What can we do to empower women internationally?

Question

I know this is a broad question but there so many issues facing women around the world. Their testimony counting as a half of a person or being automatically eliminated (in Iran), stoning to death for "supposed" adultery, barbaric female circumcisions , illiteracy, honor killings, child prostitution etc.

We often concern ourselves with the inequalities in the west, while those women fighting for their lives and a decent standard of living, aren't getting much support.

You got your facts wrong. I have personally witnessed two women being stoned to death in Iran. Please do your research, since you're not from there, don't have relatives there and apparently never lived there.

http://www.iran-e-azad.org/stoning/
http://www.bianet.org/2006/07/01_eng/news82218.htm
http://www.ncr-iran.org/content/view/2124/0/

Doc: And I still have the image in my head since the age of 8. They do it publicly on the street so that others will learn. These kinda ignorant statements really get to me.

You got me hot Doc, but thank you for not keeping the facts wrong. I guess you touched on the wrong subject.

***calming down***

Answer 1

--I like a lot of the ways that the UN has supported women to take power over their lives world-wide: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/

-By helping women get businesss skills, business funding and build business networks, such as when the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) worked to establish a regional knowledge network of rural women's cooperatives which will enable women entrepreneurs to share their business knowledge and experiences and market their products through the Internet.

-By working with government agencies to lend them support when dealing with issues affecting women, such as when fighting against domestic violence in Zimbabwe, UNICEF enlisted traditional chiefs--hundreds of traditional leaders across Zimbabwe were trained to help fight domestic abuse in their communities under a United Nations-backed initiative launched in cooperation with the Government and women lawyers in the Central African country

--The majority of feminist groups working on global feminist issues usually support the feminists of the country that wants assistance, since it would be fairly ineffective and ethnocentric for someone from the west to go to another country and culture and try to make changes on any social issue.

--Here's a sample of the feminist organizations of women working to make change in their country/region of the world:

Global Fund for Women: http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/cms/
Arab: http://www.awsa.net/
Caribbean: http://www.cafra.org/
Equality Now: http://www.equalitynow.org/english/index.html
African: http://www.fasngo.org/
Iran: http://www.irandokht.com/

Answer 2

I think engaging in fair, equitable trade relations with other countries is a good start. So many of the problems facing women across the world are the result of their limited economic positions (sex trafficking, abusive labor conditions, forced labor conditions, etc.). I think ensuring that when the US trades with other, especially developing countries, we engage in fair trade practices could help some of this. On a related note, when we are buying products, making sure that it's produced through not sweat shop labor is a good step. Our purchases have great power.

Answer 3

In many cases, the best thing is to support products that treat people in other countries with dignity, which in many case means specifically empowering women.

http://transfairusa.org/

When it comes to atrocities in countries where little regard is given to the opinions of Western liberal democracies, such as you describe, I honestly don't know. It's part of much larger problems.

When it comes to emerging democracies, such as Central European countries, the EU and Interpol need to more aggressively deal with, e.g. Germans who go to the Czech Republic to have sex with small children and assist these countries with the funds to deal with the problems that foreigners have helped promote.

I think the solutions are as diverse as the problems and I can only touch on a few examples.

Answer 4

1. Lead by example.

2. Elect Senators and Reps who have the ovaries/balls to enact economic sanctions on countries that have severe human rights violations. This is not just for women in fundamentalist societies. This should also be done anywhere there is ethnic cleansing or some other blatant violation of basic human rights.

Answer 5

You are certaninely correct.The women of the west are more empowered than compared to the east.
The main reason being the higher education and economical high ground .
so for upliftment of women the women should be educated.
There should be empowered socially especially politically .
Most importantly the women concerned should fight and revolt for their rights .

Answer 6

Listen you know as well as I do, the Iranians and the Arabs have been living under their code of living for hundreds of years; they know how to handle it; just like they know how to handle their living conditions with expertise; they've been at it for hundreds of years. You're letting your emotions get in the way; emotions cloud your judgement.
I have never been to Iran, I've been to Jordan, Iraq and now live in Saudi Arabia; I know what's going on. I have seen them at it. Different lifestyles, yet they both live on the same code of life; a code of life they have been living for years. You cannot play God.. That's exactly what you and your feminists mates are doing; to those people there is only one God and it is not feminism. They, of course will use, what they find useful, yet if you mess with their code of life, your going to do nothing but stir up a hornets nest. Think with your mind not your emotions.

Answer 7

Start an international development firm that provides loan funds for female-owned microenterprises in the Third World.

Answer 8

properly, i think of we are raised on fairy thoughts. Disney itself is a multi billion greenback industry, even omitting "princess earnings". all of us like a stable tale and our mum and dad study us fairy thoughts as infants. Boys pass directly to dream approximately slaying the dragon and girls pass directly to devise their wedding ceremony to the dragon slaying prince. We receive those messages at an significant time in our progression--as quickly as we are experimenting with pretend play, function playing, 'performing' because it have been. This section in our progression is the start for extra psychological emotional and interpersonal growth and can shape how we relate to others. according to possibility our gender roles are shaped right here. Who is familiar with? i will see arguments fro the two factors. The teenage and 20something ladies who're stressful of cloth issues and assume others to dote upon them and picture they're purely surprising have mum and dad who failed them miserably. in case you haven't any longer moved previous pretending to be Cinderella with the aid of age 9, then that is up on your mum and dad to interrupt that proverbial glass slipper.

Answer 9

Women need to stand together and financially support one another. These things occur because one of attitude, two of control, three of economics, four maybe the guy just felt dishonored. Also, assumptions and understanding of the effects of shock need to be taken into account when dealing with the individual.

The reason groups in any situation survive is because of emotional and economic support - in courts or "elimination" it money that makes the difference and the groups ability to hush up the crime because no-one else wants to be a victim or the judge has been threatened.

These things occur in other countries too - not just (in Iran). Our multicultural lifestyle brings with it these traditions. Overseas aid is helping greatly. But in western countries what does one do when this level of violence is present? Our Domestic Violence Service doesn't appear to be equipped to deal with it due to constraints.

I know of a woman in aussie who separated from a relationship with a man from another culture, is subjected to gang stalking, honor killing practices - because she is western, she is labelled "psychotic, delusional" and he is cleverly using the western system to achieve his need to "eliminate" her.

The constant suggestion to move/hide has compounded the situation legally, as to be safe this is the first move in any situation of risk - but it damages legal strenth. How does one really hide from this sort of behaviour?

One suggestion is a bank of eligible wealthy males who are willing to hide such women and help upskill them to become self-sufficient because lets face it, with todays technology its too easy to be found - shopping and city safe camera's are just one example.

What happens to women overseas is aid agencies remove them to other countries. When in the country its hard to do likewise.

Answer 10

We should definitely be shifting our focus to those women — we still have our problems, but theirs are far more serious. We don't get stoned for adultery in the West.

Sadly, I don't expect much progress to be made until fundamentalist Muslim leaders in the area step down.