A friend writes that "Religion is the largest cause of problems throughout the world; if only people could respect others beliefs and not fight against it, the whole world would be a better place." Multiculturalism demands unquestioned respect for others’ religious practices. But then entrenched beliefs carried forward in almost all religious practices, continue to hurt about half of humanity with the patriarchal legacy of gender inequality.
I doubt that religion per se is the largest cause of strife. It appears so when invoked by politics and prejudice to legitimize usurping power and privilege. Beliefs arising from gender segregations of ages past are that women are born to serve. To the change-resistant patriarchal mindset, society allows and traditions award that men may do with women just as they please.
The collective disregard for feminine rights enables abuse. Like rape. In lawlessness associated with war and genocide, the violence on women is extreme. Conflicts in Congo and Rwanda have left innumerable numbers mutilated. Even while they were getting water for their families, marauding gangs have brutally attacked women and girls with intent to dehumanize and destroy.
Viner writes:
The particularly violent way of rape that has become current destroys the women's reproductive organs. They can no longer have children (especially terrible in a society in which motherhood so defines being female that the word for "woman" is "mama").
Even babies have not been spared. Western politicians, moved to tears with the gruesome plight of victims in Congo and Rwanda have however, been unable to deliver them the help required for their rehabilitation. Many of the women have discovered the courage to stand up on their own, and shame the global inaction. Despite their horrific experiences, they themselves are making change in global awareness, giving voice to others that have lost it.
Jeanne, a Congolese survivor, is only twenty-seven years old, but in experience of violation, she is a veteran. As Viner reports:
She finds walking difficult, ever since she was tied to a tree and gang raped for many weeks, had surgery to repair the damage, went home and was raped again. She became pregnant during one of the attacks and was forced to give birth in the company of the militias; the baby died. … She has had repeated operations on her desecrated lower body. She looks small, shy, defeated.
The heart and spirit of this non-descript young woman commands attention. When Jeanne speaks, her audience is compelled to listen. Viner writes further:
"When you look at me, what do you see?" she asks, with the bold delivery of the born orator, the preacher, the leader. "Do you see me as an animal? Because you are letting animals treat me like one. You, the government, if it was your children, would you stop it? You, you white people: if this violence was happening in your country, would you end it?"
In ‘undeveloped’ regions beyond Africa, the laws appear to sustain the gender inequality carried forward through the ages. Outsiders are warned off that they fail to grasp the distinct cultural traditions. In Afghanistan, new marriage legislation was brought into effect in 2009. The cleric author of the law says, reportedly:
'It should not be compulsory for the wife to say yes all the time, because some men have more sexual desires than others' … husbands should never force themselves on their wives and the law does not sanction that. But women do have a duty to meet their husband's needs. 'If a woman says no, the man has the right not to feed her' …
The law that claims not to condone marital rape also awards little to the feminine perspective. Perhaps not in letter but in practice, men get away with it within marital bonds. Outside of marriage, the payment of “blood money” is deemed adequate punishment.
Theoretically the woman has the choice to refuse sex - if thereafter, she is economically self-sufficient. Where most are dependent on men because sectarian norms either ban altogether their education, work and unescorted travel, or require husband permissions to do so, women are effectively boxed in.
In Libya, Obeidi made international news only when she rushed to the hotel housing foreign journalists to tell her story, rather than to the local police. Because she lived in a rebel-held region, she had been raped by at least 15 men holding government allegiance.
According to one report:
Tied naked and left on the floor, Obeidi said, the men took turns raping her, at least three at a time. They would strangle her, cover her head while raping her, and kick her when they were done she said. The men were drunk and would pour alcohol in her eyes, nose and mouth. Obeidi claimed that the ringleader was a cousin of Gaddafi and son of a government minister.
Security personnel swooped in and dragged her off from the hotel to prevent her narration becoming news. She was then charged with the crime of naming her attackers. When the foreign news channels telecast the encounter around the world, the oppressed misery of gender in the country was brought to global notice.
Yemeni women have been named the least empowered in the world. But to the surprise of the men, they joined into the pro-democracy street protests. The conditions the women live in being abysmal already, they decided they have scant to lose in the campaign for freedom and social justice.
Khalife writes:
The protests have given women a chance to express their own concerns about their day-to-day struggles … including their subordinate legal status as perpetual minors who require male guardians and the continued prevalence of harmful practices like child marriage.
The ruling regime attempted to subvert the movement declaring that the intermixing of men and women in the demonstrations is un-Islamic. But the women are not giving up. For them, accusations are nothing new. They know the prices they pay for any form of protests are threats, verbal assaults and physical attacks. Their courage is of desperation, against sustained violence even from their own families.
Perhaps because they have become rampant, crimes committed against women in Asia, Middle East and Africa have decreased shock value. The global community merely mouths horror, as politics or cultural prejudices constrain proactive action. The rampage of rape has nothing to do with erotica, but is a masculine weapon potent with hostility and rage.
The aim in some places is the extermination of differences - of tribe, community, nationality, religion, and race. In others, it is used to stamp out social and even marital protests. Women are soft targets of the masculine reactance to the loss of power and privilege. The easiest process to domination is through debasing gender - instilling fear in victims to enforce obedience.
Social ‘revolutions’ then are merely conflicts between groups of men seeking to replace one another politically in authoritarian rule. Women are traditionally not considered independent citizens and hence are not part of the equation. Religion becomes an instrument to be used to justify masculine prejudice, and perpetrate the dominance. The collective consciousness needs to be aware of the dichotomy, and to temper respect for others’ religious beliefs and practices with reasoning. They need to realize that lack of inquiry about cultures and customs – one’s own and those of others - contribute to stagnation of both time and attitudes.
The point is democratic freedom without social rights for women, is a fallacy. Democracy is meant to improve social adaptability. That would require the continual review of beliefs. Religious practices of past ages need to stay in the past. To keep pace with change in knowledge and experience, new ideas to add or renovate practices are required.
References for this post:
- Khalife, Nadya “Yemen's women: out from the shadows” Comment. guardian.co.uk. The Guardian. 7 May 2011.
- “New Afghan law does not allow marital rape... but lets men refuse to feed wives who deny them sex, says cleric” Newsreport. Mail Foreign Service. dailymail.co.uk. Daily Mail. 17th April 2009.
- Page, Jeremy. "Karzai’s approval of ‘marital rape’ law leads to international rift” timesonline.co.uk. The Times. The Sunday Times. August 17, 2009.
- Tran, Mark and AP. “Libya rape woman gives new details of ordeal” guardian.co.uk. The Guardian. 12 April 2011.
- Spencer, Richard. “Yemen: women lead protests against Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime” thetelegraph.co.uk. World News. The Telegraph. Tuesday, 17 May 2011.
- Viner, Katherine, “City of Joy: New hope for Congo's brutalised women” guardian.co.uk. The Guardian. 9 April 2011.
2 comments:
A very good article maybe you should send it to a few world leaders for comment
I agree with your previous commenter.
We have a facility here in Britain to contact the Prime Minister so I have and referred him to your blog and asked him what the British Government was doing about the abuse.
I said that I understood we couldn’t send troops but we can put pressure on in other ways and shout it from the rooftops to bring it to world attention.
I asked for his comments and said I would follow speeches to see if he cared enough to bring it up after all we want to be a leading player in the world so Lead.
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