Small changes for Big Problems
Several projects recently have suggested specific actions that could be taken in developing countries to improve the lot of women.
Feministing.com talked about the Nairobi violence report yesterday, saying "women are not being repeatedly raped and abused because they are sleeping in one tent with men," and that's similar to my initial reaction to all three of these items. Plans like these don't change the devaluation of women that is the underlying problem. That being said, I don't think the UN report was saying that the sleeping conditions caused rape, but rather that the women expressed fear about the sleeping conditions. Another friend mentioned yesterday that the term "male sexual incontinence" was thrown around in the On Point (2008) radio show on prostitution yesterday, but I haven't listened to it, and I can't comment specifically on that. I think the idea that men can't be expected not to rape devalues both men and women, and is a load of crap.
- The Poverty Action Lab's ongoing project "Menstruation and Education in Nepal" is examining whether distributing menstrual cups can help Nepalese women and girls overcome cultural taboos that restrict their mobility and education.
- The European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology (2008) have begun a pilot program of low-cost fertility treatments for women in Africa. A woman who does not bear children "might be disinherited, ostracised, accused of witchcraft, abused by local healers, separated from her spouse, or abandoned to a second-class life in a polygamous marriage," according to ESHRE's press release.
- A United Nations three-agency report on gender-based violence in Nairobi (IRIN, 2008, see also Kenyan election crisis) notes that displaced women "had repeatedly expressed fears of sexual violence because of makeshift sleeping arrangements, where men and women were forced to sleep under one tent or out in the open."
Feministing.com talked about the Nairobi violence report yesterday, saying "women are not being repeatedly raped and abused because they are sleeping in one tent with men," and that's similar to my initial reaction to all three of these items. Plans like these don't change the devaluation of women that is the underlying problem. That being said, I don't think the UN report was saying that the sleeping conditions caused rape, but rather that the women expressed fear about the sleeping conditions. Another friend mentioned yesterday that the term "male sexual incontinence" was thrown around in the On Point (2008) radio show on prostitution yesterday, but I haven't listened to it, and I can't comment specifically on that. I think the idea that men can't be expected not to rape devalues both men and women, and is a load of crap.