We the Women

Millions of women throughout the world live in conditions of abject deprivation and attacks against, their fundamental human rights for no other reason than that they are women.

In South Asian countries, the culture of patriarchy is deeply entrenched, making a strong foundation for gender biases consequent upon which, women folks have to suffer.

Discrimination against women in many families in South Asia begins even before birth with sex-selective abortions. The preference for sons is still strong, while daughters are considered an economic liability.

As the world is moving ahead and advancing in nearly all fields of life, the issue of domestic violence has not meted out effectively. The bleak figures show that millions of women and girls are forced to marry and have sex with men they do not desire. Women are unable to depend on the government to protect them from physical violence in the home with sometimes, fatal consequences, including increased risk of HIV/AIDS infection. We are still living in a world where, women do not have basic control over what happens to their bodies.

In Pakistan, each year large numbers of women are beaten, tortured or burnt by their husbands or families.

In India, crime against women is committed every three minutes, one rape every 29 minutes, one dowry death every 77 minutes, one case of cruelty by husband and relatives every nine minutes.

In Afghanistan, a family member such as a husband, father-in-law, son or cousin commits more than eight out of every 10 acts of violence against women. And in many of the remaining cases, the perpetrator is someone known to the woman.

Regarding Bhutan, in 2005, doctors at the hospital treated 87 victims of domestic violence and 8 victims of sexual assault, most of them women.

One year later in 2006, the figure increased to 117 for victims of domestic violence and the number of victims of sexual assault jumped to 33. However, most of the cases were not reported at all.

Nepal reports 66% of the women in the country endures verbal abuse, 33% emotional abuse and 77% of the perpetrators of violence to be family members. Fifty eight percent of women who suffered domestic violence confirmed daily abuse.

In Sri Lanka, it is estimated that around 60% of the women are subject to domestic violence. Even with such high figures, domestic violence is still seen as normal and a private matter.

In Iran, two out of every three Iranian women have experienced discrimination and domestic violence from the father or other male members of the family. For the vast majority of Iranian women, married life is the beginning of horror, pain, and humiliation she is the victim of her husband and his family members. 81 out of 100 married women have experienced domestic violence in their first year of marriage.

Bangladesh, 14% of all maternal deaths result from domestic violence and family members commit 80% of violence against women.

Bottom line

Despite the scale of the problem, there has been no specific legislation to deal with actual abuse or the threat of abuse at home.

Women in the region work equally hard as men and are an integral part of the development of the countries yet the society have always overlooked it.

In all, gender violence in South Asia needs to be given much more attention to than what the governments are currently giving the issue. In addition, the family especially the male members would have to come forward to remove this cancer of domestic violence, which is rotting the society.

These days NASA community is having a tough time in dealing with the ‘outside people.’ Recently, it has hit the headlines for some really wacky stuff.

And the ‘credit’ goes to a 43-year-old crewmember named Lisa Nowak, a married mother of three. She has been charged with stalking and an attempt to murder Capt. Colleen Shipman, her fellow astronaut and romantic rival for astronaut Bill Oefelein.

Nowak drove 1530km from Houston to Orlando to catch Shipman as she arrived in Orlando on a flight from the Texas City. And when police confronted her, she was discovered with a knife, mallet and a BB gun in her possession.

However, she was freed on a total of $US 25500 bail on Tuesday.

Space Center’s director Michael Coats was ‘deeply saddened by this tragic event’. While the other members too were equally shocked since they had never anticipated this kind of behavior from her.

The odd story was the talk of the town in and around the space center.

Ken Forrester, a nurse practitioner said, ‘It’s very unusual, given the discipline the astronauts have.’

One of her neighbor said, ‘I’ve known them (she and her husband) for 10 years. They’re a real nice family, there were no signs of anything (wrong).’

Most NASA employees were unwilling to talk about the matter. Some feared it would be another black eye for NASA that is still recovering from the 2003 loss of shuttle Columbia.

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Like any other rural vicinity in Africa, Orango Island, in Guinea-Bissau, too has their conventional rituals, which has long been female dominated. Yes, this so called under privileged region has ‘matriarchal’ form of marriage ceremony.

A girl whomsoever she wishes to marry would carry a dish of distinctively prepared fish, marinated in red palm oil. And would proceed to ask ‘the chosen one’ for marriage and the grooms are generally left with no option except to yield.

A senior citizen of the area explained, ‘love comes first into the heart of the woman. Once it’s in the woman, only then can it jump into the man.’

But presently, the situation is not the same, as the youth are traversing the area for the sake of employment, they are also bringing along a custom, which is very much new for the natives. Now, they are themselves approaching the girl unlike before.

The elders, however, are not welcoming the sign, as they are of the view that divorce rates too have mounted because of the initiation taken by the boys in comparison before, when the choice was given to the girls to select their life partners.

There are matrilineal cultures sprinkled all over the world, like in China’s Yunnan province and in northeastern Thailand. But the unquestioned authority given to women in matters of the heart on Orango island is quite unique.

Slowly but eventually, the region would bathe in the novel lifestyle by that is quite evident with the coming generation.

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After running out of money in a game of poker, Andrei Karpov from Murmansk offered his opponent his wife instead of cash to stay in the game.

When he lost the game, his opponent Sergey Brodov asked for his ‘claim’. The wife, Tatiana got so angry that she decided to divorce her husband and started her relationship with Brodov.

Sharing her experience, she said that she doesn’t regret leaving her first husband,

‘it was humiliating and I was utterly ashamed. But as soon as my ex-husband did that I knew I had to leave him. ‘Sergey was a very handsome, charming man and I am very happy with him, even if he did ‘win’ me in a poker game’,

Doesn’t it resound the famous episode of a Sanskrit epic of ancient India, Mahābhārata, where Pandavas lost their wife over a game of dice.

But here I guess, the fellow must have inspired by Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge. What you hafta say about that?

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Social taboos hovering around brutality are the main causes of perpetuating violence against women in Algeria.

In addition, lack of a sufficient response and support for sufferers of violence silence the victims, and perpetuate the violence.

Many women and girls are banished from their homes after suffering physical assaults by husbands or other relatives, which leave them with no option except to survive on the streets where they are often subjected to further violence.

There are many forms of violence against women in Algeria, including verbal harassment, threats, repudiation, beating, sexual abuse, rape, denying of individual civil rights for women, forced marriages, etc.

According to the statistical data:

1. 4,000 Algerian women have been victims of violence, including kidnapping rape and murder.

2. 1,180 cases of sexual mistreatment were recorded in 1999.

3. In 2005, some 7,400 women filed domestic violence complaints, 1,555 more than the previous year.

4. At least 500 girls have been kidnapped by rebels and 300 raped during attacks on villages.

5. 10% of under-19 year-olds are married while the legal age is 18.

Urgent need:

The government of Algeria has shown a lack of political will to ensure that women are protected from violent behavior.

Violence experienced by the country has had serious consequences for the moral, legal and material situation of thousands of people, mainly women and children. They continue to suffer today and urgent measures should be taken to relieve their suffering.

In accordance with its international obligations, Algeria should implement a genuine integrated action plan to combat violence against women.

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A woman who told police she had been raped was taken to jail because of an outstanding warrant and denied use of a morning-after pill to prevent a potential pregnancy.

The 21-year-old woman told police she was grabbed by a man and raped on 27th afternoon after she left a parade. The incident occurred in Tampa, a city on the west coast of Florida.

The woman’s attorney told reporters that while she was in jail she was prevented from taking an emergency contraceptive, the so-called morning after pill.

The sheriff’s office, which runs the jail, said in a statement that it is investigating the complaint and declined to comment further.

So this is how the policemen are carrying out their social responsibilities. A woman who is grief stricken because of some evil incarnated people and look what she gets in return, people who are suppose to safeguard the interests are further exploiting the victim. What a shame!

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The United Nations‘ first all-female peacekeeping force made up of 105 Indian policewomen has arrived in Liberia.

They would carry out security duties in forthcoming local elections.

The unit is made up volunteers drawn from across India and is experienced in battling insurgencies in Kashmir and the northeast.

India has been a major contributor to UN peacekeeping missions for decades and has sent women as part of earlier contingents, too. However, this is the first all-female peacekeeping team and participants have said it would have unique advantages in conflict zones.

The UN currently has 15,000 peace keepers deployed in Liberia, which is struggling to recover after a 14-year civil war.

UN police advisor Mark Kroeker, who has served with the Los Angeles Police Department for more than 30 years, says the presence of women in UN missions enhances their access to vulnerable populations.

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Some Japanese women lawmakers have requested the health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa to resign on Monday for calling women ‘birth-giving machines’ in an earlier speech.

Nearly sixteen lawyers put signatures across the protest letter tagging it as a violation against women’s human rights. Thus, insisting on resignation of the minister on the issue.

Yanagisawa’s statement, ‘the number of women aged between 15 and 50 is fixed. Because the number of birth-giving machines and devices is fixed, all we can ask for is for them to do their best per head’, have ignited sparks from opposition parties as well as from the ruling bloc.

In order to make his point clear, Yanagisawa said, ‘I used such an expression to make it easier to explain about population projections. It was really inappropriate.’

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Violence against women, a pandemic as maiming and fatal as any deadly microbe, is not unique to Mexico. It’s global.

The unsolved murders in Ciudad Juarez and the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, of mostly young and indigenous working-class women, are very real. More than 400 women have been kidnapped and murdered over the past 14 years, many of them raped, mutilated and tortured first.

Who is responsible for all these?
What does this slaughter signify... Is it gender terrorism?
Or, is this a horror film tease?

Women in Juarez of all backgrounds breathe terror, night and day. Although rape, physical assault and murder are the most extreme forms of gender violence faced by Mexican women, they also frequently have to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace.

Grim statistics shows:

1. Since 1993, almost 400 women and girls have been murdered and more than 70 remain missing.
2. Gender violence has paid the lives of more than 6,000 girls and women between 1999 and 2005.
3. Seven out of every 10 Mexican women have suffered some form of abusive treatment at some time in their lives.
4. Nearly, 19,150 complaints of physical assault and 9,984 of rape against women and minors have been reported in the first half of the year alone.

Combating violence

For many years, the authorities did little to investigate or prosecute those responsible and on occasion, they used torture to extract confessions from scapegoats. Recently, there has been progress in the cases related to domestic violence, but the anonymous, sexually motivated crimes remain stagnated.

Thus, the need of the hour is expeditious justice, reparation for harm and the severe punishment of perpetrators and those who have passively colluded with them and the Mexican government must give an account of the work of the Special Prosecutor for the investigation of the femicides and of the Special Commission for Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua.

Any approach designed to combat violence must be twofold, addressing the root causes of the problem and treating its manifestations. Society at large including judges and police officers, must be educated to change the social attitudes and beliefs that encourage male violence.

It is also important in order to prevent violence that non-violent means be used to resolve conflict between all members of society. Breaking the cycle of abuse will require concerted collaboration and action between governmental and non-governmental actors, including educators, health-care authorities, legislators, the judiciary and the mass media.

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Daniel Ortega who won the Presidential elections of Nicaragua last year is considered as the most important figure in the nation’s political scenario. However, critics are of the view that his wife Rosario Murillo holds an imminent position in the former revolutionary’s government.

In one of his first moves after being sworn in Ortega made her the government’s chief spokesperson and gave her a say in a wide range of affairs, including health, education and culture.

She was placed on third rank in the governmental official web site. But some Nicaraguans think that ranking does not fully reflect reality. They are of the view ‘that the person in charge’ of the nation is Rosario Murillo than her husband.

A Latin American diplomat asserted,

’she’s a mixture of political strategist, image consultant, and cheerleader. But even more importantly, she controls access to Ortega.’

Critics too claimed that she was instrumental in Ortega’s victory, on his third attempt to recapture the presidency.

Murillo is widely believed to have been the driving force behind some of the back room deals that reshaped the political landscape in the past few years as Ortega forged alliances with former enemies, including the man who is now vice president and the former archbishop of Managua, Miguel Obandoy Bravo.

Relations between Murillo and Ortega have been as chaotic as their country’s recent history. The two first met when Murillo visited a prison where Ortega served time for robbing a Managua bank, part of the then-clandestine Sandinista movement’s fund-raising activities.

The two became associates after the victory of the Sandinistas but their relationship was fodder for the Managua gossip mill for many years.

The couple grew inseparable after Murillo’s daughter, Zoilamerica, accused her stepfather of having molested her sexually from the age of 11 and started raping her when she was 15.

It seemed that his political career would turn to damnation but Murillo stood by her man and sided against her daughter, saying she was mentally unstable, consequent upon which, the condemnation was subsided.

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