"In the 19th Century, the central moral challenge was slavery. In the 20th Century, it was the battle against totalitarianism. We believe that in this century the paramount moral challenge will be the struggle for gender equality around the world." - Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn in Half The Sky
Last year I started Off The Sidelines as a call to action to all women to get more involved in their communities and to make their voices heard on the issues they care about so that we can change the landscape of decisionmaking in this country. When I decided I wanted to do an Off The Sidelines book club, little did I know that I would soon be introduced to such an inspiring, yet at times devastating, book -- and one that so perfectly epitomizes the spirit of Off The Sidelines: Half The Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.
From sex trafficking to genital mutilation, from honor killing to forced prostitution, Half The Sky takes an unflinching look at so many of the ways that women and girls are oppressed around the world every day, through the stories of many of the women who have suffered and survived these crimes and injustices -- some of whom have escaped with their lives and have come out better on the other end, and some who have not.
One of the extraordinary women profiled in the book is Edna Adan, the former first lady of Somalia and former WHO official who herself has suffered injustice but emerged as a strong and passionate advocate for women's health. Not only did she speak out boldly against genital mutilation when it was unpopular to do so, but she put her financial security and her reputation on the line to build a maternity hospital to begin to reduce the maternal mortality rate in her home country of Somaliland. Thanks to her efforts, Edna Adan currently runs that hospital, accepts no salary and lives in an apartment inside the hospital so she can be constantly on call.
I'm so proud that today, for International Women's Day, Edna Adan has agreed to answer some of our book club members' questions, which we've posted at Off The Sidelines here. I was particularly moved by her response to a question asking what advice she would give anyone wanting to get off the sidelines and make a difference in the world:
If you feel strongly about a particular situation or practice, follow your heart. Often you will find others who have been looking for the same courage to speak out about the same subject. The more of you who collaborate together, the better and stronger you will be.
Not only is that exactly what Edna has done in her own life on the issues she cares about, but it's also precisely what Half The Sky calls on us all to do. Half The Sky is not content merely to document the injustice and oppression of women and girls around the world, rather it seeks to prescribe solutions and create a movement to really change the world, so that the women and girls who are oppressed today, will be empowered tomorrow.
So, what are some of the things you can do to help today? Here are some of the suggestions Half The Sky offers:
Go to www.globalgiving.org or www.kiva.org and open an account. Both sites are People to People, meaning that they link you directly to a person in need overseas...
Sponsor a girl or woman through Plan International, Women For Women International, World Vision, or American Jewish World Service...
Sign up for e-mail updates on www.womensenews.org and a similar service, www.worldpulse.com. Both distribute information about abuses of women and sometimes advise on actions that readers can take...
Join the CARE Action Network at www.can.care.org ...
We've also posted a listing of organizations that help women and girls all over the world at our website where you can donate and volunteer.
I also urge you to learn more about the movement at www.HalfTheSkyMovement.org, buy the book and I hope you'll join our book club. I'm excited that we've chosen this book to kick it off and we're particularly lucky to have Sheryl WuDunn joining us for the online discussion of the book next Thursday, March 15th at 7pm ET. I hope you'll join the conversation.
For my part, I will continue to be impacted by this extraordinary book well past next week. There are several legislative priorities that Nick and Sheryl lay out in the book that I intend to pursue, including funding girls' education so we can finally close the gender gap in the developing world; sponsoring a global effort to iodize salt in the poorest countries so we can raise the IQ levels of children growing up in poverty; and laying the groundwork for an international effort to drastically reduce maternal mortality rates.
I can't think of a better way to celebrate International Women's Day than to pick up Half The Sky, be inspired by the women profiled in the book and take action for all the women and girls around the world who aren't yet empowered to do so for themselves.
Follow Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SenGillibrand
Zach Hunter: International Women's Day: A New Paradigm of Respect
--- proposed 38 attempts to make abortion illegal
--- trying to enact "Personhood" laws in 13 states which outlaws birth control pills and other forms of contraception.
--- fought against the Lilly Ledbetter Act (fair pay for women)
--- forcing women to undergo unnecessary medical procedures before getting an abortion.
--- Tried to defund Women's Health Centers (including Planned Parenthood)
--- Created absurd building codes that only apply to Women's Health Centers that also perform abortions, in an obvious attempt to shut them down.
--- Accusing women who use contraceptives of being sexually promiscuous, even though contraceptives are also used by married couples to prevent an unwanted pregnancy.
--- Proposing "Covenant Laws" in some Southern states that prevent a woman from getting a divorce unless her husband agrees and grants the divorce.
--- Demanding that women's health clinics turn over names of women who seek an abortion, which they threatened to publicize.
- - - - - The list goes on and on. Women (and men who care about women!) need to get off their butts and VOTE in November. Republicans need to be stopped before this gets any worse.
Mike:
Fanned & faved
Mike:
Slavery in the US South and European feudalism stood against the rising capitalism, and had to go. The US Cival War was about capitalism more than about slavery.
Today, the economic system of capitalism is running into serious problems, like the domonation of the exchange value of the aspect of the commodity, which leads to pollution, the sale of literally poison as food to the productive labor class, the resultant prisons, diabetes, etc. etc. all in the context of a globalized economy over which the US has declared itself in charge and using brute force for NOTHING even, is claimed as some kind of right withoot the consent of those concerned.
This issue of "woman" as used to justify invasion, occupation and slaughter will end very badly, since the very women in whose names you speak will hate you and take arms agaisnt you if so supported, just as they did in Vietnam, but I expect no sense from the US political elite or much less the intellectuals, who sold their souls out long ago.
What you don't know about the Civil War is a lot.
the world is a sister hood
the XX double X
we celebrate today
for women around
the world
this is your day
be who you are
whatever your
shape, color or size
we love you all
and you are beautiful
in our eyes♥♥♥
Gender roles are not on par with slavery. When we look at gender oppression distinct from overlapping social issues like poverty, war, social unrest, or tyrannical governments it amounts to the expectation that women care for their children and family while men work outside the home. This is not on par with slavery in which you would be forced to labor on behalf of a unrelated third party whom could sell you or your children to others whenever they felt like it.
To say that the relationship between a man and women who have a family together is like slavery is insulting to both the men and women. How about accepting that loving relations between men and women is not a modern invention. They make families and commit their lives to one another's welfare along with their children. THIS IS NORMAL. Too often we use the worst examples of families to judge a societies treatment of women and ignore completely it's treatment of men.
I support equality but don't like the tendency to frame gender relations as good versus evil. A mother at home with their kids is not evil nor is a man at a crummy job trying to support his family.
I did not read anything about family roles. But economic dependency to a male makes many women a hostage. Look at the domestic violence figures.
In fact, I am wondering, edstatic - why are you around the women forums so much if you obviously do not care about the issues surrounding us? if you are not willing to be empathetic? if you are not willing to actually hear our voices?
Economic dependence no a male is not in and of itself evil. Yes it's better when women have choices and I support full equality but we have to stop seeing men as abusers who can't be trusted to love or care for their families. This kind of anti male attitude is as destructive as any other negative stereotype we could create about people.
It's amazing that I would have to sell women on the goodness of men while they live in a society that was built by men born to women who supported and cared for them and their children. Men are good.
Please continue to promote equality but don't do it by tearing down men or making them out to be devils.
And this is only when we're talking about advanced countries. Here in Iran, women's testimony is worth half a man's. Their blood money is also half. They can't decide the financial situation of their children and have zero power over their custody. If the father dies the child's guardian is the grandfather, not the father. Of course, women inherit half the money. There are some jobs that are blocked to them, such as being a judge. That is, my friend, evil.
No none that is evil. That is unfair, it's unjust, but it's far from evil. The kind of unfairness you describe is what happens at a job interview when the other guy gets the job because he is a few inches taller. You might be pressured by your father to take over the family business but you really wan to be a chef. You might have a wife that is doing really well at work and want you her husband to stay home and watch the kids. NONE OF THAT IS EVIL.
I hope you understand the danger of taking an extreme position. It makes monsters out of men who are not monsters at all. Of course we should fight for equality and strive to end unfairness but don't it by making mountains out of mole hills.
Iran is a theocracy, and from the sound of it a true patriarchy. The people of Iran ARE NOT FREE! This is a very important distinction. If those men and women were free to decide their destiny independent of their supreme leader we might see more fairness for men and women.
How about a program to boost men in the US?
"Wait for a number of centuries for it to be this way and much more - just to get even."
If that is how you play it don't expect men's support. That is immature and silly.
according to feminists,men are murderers,rapists, oppressors,cheaters.They must be punished for their sins.They enslaved women for centuries,what's loss of few games and life of few men for empowering women?