Spring Break
Got some fight left in you?
Issue date: 11/13/08 Section: Editorial/Opinion
11/13/08 - Sometimes the word "feminism" turns people off. Some people think feminists want more pay and more privileges than men to make up for the history of their lack of rights. Others roll their eyes at feminists who preach about favored treatment, sexual harassment and leadership in the United States.
Let's face it - it's easy to accept some of these feminist stereotypes as fact. Maybe some of them, in a more radical sense, are rooted in truth.
But it doesn't change the fact that while these issues are very prominent here, there are still women who are concerned about the hundreds of thousands of females who are denied their basic rights overseas every day.
These are not stereotypes, and these are not something feminists have dreamed up to rally others to their cause.
Thousands of women afflicted by war, disease and starvation are not only denied their homes and their families, but their rights to sexual freedom and education.
As part of a Women's Studies class, three University of Rhode Island students gave a presentation on female refugees and Women for Women International.
The Women for Women International organization seeks to help women who have suffered from war, whether it be through rape, loss of family members, or dealing with additional trauma. Many of these women had their freedom and rights ripped away from them quite suddenly in light of civil strife.
According to the organization, more than 5.4 million people have died since 1998 at the start of conflict in the Congo alone. Half of those deaths were children under 5 years old, and "for women in the Congo, brutal gang rape and torture are a daily reality."
Under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, women were not allowed to attend school, work, or step "out of line." They could not appear in public without a male relative and could not show their skin.
Yes, there are cultural differences that affect how others look at females in each specific geographic location.
But this doesn't mean that there aren't women out there who aren't crying for help and believe that they deserve the basic rights that women have obtained in our country.
Women for Women International works with people in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, Nigeria, Rwanda and Sudan to promote women's rights and provide aid.
Handfuls of stories straight from war zones and refugee camps are posted on the organization's Web sites, and the tales are heartbreaking.
Even the skeptics must take a look at the facts. There is still a fight to be fought, and whether you label yourself as a feminist or not, it's worse not to identify the crises that exist.
Let's face it - it's easy to accept some of these feminist stereotypes as fact. Maybe some of them, in a more radical sense, are rooted in truth.
But it doesn't change the fact that while these issues are very prominent here, there are still women who are concerned about the hundreds of thousands of females who are denied their basic rights overseas every day.
These are not stereotypes, and these are not something feminists have dreamed up to rally others to their cause.
Thousands of women afflicted by war, disease and starvation are not only denied their homes and their families, but their rights to sexual freedom and education.
As part of a Women's Studies class, three University of Rhode Island students gave a presentation on female refugees and Women for Women International.
The Women for Women International organization seeks to help women who have suffered from war, whether it be through rape, loss of family members, or dealing with additional trauma. Many of these women had their freedom and rights ripped away from them quite suddenly in light of civil strife.
According to the organization, more than 5.4 million people have died since 1998 at the start of conflict in the Congo alone. Half of those deaths were children under 5 years old, and "for women in the Congo, brutal gang rape and torture are a daily reality."
Under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, women were not allowed to attend school, work, or step "out of line." They could not appear in public without a male relative and could not show their skin.
Yes, there are cultural differences that affect how others look at females in each specific geographic location.
But this doesn't mean that there aren't women out there who aren't crying for help and believe that they deserve the basic rights that women have obtained in our country.
Women for Women International works with people in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, Nigeria, Rwanda and Sudan to promote women's rights and provide aid.
Handfuls of stories straight from war zones and refugee camps are posted on the organization's Web sites, and the tales are heartbreaking.
Even the skeptics must take a look at the facts. There is still a fight to be fought, and whether you label yourself as a feminist or not, it's worse not to identify the crises that exist.
