Nepal
December 1, 2016
Link to article A Young Woman Died in a Menstrual Hut in Nepal

If menstruating couldn't be anymore inconvenient...

Menstruating women were often separated in from family and society in accounts from the Old Testament but is it possible that this is still the case today? In the Hindu religion a menstruating woman in the home can anger the Hindu Gods. Blood of the woman can also contaminate the home, is believed to make the livestock sick, or can harm other family members. 

Because of these beliefs it is common in for girls who are menstruating to separate themselves from the home for a period of time each month. This practice is called chaupadi. In western Nepal there are small huts or shelters near the home that girls will live in until there period is over. Unmarried girls married usually stay out the entire week while married women stay out only a few days. 

A couple weeks ago 26 year old Dambara Upadhyay died while sleeping in the hut away from her home. She lived with her in-laws and had been married just shy of two years. The cause of her death is still unknown. There is no thought that it was murder but rather from a possible heart attack. Since 2007 there have been eight deaths of girls who practice chaupadi. Today many families have decide to stop forcing their daughters to leave the home. 

Link to this article "Amal Clooney told the UN they did nothing to help Isis sex slaves. Now she's asking women to help instead." Independent 

"Rape is a Weapon of War" -Amal Clooney
IRAQ

Texas last Tuesday held a global conference for women, where renown women from across the globe spoke about women's issues. Amal Clooney spoke on behalf of the sexually exploited women in Iraq, you are of the specific Yazidi religion. Clooney is an advocate for human rights, earlier this year she addresses the United Nations. At this particular conference she boldly stated that she was disappointed in each states failure to punish genocide. Unfortunately many women fall victim to military strategies as they are sold or given as sex slaves for the purpose of weapons of war. 

Nadia Murad, an advocate for human rights and victim of sex trafficking by ISIS, and Lamiya Aji Bashar, an escapee from the terror group were jointly awarded the Sakharov prize, the most prestigious human rights prize in Europe.

Clooney recounted a scaring story about Nadia, "She was forced to pray and forced to dress up in preparation for rape. After she tried to escape from the first house where she was held, her owner invited all of the male guards in the compound to abuse her over the course of the night, two at a time, until she fell unconscious." These stories are repulsive, unacceptable and very vile. No human being should be exposed to this torture. This will not be the last time, and we need to fight for enforcement of the laws that were created to protect each of us in our human rights. 

Columbia
link to article  Women Call the Shots

In Tarbaco Columbia there are 100 homes known to the community as the city of women. It isn't that the city is only compromised of women, in fact men and boys live there as well. What makes it a city of women is the fact that it is the women who claim property rights and are the primary decision makers.

Columbia has experienced many years of corruption, war, and instability. The people residing in the City of Women are just a handful of internally displaced persons throughout Columbia. They are all victims of violence who fled to save their lives. "According to (U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) 2016 estimate, 6.4 million people have been forced from their homes because of violence. That’s higher than Syria (6.1 million) and Sudan (3.4 million)." Many of these people, if they make it out in time end up in the slums or other very impoverished positions. 

Out of the midst of the darkness something beautiful happened. Women began doing manual labor like digging trenches as the entire community worked together to build peace. The value of work is priceless, it gave them identity, self-worth, and an understanding of their capabilities. Unfortunately building the community has not been easy, many dissagree and they recieve death threats and sexual violence. In a very chauvinist society the men feel undermind but they are greatful for a home these women have provided for them.  

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/colombia/article111899207.html?platform=hootsuite#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/colombia/article111899207.html?platform=hootsuite#storylink=cpy

Isreal and Palestine
November 3 2016

link to article

Isreali woman currently underwent a two week woman wage peace movement. The movement's purpose is to pursuade the prime minister of Isreal to make peace with palestine. Obviously peace negotiations between countries is important and benefical for all parties involved if they can agree to compromise, however, why would this be important for women? Why was it just women and not a co-ed protest?

Thousands of women walked with hope of peace. They began in Rosh Hanikra ended in Jerusalem. Women who have experiance the pains and consequences of war. The Women Wage Peace group was founded after the war in Gaza in 2014. The history of conflict in Israel and Palestine has more social and cultural constructs than one protest or policy could fix, but they definitely made an impact with the amount of women lined up marching the streets for two weeks.

Women on either side that marry someone from the opposite country may lose citizenship upon divorce and their children may as well. If the husband leaves the wife he can take his children over the boarder and the wife won't be allowed to cross to see her children ever. Boarder patrol is very strict and crossing between countries is permitted. Peace between the countries would bring peace between families, nations, and people. Women have a voice just as well.

Iceland

THE BEST PLACE TO BE A WOMAN
link to THE GUARDIAN article


Iceland is on my top 5 places in the world to travel to, and this just adds to it's lure. In a country of only 330,000 people, there are 19 primary schools designed to teach girls how to have a voice. Whether direct impact or an influence on the outcome, these schools may have a lot to do with the status of women today in Iceland. The first primary schools began 20 years ago and for the last six years Iceland has "topped the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index".  (Hertz, 2016)

In 1970 tens of thousands of women protested for equal rights in Manhattan and the UK. Five years later 25,000 women in Iceland protested for women's rights in the work force on October 24, 1975. What is so shocking about this is that this accounted for one in every five women in Iceland and 90% of the female workforce went on strike, and boy were they successful! In 1980 Iceland elected Vigdis Finnbogadottir as the World's first democratically elected president.  (Hertz, 2016)

Coming full circle, Iceland teaches girls from a young age how to be confident and strong. When these girls grow up they have the knowledge, opportunity, and drive to be successful in what ever field they choose. Unfortunately not every economy is stable enough or developed enough to give boys and girls this opportunity, but this example provides hope for each country to advance and more provide equal opportunity.

Bibliography

Hertz, N. (2016). Why Iceland is the best place in the world to be a woman. The Guardian.

10/22/16

Taiwan

Female Presidents

The upcoming U.S. elections between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have sparked curiosity and a greater awareness of women in politics and particularly female presidents. Over the summer I had the opportunity to live in Taiwan during the inauguration of Taiwan's first democratically elected female president, Cai Yingwen. Reporters from all over the world came to document this historic moment and advancement for all Asian countries. I could not help but ask everyone their opinion of Cai Yingwen. Many Taiwanese people would respond by saying they are unsure because she was only recently elected and hasn't created stability yet. Nobody seemed shocked or worried that their president was a female, only that they did not know what her policies were going to be and that they hope for improvements to the economy. Many people did not feel particularly partial or impartial towards her, but a phrase often repeated was that the younger generation really supports her. 

I wanted to know if the election of Cai Yingwen would result in more women representatives in Taiwan. Surprisingly Professor Lin from Ping Tung National University and UN representative for Taiwanese aboriginals informed me that since the inauguration of Cai Yingwen the number of women in a 40-seat cabinet was decreased to only four women. CEDAW in Action (Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women) writes,

“Tsai’s gender equality policy in 2012 promised that the gender ratio in governments — whether local or central, and regardless of pay grade — would at least be one-third women, but the last time there were so few women in the Cabinet was under then-premier Vincent Siew in 1997, she wrote. Tsai’s recent predecessors have done better, Lee said, referring to President Ma Ying-jeou and Chen.” (Hui-ping and Chung).

Of course many factors lead may be impacting the decrease of women in cabinet, it is not solely Cai Yingwen effecting the outcome of women in cabinet. Unfortunately, the gender ratio is still low and the election of a female president is not necessarily the answer to increasing women in politics.

If Hillary Clinton is elected President of the United States it will be interesting to note how or if the gender ratio in the United States will increase.

 

Bibliography

Hui-ping, Chen and Jake Chung. Women's Groups Prostest Lack of Women in Cabinet. Gender News in Taiwan. Taipei: CEDAW in Action, 2016. News Report.

Changing Mexico's Macho Culture

Link to article

The first Mexican Female President
"Margarita Zavala is a Mexican lawyer, mother, politician and wife to former Mexican President Felipe Calderón. She is currently a lecturer and head of a citizens’ movement seeking change in the 2018 presidential election"

This change to Mexican politics is welcomed by the younger generation including peoples 25 and under. If this is the case, the majority of the population is still uneasy about this new change. The overarching idea is that a women in politics helps all women as a whole. So ideally the situation of women should increase with the election of a new president.

I like in the article when it suggests that both men and women can be good political leaders gender doesn't really matter, it is a question of ethics. Does the president respect human rights for both males and females equally, are they going to help the country economically, and will they be honest and have integrity? Mexico has a lot of corruption within the government and what they need are strong ethical leaders who can provide access to education, health care, etc.