Interesting Tactic

Oh, and take a look at this CNN story about sex and political reform in Kenya. I never would have thought of this one...

Did she ask for it?

I was excited to see this op-ed printed in yesterday's New York Times, especially since this sensitive issue was being tackled by a man, Nicholas Kristof (I love him by the way, he's written lots of pieces about trafficking). I've watched a lot of Law and Order in my time and in every rape case they treat the victim well, expedite her rape kit, have results almost instantly, and then go out there and catch the bad guy.

Well...that's not quite real life. Human Rights Watch released a 68-page report last week about the status of rape kits in LA County and the results were positively frightening: "...in Los Angeles County, there were at last count 12,669 rape kits sitting in police storage facilities. More than 450 of these kits had sat around for more than 10 years, and in many cases, the statute of limitations had expired."

Ok, so rape kits can be expensive and unfortunately not every woman who she was raped actually was. Yet we let this small small minority of cases taint the way we see all rape victims. Not to mention the social stigma--if a woman walks around in revealing clothing or makes any sort of overture to a man then she must have been "asking for it." Kristof asserts, and I agree, that the lack of urgency assigned to rape indicates that sexual crimes are still not seen as the serious rights abuses that they are.

Equal Pay for Equal Work!

What do you think about this: "April 28 symbolized the day in 2009 when the average woman's wage will finally catch up with those paid to the average man in 2008. In the U.S. women are paid only 78¢ on average for every dollar paid to men."

At least we're only 1 year behind now?? President Obama mentioned the recent Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in his 100 days speech today. It's progress and I'm glad, but is this seriously still an issue? Equal Pay Day is "designated every April on a Tuesday as a reminder that Tuesday is the day on which women’s wages catch up to men’s wages from the preceding week. On average, female workers have to put in more than six days of paid work to earn what men earn in five."

And let's not even get into the childbearing wage penalty (last I heard it was around 7% per child?) and the economic consequences of the "mommy track." Someone needs to create a business using the feminist model, stat...

Natural Birth

This story about a woman's natural birth is amazing. If only all women could experience such a peaceful delivery at this most important time in their life.

New Book about Chinese Comfort Women

A new book has been released about Chinese comfort women. Comfort women were slaves from China, Korea, and other Asian countries that were used as 24 hour prostitutes by Japanese soldiers during World War II. I'm glad that this is something that can now be talked about instead of being shameful. Now I just wish we could have a dialogue about what American soldiers are doing to local women in the countries where they are based...but that's a story for another time. This is what the press release by the All-China Women's Federation (中华全国妇女联合会)says:

"A memoir containing 400 pictures and the stories of 67 surviving Chinese World War II comfort women was published on December 11 in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province.

Li Xiaofang, the author, said he spent three years visiting over 70 women all over China and South Korea. "Most of them lead a miserable life without a secure source of income," he revealed.

Fifteen old ladies from Qinxian and Wuxiang counties in north China's Shanxi Province made public their real names for the first time in this book.

Li Jinyu, one of the 15 elderly women, recalled that she was imprisoned by the Japanese army at the age of 14 in 1944 and forced to serve as a prostitute for two months. She became sterile due to the tragic experience."

Why the Family is Essential to Stopping Child Sex Trafficking in Sri Lanka

A few weeks ago I read a report about child sex trafficking in Sri Lanka that left me depressed, but which also made me think and gave me some ideas. The report highlighted a paradox that faces Sri Lankan women, many of whom travel abroad as domestic servants to make money to send home: “Sri Lanka has the highest proportion in South Asia of females working abroad for employment, and these comprise primarily women who have young children.” Not only do some of these women end up in bad situations abroad, such as being trafficked themselves or being forced to work for abusive employers, but their very act of leaving may spell doom for the children they left in order to help. One of the findings indicated that children whose mothers went abroad were more vulnerable to sexual abuse and trafficking at the hands of their fathers, uncles, grandfathers, friends, neighbors, etc.

In many parts of Sri Lanka girls who have been sexually abused are considered unclean and are forced to leave their homes and families as they are considered a bad influence on other children. Often rape and trafficking victims will end up in state children’s homes for their “protection”. They may have been rescued, but as prostitution can be treated like a crime and the court system is slow it may take years for children to get out of these remand centers. Yet another problem is lack of knowledge about trafficking among children, adults, and even police and other officials who are supposed to help victims. One of the saddest issues the report mentions is that the exploited often become the exploiters because the system does not give them justice and the cultural setup alienates them from returning to a normal life.

So what can be done to change this? The report outlines many factors that affect children being trafficked, such as parents being detached, a lack of sexual education, the incentive of money, etc. There are many ways to address these issues, some of which require fairly simple measures like education programs, training, and new legislation, but deep societal change is also necessary, which is much harder. Beyond educating school children about sexual abuse and trafficking, more fun and creative measures can be applied such as extracurriculars and vocational training: the report cites music, English, and computer classes as ways that children can gain skills to keep them from being lured into prostitution and also to help them reintegrate into society if they are victims. Harder to solve are the problems that involve the family and communities. It appears that mothers are vital in keeping their children safe, but the economic situation forces many abroad. Another related problem is alcoholism among fathers. The report suggests economic workshops, help finding employment, and welfare programs to help parents.

While the report emphasizes that mothers should stay in Sri Lanka to protect their children, I think the real issue here is that when they do leave, people these children should trust are violating their rights. It would be ideal if mothers did not have to leave their children and go abroad to find work, but that is the current economic reality of Sri Lanka. What must change is relatives, friends, neighbors, and communities seeing these children as easy targets to manipulate instead of vulnerable children who need their help more than ever. The support structure of the family and community is where it seems like the focus is really needed in order to help Sri Lankan children stay safe from sexual abuse and trafficking.

Come On, Afghanistan

Afghanistan is supposed to be getting better, right? The Taliban has been kicked out of power (they still have their strongholds and they're becoming more active--not good) and even though they are doing things like preventing girls from attending school in some parts of the country they don't have the power to make misogynistic laws anymore.

Enter Hamid Karzai, the President elect. Apparently he's really enjoying being in power and doesn't want to lose that come August, so in an attempt to placate extremists he pulled a very Taliban-like measure by rushing the Shia Family Law through Parliament. This law LEGALIZES marital rape, as well as "tacitly approves child marriage and restricts a woman's right to leave the home." What is he going to do next, create a power-sharing agreement with the Taliban?

This move is undefendable and disgusting; even people in the government are calling it electioneering. No wonder the US and Europe are trying to create a prime minister position to dilute Karzai's corrupt power. I really hope he gets voted out in August because Afghani women deserve much better than they are getting.