Why American Women Should Not Take Our Freedom for Granted

Has anyone else been surprised to see so many women taking to the streets in Iran, in protest of the election so obviously stolen by what's-his-name-who's-clearly-whacked? I am both frightened and relieved to see their covered heads, marching with fists raised...but it's also a reminder of just how close we all are to chaos and a return to brutal oppression. All around the world women are still in trouble.

There are little girls in Pakistan who are having their schools blown up because some obviously uneducated "people" feel it's dangerous to educate them. And it is dangerous to educate women, because once we are educated, we realize we have more power than we thought. Ladies in America, it's only been about 100 years since women have been allowed a college education in this country.

All around the world, young girls are still being sold into sexual slavery...some of which is called marriage. As young as 8 or 9 years old, girls in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and who knows where else are being kidnapped--or worse, sold by their own families.

And forget about women owning property in many countries. Even in America and Europe, as recently as 150 years ago, if a woman got divorced, she automatically lost her children because they were the property of her husband. This is still the reality for many women around the world.

Genital mutilation for young girls is still the rule rather than the exception in Africa. Can you imagine taking your daughter out to your backyard and cutting off her clitoris, just so she will be more desirable and manageable to a future husband? In some parts of the world, it's mothers who do this to their daughters.

Here in America, we obsess over our hair, nails, weight, skin, and reality television more than we think about what other women around the world are dealing with. And besides all that, we women are just so damn busy all the time...too busy to read about our history, too busy to remember just how precious this freedom is, too busy to help out other women around the world.

Let's promise ourselves not to forget all this, because there is a very thin line between the freedom we have now and the freedom we could lose. We owe it to our daughters, our girlfriends, and all the women around the world to never, ever forget.

For more from Maria Rodale, go to http://www.mariasfarmcountrykitchen.com.

Comments

[llisa]

This is what scares me about some religions in the US. The woman is considered subservient to the man. She has no right over her own health and body. She cannot serve in important positions in the church. She bows to whatever decisions the man makes for their family life.

When people from these sorts of churches start affecting the rights of the rest of us (and instigating hatred toward those who disagree with them) what is the difference in them and backward cults in third world nations?

[classicalgeek]

I remember when Geraldine Ferraro was on the ticket, that I was in a restaurant and could not help overhearing two businesswomen's conversation. To this day I still can hear one of them say, "Well, what if there's a nuclear war in the middle of the night? Is the Army going to have to wait an hour and a half for her to do her hair and makeup before she tells them what to do?"

These women were too young to have demonstrated with me when I fought for women's rights. I was appalled at their complete ignorance of the history of women in the USA and thought that only a few years earlier, they would not have been able to have the kind of corporate jobs they held.