A Question for Thought

After receiving an email from Kirby, I would like to propose a question. In what ways (if any) do women slow progress of the women's rights movement? For example, does wearing suggestive clothing or listening to offensive rap slow progress? If anyone actually reads this before class, it'd be great if you compiled some sort of answer. I will mention this question once again during our presentation.

Sex Trafficking In Cambodia

This video was created by an organization attempting to create awareness about Sex Slavery around the world. Focusing on Cambodia, the video explains the life of a 24 year old Cambodian woman forced in to prostitution at a young age. She said her life had "no significance...no value," a sad statement which she views as reality. The UN should take greater action to prevent forced prostitution around the world. This action would further women's rights greatly, as the risk of being subjected to sexual slavery is a great impediment in this regard.

Presentation

As Michael said earlier, we have decided to go a different route this time and to get the class involved through a role-playing type presentation. By allowing the class to "become" the women facing great issues in the world, we can more effectively present our information and allow even those who knew little about these issues to gain insight and perspective. For my portion, I have decided to structure the presentation around the question "How can women forward their position in society if they must live in fear of being exploited." Rather than focusing on women who have achieved high status but cannot advance further (like discussing a woman who was denied a CEO position because of her gender) I chose to focus on women facing greater issues such as human rights violations. The women facing these challenges have the furthest to come in terms of equality, and that is why I paid them more attention.

The Neccessity for More Depth

After realizing I did not have enough depth I felt was necessary to provide a good, solid presentation, I began to look further into Hindu women in India, and also to examine Afghanistan women under Taliban rule. In India, many laws such as the Dowry Prevention Act and Sati Act have attempted to aid the suffering of women. However, these laws are often ineffective, as local governments do not properly file and enforce the crime that is taken place. Also, in dealing with Sati, many different ideals arise, for some women actually believe in Sati due to their strict religious devotion. On the other hand, some Hindu women are not as devout, and do not believe in this sacrificial suicide.
Additionally, I looked deeper into the oppression women faced after the Afghan Civil War, an event we were able to study in class. Immediately after the Taliban were able to take power, they instituted a gender apartheid which eliminated incredible amounts of freedom in the lives of Afgahni women. Although the Taliban are Islamic fundamentalists, many of the practices they used were not actually outlined in Islam. Therefore, I was able to find a lot of information I will be able to present tommorow. As Will and I continue to piece together the way we will present, I am becoming increasingly comfortable with the information I have studied.

Mainly for Will - Our final Presentation (The Process)

After analyzing the information we have, Will and I have decided to not use google Earth, but instead to both do presentations in which we put in the class in the shoes of the women we are discussing. By doing this, we feel we that we can effectively get the entire class involved and make the information we are teaching more intereting. Hopefully, I can gather more information from Lauren and Brendan about their ideas in order to put together a little segment about their ideas to end our presentation. In overall, I am beginning to feel good about the way we have put our information together, and I will later try and add yet even more information to give pretext to the information I may present tomorow.

Women's Rights in Islam

Around the world, women's rights and the role religion plays has been a heated debate. In the middle east and India, where Islam is a common faith, women's rights are consistently talked about. As of now, I have chosen to focus on India. After gaining independendence from Britain in 1947, India did not establish a constitution until 1949.In the consitution of India, article 14 allows equal rights and opportunities for men and women in the political, ecnomic, and social realms, while article 15 further prohibits discriumination against any citizen on the grounds of sex. Though legally on the same level as men, women are still stressed with difficulties in everyday life, as many are still illiterate and uneducated. Lack of education is one of the most important obstacles women face, but malnutrition and patriarchal traditions continue to hurt their true equality.

Sex Slavery

For the final portion of our project on Women's Rights, I have chosen to focus on "Sex Slavery" and the trafficking of women. "Sex Slavery" is a term used to describe forced prostitution for the profit of traffickers. The global sex trade has been prevalent since WWII and has increased in the past decade. Trafficking is prevalent in areas where women experience extreme poverty and are coerced into the prostitution as a means of creating income. However, as prostitution is an illicit line of work of most countries, the women are often taken advantage of, abused, and frequent become slaves. The risk of death by disease, homicide, and suicide is incredibly high for these women.
This topic ties in to the "Feminization of Poverty" and marital rights of women; accordingly, I plan on studying these topics to gain a full understanding of "Sex Slavery" around the world.