Violence Against Women
@ 2005-11-02 - 05:33:31
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was adopted by the UN in 1979 to tackle specific women’s rights but was not welcomed by all UN members.
By April 2005, 180 states had ratified CEDAW, some reluctantly. 20 percent of states parties have entered reservations that are incompatible with the Convention despite pressure brought to bear from other groups.
There has been heated debate from religious concepts that conceive women’s rights as being embedded within marriage and family functions, while secular concepts emphasise women’s autonomy and individuality.
CEDAW calls for the equality of men and women in public and political life, in education, employment, and health care as well as in marriage and family matters.
Member states are strongly urged to suppress the exploitation of prostitution as well as trafficking in women, and to improve the situation of disadvantaged rural women.
A change in gender relations has been recommended in order to modify stereotypical cultural attitudes based on alleged inferiority of women.
alleged inferiority of women.
A few examples of violence against women:
Kenya is one of 28 African countries whose cultural traditions include female genital mutilation (FGM).
(Report by Amnesty International 12 October 2004) There have been mass or gang rapes of Sudanese women and even of school children.
In 2002 Hindu religious fascists in Gujarat, stripped and gang raped many Muslim women, thrust swords into their bodies and threw them still alive on to fires.
Women are lashed for violating the dress code in Ethiopia. Ten minutes in court holding a Koran under one arm is followed immediately by ten lashes.
Lesley Abdela in her article "Iraq's War on Women" 18 - 7 - 2005
claims that attacks against Muslim women have escalated during the present western invasion.
Fundamentalists use rape, acid and assassination to force Iraqi women to wear the ‘veil’ – the symbol of submission. Now, dead bodies of girls and women are found in rivers and on waste ground with a veil tied around the head, as a message.
Government legislation, policies and programmes to stop violence against women need to be implemented. Journalists and leaders across countries can help to empower women by stressing that patriarchal governments be held accountable for due diligence. Oppression and subordination of women occur when there is state abdication from responsibilities.
We look forward to the day when there will be economic, political, educational and social emancipation for women.
Comments: Hide subcomments
hi dawn,
yes, the way women are exploited it is blot on the society we live in. i think the oly answer to it will be education . only education can get the confidence in women and they can stand up to the any atrocity.
regards
 | dawn03 [Member] 02/11/05 @ 10:28 |
Thanks for your interest pure_love. Education for all, especially for the poorest men and women in backward countries could be part of the solution.
Dawn
02/11/05 @ 10:30
I would suggest that education is only part of the answer. There exists both a religious and a cultural gap in what the West would deem as appropriate treatment of women.
Is the Western view a better one? It seems to me to be a matter of perception. The term we would use to describe "abuse" of women, is probably not seen in that light in other cultures.
My own view is that such cultures are either primitive archaic or both and demonstrate a neolithic male fear of allowing women an equal status in society. Such "backwardness" cannot be addressed by the passing of a few UN resolutions and will take decades to be overcome... if at all.
In the meantime.. women themselves need to be encouraged to take a stand against male domination, in whatever form that takes..religious or cultural.
The world is a very small place nowadays and the opportunities for men to hide their activities against women are much fewer than ever before.
We are all watching.
Excellent post Dawn!
R
| dawn03 [Member] 02/11/05 @ 23:45 |
Thanks for your well-considered arguments Rick. I actually don't believe that the UN has been able to achieve very much at all, but the more exposure on this topic, the more pressure will be put on resistant patriarchal societies. Globalisation must help.
D
03/11/05 @ 16:41
thanks dawn, we are still under-represented though. but it's better than nothing. more power to them, hopefully their collective representative voices will be heard one day
 | phinebooty [Member] 02/11/05 @ 16:21 |
Bottom line: it's a man's world. why would men want ot be equal to women when they consider women to be the weaker sex? (and i am talking in broad general terms). women, are the ones who endure the pain of firsttime sex, the pain of of laour and chilbirth. the pain of fending for their children plus the husband. the pain of being beaten up for so-called disobedience. the pain of being raped by husband, the paing of being mutilated in the name of curbing sexual desire. The lack of choice in having eductaion or who they marry in some countries.
Who makes the rules?Men. who runs religion: MEN.
out of interest, are there any women on the security council who help make ratify these charters? didnt think so
| dawn03 [Member] 03/11/05 @ 00:18 |
Hi Phine
Yes there are a number of women members in the UN Security Council. Here are a few:
UN AND CIVIL SOCIETY SPEAKERS 27th October conference
Jean-Marie Guéhenno
Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations
Rachel Mayanja
Assistant Secretary-General, Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women
Noeleen Heyzer
Executive Director - United Nations Development Fund for Women
Sweeta Noori
Country Director - Women for Women International Afghanistan
Hélène Dandi Lou
President - Vision et Action des Femmes Africaines contre les Guerres (VAFAG)
Vision and Action of African Women Against Wars
Elsie-Bernadette Onubogu
Gender Adviser of the Commonwealth Secretariat
Anders B. Johnsson
Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Dawn
03/11/05 @ 09:56
Hi Dawn
Theo Van Gogh was murdered by Mohmmed Bouyeri because of his short film Submission which was an attempt to portray the violence perpetrated against Muslim women.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/3975211.stm
The script was ritten by Hirsi Ali and caused a huge amount of offence in Muslim quarter. Was that because of the film itself or had it more to do with the disageeable facing up to inherent violence in certain parts of the Islamic world.. towards women?
| dawn03 [Member] 04/11/05 @ 22:39 |
Hi Derek
I can understand why the nudity in the film caused offence in the Muslim quarter of the Netherlands. The portrayal of men as brutal wife beaters probably made some Muslim men feel guilty, another reason for violent hatred, because none like to lose face by having their shortcomings pointed out. Bouyeri who stabbed and shot Theo Van Gogh was just another deluded murderer, who invoked the name of God to justify his atrocity.
I have been reading how Egyptians of the ancient world had absolute equality before the law. The rights and egalitarian conditions enjoyed by Egyptian women shocked the conquering Greeks who believed that women should be relegated to domesticity. Aristocratic women in classical Greek society were secluded and when in public (rarely) were veiled and heavily clothed.
The Greek philosopher, Aristotle (384-322 BC) theorised that women were not only subordinate by social necessity but were also innately and biologically inferior to men in both mental and physical capacities.
Aristotle's gender theories influenced Christianity in the Byzantine Empire, and penetrated Arabic, Muslim and Jewish thought when Greek philosophy was being translated during the Islamic Andalusian civilization in Spain.
In 11th century Christian Byzantine veiling and body covering of women had been adopted. Even the scrupulous covering of hands was observed as it was imperative to conceal all flesh of women.
Early Greek principles of society and government, including gender ideology, laid many of the foundations of Western thought and society.
Unfortunately in the Quran, husbands are allowed to chastise their wives. It's overdue that abuse be legislated against.
Dawn
05/11/05 @ 08:53
Hi Dawn Yes .. probably time for a bit of an update here in certain areas.
I guess Aristotle had sound genetic evidence for constructiong his theories.. didn't he?
Well I have looked into this and apparently he was influenced by other Greek geeks that went before him.
I found this great link... says it all really!
http://www.stoa.org/diotima/syllabi/skinlecs8.shtml
I may even have to do a post on this lol!
R
| dawn03 [Member] 06/11/05 @ 05:54 |
Thanks for the link; very interesting to read about the assumptions of early Greek geeks. And to think the West believed that rubbish!
Dawn
06/11/05 @ 08:38
Hi Dawn.. great stuff isn't it. Made me laugh and sparked me off as you can see.
R
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