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Sierra Leone’s war: Women the worst losers

  • Posted on February 7, 2012 at 6:56 am

Women the symbol of love, kindness, mercy and spend her life in coping with sexual and mental abuses done by one or more men in countries dealing with war like situation. Whether it is Congo, Iraq, or Sierra Leone that has civil war like situation, thousands of women and girl are the victims of rapes, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy and other crimes of sexual violence. According to a thirty five page report prepared on the Sierra Leone’s woman and girl revealed that up to a third of the female population are suffering the aftermath of the sexual violence during the 11-year conflict in Sierra Leone. During the war these women have been used as a weapon. Among these victims, only few have been able to get the help from government or other sources (NGOs). Shame and Stigma: Most of the time it is seen that women had never spoken to anyone about their experiences due to the fear of stigma; others, with children complained of being ridiculed, ostracized, and were shunned by other people, even relatives behave likewise. The victims of rape have always been in fear of being rejected by family and community.

Girls gone political…

  • Posted on February 2, 2012 at 2:34 pm

The history of the world is filled with women success stories. Though they could not get equal opportunity in every walk of their lives, they made a distinct and special place in history of human race. Ingrid Mattson, a Canadian Muslim convert professor and activist and the current president of the Islamic Society of North America, said, Our history is not a history of the marginalization and exclusion of women. Our history is a history of the empowerment of women. We’re not trying to invent something new. We’re trying to pick up where we left off. Who can forget Sarah B. Knowles, the writer and animal rights activist; Jane Addams, a founder of the Settlement House Movement and first woman to receive noble prize; Clare Boothe Luce, a U.S. Congresswoman and ambassador to Italy? The women who have been considered as second citizen are writing success stories in their professional lives. Furthermore, women are lagging behind men in the fields that were earlier owned, ruled by them. Yes! In the present scenario, I am going to mention few names who are role models for all of us and who contributed a lot towards society. Women have come a lone way but we still have a very long way to go before we have an equal share of the real power in this world. According to news reports, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, popularly known as Latin Hillary Clinton and the wife of Argentina’s president, Nestor Kirchner, has become the first woman to be elected as president in Argentina’s history. In the starting of this year, Pratibha Patil wins the most prestigious position of becoming president of India despite many obligations and charges created by opposition parties here. In her victory speech, Patil said her election will be a boost to millions of Indian women. In the neighboring Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan like a fighter who is standing firmly against undemocratic ruling of Pakistan. Despite being attacked by Suicide bomber, she is ready with her campaign plans to establish democracy in Pakistan. In Africa, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a Harvard-educated economist and former World Bank official won presidential election, last year. In Philippines, President Gloria Arroyo has been re-elected for the post of President in 2004 again by the people who were very much satisfied with her initiative to eradicate poverty there. In the nut shell, many women work hard in the background to support male members of the family, and this makes them lose out on the most visible, and most profitable positions in their life’s career.

Venus unhappy on earth: The 21st century suffrage

  • Posted on January 31, 2012 at 2:28 pm

After the Suffrage movement in 1890s, one thought that emancipation of women will be incessant and there shall be no looking back. Today, in 2008, again a woman feels the need to revolt, to fight for her right and to get rid of the step-mother treatment that this world never fails to give her. She is a modern suffragete, the one who is fighting for equality and who, with sheer belief in herself, shall shatter the glass ceiling that exists everywhere. The glass ceiling that the two women namely Ann Robinson and Rita Pullen wrote so passionately about in the Guardian, UK. They are not core-feminists or bra-burners, but they resent not having an egalitarian society where a boss can scowl at you for not pouring tea or a woman’s inability to sign a legal document for renting a television! Ann Robinson particularly holds women responsible for their own plight for the ones who succeed see the gender battle as won, but they do not realize that they need to fight for women as a whole and it is not an individual fight! Rita Pullen, on the other hand, brought to notice the difference between girlification and pornification. She also made us realize that there is no need to take pride in the fact that you are educating girls for it is no favour, it is simply what they deserve. This discussion reminds me of the classic John Lenon song, Woman is the nigger of the world, I wonder, when will she stop being that?

Role of women in different religious practices

  • Posted on January 27, 2012 at 2:12 pm

With centuries the women has been rated as less important than men in almost all parts of the world. In fact, in some ways women’s responsibilities are to look after household and children. Women are discouraged from pursuing higher education or religious pursuits because women who engage in such pursuits might neglect their primary duties as wives and mothers. Recently, six main religions of the world have been discussed at the World Religion panel. Six panelists have discussed about different religions: Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Paganism and Hinduism. The motive of this conference was to analyze the women’s role in different religious practice. Each panelist gave her view of women’s place in the religion. While telling about women’s role in Buddhism, Osho tells that ancient Buddhism was dominated by men but many big-time nuns and teachers in Buddhist history were women. Deborah Core, an English professor and a Roman Catholic tells that women play very prominent role in Christian society. In Hindu religion, all the religious practices used to perform by men. Women role is to support the men. Women should proper care of household and their husbands. But a Hindu mother holds very high place in the religious hierarchy. Rebecca Adams, former Eastern student and Paganism representative said that in Paganism, some sects of Wicca view women are more important than men. In fact, some Wicca groups are mostly composed of women. In Jewish society the condition of women is not good. In the religious ceremony, the Jewish women have to sit behind a curtain during services because men could not look at women while they prayed. When women menstruated, they were encouraged to wear a veil and men could not touch them. And if you were raped or spoiled before marriage you will be treated as damaged goods by your family members. The power of women varies from culture to culture and religion to religion. It is certainly true that in some of these culture women wielded more dignity, respect, and power. So many initiatives have been taken and still more efforts are needed to empower the women. Via