In a bold new strategy, women’s rights advocates in Africa are using clever, non-confrontational techniques to win power for women. It’s all about getting the men on board by convincing them equality is in their own interest.
For activists focused on women’s rights in Africa, this fall brought a whirlwind of conflicting news. First, the devastating: On Sept. 28 in Guinea, during protests against the ruling military junta, masses of women were publicly assaulted and raped by government forces. The sexual violence, which took place at a sports stadium in the coastal capital city, Conakry, echoed that of other conflict around the world. But this time, images of the stripped, humiliated women were captured on cellphone cameras and distributed internationally, resulting in a Page One New York Times exposé.
A week later, across the continent in Somalia, came a human rights victory. Fourteen villages in the country’s northeast Puntland region publicly vowed to abandon female genital mutilation, declaring the Koran does not require the procedure. Two thousand people, including local village chiefs and religious leaders, attended the ceremony to announce the policy change, which was the culmination of a two-year education effort by women’s rights organizations.
At the center of both these stories is an undeniable, yet uncomfortable truth: The fate of women in traditional societies is often in the hands of men. It is men who perpetrate sexual and domestic violence, and men who have a stranglehold on political power in societies obsessed with sexual chastity and obedience. Women’s rights activists have learned that without the support of men there is little hope for empowering African women. Since the 1990s, a number of advocacy groups have developed sophisticated strategies for pursuing feminist aims through non-threatening outreach to men, eschewing the sort of Western paternalism that, in past decades, allowed local opinion leaders to brand opponents of female genital mutilation and proponents of family planning as latter-day colonialists, to be resisted by right-thinking Africans.
The idea that it is men’s duty to protect “weak” women is deeply ingrained, but activists have found they can use this to their advantage.
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It is now seen as an article of faith that the world suffers from overpopulation but exactly who are there too many of? You, me, my friends? For World Population Day 2009, we should be celebrating our increased numbers and looking forward to more not less of the earth’s richest resource, humanity. Volunteers present the case in this inspiring riposte to modern Malthusians.It is now seen as an article of faith that the world suffers from overpopulation but... more
