In honor of International Women's Day on March 8th, I'm going to write a few letters to those of us who will be celebrating that day of dedication and witness. I know it's not very "celebratory," but I'm going to highlight some continuing crises faced by women here and around the world. In particular, I'm going to draw your attention to stories of real women in real places who are subjected to all manner of violence and abuse. I know this is a sad topic but knowledge is power and so I won't apologize. If you don't want to learn, stop reading.
There's that old saying "if you want peace work for justice." Having researched this issue for many, many years, I have come to the conclusion that peace is not possible when so many women live without justice. It's the most pervasive, insidious and hateful menace that plagues our world. It's at the center of religious clashes, poverty, illness, the HIV/AIDS epidemic still running rampant through much of the world and the crime of children forced to witness the abuse of their mother, or lose her to the hand of violence. Until we have a world where women and girls live free from the fear of violence, the sorrow of inhumanity, the lack of voice and the right to tell their truth, the heartbreak of seeing their daughters treated as a disappointment for their gender from the day they are born and from the humiliation of living under the cloud of "less than," women are denied justice and we deny all of humanity the peace that is within our reach.
I know this is preachy but, again, I don't care. These are stories that have to be told; problems we're all responsible for solving. Stay silent and be a co-conspirator, it's as simple as that, and I will not work in concert with criminals.
Do you remember the Somali actress, model, author and activist, Waris Dirie? A victim of female circumcision-or female genital mutilation-she bravely wrote about her life and her suffering in her autobiography, "Desert Flower." Dirie brought much needed attention to this issue. She spoke out. She wrote about it and her books were best sellers and her first was made into a film. She abandoned her career and became a full activist. I can remember seeing a lot of her in the 1990's, which is when her books were popularized and she began speaking to a world audience.
Waris Dirie
واريس ديري |
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| The link for Dirie's foundation, named after her book, is below. There's much to learn at this site and you can find ways to take action as well. |
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| http://www.desertflowerfoundation.org/en/category/news/ |
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| It seems to me that Dirie hasn't been very public as of late and that people, especially young adults, aren't aware of this catastrophe or the scope of this continuing, indeed spreading problem. This doesn't just happen on the African Continent. |
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| There are four types of female circumcision identified by the World Health Organisation, ranging from partial to total removal of the external female genitalia. Young girls are "sewn shut" as part of the process, leaving only a small opening for menstrual blood and urine. Many, many die either during or shortly after the "procedure," often performed by the women of the communities these girls belong to. Some 140 million women worldwide have been subjected to FGM and an estimated further two million are at risk every year. |
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| This link provides you with more specifics than I'm willing to give here about the actual process of FGM: |
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| http://academic.udayton.edu/health/01status/97tucker.htm |
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| I decided not to print any of the detailed horror stories about FGM. The two websites above will lead you to all of the information and personal stories than you could ever want to read. The bottom line is this: we live in a world where tens of millions of women have been subjected to this violent physical, emotional and sexual abuse, many of whom live with never ending infection and are left unable to carry a child. Millions more are "at risk" every year. Humanity should be sickened by this practice-you are "less than," "not right," your body is "ugly," God intends that sex equal pain and suffering for women and pleasure at any cost for men... |
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| As my friend Abby tells her Guardian Gals, we all have time, treasure and talent to give. At different times in our lives, we may have more of one than the others. So go to the links above, learn more and then decide whether or not you will give of your time, treasure and/or talent to fight this violent injustice. |
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| Much Love and Hopes for Justice and Peace |
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