(no subject)

[sophiaserpentia]

March 8 is International Women's Day. IWD was first observed in the United States in 1909 by the Socialist Party of America, and has been sponsored by the United Nations since 1975.

There is much progress to be made, locally and globally.

At the same time that women produce 75 to 90 percent of food crops in the world, they are responsible for the running of households. According to the United Nations, in no country in the world do men come anywhere close to women in the amount of time spent in housework. Furthermore, despite the efforts of feminist movements, women in the core [wealthiest, Western countries] still suffer disproportionately, leading to what sociologists refer to as the "feminization of poverty," where two out of every three poor adults are women. The informal slogan of the Decade of Women became "Women do two-thirds of the world's work, receive 10 percent of the world's income and own 1 percent of the means of production."

— Richard H. Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, (Allyn and Bacon, 1999), p. 354 (quoted in Anup Shah's report on Women's Rights worldwide (emphasis added)

Last year's address from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan described AIDS as a women's rights issue:

All over the world, women are increasingly bearing the brunt of the epidemic. Today, in sub-Saharan Africa, more than half of all adults living with HIV/AIDS are women. Infection rates in young African women are far higher than in young men. In the world as a whole, at least half of those newly infected are women, and among people younger than 24, girls and young women now make up nearly two thirds of those living with HIV. If these rates of infection continue, women will soon become the majority of the global total of people infected.

... Poor women are becoming even less economically secure as a result of AIDS, often deprived of rights to housing, property or inheritance or even adequate health services. In rural areas, AIDS has caused the collapse of coping systems that for centuries have helped women to feed their families during during times of drought and famine -- leading in turn to family break-ups, migration, and yet greater risk of HIV infection.

Why... are women... more vulnerable to infection? Usually, because society's inequalities puts them at risk. There are many factors, including poverty, abuse and violence, lack of information, coercion by older men, and men having several partners. That is why many mainstream prevention strategies are untenable, for example those based exclusively on the "ABC" approach -- "abstain, be faithful, use a condom". Where sexual violence is widespread, abstinence or insisting on condom use is not a realistic option for women and girls. Nor does marriage always provide the answer. In many parts of the developing world, the majority of women will be married by age 20, and have higher rates of HIV than their unmarried, sexually active peers -- often because their husbands have several partners.

What is needed is positive, concrete change that will give more power and confidence to women and girls, and transform relations between women and men at all levels of society.

Change that will strengthen legal protection of women's property and inheritance rights, and ensure they have full access to prevention options -- including microbicides and female condoms.

Change that makes men assume their responsibility -- whether ensuring their daughters get an education; abstaining from sexual behaviour that puts others at risk; forgoing relations with girls and very young women; or understanding that when it comes to violence against women, there are no grounds for tolerance and no tolerable excuses.

An examination of women's status around the world shows some interesting items. For example, Rwanda has the highest proportion of female representation in its government (39 of 80 seats in Parliament). Kenya has the smallest wage gap (10%). (Source: For women, half is the battle)

Much of the achievement of better rights and quality of life for women depends on efforts to secure reproductive freedom. In practice, parenthood places far greater burdens on women -- it restricts their ability to earn a wage, it threatens their health, it limits their options. It is therefore impossible for any real progress to occur without greater reproductive freedom for women.

Comments

[cullent.livejournal.com]

I'm all for reproductive freedom, but we should also work toward a society that supports and protects parents and children, and honors parenting as a valuable contribution.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. I don't see that as a matter of "but" but of "and." The two are entirely compatible.

[cullent.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they are. Maybe they're inseperable. A favorite argument from liberals who oppose choice is that abortion certainly and birth control potentially is inherently anti-feminist since it disrepects motherhood. I admit that argument got me for awhile -- it was a way to be catholic and feminist!! Happily, I came to my senses. Reproductive freedom is, for women, essential to self-determination. Duh!

[azaz-al.livejournal.com]

"It is therefore impossible for any real progress to occur without greater reproductive freedom for women."

I think it is funny that so many people think feminism is now just some way to be PC. Winning the right to vote was a really big step, but the next one was/is gaining COMPLETE reproductive freedom. That is why the voices against it are so strident and moralistic and condemnatory.
A thought - there were practically no laws against any form of abortion or birth control until women started being able to leave their homes to work and earn money at the beginning of the industrial age. When women started getting closer to voting, the cries against the "immorality" of abortion and contraception grew even stronger. Coincidence?

[aerope.livejournal.com]

thanks for making this post. yesterday a russian guy told me "happy iwd" and i felt like there was some kind of deeper lesson to be gained. and i appreciate that you provided it.