The news this morning is not encouraging. More women, school-aged girls really, were kidnapped in Nigeria. Why is this OK? Why is the world not up in arms…literally and figuratively. I just want to find them, rescue them and hug them. NOW.
Why does the world have a problem protecting women? Don’t get me wrong, I am enough of a feminist that as I type those words I am thinking maybe we are women need to protect ourselves. Why is it that the Torah says 36 times that we need to protect the widow, the orphan and stranger? Because they are the most marginalized amongst us. Because they are the ones who historically could not protect themselves.
One of the books on my reading list for Africa is Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women by Nicholas Kristoff and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn. I am rereading it actually. The stories are painful. Real. Raw. They will touch a nerve.
It is a powerful book. It delineates issues all over the world with how women are treated. As the introduction says, “So let us be clear about this up front: We hope to recruit you to join an incipient movement to emancipate women and fight global poverty by unlocking women’s power as economic catalysts.”
No problem. I’ve been recruited. I understand the advantages of micro-financing. I have heard Yunnis speak and have supported Heifer International for years. I believe in women’s education and programs like Room to Read. I deplore the amount of trafficking. I am too aware of the statistic that one in three women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. I am one of those statistics. I am fully invested in the work that American Jewish World Service does on a global level and that the Community Crisis Center does locally.
This book is the first step. It makes us aware of the issues facing women worldwide. Make no mistake, some of it is brutal. It details topics like female circumcision, why women still die in childbirth, what a fistula is, almost unheard of in the West and 90% of which are repairable for about $300.
It explains that 60% of the women in South Africa have been raped, higher than the worldwide average.That rape is a weapon of war recognized by the UN in 2008. That it was prominent in the genocides of Rwanda and Darfur. That the Congo is the “world capital of rape.” “Militias discovered it is risky to engage in firefights with other gunmen, so instead assault civilians. They discovered that the most cost-effective way to terrorize civilian populations is to conduct rapes of stunning brutality.” Most cost-effective way.
The book explains, “That one impediment for women planing to run for political office in Kenya is the cost of round-the-clock security. That protection is needed to prevent political enemies from having them raped…the result is that Kenyan women candidates routinely carry knives and wear multiple sets of tights to deter, complicate, and delay any attempted rape.” (page 62)
It also empowers us to make a difference. At the end of the book, the last chapter is “Four Steps You Can Take in the Next Ten Minutes.” After awareness, the second step is action.
1. Go to www.globalgiving.org or www.kiva.org and open an account that will provide micro financing assistance.
2. Sponsor a girl or a woman through Plan International, Women for Women International, World Vision or American Jewish World Service.
3. Sign up for email updates on www.womensenews.org
4. Join the Care Action Network, www.can.care.org
I had done these before, but then I moved, so I have done them again. In addition, I have set up google alerts on Kenya so that I can keep up to date with the latest news.
After becoming aware and beginning to act, the next step is advocacy. What can we really do to make a difference and who can we get to help? Read the book. Then act. Ours is not to finish the task. Neither are we free to ignore it.