrong. It is not fair, and before we can help other countries we need to fix our own!!
ReplyDeleteThis summer I read "Half the Sky" the book version of the movement (http://www.halftheskymovement.org/) and it was SOOO GOOD. I am fully ready to move to Africa and work in a fistula hospital or something. You should definitely read it. It goes by so fast because instead of being all statistics, it's personal stories about women in different countries who have faced different types of oppression (forced prostitution, fistulas, poverty, domestic violence, rape...) and have found ways on their own or with the help of grassroots organizations to take that oppression and become successful, happy, free people. It's so good. The website has some of the stories there too--def check it out.
ReplyDelete