Natasha Patterson: Struggle for women’s equality continues around the world

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      By Natasha Patterson

      Despite arguments to the contrary, the women’s rights movement is as relevant now as ever—even vital. The recent weeklong celebrations honouring International Women’s Day certainly attest to this, proving that worldwide, the women’s movement has made great gains in some areas. Yet there is much work that clearly stills needs to be done.

      The founder of International Women’s Day, Clara Zetkin, would be proud of the continued efforts of women’s organizations and groups worldwide, like the W8, and the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals mandate to promote gender equality and empower women in developing countries by the year 2015. Indeed, the 2009 Millennium Development Goals report shows that there have been improvements for women and girls in the areas of education, poverty, and infant healthcare. Women’s political participation has also increased, notably in Latin America and the Caribbean.

      Yet women, in almost all nations, still face barriers to achieving social and economic equality. Even so-called First World nations like Canada and the U.S. are failing their women and girls. Our socially conservative government continues to erode the gains of the women’s movement by slashing funding from essential programs and social services. In 2005, Canada ranked seventh in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index. In 2009, Canada ranked a deplorable and inexcusable 25th. (The U.S. ranked 31st.)

      In countries like Saudi Arabia, women are still not allowed to vote, essentially shutting them out from participating in the political process. In Afghanistan, strict cultural norms do not allow women to vote at polling stations run by men. The International Women’s Democracy Center reported, as of 2008, women occupied only 18 percent of parliamentary seats around the world, even though we make up roughly 50 percent of the population.

      Globally, women are still disproportionately affected by violence and abuse, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, age, or socio-economic group. As noted on the United Nations Development Fund for Women’s Web site, violence against women has reached “pandemic proportions”. “Among women aged 15–44, acts of violence cause more death and disability than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war combined,” a UNIFEM fact sheet states. Violence against women and girls also increases during times of national crisis, as illustrated in recent reports coming out of Haiti documenting the growing incidents of rape in survivor camps, as well as stories of women who were raped after being rescued from the debris.

      According to the Sisters in Spirit Initiative, in the last 20 years, more than 500 aboriginal women have gone missing in Canada, and while the Canadian government has shown support financially, this does nothing to alter the legacies of colonial racism which makes these women especially vulnerable to violence and abuse. Lesbian and transgender women still face harsh discrimination worldwide often under the guise of religious or cultural beliefs. Homosexuality is still illegal in 77 countries and can lead to imprisonment, torture, and even execution.

      Economically, women are still disadvantaged, often earning less than men and “ghettoized” in low-paying, “dead-end” jobs. According to 2009’s A Statistical Profile of Poverty in Canada, Canadian women still earn less (especially if they are single mothers), experience higher rates of poverty, and experience poverty for longer periods of time than men. Worldwide poverty rates for women are also exacerbated by a lack of well-paying employment opportunities. In developing countries, two-thirds of employed women are actually doing unpaid work, such as helping the family business. Moreover, many women work in the agriculture sector, which is vulnerable to natural disaster, climate change, and an unstable financial market. In this regard, education plays a key role in providing women and girls with other opportunities for professional advancement. Globally, there are 121 million children who do not attend school, 65 million of whom are girls. In South Asia for example, where almost half of the adult female population is illiterate, there is a dire need for better education policies and value of girls.

      Importantly, women have not given up in their quest to achieve global gender equality. Worldwide, there are countless grassroots women’s organizations and women and sympathetic men in governments who strive to make the world a better place for all women, everywhere. Let’s continue to support their hard work and efforts, not just on International Women’s Day, but every day.

      Natasha Patterson is a PhD candidate in the department of women’s studies at Simon Fraser University.

      Comments

      10 Comments

      ummm

      Mar 15, 2010 at 5:29pm

      stay in the kitchen, where you belong. thanks

      Caribbean Queen

      Mar 15, 2010 at 6:32pm

      Good article sister! The above comment speaks to the necessity for continued work & mutual alliances.

      Z.

      Mar 15, 2010 at 6:52pm

      Hey ummm -- love your neighbor as yourself, and the woman in your bed is the closest neighbor you can have -- act like it!

      Pat.

      Mar 16, 2010 at 1:21am

      With absolute respect to women, our mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts and cousins,

      In Canada, you feminists actually hurt women. Please stop.

      I would really dislike the idea of my taxpayer dollars supporting what you do, particularly what you not do.

      Do you have a quota? A measure of success? Or do you just publish articles to make it look like you're getting something done?

      Re: Ummm

      Mar 16, 2010 at 11:10am

      "It's just you and your hand tonight!"

      A Sister

      Mar 16, 2010 at 12:38pm

      The misogynist comments reflected here reinforce my concern for the declining status of women. I cannot fathom how the welfare of half the planet is not understood to be a concern for us all. This is article does a brilliant job of speaking to the severity of this critical human rights issue. Thank you Ms. Patterson.

      6 11Rating: -5

      Reality Check

      Mar 17, 2010 at 4:40am

      And in countries where women can vote- have they stopped using women to sell cars and tractors and keyboards. Have they been able to get good obstretric gynecological care in the US? Have the votes been able to change the statistics on rape and unreported increasing sexual abuse in the work place? Where fellow women suffer in silence for years and years. Stop leaving like Alice in wonderland. Have a reality check. Live your live a woman as we were created for

      Pat.

      Mar 18, 2010 at 10:26am

      Wow - have a look - as I'm writing this, the positive votes belong to, as one feminist called us, "misogynists".

      Sorry sister, we are not misogynists, we are people who SUPPORT women's equality, LOVE the women in our families yet we are against feminism, and against what you groups have done to women and families.

      Like, yeah, there's the odd "Ummmm" who's either being sarcastic or is truly deranged, but for the most part, here in Canada, everyone treats women as equals.

      Maybe it's not like that in Africa, but it's pretty damn good here in Canada and maybe you should be funding your efforts with African dollars instead of our Canadian taxpayer dollars. You've destroyed enough Canadian families, tried to cause enough hate towards men here, and it has failed.

      Food for thought or am I a "woman-hater"?

      minerva

      Apr 6, 2010 at 10:59pm

      Pat - You clearly have no idea what feminism is about and rely on a media scare-crow for your opinions.

      If everyone treated women as equals here in Canada, there'd be 52% women in government. Women would not suffer poverty or violence out of proportion to their numbers. Women would be paid exactly the same as men in all jobs in all sectors. Just to toss the obvious out there.

      If you SUPPORT women's equality, where's your support for these issues?

      What has feminism done to women and families? "Made" women demand equality in the home? Feminism doesn't destroy families, dominance and hate destroys families. A woman walking away from a man because he treats her badly isn't because of the feminists. It's because of his actions.

      Unless of course you believe that women should be content to be servants in their own homes, and defer to a man in all things. Then you would hate feminists because they think this is wrong. Then you would blame feminists when women learn this is wrong and change their lives.

      Hard to buy your claims of supporting equality.

      minerva

      Apr 6, 2010 at 11:02pm

      Reality check - yes, the vote is one indicator of a rise in women's status. Had you cared to actually examine the Global Gender Gap index cited above, or anything else she said, you would know this. It is a standard fact of sociological data. Did the vote "wipe out" violence or inequality. No, because the vote alone cannot wipe out sexism and inequality.

      That's precisely why feminism matters, because all the evils you cite still exist.