While some of us American women question how we can enjoy and support our families while educating ourselves and building a career – highlighted in recent TED talks and the Atlantic magazine – there are still women abroad who are severely punished for aspiring to anything other than a life in the home and the fields.
We will all have individual challenges, but I would like to point out how much easier it is to hold close a sense of our own struggles along with those we naturally relate to than to empathize with the lot of others. Below is a piece of journalism aired only a couple of months ago, in May 2012. These women relate to our desire to better ourselves, have a good life, and that which is best for the family, however, they are extremely limited by local social constructs set in place by those who actively suppress the intellect and dignity of women in their community.
If women are able to hold positions of influence in other countries and communities, shouldn’t a primary concern of those women be to elevate and advocate for international respect and leadership of women at large? Rather than discussing how we may have more freedom to enjoy our spoils, can we work together, aspiring to ensure the safety and humanity of all? Some people who are aware of my interest in women’s issues ask me about it with curiosity – often thinking that the battle has been won! Indeed, I acknowledge the inexplicable privileges I have received as a women born to my parents in the exact era in which I exist, but it is too few women who are given choice and opportunity today on an international scale, which concerns me.
Therefore, I do not understand Feminism to be an issue specific to a time or place, it is for all people over all time, for the humane treatment of all people. There have been emblematic writings and pivotal moments of thought that caused people’s stance to shift, but I guarantee that this and other issues of Human Rights are not relegated to the past. Even in the U.S. we are not immune to relapsing into gender or racial privileging.
More on Indian Gendercide HERE.