Gender-Based Violence is a global pandemic that cuts across all borders - ethnicity, race, socio-economic status, and religion. It takes place in the home, in school, on the streets… at the hands of the state, community, and the family… during times of peace, but especially at during conflict and war.President Obama just recently signed into law a strengthening of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in the United States. The reference to violence is largely in terms of physical abuse, but it can easily be argued that any kind of discrimination against a person on the basis of being a woman could be thought of as violence against women. Thus, the long-term goal is a seemingly simple one--equality of men and women.
Friday, March 8, 2013
International Women's Day
It seems very sad to me to that we have to have an "International Women's Day," but every year since 1975 the United Nations has celebrated this on March 8th. Of course, this does seem like a good idea given the recent attacks even in the United States on women's reproductive rights. This year's theme is violence against women, and is summarized on the USAID website:
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Interesting new material here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/PDRSupplements/Vol38_PopPublicPolicy/Pritchett_pp55-71.pdf
Would enjoy your thoughts on this article if you please.
--Abu Daoud
The article really deserves more than a short comment, but overall I see it as incredibly ethnocentric. I think that most Europeans understand that there is no shortage of human beings on the planet, and no imminent danger of the human population being on the edge of depopulation. Furthermore, larger families in wealthy countries that use a disproportionate share of the earth's resources could well lead to "suicide" if we use up the earth's resources at an unsustainable rate.
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