The Middle Eastern nation of Rojava has established feminist ideologies within its constitution and continues to be a beacon of feminist-led policies and experiments in communal anarchism.
Read MoreMexico Decriminalizes Abortion, Work Remains to Be Done
The Supreme Court of Mexico determined the criminalization of abortion to be unconstitutional. Yet, economic inequities pose challenging barriers to reproductive rights for many Mexican women.
On September 7 the Supreme Court of Mexico ruled the criminalization of women seeking abortion unconstitutional and established women with a legal right to exercise personal agency regarding their pregnancy.
In striking Article 196 of Coahuila’s Penal Code, the Supreme Court of Mexico determined penalizing women undergoing abortion violates their reproductive freedoms. Additionally, certain sections of Article 198, Article 199 and Article 244 were similarly struck for discriminating against women.
Two days later, the Supreme Court of Mexico invalidated a portion of Sinaloa’s state constitution which recognized a ‘right to life from conception.’ The nation’s highest court declared that federative entities, such as state constitutions, are not able to define the legal conception of personhood. As a result, neither an embryo nor a fetus may claim legal protections which ignore a woman’s rights, including her right to abort.
Reproductive policies in Mexico principally depend upon geography.
After Mexico’s shift toward decentralized governance, the issue of reproductive rights elicited contrasting subnational policy. Certain Mexican states permitted abortion and operated government clinics offering free abortions. Others prosecuted women seeking abortion for manslaughter.
But legal prohibitions of abortion do not discourage women from abortion – they merely endanger them. Dozens of women have been incarcerated for undertaking abortion, alongside doctors forced to renounce medical licenses. Women often risk secret and dangerous abortions, to evade incarceration: these abortions are Mexico’s fourth leading cause of maternal death. Each year 300,000 abortions conducted clandestinely yield serious health problems.
Now, these harms may no longer be legitimized. In its landmark ruling, the Supreme Court of Mexico unanimously admitted the “unimaginable human suffering” experienced by women seeking to abort amidst criminalization. Rural and low-income women particularly bear the brunt of the pains incurred by penalization. The women prosecuted for abortion are disproportionately poor because poor women are most likely to end up at public hospitals due to improper abortions. As Supreme Court President Arturo Zaldivar succinctly explains, “Rich girls … have always had abortions and never gone to prison.” Mexico’s punative judgment of women undertaking abortion has been “a crime that punishes poverty.”
It may be a decade until Mexico adopts legalization at the national scope.
Policy changes will immediately occur within only Coahuila and Sinaloa, the two Mexican states the Supreme Court ruled against. Therefore, for decriminalization to spread via the federal judiciary amparo lawsuits, appeals to state abuses grounded in constitutional protections must be filed against each Mexican state opposing abortion from within. The Supreme Court’s rulings may then be cited as precedent to bind the specific state.
Dr. Caroline Beer, an expert in Mexican politics at the University of Vermont, expects national decriminalization to play out in a process similar to that of same-sex marriage. Some states will voluntarily decriminalize; others will have to be forced. Of Mexico’s thirty-two states, four have decriminalized already, and ten are anticipated to voluntarily decriminalize in the near future. It’s a matter of time and money before sufficient amparos are filed in the eighteen conservative states resisting decriminalization.
Class disparities delineate access to abortion albeit decriminalization.
Concerns remain that a Mexican woman’s ability to exercise her reproductive rights will depend upon her economic means. Mexico could enforce health standards mandating patient access to reproductive services, but without government clinics offering free procedures, it is unlikely lower-class women will have reliable access to safe abortion.
Middle-class and upper-class women either ‘know a doctor’ (who will conduct the abortion competently and confidentially) or fly abroad. “The important thing to understand,” stresses Dr. Beer, “is that legalization of abortion is more an issue of class than an issue of gender.” Poor women publicly suffer criminalization while rich women privately escape it.
Mexico’s decriminalization may have a modest international impact.
Dr. Beer, who also directs Latin American Studies at UVM, considers Mexico’s decriminalization a sign of the region’s willingness to liberalize attitudes regarding reproductive rights, if not legalize them.
Mexico and Argentina, which legalized abortion in December 2020, are two economic engines with international influence. Their decriminalization will be referenced by neighboring powers such as Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.
However, not all Latin American countries are moving forward. However, Nicaragua and El Salvador, whose politics operate on strong men authoritarianism, have actually heightened measures to limit women’s rights activism.
Feminist political groups spearheaded Mexico’s decriminalization.
Notably, Mexican President Obrador did not explicitly support women seeking an abortion after the Supreme Court’s rulings. President Obrador leans conservative but has allowed his women’s rights allies to promote reproductive rights themselves. Even though President Obrador may not personally approve of decriminalization, he acknowledges women’s rights organizations and feminists as significant political constituencies.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court’s rulings incorporate a sensitivity to women’s realities in their jurisprudence. Mexico’s strides to protect women’s rights via decriminalization of abortion stand out among nations regressing backwards, not the least being their immediate northern neighbor.
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Rohan is an engineering graduate from Brown University. He is passionate about both writing and travel, and strives to blend critical thinking with creative communication to better understand the places, problems, and people living throughout the world. Ultimately, he hopes to apply his love for learning and story-sharing skills to resolve challenges affecting justice, equity, and humanity.
Denmark Reckons with the #MeToo Movement
Years after the #MeToo movement first began, Danish women are demanding gender equality in the workplace. After allegations of sexual harassment across multiple industries, leaders are committing to change.
On paper, Denmark has some of the highest markers of gender equality in the world. Around 40% of Danish parliament representatives are women, and the country’s first female prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, was appointed in 2011. Parental leave is split equally between Danish men and women, and Danish men often spend as much time caring for the home as Danish women. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report ranked Denmark as 14th globally, which means that Denmark’s gender divide is statistically very small.
Despite Denmark’s pride in gender equality, Danish women are speaking out against the misogyny and sexual harassment that permeates Danish work culture. At a comedy awards show in August, entertainment personality and host Sofie Linde broke the silence on sexism in the Danish entertainment industry in a bombshell speech. Following her speech, over 1,600 women signed a letter in support of complaints about sexual harassment in the media industry.
This public acknowledgment of sexual misconduct has emboldened more women to speak out. Over 600 doctors and medical students have signed a petition to end gender-based harassment in hospitals, universities and laboratories. In the political sphere, over 300 female politicians have called for reform, using 79 anonymous testimonies to illustrate the overt sexism that plagues the Danish government. Camilla Soee, one of the politicians spearheading this movement, told the BBC: "Once and for all, we wanted to prove that sexism and sexual harassment is part of the political environment."
As these women confront the men who have both enabled and engaged in widespread sexism in the workplace, many powerful men have been pressured to step down from their positions following allegations of misconduct. The mayor of Copenhagen, Frank Jensen, resigned from office on Oct. 19, 2020, after multiple women came forward with allegations of sexual harassment. In a statement to The Copenhagen Post, Jensen said, “I want to be a positive part of the culture change process that has been launched with the second wave of MeToo. I want to go from being a part of the problem to being a part of the solution.”
The Danish pride in gender equality has led to mixed receptions of this movement. Because of the Danish perception that Denmark is gender inclusive and equitable, many Danes believe that feminism is an unnecessary movement. In a poll conducted by the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project, only one in six Danes reported themselves as a feminist. The same poll found that two in five Danes believed that the #MeToo movement was unnecessary. As #MeToo finds new footing in Denmark, perhaps attitudes toward Danish feminism will evolve. The women leading this movement are determined to make a lasting impact in the fight for women’s rights.
Fight for Civil Liberties Doesn't Stop for a Pandemic in Chile
Despite unrest in Chile, feminist group Las Tesis continues to advocate for justice against police brutality and sexual violence toward women in Latin America.
Last year, Chilean feminist group Las Tesis released “Un Violador en Tu Camino” (“A Rapist in Your Path”), a song that became an anthem against sexual violence worldwide. The piece, which calls out the judicial system and the struggle of women across Latin America, has been performed all around the world in the form of flash mobs. Many who participate wear black blindfolds and green scarves to advocate for legal abortion practices as well.
The song first was created in light of the social inequality protests occurring in Chile in November 2019. The lyrics call out the unfair treatment of the Chilean government toward women. It says that a narrative is being written where women are to blame for sexual violence. Yet, the song places blame on the patriarchy, police and government systems for being blind to this ongoing violence.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Chile is considered one of the world’s most unequal countries and is susceptible to climate change. Chile is also considered to have one of the highest costs of living across South America. While the rich prosper from their investments in terms of development, the poor communities and Indigenous people suffer at the hands of urbanization.
Many Chileans consider themselves “at war against a powerful enemy.” Rather than succumbing to the protesters’ demands, President Pinera declared a state of emergency that involved the deployment of the military to control crowds and the institution of a curfew. These measures have caused a sharp decline in protests like Las Tesis’.
International attention has focused on the treatment of protesters, with allegations of human rights violations. For instance, there have been claims that protesters may have been tortured, resulting in at least 19 deaths and 20 people being reported missing. Additionally, there has been a 15% increase in sexual violence reports since last year.
However, on June 12, the police filed a lawsuit against Las Tesis. In the lawsuit, police claim that the feminist group encourages violence against officers of Chile’s national police force, Carabineros de Chile. Charges came after the release of “Manifesto Against Police Violence,” a video produced alongside Russia’s Pussy Riot where protesters stood outside of a police station and demanded to “fire the police.” Chilean police took the video as threats against officers, but no papers have been officially served yet to the feminist group.
Daffne Valdes, one of the founders of Las Tesis, said in an interview with Al-Jazeera that “this is an attack on freedom of expression,” calling it a form of censorship. Even though in both the song and video by Las Tesis the police are called out as “rapists,” group members say they are simply referring to the corruption seen throughout Chile’s police system.
The Call for Change: Women Speak Out on Sexualized Violence in South Africa
The tallies have been rising on women murdered on the streets of South Africa. From a country with a history of violence and suppression, the fight is nowhere finished. Multiday protests throughout major cities have brought the crisis to international attention.
The brutal murder of Uyinene Mrwetyana, a University of Cape Town student who was raped and killed while at the post office is unfortunately not a standalone incident. Mrwetyana joined upwards of 30 women that had been murdered in August alone. This marks the highest rates gender-based violence the country has seen, in a month that is, ironically, also designated as the national awareness month for Women’s Rights.
There are many reasons thought to be behind the high numbers. Culturally, it comes from a history of women being viewed as inferior and the belief that women must obey their husbands. In many parts of South Africa, there is a general acceptance of rape, including martial rape and gang rape, as not being seen as wrong. This has led to South Africa having the highest rate of domestic abuse in the world. Domestic abuse was only outlawed in 1998 and martial rape in 1993. A studied done by the South Africa Medical Research Council found that 50% of men have abused their partners. Most relevant to the recent murders, every six hours a partner kills their female counterpart and one in four men in South Africa have raped someone.
Studies have also found that there are certain traits in men and women that can lead to a greater risk of abuse in the country. Men who have grown up with violence, without father figures, and who use alcohol are more likely to abuse. It is also tied to race and socioeconomic status, as women of color, who are unemployed, and/or are from rural communities are more likely to be victims. Psychological studies have found that domestic abuse is often used as a response to feeling powerless. Apartheid proved violence is successful as a means for control and left people with a lack of trust in the government. Men who feel helpless regress to using violence against their partners in an attempt to regain a sense of control and self-worth. They also have a lack of fear of being prosecuted due to flaws in the police system – which is legitimate when only 15% of perpetrators are convicted.
The exceptionally high rates of HIV in South Africa pose an additional danger to rapes. The belief in a virgin cleansing myth, if you rape a virgin you will be cured of HIV, has led to high rates of abuse in children, with 50% of children being abused before they turn 18. Rates of sexual abuse have also been found to be exceptionally high in schools and often deters girls from pursuing education. Additionally, South Africa has increased rates of violence surrounding homophobia, with rates of “corrective rape” reaching 10 a week just in Cape Town. This mirrors statistics for gay black men.
President Ramaphosa said that measures have to be taken now to address the femicide. He has proposed longer sentencing and introducing more sexual offence courts. With current rates of rape reporting lingering at 2%, there is a chance that this will cause little change. The women marching firmly believe that change is necessary, but will it be enough?
DEVIN O’DONNELL’s interest in travel was cemented by a multi-month trip to East Africa when she was 19. Since then, she has continued to have immersive experiences on multiple continents. Devin has written for a start-up news site and graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Neuroscience.
In India, Grassroots Initiatives Work to Undo the Period Taboo
For many Indians, lack of access to menstrual products is compounded by entrenched societal stigma. Across the country, women are beginning to make a change.
For most people with periods in the Western world, menstruation is something of an afterthought—annoying and sometimes painful, but easily dealt with, and far from debilitating. In parts of the Global South, however, “that time of the month” is not only a serious health concern and financial impediment but also a source of profound social and cultural tension. Over the past two years, grassroots activists have brought increased attention to the plight of menstruating women in India, and begun to envision a future in which well-being and participation in society is not dictated by one’s reproductive cycle.
Shameful attitudes toward menstruation in India are deeply ingrained, and, especially in rural areas, can be actively harmful to women of all ages. Indian women experiencing their periods can be banned from entering the kitchen and preparing food, separated from family members, and removed from religious ceremonies, sometimes on the grounds of theistic tradition: In 2018, many Indian men were outraged at a ruling by the country’s Supreme Court allowing women of menstruating age to visit Sabarimala, a Hindu temple in Kerala dedicated to Lord Ayyappa, who is seen in traditional mythology to be disgusted by the concept of female fertility. Indignation at the ruling reached a peak in January 2019, when one person died and dozens were injured in protests against the judgment.
Equally dangerous, and highly imbricated with traditional views of menstruation, is the pervasive lack of access to sanitary products, which are crucial to keeping women clean and safe during their periods. An estimated 70 percent of Indian women are unable to afford such products, with 300 million resorting to unhygienic options such as newspapers, dry leaves, and unwashed rags. Menstruation is also a key driver of school dropouts among girls, 23 percent of whom leave their schooling behind upon reaching puberty.
In a sociocultural landscape where natural bodily functions are affecting the human dignity of people with periods, education, outreach, and access are crucial. In February 2018, Indian news outlet Daijiworld reported on one person working toward these goals: the so-called “Pad Woman” of Manguluru, who has been leading a group of young students in her southwestern port to create awareness of menstrual hygiene. The Pad Woman, Prameela Rao, is the founder of non-profit Kalpa Trust, which offers students at the Kavoor government First Grade College materials to manufacture sanitary pads for women in rural areas. The completed pads are distributed free of charge to the colonies of Gurupur, Malali, Bajpe, and Shakthinagar, obviating the need for women to purchase prohibitively expensive mainstream menstrual products. The pads are made from donated cotton clothing, which the students wash, iron, cut, and stitch to create the final product.
In the western state of Gujarat, an organization known as the Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP) is directly targeting period taboos among rural communities. Activists Manjula and Sudha told the Indian magazine The New Leam that, for the girls they have educated in the villages of Karamdi Chingaryia and Jariyavada, confusion and fear regarding menstruation have given way to confidence and clarity. For the AKSRP, which emphasizes gender equality and the societal participation of women, offering rural villagers the ability to make informed choices about their own menstrual health is key. As of The New Leam’s report in April 2019, the non-profit had reached about 60 Indian villages, providing information about sanitary pads of various designs, longevities, and price points.
While pads are a far more hygienic choice than rags or newspaper, they are not the only option: Back in Manguluru, two German volunteers have initiated a menstrual cup project known as “a period without shame.” In their pilot run, Nanett Bahler and Paulina Falky distributed about 70 menstrual cups free of charge to Indian women, as well as leading workshops on effective use for recipients. The cups, which are made of silicone and emptied around twice per day during one’s period, can be used for up to 10 years, making them a hygienic, eco-friendly, and potentially more affordable option for people of all ages.
Such grassroots efforts have been instrumental in chipping away at stigma among Indians in certain cities and villages, but broader change is unlikely without widespread publicity. One potential avenue for increased awareness is the newly released documentary Period. End of Sentence., which follows rural Indian women in their battle against period stigma. To create the film, Iranian-American director Rayka Zehtabchi visited small villages outside of Delhi to inquire after women’s menstrual health, and shot extensive footage of women who have learned to create their own sanitary products. The diligent pad-makers, many of whom are housewives who have never before held a full-time job, sell their creations to locals in their area, educating women on proper use and convincing shop owners to stock the products. By the end of the time span covered by the documentary, the women had set up a factory and manufactured 18,000 pads, earning economic self-sufficiency for themselves and an Academy Award nomination for Zehtabchi.
The work of these Delhi entrepreneurs, along with that of the AKSRP and Pad Woman Prameela, has made a positive difference for countless people—but, according to Mumbai-based journalist and author Puja Changoiwala, education and access must rise above the grassroots level and reach the legislative in order to create enduring change in attitudes toward menstruation. In a piece for Self, Changoiwala suggests that the Indian government should distribute free pads and launch an “aggressive nation-wide awareness program,” engaging celebrities and the press to address the dire consequences of long-held stigma. For anyone in India with a period, such a moment cannot come soon enough.
TALYA PHELPS hails from the wilds of upstate New York, but dreams of exploring the globe. As former editor-in-chief at the student newspaper of her alma mater, Vassar College, and the daughter of a journalist, she hopes to follow her passion for writing and editing for many years to come. Contact her if you're looking for a spirited debate on the merits of the em dash vs. the hyphen.
Sexism, Racism Drive More Black Women to Run for Office in Both Brazil and US
Motivated in part by President Donald Trump’s disparaging remarks about women and the numerous claims that he committed sexual assault, American women are running for state and national office in historic numbers. At least 255 women are on the ballot as major party congressional candidates in the November general election.
The surge includes a record number of women of color, many of whom say their candidacies reflect a personal concern about America’s increasingly hostile, even violent, racial dynamics. In addition to the 59 black female congressional candidates, Georgia’s Stacey Abrams hopes to become her state’s first black governor.
The U.S. is not the only place where the advance of racism and misogyny in politics has has spurred black women to run for office at unprecedented levels.
In Brazil, a record 1,237 black women will be on the ballot this Sunday in the country’s Oct. 7 general election.
Brazilian women rise up
I’m a scholar of black feminism in the Americas, so I have been closely watching Brazil’s 2018 campaign season – which has been marked by controversy around race and gender – for parallels with the United States.
Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of Brazilian women marched nationwide against the far-right presidential frontrunner Jair Bolsonaro, under the banner of #EleNao – #NotHim.
Bolsonaro, a pro-gun, anti-abortion congressman with strong evangelical backing, once told a fellow congressional representative that she “didn’t deserve to be raped” because she was “terrible and ugly.”
Bolsonaro has seen a boost in the polls since he was stabbed at a campaign rally on Sept. 8 in a politically motivated attack.
Brazil has shifted rightward since 2016, when the left-leaning female president Dilma Rousseff was ousted in a partisan impeachment process that many progressives regard as a political coup.
Her successor, then-Vice President Michel Temer, quickly passed an austerity budget that reversed many progressive policies enacted under Rousseff and her predecessor, Workers Party founder Luís Inácio “Lula” da Silva.
The move decimated funding for agencies and laws that protect women, people of color and the very poor.
Racism in Brazil
In Brazil, these three categories – women, people of color and the very poor – tend to overlap.
Brazil, which has more people of African descent than most African nations, was the largest slaveholding society in the Americas. Over 4 million enslaved Africans were forcibly taken to the country between 1530 and 1888.
Brazil’s political, social and economic dynamics still reflect this history.
Though Brazil has long considered itself colorblind, black and indigenous Brazilians are poorer than their white compatriots. Black women also experience sexual violence at much higher rates than white women – a centuries-old abuse of power that dates back to slavery.
Afro-Brazilians – who make up just over half of Brazil’s 200 million people, according to the 2010 census – are also underrepresented in Brazilian politics, though sources disagree on exactly how few black Brazilians hold public office.
Three Afro-Brazilians serve in the Senate, including one woman. In the 513-member lower Chamber of Deputies, about 20 percent identify as black or brown. Women of color hold around 1 percent of seats in the Chamber of Deputies.
Black women step into the fray
That could change on Sunday.
This year, 9,204 of the 27,208 people running for office across Brazil are women, which reflects a law requiring political parties to nominate at least 30 percent women. About 13 percent of female candidates in 2018 are Afro-Brazilian.
In most Brazilian states, that’s a marked increase over Brazil’s last general election, in 2014, according to the online publication Congresso em Foco.
In São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state, 105 black women ran for office in 2014. This year, 166 are. In Bahia state, there are 106 black female candidates for political office, versus 59 in 2014. The number has likewise doubled in Minas Gerais, from 51 in 2014 to 105 this year.
As in the United States, Brazil’s black wave may be a direct response to alarming social trends, including sharp rises in gang violence and police brutality, both of which disproportionately affect black communities.
But many female candidates in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s second largest city, say one specific event inspired them to run.
In March, Marielle Franco, an Afro-Brazilian human rights activist and Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman, was assassinated – the 11th Brazilian activist to be murdered since November 2017.
Franco’s murder remains unsolved, but she was an outspoken critic of the military occupation of Rio’s poor, mostly black favela neighborhoods. The ongoing police investigation has implicated government agents in the shooting, which also killed her driver.
Her death unleashed an avalanche of activism among black women in Rio de Janeiro, with new groups offering fundraising and political training for female candidates of color.
On Sunday, 231 black women from Rio de Janeiro state will stand for election in local, state and federal races – more than any other state in Brazil and more than double the number who ran in 2014.
Black representation from Rio to Atlanta
Black women may have been historically excluded from Brazil’s formal political arena, but they have been a driving force for social and political change since the country’s transition from dictatorship to democracy in 1985.
Decades before #MeToo, Brazilian women of color were on the front lines of activism around issues like gender-based violence, sexual harassment and abortion.
Brazil has hundreds of black women’s groups. Some, including Geledes, a center for public policy, are mainstays of the Brazilian human rights movement. The founder of the Rio de Janeiro anti-racism group Criola, Jurema Werneck, is now the director of Amnesty International in Brazil.
The fact that thousands of black women, both veteran activists and political newcomers, will appear on the ballot on Sunday is testament to their efforts.
As in the United States, black Brazilian women’s demand for political representation is deeply personal. They have watched as their mostly male and conservative-dominated congresses chipped away at hard-won protections for women and people of color in recent years, exposing the fragility of previous decades’ progress on race and gender.
Black women in Brazil and the U.S. know that full democracy hinges on full participation. By entering into politics, they hope to foster more inclusive and equitable societies for all.
KIA LILLY CALDWELL is a Professor of African, African American, and Diaspora Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE CONVERSATION
Female Saudi Arabian Activist on Death Row for Peaceful Protest
On August 21, 2018, Saudi Arabian public prosecutors announced that they were considering the death penalty for five Saudi Shia activists. One of the five is Israa al-Ghomgham, a female activist who could become the first woman sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia. Ghomgham, along with four other Saudi Shia activists including her husband, engaged in peaceful demonstrations for Shia rights beginning in 2011 during the rise of the Arab Spring, which led to their 2015 arrests.
“Any execution is appalling, but seeking the death penalty for activists like Israa al-Ghomgham, who are not even accused of violent behavior, is monstrous,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, who directs the Middle East sector of Human Rights Watch. “Every day, the Saudi monarchy’s unrestrained despotism makes it harder for its public relations teams to spin the fairy tale of ‘reform’ to allies and international business.”
Responding to peaceful protests with the death penalty is compromising both to proponents of human decency and order, and these actions are symptomatic of a larger illness. If Saudi Arabia is to continue to suppress and murder its own citizens, its actions could lead to its internal combustion. To preserve its tenuous position of prosperity, the Saudi Arabian government must honor the voices of its insurgents—or at least allow them to live.
Saudi Arabia, a desert country in the Middle East said to be the birthplace of Islam, holds a complex position at the pinnacle of capital and culture. It has the world’s third highest national total estimated value of natural resources. It is home to the world’s largest oil company, and it has been the proponent of various reform agendas, significant amount of money invested in solar energy. It is also ruled by the ultraconservative Wahhabi religious movement, which is part of Sunni Islam.
It has shown support for counterterrorism and revolutionary liberal and Arab Spring ideals and has supported rebel forces in Syria and Yemen, but internally it has been a breeding ground for violent forms of radical Islam, placing it at a crux between the most progressive and oppressive sides of the ideological spectrum. The nation’s 32-year-old king, Mohammed bin Salman, has been pushing to modernize his country, opening movie theatres and allowing women to drive for the first time—but his actions towards protestors despite his presentation of liberalism rings eerily close to the actions of Bashar al Assad, Syrian president who also began his reign by encouraging Westernization in Syria before cracking down on protestors and unleashing a bloody civil war. Under Salman, critics of the Saudi Arabian regime have been arrested in scores, and 58 people are currently on death row. Many of these prisoners are women, often arrested for protesting the country’s guardianship system, which places Saudi Arabian men in almost complete control of their daughters’ or wives’ lives.
Israa al-Ghomgham and her husband were arrested on December 5, 2015, and are on trial at the Specialized Criminal Court, which Saudi Arabia installed in 2008 and which has drawn expense criticism from human rights activists, sentencing eight protestors to death in 2014 and 14 in 2016. Currently human rights campaigners are working to secure her freedom and life.
EDEN ARIELLE GORDON is a writer, musician, and avid traveler. She attends Barnard College in New York.
Nigeria’s First Female Car Mechanic Is Changing the World
Sandra Aguebor is the first female mechanic in Nigeria and the founder of the Lady Mechanic Initiative, an organization that teaches women from diverse backgrounds how to fix cars and become financially independent. In Aguebor's garage, you’ll find tools to fix cars and so much more.
Scotland Creates £5.2m Initiative for Free Sanitary Products
As part of the growing effort to end period poverty, Scotland provides students with free sanitary products.
Only a few weeks ago, the Scottish government announced a £5.2 million ($6.4 million) initiative to provide students with free sanitary products. The scheme is part of a national effort to “banish the scourge of period poverty” by ensuring that no student’s health, studies, or wellbeing are affected by not having adequate access to sanitary products.
Scotland’s action is a first in world history and will provide all of the country’s 395,000 students with free pads and tampons beginning this September.
According to a survey of 2,000 by Young Scot, 1 in 4 people at schools and universities across Scotland have difficulty purchasing sanitary products. Another study by Women for Independence showed that one in five women go through period poverty. Because of this lack of access to period products, thousands miss school or have to make their own sanitary products using rags or newspapers, according to Plan International UK.
In a statement, Communities secretary Aileen Campbell said that, “In a country as rich as Scotland it’s unacceptable that anyone should struggle to buy basic sanitary products.
“I am proud that Scotland is taking this world-leading action to fight period poverty and I welcome the support of local authorities, colleges and universities in implementing this initiative. Our £5.2m investment will mean these essential products will be available to those who need them in a sensitive and dignified way, which will make it easier for students to full focus on their studies.”
The government is partnering with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla), Colleges Scotland, Universities Scotland, and the Scottish Funding Council, to make the initiative a reality. Hey Girls, a social enterprise company, is serving as the provider for the scheme. The company’s founder, Celia Hodson, told the Guardian that the initiative is “a real milestone in the fight against period poverty.”
While ultimately the initiative will only be able to serve students, according to Cosla president Alison Evison, “it will also contribute to a more open conversation and reducing the unnecessary stigma associated with periods.”
“Periods are a part of life, they shouldn’t be a point of inequality, compromise someone’s quality of life or be a distraction from making the very most of time spent at university, so this is a positive step,” Susannah Lane, the head of public affairs at Universities Scotland.
Monica Lennon, Scottish Labour MSP and the member responsible for a bill creating a statutory duty for free feminine hygiene products told the press that, “This is another great step forward in the campaign against period poverty. Access to period products should be a right, regardless of your income, which is why I am moving ahead with plans for legislation to introduce a universal system of free access to period products for everyone in Scotland.
“No one should face the indignity of being unable to access these essential products to manage their period.”
EMMA BRUCE is an undergraduate student studying English and marketing at Emerson College in Boston. While not writing she explores the nearest museums, reads poetry, and takes classes at her local dance studio. She is passionate about sustainable travel and can't wait to see where life will take her.
Women Take the Mic on Nsawya FM
Saudi feminists are giving voice to obstacles against women’s rights in their new radio show.
On July 27th, eleven women gave life to Nsawya FM, or Feminism FM, with a simple tweet stating their aim to be the “voice of the silent majority.” Since then, their radio broadcasts have detailed stories of women’s rights abuse with just a laptop, editing software (to disguise the voices of the women sharing the stories), and a microphone. According to Ashtar, a pseudonym for one of the women involved, “the voice of women is revolution.”
And women have been raising their voices. Of the 6.3 million Saudis on Twitter in 2016, 40% were women as found in a study by the Rutgers’s Center for Women’s Global Leadership Report. The same study supported the importance of Twitter in Saudi society by stating that it was the “most effective and influential social network.” This is in part because political leaders monitor Twitter, making political activity more likely to be seen on the social media platform.
Still the potential to be blocked by the government on Twitter—which Nsawya FM states happened temporarily—is why they have chosen the radio: they do not want to risk losing the “archive of [their] thoughts.”
Nsawya FM’s archive consists of submissions by Saudi women of their stories, opinions, and criticisms on women’s rights, such as domestic abuse. The first stories told were of Hanan Shahri and Sara. Both stories highlight the effects of male guardianship: a system where a women’s crucial decisions—including travel, marriage, and studying abroad—are made by a male figure. These guardians can be fathers, husbands, brothers, or sons.
Shahri’s story was widely reported in 2013 after she killed herself following a beating by her brother and uncle and their refusal to allow her to marry her fiancé. Then there is Sara, a university student whose dream to marry her fiancé from Yemen, following approval from her parents, was ended when her brother shot her.
So it is no surprise that women began turning to Twitter to push back against guardianship. In 2016 they coined #AbolishGuardianship to highlight abuse and rally support against it. Within two months, 14,000 signatures had been collected for an online petition against guardianship. Although gradual changes have occurred for women, most notably the ability to drive, male guardianship is grounded in religion and cuts across all socio-economic classes.
But to these 11 women producers and their 2500 audience members there is hope that civilian law might one day replace the Islamic law. They are bringing the stories traditionally protected under male guardianship to light and public criticism.
“Of course [they] are scared,” as Ashtar has also been quoted saying. But their fear is driven by a determination for equal rights. For them it begins with placing the women’s narrative before the public’s eyes: Nsawya FM is making a statement on behalf of Saudi women to the world that they exist.
TERESA NOWALK is a student at the University of Virginia studying anthropology and history. In her free time she loves traveling, volunteering in the Charlottesville community, and listening to other people’s stories. She does not know where her studies will take her, but is certain writing will be a part of whatever the future has in store.
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How do I balance being a feminist with respecting other cultures?
Q: When visiting a country that has a culture that represses women, how far do you go in respecting their culture when visiting? Covering my head and shoulders seems okay. But I have a friend whose husband called out a waiter in India for asking him what she wanted to order when she was perfectly capable of answering for herself. That seems awesome to me but may have been offensive to them. Where’s the line?
Sincerely,
Yes Always to Solidarity with Kickass Women in Eastern & Extremist Nations
That’s a really great question, YASKWEEN. I have opinions, but I am also a dude, and as such, am at risk of mansplaining. So it seems worthwhile to ask a few women who either travel or live in more patriarchal cultures what they think before offering up my own dudepinion.
On cultures that repress women:
When we think of the most oppressive society towards women, we probably think of a country like Saudi Arabia. Sydney Meredith, the travel blogger behind Passports & Prose, currently lives in Saudi Arabia told me she doesn’t love equating “repressing women” with “covering your head and shoulders,” as many Muslim women consider it a personal religious choice to wear the hijab, and not something that’s imposed upon them by men. In regards to wearing it as a traveler, she says:
“I remember visiting historic churches in Spain and France during a trip in high school and the women were asked to cover their shoulders. Do I consider Spain and France ‘repressive?’ No. I was just respecting someone’s wishes.”
She also warns against developing a sense of superiority:
“I mean, aren’t women repressed everywhere? …The US is among only 2 other countries in the world who do not pay pregnant women who take time off from work. We were only allowed to vote just a 100 years ago.”
On "calling people out":
Traveler Sarah Lewis says it usually comes down to reading the situation, and points out there may be alternatives to “calling out” someone that are more effective.
“I feel like in that one specific situation, I would try not to be rude about it, especially at first, because the waiter was just doing what he considers to be polite in his particular culture in his line of work. As a server in the US, I’ve seen men order for women, so for some people that type of thing is still traditional, even in less conservative countries. If he addressed a man I was with rather than myself, I would probably just answer the questions and not necessarily “correct” him per se. (Similar to how in Japan, the server always talks to the Asian-looking person. You correct them not by calling them out, but by just responding in Japanese, and eventually they realize they can talk to you.)”
What’s important, then, is trying to gauge intent. She adds:
“However, if he continued or was being obviously rude to me, that would be another thing entirely, and I think that’s where the ‘line’ sort of starts. If a person is doing something that, even in his culture, would be rude (such as catcalling or harassment), that would not be tolerated.”
On balancing idealism with safety and comfort:
My friend Nandika Kumari is an Indian human rights activist, and she says this regarding the clothes issue:
“The class divide in India often means that urban girls/women from the upper classes will usually dress like any other American twenty year old. However, this is a very small number of people. Most women in India will dress as per their cultural traditions (which are often conservative)… The one rule I’ve always followed is to be 100% comfortable with myself. This also means that in a place where I am likely to get stares if I wear shorts, I will make the functional decision to wear something more conservative so I don’t have to get into arguments with creepy men every 10 steps.”
In regards to the what visitors should do, she adds:
“If someone is just on holiday it probably makes sense to dress close to the way most women in the area are dressed simply to reduce chances of harassment (I know how that sounds). A dress code is only likely to be enforced in religious places. Everywhere else, you are free to dress the way you like. If a woman feels comfortable wearing a dress in an Indian market, then please go ahead and do it. The culture of trying to control women’s behaviour doesn’t need encouragement. Seeing a western woman in different clothing may actually do some good.”
She also noted, “This is India, where you won’t get a death threat for pushing cultural boundaries.” This doesn’t hold true for every country, however, and there are other places where pushing the envelope may be a much more dangerous thing to do. Sarah Lewis adds:
“If something isn’t exactly rude in their culture, but I feel uncomfortable with it, I would probably say something, although again, depending on my level of comfort, I would probably in varying degrees attempt to be sensitive to the culture and not aim to immediately embarrass the person (unless I was really in danger or in a bad situation).”
And, of course, some mansplaining.
Okay, so this isn’t technically mansplaining: I don’t really know what it’s like to travel as a woman, and I won’t pretend to. But I have come across similar situations where something happens in a culture I’m visiting that clashes with my own personal values. A quick story:
When I was working a journalism internship at an English-languge newspaper in China, I really wanted our editors to cover issues like human rights. My bosses had to worry about government censors, so they weren’t really on board with taking editorial advice from an uppity 22-year-old foreigner. I pushed them on it, and all it did was alienate me from my bosses, to the point where I wasn’t being given any work. Towards the end of the internship, I was grabbing drinks with a British journalist who’d worked in China for years. I bitched to him about the Chinese journalists, calling them cowards.
“That’s not been my experience of Chinese journalists,” he said. “I’ve found them to be quite brave.”
I asked how. He said, “You’ve been here what, two months? You need to get to know the system better before you can attack it. These journalists are quite subversive, but they have to be more subtle in their attacks than a British or American could be. They don’t seek to topple anything, just to chip away. Keep in mind very few western journalists are actually risking their necks when they go to work every day.”
He went on to tell me how Chinese journalists would frequently undermine government-mandated stories through the subtle use of puns. For example, when the government wanted to show off their expensive new language-teaching program (which was incredible ineffective), the paper’s editors titled the piece, “GOVERNMENT CREATES ARMY OF CUNNING LINGUISTS.” This effective pun-usage has become so pervasive among Chinese dissidents that censors in China have actually banned the use of puns and idioms.
The lesson of that internship for me was that while the causes I was fighting for were just the world over, the tools for fighting for them changed from place to place depending on the context. It’s easy to fall prey to the whole “when you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail” trap, and for a lot of Westerners, becoming confrontational over small or large injustices is our hammer.
Your impulse to resist misogyny is always a good one, YASKWEEN, but you may simply not have the localized knowledge to resist it effectively. Which is fine. It creates an opportunity to learn and listen. The best thing you can do if you want to support feminists in the area you’re visiting is to ask them how you can best support them. Some may say money. Some may say political support from your government. Some may say “call out the waiter when he ignores you to talk to your husband.” Some may say, “definitely don’t call out the waiter.” The response will change based on the place you’re in and even on whom you’re talking to.
That said, respect cuts both ways. If you are trying to treat another culture with respect, you’re allowed to insist they treat you with respect as well.
Writer’s note: could we all take a second to appreciate how far I came in a single week with my anonymous questioner acronyms? Last week, I dubbed my questioner “TUTBFTS.” This week, I pulled off motherfucking YASKWEEN. At this exponential rate of improvement, I’ll be a billionaire in a goddamn MONTH.
THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON DON'T BE A DICK TRAVEL.
MATT HERSHBERGER
Matt Hershberger is a writer and blogger who focuses on travel, culture, politics, and global citizenship. His hobbies include scotch consumption, profanity, and human rights activism. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and his Kindle. You can check out his work at the Matador Network, or over at his website.
VIDEO: Introduction to Women's Status is Cambodia
This video was produced by Promotion of Women's Rights project (2002-2011), predecessor to Access to Justice for Women project. The video comprises an overall introduction to women's status in Cambodia as well as the main actions undertaken by the Ministry of Women's Affairs -with the support from GIZ- in order to tackle gender inequalities and gender-based violence in Cambodia.