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.

Continuation of Feminism in Japan

I chose to continue my focus on Asia for the 2nd half of the project. First, I wanted to discuss Japan.
Women's movements in Japan stemmed from male-led liberalization movements. These movements gave women the motivation to starts feminist movements. Many of these focused on changing the motherly, non-working image stereotyped onto women by generations of chauvinistic men, causing many to question Japanese society itself. In the background of these movements, women after World War II were allowed to work, but only if they did not have infant children to care for; as opposed to societies where men would sometimes support their wives' careers, tradition proclaimed that women were homemakers; the limited rights given to women only furthered their push for rights.
I'm curious about why these movements started after the war instead of before. Other countries, mainly in Europe, had already given women rights before the war. If Japan really wanted to be considered a Great Power, shouldn't it give women rights before it is required?

Women's International Abortion Rights

For the next portion of our presentation, I thought it would be interesting to examine abortion law throughout the world. We know that it has been and will continue to be a controversial issue in the United States, but I am really interested in finding out how abortion is dealt with in other countries, both modern and third-world countries. The concept of abortion and having control over one's body is a very important issue in a woman's life. In America, Roe v. Wade in 1973 delcared abortion legal, but I still have very little knowledge on abortion rights in other countries. For my presentation, I will be focusing on abortion rights of women in select countries, which will represent a class of countries who have similar rights. I hope to discuss countries with no rights, those with little rights, those with medium rights, and those will full rights. It will be interesting to find which class of country falls into each category.

Japanese WWII Secrets

During its occupation of China/ Manchuria, the Japanese army committed such atrocities as the Rape of Nanjing. Unfortunately, this was to continue during World War II. Capturing young women and girls from its various territories, the Japanese sold the girls as sex slaves to the military, where the Rape of Nanjing was repeated a hundred times over. This dark secret was kept under the eyes of the world until recently, when this horrible act was shown to the world. Despite the fact that many people who were victims of this atrocity have testified that Japan ran military brothels, the Japanese Prime Minister not only refuses to apologize, but claims that the testimonies are not true. But the pained words of women scarred for life by this crime speak differently.

Foot binding

Beginning during Medieval times, foot binding was introduced because people at the time thought women with feet so small that they could fit into 4-inch lotus shoes were attractive. Young girls' feet would actually be bound by strips of cloth, and all but the large toes would be broken so the girl's foot could fit in the shoe. The result was a permanently concave foot that, when walked on, caused great pain. Women whose feet had been bound were more likely to suffer more injury, and had an increased chance of falling. Fortunately, foot binding was abolished at the end of the Dynastic Era, but women alive before the Chinese Revolution still have/had foot problems.

Alexandra Kollantai (1872-1952)

Alexandra Kollantai was the most prominent woman in the Soviet administration during her lifetime. Originally a Menshevik who was exiled in America and Scandinavia, Kollantai joined the Bolsheviks in 1914 and returned to Russia. After the Bolshevik Revolution, she was appointed People's Commissar for Social Welfare. In this position of power, she created the Zhenotdel (Women's Department) in 1919 - an organization which fought for literacy and to educate women about the new laws concerning marriage, education, and employment which were put in place by the Revolution. She made history and became the world's first female ambassador when she was appointed Soviet ambassador to Europe. Although Stalin merely used this appointment to effectively exile her from Russia, her appointment to this office was significant. Kollantai was also a member of the Soviet delegation to the League of Nations. She strongly promoted free love; she believed that for a socialist revolution to truly occur, radical change must be made concerning the way in which sexuality was viewed. She is also relevant for her radical view of marriage as a relic of the oppressive past. She believed that once the ideal democracy was created by the Communists, the notion of a family unit would wither away. She encouraged mothers to believe in the notion of not personally possessing children and believed that there would be "...only our children, children of Russia's communist workers." The political power she held was remarkable for a woman in the early 20th century - especially in a backward country like Russia - and her belief in a liberated woman who was not tied down to the traditional concept of family was truly revolutionary.

Picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:AlexandraKollantaiLarge.jpeg

Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793)

Olympe de Gouges was born into a bourgeois family in Montauban, France. She moved to Paris and began to write essays, manifestos, and socially conscious plays such as L'Esclavage des Negres (Negro Slavery). She also wrote on gender-related topics such as the right to divorce and sexual relations outside of marriage. Being quite a revolutionary spirit herself, she welcomed the French Revolution; however, she became disenchanted with the fact that the revolution was not being extended to women. She joined the "Cercle Social", an association with the goal of equal political and social rights for women in France, and formulated the idea "A woman has the right to mount the scaffold. She must possess equally the right to mount the speaker's platform." She is most famous for writing the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen in 1790. In response to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1790) which was a universal proclamation espousing fundamental rights for all men without exception, de Gouges declared truly universal human rights by adding "women" where only "men" had been written. She also wrote Contrat Social (Social Contract) which proposed marriage based on gender equality. She continued her fight against injustice and famously said, "Male and female citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, must be equally admitted to all honours, positions, and public employment according to their capacity and without other distinctions besides those of their virtues and talents." Her outspoken nature and drive for gender equality drew criticism however, as her views were very progressive for her time. French historian, Jules Michelet dismissed her, challenging, "She allowed herself to act and write about more than one affair that her weak head did not understand." Although de Gouges unfortunately was unable to see radical improvement during her lifetime, she left a legacy for future participants in the women's rights movement to admire and build upon.

Picture: http://www.raffiniert.ch/images/gouges.jpg

Women's Suffrage in Europe in the Early 20th Century

After extensive research on a plethora of subjects regarding women's rights in various countries from the beginning of the 20th century to 1945, I have decided to specialize my topic in order to present a thorough and educating topic, instead of a broad overview. After discussion with my partners, I have decided to speak about women's suffrage in European countries. I have chosen to study suffrage within Europe because I found that the roots of women's suffrage really came out of Europe. Though women's suffrage movements occurred in many countries around the world, I will be specifically citing examples from certain European countries, such as Sweden, Germany, Great Britain, and Russia, since these countries represent many different tactics, on many different timeleines, to obtain suffrage for women. The reason I decided to study suffrage was because I found that in most of my reading regarding women's rights and feminism, suffrage was a main thread mentioned in many sources. The right to vote is also something that was not specific to women; non-land owning men and minorities also fought in the battle for the vote. For my presentation, I'm going to make a powerpoint presentation which covers the main stories regarding women's suffrage in Europe and use specific countries as examples. I hope to educate the class throughly and interestingly from my presentation.

Les Droits des Femmes (Women's Rights)

Women's rights in France began in 1948, when the government of the 2nd republic established three rights essential to an efficent democracy: suffrage, employment, education. As in the original French Revolution, women demanded an integral role in the new democracy. The leaders of this push for rights had led previous feminist movements, and focused more on suffrage than other important desires, such as marital reform and better employment oppportunities. This did not mean that marital reform was completely abandoned, however: a radical sect called the Vesuvians advocated equal leadership in families, gave women the right to annul their marriages, and actually wanted to strip women that did not have their own opinions of their rights.
Supporters of feminism argued that as women raised children, they played a critical role in strengthening the republic, and thus needed more rights.

Source of Information: www.ohiou.edu/~chastain/rz/womrgt.htm

Women's Rights in Nazi Germany

Even though fascism promotes equality for all, Hitler propagated the idea that the equality of women to men was a scheme developed by Jewish professors and philosophers. As Hitler was against Judaism, he obviously could not accept an idea supported by those he was trying to destroy.
When he was running for political power in 1932, Hitler spread this idea, claiming that if elected, he would take jobs from 800,000 women in 4 years, supposedly so there would be more jobs for men with families. But would it not have also made sense for Hitler to let those men's wives keep their jobs?
When he finally obtained power, Hitler took even more drastic measures, firing doctors, lawyers. and women in similar professions who were married. Hitler even banned women from the "great reward" of jury duty, because he saw women as purely emotional, incapable of rational thought.
To infuse his anti-feminist beliefs into all of Germany's infrastructure, Hitler awarded leadership of the newly created Nazi Women's league to Getrud Scholtz-Klink, a competent orator who spoke about the superiority of men over women, lending her voice to the swarm of propaganda unleashed upon the German public. Hitler rewarded Scholtz-Klink's services by also making her leader of the German Girl's League. The next stepping-stone for German girls after Hitler Youth, the League essentially brainwashed teenage girls into believing Hitler's ideals.
Naturally, when Hitler's policies caused many women to join more liberal political organizations, he set up concentration camps for women alone, showing that he would not even let his own fellow Germans have their own opinions, further securing the world's opinion of Hitler as a dictator.

Source of Information: www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERwomen.htm

Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) gives a comprehensive review of the state of ... all » human rights issues for women around the world. Series: "Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Distinguished Lecture Series" [Public Affairs]

I found some cool info

I was surfing Wikipedia this afternoon, and I found some neat stuff about the Seneca Falls Convention.
Much like Mary Wollstonecraft's "Vindication of the Rights of Man," the Convention, instead of creating a whole new template of rights, adapted existing material; Wollstonecraft changed Edmund Burke's reflections on the French Revolution, which benefited the male sex, to a document that proved women needed just as many rights as men.
The Seneca Falls Convention started in the 1840's, at a time when America had shifted from Jefferson's vision of a nation of independent agrarians to a cluster of capitalists. Various evils, like alcoholism, slavery, demonic treatment of the mentally ill, and the legal disadvantages of women caused both men and women to join reform groups, which sought to eliminate these curses upon society. The Convention originated from one of these reform groups.

Source of Information: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Falls_convention

I found some cool info

I was surfing Wikipedia this afternoon, and I found some neat stuff about the Seneca Falls Convention.
Much like Mary Wollstonecraft's "Vindication of the Rights of Man," the Convention, instead of creating a whole new tempalte of rights, adapted existing material; Wollstonecraft changed Edmund Burke's reflections on the French Revolution, which benefited the male sex, to a document that proved women needed just as many rights as men.
The Seneca Falls Convention started in the 1840's, at a time when America had shifted from Jefferson's vision of a nation of independent agrarians to a cluster of capitalists. Various detriments, like alcoholism, slavery, demonic treatment of the mentally ill, and the legal disadvantages of women caused both men and womento join reform groups, which sought to eliminate these curses upon society. The Convention originated from one of these reform groups.

The Beginning of Research

After beginning to research the broad topic of Women's Rights around the world in the early 20th century, I soon realized how truly difficult it would be to narrow what exactly I would study. In addition, I also noticed how difficult it would be to find information on the topic and its impact in society outside of the United States. For example, after typing "Women's Rights in the early 1900s" in the google searchbar, I found only women's rights pages pertaining to America, thus making the search or information much more difficult. However, after gleaning this information, I learned how I would have to research, and began to search for women's history in specific regions of the world. Knowing already some information about women in the middle east, I decided to search for women's history in Africa. Information on women's rights in Africa was hard to find at first, but after looking through a few pages I was able to learn some interesting facts. For example, between 1904 and 1906 in Egypt, government officials went against Muslim calls against the emancipation of women, and they attempted to form their own liberal society. Finding more interest in this region, I also learned that Egypt was possibly the most active country in women's rights movements during the early 20th century. Egyptian women were led by activists such as Huda Sharawi (1879–1947), and their efforts were often displayed in old Egyptian art.
Although researching was frustrating at times, I learned how to better narrow my search in order to find reliable and quality information. Some sites that I believe will help in the future are listed below:

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/11/nfe/ht11nfe.htm

http://www.legacy98.org/

http://www.wic.org/misc/history.htm

An Introduction to Women's Rights in the early 20th Century

My initial reaction to the news that my partner and I were assigned to research Women’s Rights was surprise. Never did I think that my three male partners would choose such a subject. This fact only furthered my interest in the topic; why should a woman be surprised at a man showing interest in her history?

Feeling more personally connected to the cause, I began my research. I began by searching on Google.com, putting in the key words “Women’s Rights, 20^th Century.” Not surprisingly, almost every hit was about women’s rights within the US. Every link that looked promising proved me wrong; I was astounded by the lack of women’s global history. While some articles and essays did provide little mentions of happenings in other countries, I found very few which were dedicated to women’s rights specifically to a country other than the United States. I would like to identify this now, and make sure that my presentation does not reflect similarly; rather, I think it should be a fair representation and analysis of women’s rights in many countries.

Throughout history, women have had a highly debated roll within society. Epochs have come and gone, each ushering in or reverting back to a new set of rules regarding women. As previously cited by my brother from another mother, or my partner from another class, William Schlesinger, Spartans viewed their women as equal to men—participating in sports rather than tending to the children—while medieval times called for the opposite approach. This gives me pause—why the constant shifting? Why revert backwards, rather than progress? While I am aware that women’s rights have certainly progressed over time, I cannot overlook the periods when the meticulous work of various revolutionaries’ was undone.

At the turn of the century, women’s rights were being pushed firmly by a few key leaders. These leaders, following on the coattails of their predecessors, only further pushed the messages and missions of their respective movements. In America, the National Women’s Suffrage Association had been established in 1869 by Elizabeth Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, giving women an established voice in the movement for women’s right to vote. By 1920, the U.S. Senate had ratified the 19^th Amendment, allowing women the right to vote. Women in New Zealand and Australia won the right to vote before 1900. The Woman’s Social and Political Union was formed in Great Britain in 1903. Countries all over the world were beginning to recognize women as more equal, specifically in respect to the right to vote.

While the beginning of the century began with a strong following dedicated to the advancement of women, World War I brought new troubles to deal with, causing the focus on women to be deterred. Women’s rights were put on hold as the world’s most powerful nations sought to build themselves back up again. The struggle for women’s rights was briefly reinstated after the war, but most focus was lost in the years following 1920.

The focus on women’s rights was once again brought up shortly thereafter, furthering women in their quest for equality. Today, women still struggle daily for rights; although most countries have awarded the right to vote to women, some still refuse. Equality is not only made obvious by whether women can vote or not; it is about women furthering their careers, being awarded equal pay to their male counterparts, and generally developing a picture of a woman who is not resigned to her kitchen. Today, women all over the world are pushing further and further for total equality, and those countries that are farther along helping others to follow in their paths.

Throughout this project, I hope to encounter more information about women’s rights that is not just about voting. I hope to uncover more information about women in the workplace; this would include investigation into salary and position, specifically. I would also like to address the issue of birth control, both in America and in other countries. After a little research, it is safe to say I am excited about my topic and the research that is to come.

Background of Women's Rights

In the 1900's, women still held the inferior rights that they had in the previous century; however, they did work in textile factories and coal mines, among other industries, during and after the Industrial Revolution. Women often experienced discrimination and embarrassment, mostly at the coal mines. They were forced to do jobs that "only women could do", and the horrible conditions at the coal mines caused many women to go back home, because of the simple fact that being a housewife was cheaper than working. Because of women's rights, the opposite holds true today. Because of events and people like the Seneca Convention and Millicent Garrett Fawcett, women ave not only received the right to vote, but the right to have the same opportunities that men do, as well. However, discrimination is still poisoning the blood of America, and women are often not given the same opportunities they deserve because of narrow-minded, prejudiced bosses.
When I did researched this topic, I found a number of things that were interesting. I would like to further investigate the entry of women into high profile fields like medicine and law, as well as the continued discrimination of women in the workplace that still goes on today. I'm also curious about the induction of women in one of the most important job fields: world and American government. I want to see how the male leaders of today will react to the slow but steady infusion of women into places like the Supreme Court, the UN, and maybe in a couple years, the White House.

An Overview of Women's Rights

Although women’s rights have historically been subject to great debate, women’s rights have also historically indicated the degree of progress and modernization in global society. Traditionally, women have been subordinate to men and even the Creation story from the New Testament states that the first man, Adam, was created before the first woman, Eve, and that Eve in fact was created from one of Adam’s ribs. This ancient gender inequality also manifests itself today as women in some areas still do not have access to the same financial opportunities, political opportunities, and educational opportunities as men. Although many developed countries are making great strides toward gender equality, such movements are frequently met with harsh opposition as tradition is quite difficult to change.

However, progress in women’s rights has been initiated in areas all over the world and despite great difficulty, change is slowly being made. As early as 500 BC, societies such as the Spartans of Greece offered an early semblance of gender equality when women were allowed to perform “greater” functions in society, rather than caring for children and maintaining a household. Through the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment – examples throughout history of changes in the status quo – women gained slightly more respect and perception of a women’s role in society had begun to change. Unfortunately today, even in highly developed countries, women are still struggling to be free from the bondage of traditional concepts of their role in society: that of being subordinate to men.

In the 1900’s, women living in more developed societies served a very stereotypical role: They were expected marry, have children, and care for the home while their husband provided the sole income for the family. If they were unmarried, they earned small wages as cooks, waitresses, domestic servants, nurses etc. The role of women in British society for example was even reinforced by female ruler Queen Victoria, “Let women be what God intended, a helpmate for man, but with totally different duties and vocations.” While many women were content with this role, some historical figures, which will be discussed later, organized to push for greater rights. At this time, laws were beginning to be passed giving women greater rights to property, education, divorce, and other rights which we consider today to be extremely basic.

Although great progress was made throughout the 19^th century in terms of women’s rights, certain issues still need to be resolved, and many have recently been created by changing circumstances and times. In September 1995, at the United Nation’s Fourth World Conference on Women, in Beijing, China, delegates identified twelve sectors in need of improvement regarding women’s rights. These included “poverty; access to educations and training; access to health care; violence against women; women and war; economic inequality with men’ political inequality with men; creating of institutions for women’s advancement; lack of respect for women’s right’ stereotyping of women; gender inequalities and the environment; and violation of girl child’s rights.”¹ In order for the world to be better, women’s rights must be improved in all of these areas.

Through this project, I would like to investigate the feminization of poverty (women living in disproportionate poverty), the progress of women in global politics (voting and holding office), and how abuse against women is being addressed and presented on a global stage. I am curious to know how large of an issue women’s rights are on a global scale and how these issues are being addressed by a diverse world community. Also, if “you can’t live with ‘em” I want to know why we “can’t live without ‘em.”

1. United Nations, “Critical Ares of Concern,” Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women (New York: United National Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable development, 1995), ch. 1, annex II, ch. 3, pp. 41-44.

World History Women's Rights

This is the first blog for the World History Women's Rights Blog.