I came across this video on cnn.com this morning, ranking the most dangerous countries for women and the factors taken into account. Afghanistan, Congo, Pakistan, India, and Somalia were rated the most dangerous (respectively) for things like their maternal mortality rate (death during childbirth – a rate that is 1 in 11 in Afghanistan), rape statistics, female infanticide numbers, and female genital mutilation occurrences.
These things are horrifying across the board, no matter what culture you come from.
But as a middle-class American, it is really difficult for me to understand the thinking ingrained in such a culture that would raise men to think of women as less than human. Regardless of your position on the feminism spectrum, I think most of us in first-world countries would agree that a person is a person, and does not deserve death or mutilation because of their gender.
What do you think are some contributing factors to these high rates in "the most dangerous countries for women?" What action do you think will be required to see change in these countries?
2 comments:
I think this is a matter of changing the actual culture and corporate thought. The root of the issue is selfishness...even if they realize the injustice, men are unwilling to give up what they gain from the way things are. It's the same thing our country had to go through from the time of the trans-Atlantic slave trade through the Civil Rights movement. If nobody is willing to fight to end the injustice they see around them, the status quo will not be changed.
Those are very good points! The fight for action and change is not in vain.
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