Fighting Oppression
Well some women enjoy economic independence or even just know that they can pass the day without fear – there are women at the other end of the spectrum. Their lives are spent in fear, and everything hinges on whether their next child is a baby boy. So why are some countries so successful in eliminating unfair practices while others never succeed? “Because it’s traditional/cultural/religion” should not be an excuse for such gross misogyny – condoning them will be tantamount to accepting the continuation of the gross violation of human rights. We can all help make the lives of these women better.
Awareness
Problems do not resolve themselves just because we ignore them – they will only get worse. Awareness is the key to the betterment of the lives of women. Awareness can come in many forms – firstly, global awareness. China stopped the foot-binding practice due to a campaign which included educating them that the practice made them appear barbaric to others. The same could be applied to these nations in which female oppression is still an issue. Global pressure could force governments to be more firm in their laws – either to imprison wife batterers, rapists or even practitioners of female genital mutilation.
Awareness among the females themselves is important. As with the nucleation that African women undergo – the oppressed are often unable to reach out for help and do not know how to do so. Educating them will be a challenge – given that females are not valued for their intelligence but rather their fertility. This will also take funds that the government may not be able to provide. This is not possible of course, without changing the mindsets of men. A harsher method would be to pass laws that punish men who oppress women in any way more severely – but law passing does not come easily as well.
Just thinking about it is sufficient to tell us that the task at hand is not an easy one. To overcome oppression is to overcome misogynistic views that have been around for thousands of years. One possible way to tackle this situation is through workshops or talks for which men are asked to try and view things from a women’s perspective. To put yourself in other people’s shoes is not easy, especially when you’ve been abusing them a moment ago and told that what you did was not wrong. However, it is necessary and in the long term, the most effective if taught from young.
Volunteer
If you live in an area where oppression is rife – do take a bit of your time and help out at shelters or even help to create one with others. A helping hand goes a long way – it need not be really great acts such as multi-million donations to organisations fighting oppression or 10 hours of your time daily with these women (though it would be appreciated), but simple things like ensuring that they are fed properly at the shelter or even just listening to them pour their woes. It may not seem like it would help reduce oppression a lot – but it certainly gives the women courage to fight. Volunteering to help spread awareness for the organisations would also be useful. One such organisation is the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNICEF) – which tries to help by generating awareness, lobbying for support to get governments to pass laws helping women and collecting statistics to gauge the problem and check if they are making any headway.