Category Archives: Feminism

Tim’s El Salvador Blog: Zika in El Salvador

Any discussion of reproductive health in El Salvador also requires mention of El Salvador’s absolute ban on abortion.   There are no exceptions, and the country will prosecute women who have abortions for murder. Pregnancies are going to happen in El Salvador in the coming months and years.   While we may see some reductions in birth rates among the small middle and upper classes, it seems unlikely in the many areas of the country where poverty is persistent.   From a Washington Post story titled The country with the world’s worst homicide rate now grapples with Zika:In this web of slums, there are blocks where 8 in 10 houses are breeding sites for mosquitoes. The city is a patchwork of rival gang territories that are defended so fiercely that health authorities cannot enter some neighborhoods. In just the first three weeks of January, El Salvador recorded 2,474 new suspected Zika cases, nearly half of them here in the capital. Many infected pregnant women live in these densely packed southern neighborhoods. “It’s uncontrollable,” said Eli Leiva, 40, an elementary school teacher in San Jacinto who has several students with Zika. “It’s a problem that has gotten totally out of hand.” Doctors are worried that basic public-health messages are not reaching their audience. Many residents ignore the recommendation to destroy mosquito breeding grounds by disposing of standing water, even though El Salvador has suffered repeated outbreaks of dengue and chikungunya, fevers transmitted by the same type of mosquito that carries the Zika virus. Teen pregnancy is rampant, abortion is illegal and contraception is discouraged in the heavily Catholic country. Many women interviewed dismissed the advice not to become pregnant as unrealistic.It is not a matter of lack of information being disseminated throughout the country.   The newspapers and airwaves are full of stories about the virus and public service announcements on avoiding mosquito bites.    But the country has been fighting dengue and chikunguya for years, two diseases carried by the same mosquito which carries Zika.  Unless that fight becomes more effective, we can expect to hear about Zika as a recurring public health problem in El Salvador.

Source: Tim’s El Salvador Blog: Zika in El Salvador

‘I Want a Safe Place’: Refugee Women from Syria Uprooted and Unprotected in Lebanon | Amnesty International USA

Shortfalls in international assistance and discriminatory policies imposed by the Lebanese authorities are creating conditions that facilitate the exploitation and abuse of women refugees in Lebanon, said Amnesty International in a new report published ahead of the Syria Donors Conference in London on February 4.The report, ‘I Want a Safe Place’: Refugee Women from Syria Uprooted and Unprotected in Lebanon, highlights how the Lebanese government’s refusal to renew residency permits for refugees and a shortage of international funding, leaves refugee women in a precarious position, and puts them at risk of exploitation by people in positions of power including landlords, employers and even the police.

Source: ‘I Want a Safe Place’: Refugee Women from Syria Uprooted and Unprotected in Lebanon | Amnesty International USA

‘We Will Not Apologize’: Chronicling the Defiant Women of India – The New York Times

At this point I delved into a world of shocking statistics. Despite India’s prolonged economic expansion, the percentage of women in the work force remains dismally low — lower than in any country in the G-20 other than Saudi Arabia — and it is dropping. More than 70 percent of women say they have to ask permission from a parent, husband or in-law if they want to leave home to visit a health center or to see a friend in the neighborhood.Peepli Khera seemed like a good place to learn why this state of affairs had persisted. Life there was being rearranged in tangible ways by economic growth — specifically, a booming buffalo meat export industry. Last summer, the increase in female employment in the village had erupted into a raw power struggle, with the conservative male caste leaders demanding that the women resign from their jobs. I thought we — the photographer, Andrea Bruce; the interpreter, Ravi Mishra; and I — would merely plant ourselves there and watch them duke it out.This was easier said than done.

Last summer, the increase in female employment in the village had erupted into a raw power struggle, with the conservative male caste leaders demanding that the women resign from their jobs. I thought we — the photographer, Andrea Bruce; the interpreter, Ravi Mishra; and I — would merely plant ourselves there and watch them duke it out.This was easier said than done. In the end we made nine reporting trips to the village, staying until late at night — when the whiskey kicked in — and arriving before dawn. We collected firewood with the women, accompanied them as they went looking for work, and tagged along on court dates. We spent so much time in the village that the people there began to regard us with sincere pity.Then they began to ignore us. This is when the work began to bear fruit. We became professional eavesdroppers. Four months into our reporting, we were in the village for a series of tense, clamorous late-night meetings, in which the elders grudgingly decreed that the women could return to work.That night, the headman, Roshan, pushed us out of the village with his hands pressed against our backs; later he admitted that he had done so because he did not want us to witness violence. We returned to New Delhi and almost immediately learned that a large group of villagers had assaulted Geeta and her friends, also leaving her husband badly injured. We returned to find our subjects utterly changed — unhurt for the most part, but humiliated and shrunken. One teenage girl never forgave us for failing to protect her.

In real life, stories do not have crisp endings, and the battle of Peepli Khera was no different: When we returned this month, it looked as though Geeta and her friends had gotten much of what they had wanted. They had held on to their jobs and avoided begging for forgiveness or paying a fine.

Roshan was very sick, with what seemed to be tuberculosis, and carried out long, expletive-laced conversations with the goddess Kali over his magic necklace. “How are you coming? Are you coming on a horse cart? Are you coming on the wind?” he said to the goddess, then paused to wait for her response. After a moment had passed, he remarked, “They can go to hell.”Geeta, meanwhile, is rebuilding her house a full story above street level so that she can look out of her windows and over her neighbors’ roofs. I started to explain that the article was going to appear in the newspaper, but she was busy collecting a debt for the local women’s lending collective and had no time talk.

“I’ll say to her face, bring her in front of me and I’ll say it to her face — two months have passed and she will have to give the money up,” she was snapping into her cellphone. She waved goodbye as we made our way down the dark lane — every inch the cheerful, ruthless village power broker. That is the last image I had of her.

Source: ‘We Will Not Apologize’: Chronicling the Defiant Women of India – The New York Times

It’s Time to Reverse Rape Culture. | Rebelle Society

It’s easy to say to a victim that their experience was not that bad, that it could have been worse, and they should be grateful they still have their lives. I’ve been told that a countless number of times, and I can honestly say it has never made me feel better.What helped was knowing I am not alone.Reclaiming a survivor’s body after abuse is one of the hardest things they will ever endure in their lifetime. Just because the abuse may be invisible does not mean the scars are not there. We cannot let rape culture win.It’s now or never.

***Elizabeth Tsung-Ribar is a Taiwanese American living in NYC. She is currently getting her Masters in Teaching from Fordham University.

Source: It’s Time to Reverse Rape Culture. | Rebelle Society

Afghan youngsters use hip hop to speak for women′s rights | NRS-Import | DW.COM | 29.01.2016

Sonita Alizadeh was just like any other teenager in Afghanistan. Growing up in a country in which girls are up for sale as brides meant her fate would not be any different. But she had other plans. Her dream was becoming a hip hop artist, and she was not going to let it go.Iranian film director Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami found Sonita in an Iranian school after she and her family fled the Taliban. Seeing the girl’s story and her musical talents, Ghaemmaghami decided to film a documentary about her story, even stepping in when the girl’s family planned to sell her as a bride: she paid Sonita’s family 2,000 dollars (€1,833) for them not to force the youngster into marriage.These experiences resulted in the film “Sonita,” which has been screened at the Sundance film festival, receiving many plaudits. In the movie, Sonita speaks up against many practices limiting women’s rights in her country, including forced marriage and limited education for girls, and her weapon of choice is hip hop music.

Source: Afghan youngsters use hip hop to speak for women′s rights | NRS-Import | DW.COM | 29.01.2016

Sexism and Islam: ‘Where I’m From, This is Handled By Men’ – SPIEGEL ONLINE

The New Year’s Eve attacks on women in Cologne have led to a new discussion within Germany about the treatment of women in Islamic societies. The issue has become central to the country’s heated refugee debate. By SPIEGEL Staff

Source: Sexism and Islam: ‘Where I’m From, This is Handled By Men’ – SPIEGEL ONLINE

First Muslim woman in space uses tech to help others achieve their dreams | The Memo

Anoushesh is well-established on the tech scene, starting her first internet telecommunications company back in 1993, the year of the first web browser, and later co-founding device-connecting platform Prodea Systems in 2006.Anousheh Ansari, the first Muslim woman in space. Pic: NASANow, in a new inspiring project, the computer scientist is using her company’s innovative technology to further empower people in remote and rural areas in India.“I go to rural Rajasthan, and there’s a 4G network,” Ansari said. But many people don’t have the devices to access the internet, she explained.The entrepreneur is now currently rolling out technology that turns TVs into two-way communication screens with internet access.

Source: First Muslim woman in space uses tech to help others achieve their dreams | The Memo

British Muslim women hit back at Cameron′s ′submissive′ comments | Europe | DW.COM | 27.01.2016

Muslim women are tweeting their achievements to David Cameron, after he allegedly said their “traditional submissiveness” can lead to young men’s radicalization. Cameron’s comments were met with criticism online. Last week, a British newspaper quoted a comment allegedly made by British Prime Minister David Cameron during a private conversation during which he reportedly said that the “traditional submissiveness of Muslim women” can facilitate the radicalization of young men. The quote came as Cameron’s government had made public claims that over a quarter of Muslim women in Britain do not speak a good English.

Source: British Muslim women hit back at Cameron′s ′submissive′ comments | Europe | DW.COM | 27.01.2016

Quote of the Day: We are “destroying” our “white culture” with abortions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsuNP5uZhsc

The 1920’s were in full effect at a Florida state House subcommittee meeting on Monday where an anti-abortion activist insisted that “white culture” is being destroyed because white women are “outside the home, not having babies.” The House Criminal Justice subcommittee discussed HB 865, which would essentially ban all abortions except in cases where the health of the mother was at risk and could punish anyone who performs abortions or operates an abortion clinic with up to 30 years in prison.In support of this legislation, the activist in question went on a rant about the moral obligations of lawmakers to act in accordance of his interpretation of the Bible’s views on family and children. He also thinks the fact that the United States is “so fat and sick” is evidence that we are “under judgement.” His final statement was “It’s either repent or perish America. That’s the way it is.”But what stood out the most was this activist’s not-so-subtle dive into eugenics thinking when he made the bold claim that the United States is a “white culture” and is under attack when white women are choosing not to carry their pregnancies to term. To make his point, he said: “The Muslims, they don’t kill their babies,” and the Mexican race “is through the breeding of having families, children.”If you think these are just the ramblings of an extreme religious fanatic that don’t hold much weight, you should know that the subcommittee passed the bill 8-3.

Source: Quote of the Day: We are “destroying” our “white culture” with abortions