Women // Current TV

Framing women's rights in terms of human rights, as expressed by the phrase "women's rights are human rights," was an idea and a movement whose time had come. It came simultaneously from more than one source, but it began to bubble to the surface in the context of the global feminist movement of the 1980s. This was a formative time for feminists in our development as women's human rights activists.

In a pre-Internet era, the rapid movement of the petition by hand, letter, or--for a privileged few--sparkling new fax machine reflected the emergence of the women's movement as a global political force. However, the petition was not just to be signed. It was an organizing tool for feminists to provoke a discussion of why human rights were not already systematically seen as including women's rights, as well as to mobilize women around the world to make their voices heard.

Major, even revolutionary, advances have been made in awareness, recognition, and standard setting around women's rights as human rights. Yet the revolution is unfinished. UNWomen's 2011-2012 Report on Progress of the World's Women shows clearly that justice--an essential element in the realization of human rights--is still a distant dream for most women. When it comes to violence against women in particular, impunity is still rampant and justice is often denied.

The backlash and violence experienced by women's rights activists is especially worrisome. Women defenders often face gender-specific abuse in addition to the threats all defenders face, especially if they are seen as defying societal norms. This can take many forms: sexual violence and harassment, familial pressures and threats to their children, name calling and sexuality baiting, or other attacks on their reputation in the community or work place. Increasing numbers of women activists from Colombia to Nepal to South Africa and Mexico have been murdered or driven out of their communities for their defense of women's rights.

Despite the daunting challenges they face, women keep showing extraordinary, courage and creativity in demanding their rights and seeking to create a better world. New technologies have spread ideas of change rapidly, and young women have played key roles in the recent revolutions in the Middle East. These women--connected to each other and women in the rest of the world--are poised to be key actors and potential leaders in movements for change as well as governments in the near future.

http://womensenews.org/story/books/120309/womens-human-rights-slogan-global-agendaFraming women's rights in terms of human rights, as expressed by the phrase... more

Womens_eNews
added this
3 months ago
|
0 comments

'My body, my choice': Exiled Iranian women pose nude for video in protest against sexual oppression in their native country

A group of Iranian women have stripped off for a new video in a protest against sexual... more

Radical_Centrist
added this
3 months ago
|
2 comments

Stop Kony Starts a Conversation That Women Need to Shape

The Invisible Children campaign #StopKony has been raising awareness about child soldiers in Uganda throughout the week. And whether you are for or against the coverage there is one thing you can be certain about -- the message is missing the gender agenda.

Reintegration is hard for all child soldiers in northern Uganda who were abducted and forced to commit atrocities for insurgents. For girls who also had to marry and have children with rebels, the social rejection can be particularly acute.

The more than two-decade armed conflict between the Ugandan government and rebels with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) left tens of thousands of people dead and 2 million people displaced in northern Uganda, according to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization.

LRA rebels abducted tens of thousands of children, with estimates by various organizations ranging from 30,000 to 60,000. The rebels forced many of the abducted children to become child soldiers who raped, maimed, tortured and killed.

Although all former child soldiers struggle to reintegrate into the communities where they were once forced to commit atrocities, advocates say that it is the women in northern Uganda, especially those who had children with LRA rebels, who struggle the most.

While contending with community rejection, they must also cope with the traumatizing experiences they endured in captivity. Those include rape, other forms of sexual violence, unwanted pregnancies and combat injuries, according to testimonies of 35 formerly abducted mothers gathered by the Uganda Association of Women Lawyers, an advocacy group. These women have limited access to health facilities and health-related information.

The government and various humanitarian organizations have set up interventions to assist former abductees. But many of the women say that current approaches overlook them, take advantage of them and can't make up for everything they lost.

http://womensenews.org/story/the-world/110916/northern-ugandas-girl-soldiers-find-harsh-homecomingThe Invisible Children campaign #StopKony has been raising awareness about child... more

Womens_eNews
added this
3 months ago
|
0 comments

Women Will Save the World from Global Poverty

Women produce half of the world's food, earn 10 percent of the world's... more

Womens_eNews
added this
3 months ago
|
0 comments

By Aiding Bangladesh Women, CARE Cuts Child Hunger

The antipoverty group CARE finds in a March 8 report that investments in Bangladeshi... more

Womens_eNews
added this
3 months ago
|
0 comments

Gingrich Collects 5% of Super Tuesday Votes In Massachusetts, Governor Patrick Declares State Of Emergency

Big dust-up in Boston

mfb1949
added this
3 months ago
|
1 comment

International Women's Day: Women are the true face of climate change

While the cumulative effects of rising global temperatures have already caused dramatic changes to our planet, those changes often seem distant and it's hard to put faces to them. But as climate change becomes more disruptive to daily life around the world, it’s more likely than not that the faces of that disruption will be those of women.

With the world celebrating International Women’s Day on Thursday, it’s a good time to reflect on just how vulnerable women are to the effects of climate change.

If you’re surprised to hear that gender makes a difference, you shouldn’t be. After all, we’ve long known that some groups are particularly threatened by climate change; the world’s most impoverished people are the best example. Millions of the poorest people live in regions that will be increasingly struck by rising sea level, extreme storms, droughts and famines. Women make up a shocking 70 percent of people living in poverty around the world.

The gender imbalance of climate change is about more than just numbers, though. During natural disasters and extreme storms — of which many are increasingly linked to our carbon-loaded atmosphere — women often lack the physical strength needed to pull themselves to high ground or to run for safe cover. If this physical barrier isn’t enough, women are usually responsible for children and relatives and in extreme conditions, they have the added burden of moving everyone out of harm’s way.

It’s this universal role as caregiver — one that we would rarely change if given the chance — that increases women’s vulnerability to our changing climate. With motherhood comes the responsibility of providing food, water, shelter, protection and transportation for children. In a warmer world, these are increasingly challenging tasks.

The World Health Organization estimates that of the nearly 150,000 people already perishing around the world each year because of climate change, nearly 90% are children. And the threats for children, and thus for women, are continuing to mount. More frequent and longer droughts will lead to food shortages for millions, and particularly those in poverty. Similarly, extreme storms and rising sea levels threaten drinking water supplies for millions worldwide. For women, this means traveling further and working even harder to provide for the basic needs of their families and communities.

These climate-related pressures aren’t unique to poor women living in developing countries. Here in the United States, the same social dynamics apply and women are overwhelmingly responsible for caregiving. Here, too, the changing climate is a growing liability to our families’ health.

For example, rising temperatures are severely reducing air quality, particularly in America’s biggest cities, and this triggers health problems for millions of people with asthma. Heat waves, which are already more common in North America, take a particular toll on children and the elderly. In many parts of the country, earlier and longer spring seasons exacerbate allergies. And in all these examples, women disproportionately carry the weight of protecting their children and providing care when family members are sick.

Knowing all the ways in which they are likely to feel the negative impacts of climate change, it’s no wonder that women — whether they are mothers are not — are more concerned about climate change than men.

On the plus side, this gender divide presents opportunity. Empowering and educating women worldwide gives them the resources to continue to provide for their families, even in the face of dramatic environmental changes. In places like Africa, where women are acutely aware of how crop yields and water supplies are changing, they may also be more likely to adopt local adaptation measures. In the U.S., women have the ability to rally together over their growing concerns, which can drive more substantial policy initiatives.

“What we learn from talking about women’s vulnerabilities is that we all have vulnerabilities,” said Kim Knowlton, a scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “No one is immune to climate change.”

More at the linkWhile the cumulative effects of rising global temperatures have already caused... more

JanforGore
added this
3 months ago
|
23 comments

select your country

Community Spotlight

TAGS

tagged w/ Women

top videos

find current on tv

find current online

recent comments

© 2012 Current TV, LLC All Rights Reserved

the basics

follow us online

tools

stay in touch

© 2012 Current TV, LLC
All Rights Reserved