Two things I've come upon after reading books like 'The Beauty Myth' and 'The Unfinished Revolution' is that the cultural and sexual terrorization of women happens all over the world including the richest nations. The other being that this oppression needs more voicing out and a collective united mass movement across the globe. It can't just be conscious in developed countries but equal ferocity needs to be seen in developing and under-developed nations.
As I was reading about the plight of the Roma women in Albania and Serbia, the statistics left me shaken. We deny human rights to children, women and the differently- able with a scary intensity. Imagine differentiating between women from South East Asia/Africa/Latin America/Middle East because their cultural and societal norms prevent women from using and asserting their rights to living independent lives. More or less, our language unites us in documenting their tormented stories because they are same everywhere. Be it reproductive rights or educational, economic or freedom from oppression, the number of women that express their dissent or raise their voices is minimal. Often Political freedom cannot guarantee equality. We need to break this visible and often invisible hold upon women's lives through constant evaluation.
Linda Burnham working for Ford and Ms. Foundation's New Women's Movement Initiative wrote in her 2008 paper that "gender is often absent from social justice and human rights work because sexism is frequently viewed as a subordinate concern to racism and other form of bias, where entire communities are vulnerable. Women are often disproportionately affected by inequalities related to race, economic status, or ethnicity, but the connections between gender and other inequalities are regularly overlooked." There can be no social or economic justice, or human rights progress around the world, that does not have women and girls at the core. The daily reality for women all around the world is about fear, pain and disempowerment. Yes, we need systemic reform so that women stuck in forced marriages, sex trafficking, genital mutilations and body violations can carve out an independent and empowered new beginning for themselves.
The right to our bodies, minds and assertive freedoms on equality all need a bigger channel to grow for women with the remotest access to technology and platforms where they will be heard and hopefully accorded justice and opportunities for every wrong that has happened with them. Their growth won't be restricted due to a few politicians negative stance on planned parenthood or legalising abortion, thus giving them right to protect their bodies and making decisions for themselves. Equality can be a threat too, especially if those fighting to raise their voices to be heard are casually dismissed under the pretext of 'not having enough support' to back their demands. Justice and Rational decisions go hand in hand. One vote towards freedom from diluted mindsets can reprise thousands of such fierce judgements.
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