Even after reading this article, it's hard to tell what the actual answer to the title question is. Because the world is such a varied place, it is fair to say that in some places violence and discrimination are declining, while in others they are actually rising. The new questions are why does this happen, and how can we stop it?
Women have been slowly making gains in political and economic rights, however there are still huge strides to make. But before these strides can be made, it is essential for the women themselves to be convinced that we are worth something. No matter where we are in the world, women are taught from birth that we are subordinate to men. Endless jokes, laws, psychological attacks, physical attacks and more have been the vehicles in supplying this message, even without meaning too. Religious women read stories, originally written and enforced by men, about how we have brought the downfall of human-kind through some sort of weakness. Eve and Pandora are just two examples that were mentioned in the article.
From my liberal, feminist, Northern-American point of view, some of the data in that article was simply disturbing. Femicide, infanticide, women who agree that men can beat their wives for a variety of trivial offenses, are all supported by some women around the world. Women themselves are performing sex-based abortions and some are killing themselves to escape the situations they are in. But what causes this? And what causes the women who are indifferent to it? The article, like many I have read on women's rights, and humanitarian rights in general, has stirred up just as many questions as it has answered. There is a purely objective answer to these questions, sex-based abortions and female infanticide could be due to economic concerns, safety concerns, familial and communal pressures, and more. But still, I have to question how women can truly believe that they aren't on an equal level as men.
Reading this article was frustrating and intriguing to me. There was so much real data, making me take many more notes then was probably necessary (see earlier post). Numbers, dates, percentages. So many things about women and our rights are vague, ideas and ideals, not actually addressed. To me it's depressing, although also morbidly interesting, that the country that's had the most success with women in politics, reached that goal after a horrible genocide killed thousands of people, especially men. Now that women are 70% of the population in Rwanda, they also have much more representation in the government. But there must be some way to make women step into roles that they can preform, without killing the men who usually do them.
But the brain runs in circles trying to figure this out. Women have been fighting for their rights for years and years, and in some cultures it has been granted, only to be swept away. This article provided data that supported the idea that women are actually more efficient in government and negotiations, yet we are always told the opposite is true. The most important idea I have received from this article, is that women need to know the truth about themselves. The truth biologically, psychologically, emotionally, in relationship to men, in relationship to other women. Just, the truth.
Except there really is no just about the truth, as this article demonstrates. It is contradictory and it can be warped in many ways. I really liked how this article portrayed many sides of the same argument, because only in hearing the most different view points can you determine what is true and what is not, at least personally, and that is the first step.
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