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Dec, 3rd 2009: Day 9 International Campaign Toward the Elimination of Violence Against Women

Posted in 51 Percent, Children, ERA, Feminism, Politics, women, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 3, 2009| 1 Comment »

What the USA is NOT doing to eliminate Violence against Women in Afghanistan.

Not to be blasé about it, but there was never any doubt we were going to be in Afghanistan and Pakistan and maybe even Somalia for quite a while. All three of the remaining presidential contenders supported last year the possibility of increased action.

In front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, SOS Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) laid the groundwork for the civilian, NGO and diplomatic core that will follow the military to Afghanistan and Pakistan this year. I saw grousing on the Internet about lack of Alliance support. In fact, the SOS was, after her meeting, to fly to Belgium to attempt just that. I saw grumbling about why we were in the war, and whether Obama had let the Obats down. I read about people like Moore and Hayden tearing off the blinders and refusing to drink the Kool-aid. I continue to be stunned that some of us were so much smarter then they. Then, I heard one soul, over at KDIC, decry this statement, where remarkably, SOS HRC said:

“We are on track to triple the number of civilian positions in Afghanistan to 974 by early next year”.

This is a pitiful number. Truly, the speaker at KDIC is right to be upset that an additional 600 or fewer civilians will be called upon to help the Afghani effort next year. However, the remarkable part of the sentence is that the figure will TRIPLE what is already there.

Our nation has additional responsibilities beyond that of guns and planes. So far in eight years, we have done very little economically and diplomatically to facilitate the emergence of a vital and stable Afghanistan. Beyond that, in light of the 16 days International Campaign Toward the Elimination of Violence against Women, we have failed on another front-Congress.

Let’s not forget the “Afghan Women Empowerment Act of 2007” introduced by Representative Maloney and it’s twin by Senator Boxer, sent to rigor mortis at the respective foreign committees. Oh sure, the Feminist Majority and others have pushed. However, most of the members of Congress haven’t done their part to provide the tiniest measure of help to women in Afghanistan. The bill was reintroduced in April of this year to the house as HR 2214 – Afghan Women Empowerment Act of 2009, and in January as S.229 under the same name. Again it was referred to the relative foreign relations committees. Again it sits.

I linked the house and senate text versions to their numbers above. However, to give you an idea of the bill, the CRS Index terms, which are used to identify key themes in a bill, is the following:

International affairs

Afghanistan

Asia

Foreign aid and international relief

Human rights

International organizations and cooperation

Sex, gender, sexual orientation discrimination

Women’s rights

Here is a list of the Senate cosponsors:

Sen Begich, Mark [AK] – 6/1/2009

Sen Burris, Roland [IL] – 9/14/2009

Sen Cantwell, Maria [WA] – 10/26/2009

Sen Cardin, Benjamin L. [MD] – 8/6/2009

Sen Collins, Susan M. [ME] – 7/15/2009

Sen Dodd, Christopher J. [CT] – 7/28/2009

Sen Franken, Al [MN] – 11/4/2009

Sen Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [NY] – 4/29/2009

Sen Johnson, Tim [SD] – 7/13/2009

Sen Kaufman, Edward E. [DE] – 6/23/2009

Sen Landrieu, Mary L. [LA] – 5/4/2009

Sen Lautenberg, Frank R. [NJ] – 7/31/2009

Sen Mikulski, Barbara A. [MD] – 4/27/2009

Sen Shaheen, Jeanne [NH] – 10/14/2009

Sen Snowe, Olympia J. [ME] – 7/28/2009

Sen Stabenow, Debbie [MI] – 12/1/2009

Sen Whitehouse, Sheldon [RI] – 7/28/2009

Here is a list of the House cosponsors:

Rep Abercrombie, Neil [HI-1] – 9/15/2009

Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2] – 4/30/2009

Rep Brown, Corrine [FL-3] – 7/24/2009

Rep Cohen, Steve [TN-9] – 9/16/2009

Rep Doggett, Lloyd [TX-25] – 9/15/2009

Rep Ellison, Keith [MN-5] – 9/8/2009

Rep Farr, Sam [CA-17] – 9/8/2009

Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51] – 9/8/2009

Rep Hodes, Paul W. [NH-2] – 9/8/2009

Rep Honda, Michael M. [CA-15] – 7/29/2009

Rep Johnson, Eddie Bernice [TX-30] – 7/28/2009

Rep Michaud, Michael H. [ME-2] – 10/14/2009

Rep Rothman, Steven R. [NJ-9] – 10/20/2009

Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9] – 7/28/2009

Rep Schiff, Adam B. [CA-29] – 9/8/2009

Rep Shea-Porter, Carol [NH-1] – 6/3/2009

Rep Stark, Fortney Pete [CA-13] – 7/28/2009

Rep Tsongas, Niki [MA-5] – 10/22/2009

Rep Waxman, Henry A. [CA-30] – 9/22/2009

Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6] – 5/12/2009

Rep Wu, David [OR-1] – 9/8/2009

The allocation of money provided in this bill is a tiny sum compared to the vast amounts we have allocated for the war. The House bill asks for 150 million for each year between 2010 and 2112. The Senate bill asks for a paltry 45 million for the same period. (I know the word paltry is hard to swallow for some of us, but try to keep in mind what we have spent elsewhere this year.)

One cannot have a war without allocating funds to it. Concomitantly, one cannot have a war without provision for the effects upon civilians. Above and beyond that however, is the general question of what we as a country are willing to toward the progress of women as equal partners in the world. Whether or not we leave Afghanistan today, the OTHER war is waging. So, when a bill like this, designed to facilitate civilian impact of the guns and planes, can’t get out of committee, you have to look to other reasons why. Some of the following people are also on the above lists. Many of the following people have inserted viewpoints regarding the Afghan War on their Congressional web pages. Contact them and find out why the bill isn’t part of their statement. Or hey, contact them anyway and tell them YOUR viewpoint. Or not. Maybe, like Greenwald, you have some inane idea that helping women is the equivalent of nation building. It isn’t. It’s nation changing. And we all have to do it.

Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

John Kerry, Chair

Christopher J. Dodd

Russell D. Feingold

Barbara Boxer

Robert Menendez

Benjamin L. Cardin

Robert P. Casey Jr.

Jim Webb

Jeanne Shaheen

Edward E. Kaufman

Kirsten E. Gillibrand

Richard G Lugar, Ranking Member

Bob Corker

Johnny Isakson

James E. Risch

Jim DeMint

John Barrasso

Roger F. Wicker

James M. Inhofe

House Committee on Foreign Affairs

Howard L. Berman, CHAIRMAN, D-CA, 28th District

Gary L. Ackerman, VICE CHAIR, D-NY, 5th District

Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, D-American Samoa

Donald M. Payne, D-NJ, 10th District

Brad Sherman, D-CA, 27th District

Eliot L. Engel, D-NY, 17th District

Bill Delahunt, D-MA, 10th District

Gregory W. Meeks, D-NY, 6th District

Diane E. Watson, D-CA, 33rd District

Russ Carnahan, D-MO, 3rd District

Albio Sires, D-NJ, 13th District

Gerald E. Connolly, D-VA, 11th District

Michael E. McMahon, D-NY, 13th District

John S. Tanner, D-TN, 8th District

Gene Green, D-TX, 29th District

Lynn Woolsey, D-CA, 6th District

Sheila Jackson Lee, D-TX, 18th District

Barbara Lee, D-CA, 9th District

Shelley Berkley, D-NV, 1st District

Joseph Crowley, D-NY, 7th District

Mike Ross, D-AR, 4th District

Brad Miller, D-NC, 13th District

David Scott, D-GA, 13th District

Jim Costa, D-CA, 20th District

Keith Ellison, D-MN, 5th District

Gabrielle Giffords, D-AZ, 8th District

Ron Klein, D-FL, 22nd District

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, RANKING MEMBER, R-FL, 18th District

Christopher H. Smith, R-NJ, 4th District

Dan Burton, R-IN, 5th District

Elton Gallegly, R-CA, 24th District

Dana Rohrabacher, R-CA, 46th District

Donald A. Manzullo, R-IL, 16th District

Edward R. Royce, R-CA, 40th District

Ron Paul, R-TX, 14th District

Jeff Flake, R-AZ, 6th District

Mike Pence, R-IN, 6th District

Joe Wilson, R-SC, 2nd District

John Boozman, R-AR, 3rd District

J. Gresham Barrett, R-SC, 3rd District

Connie Mack, R-FL, 14th District

Jeff Fortenberry, R-NE, 1st District

Michael T. McCaul, R-TX, 10th District

Ted Poe, R-TX, 2nd District

Bob Inglis, R-SC, 4th District

Gus Bilirakis, R-FL, 9th District

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Part 2:December 2nd, 2009 – International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

Posted in 51 Percent, Children, ERA, Feminism, Politics, women, tagged , , , , , , on December 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »

December 2nd, 2009 – International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

Upper class men are no more likely to be shaken in their positions as heads of families then they are to be shaken in their positions as heads of today seconomic positions.

Susan Ostrander, 1991

As part of the 16 days International campaign toward the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Rutger’s Center for Women’s Leadership (CWGL) has provided a link to the Shirkat Gah Women ’s Resource Center in Pakistan.

Active for sixteen years, among the list of activities in which Shirkat Gah is engaged, as part of the 16 days campaign,  was a conference held today, Dec 2nd in Lahore. They say:

[…The conference will highlight women’s issue(s) and in collaboration with National Commission on the Status of Women, Shirkat Gah is arranging a colloquium on forced marriages in Lahore on 2nd December. A panel of distinguished speakers will highlight the issues of women’s rights in the light of the Quran and Hadith, rights perspective in health and education, and the legal rights of women in Pakistan…]

For more information, go to their name link above. Forced marriage is a kind of slavery. While we in the West have reduced the number of forced marriages, we still smirk about the idea of “shotgun marriages” in which traditionally a man is forced to marry a woman who has become pregnant by him. That we think it is funny implies we still don’t understand that bottom line.

Shotgun marriages were used to force a man into support of the child he helped to produce, or forced into being by rape. Such marriages were also an attempt to recoup value from the damage to the woman. They reiterate the historic bottom line of marriage, which is, that it is first and foremost an economic pact. Because economics still help to determine the class of people in this country, the  reproductive value and wealth inheritance value of marriage is often considered foremost. Men, who have escaped shotgun marriages in our culture, therefore, still find admiration for avoiding the responsibility of an “asset” that would, under other circumstances, require them to be human partners. Men who escape assign zero value to the asset, i.e. women and children.

Families who have raised these pregnant women also determine asset value. They may determine the woman now has reduced, or no future asset value, since in a patriarchal society another man is unlikely to be interested in her use as a reproductive asset for his genetic line and wealth building future. A woman’s future in this situation is uncertain, but likely to be difficult or worse, as is the child’s.

Forced marriage reinforces the idea of women and children as chattel. They are assets to be traded. Pakistan, while it denounces forced marriage as illegal, acknowledges that women are still sometimes used in settling intertribal disputes. Since women are chattel in this trade, it is up to the new owner to decide what to do with their new asset. This is bought and sold slavery at its fundamental base. Agencies like Shirkat Gah have a lot of work to do.

Yet, our patriarchal society still thinks forced marriage is funny. We assign shotgun marriages to rubes and hicks. Not only that, we opine that marriage for, especially poor, women is the way to fix their economic problems – a kind of  sell-yourself-into-bondage solution. In this scenario it really doesn’t matter other reasons there might be for marriage. Those of us who grew up in the velvet cage however, know arranged marriages are not just the province of rubes and hicks. Pakistan acknowledges their efforts to change mindset and action. Are we better? Have we improved our lot? Or, are we still the house N**ger? When do we stop laughing?

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December 2nd, 2009 – International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

Posted in 51 Percent, Children, ERA, Feminism, Politics, tagged , , , , , on December 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »

As part of the 16 days campaign toward the Elimination of Violence against Women, the UN has announced the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery.

“Combating slavery means not only its direct prohibition by law but also fighting against poverty, illiteracy, economic and social disparities, gender discrimination and violence against women and children.  We need to enforce laws against slavery; create mechanisms to combat such practices; reinforce bilateral, regional and international cooperation, including with non-governmental organizations that assist victims; and launch awareness raising campaigns.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Message for the International Day

for the Abolition of Slavery

2 December 2009

Slavery is an international problem. Wikipedia identifies slavery as:

[Slavery is a form of forced labor in which people are considered to be the property of others. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive compensation (such as wages)…]

Perhaps we in the United States like to think we fully know what slavery is and condemn it. After all, we sent Eleanor to the United Nations in 1948 and thought we took care of that. We passed civil rights laws and thought that was an end. Some of us have  attempted apologies or reparations.

However, it still exists internationally and it still exists here. We are still a patriarchal society; we don’t place an economic value on the work that people, say, like abused women trapped in their home, do, or are not able to do, because of their situation. Women (and some men) still only have a domestic value if they take their skills across the street to their neighbor who pays them an hourly wage for their babysitting, caretaking and cooking. Therefore, we don’t count an abused woman’s plight as an aspect of slavery. It is. Yet domestic violence is rarely even treated as assault and battery, much less attempted murder or slave trafficking. Never the less, the abusers diminishment tactics that are used are very much the same.

Human trafficking is a component of slavery. It is here in the United States.

Wikipedia says:

[…Human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world,[4] with the total annual revenue for trafficking in persons estimated to be between USD$5 billion and $9 billion.[5] The Council of Europe states, “People trafficking has reached epidemic proportions over the past decade, with a global annual market of about $42.5 billion.”[6][7] Trafficking victims typically are recruited using coercion, deception, fraud, the abuse of power, or outright abduction…]

The FBI website has the “Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force Complaint Line” at 1-888-428-7581.

The FBI also has a website devoted to understanding your rights and where you can find help it you are a victim of trafficking and are in the United States.

HumanTrafficking.org is an organization previously supported by the USA State Department, and now, by the Academy of Educational Development (AED). It’s purpose is to bring Governments and NGO’s (Nongovernmental Organizations) in East Asia and the Pacific together, to share knowledge country specific information and laws, action plans and activities in the realm of human trafficking.

They have a hotline you can call if you suspect trafficking.

HOTLINE: 1.888.3737.888

HumanTrafficking states that the United States is principally a transit and destination country for human trafficking.  However, their numbers, while large, appear to reflect that of 2007. In fact, in looking around the web I realized that there was a dearth of figures for 2008 or 2009.

I found a clue to this mystery at another UN organization, UNESCO. They have begun a new project to strengthen research and conduct a literature review and meta-analysis of existing statements on human trafficking.

UNESCO offers a data comparison sheet to show the difficulties with which they are working. Big crime activities are notoriously hard to quantify precisely because they are hidden. Assume, however, that the smallest figure of 600-800,000 people, supplied by the US, has been trafficked globally, between 2000 and 2008.

That figure does not include those who are trafficked within their national borders. According to Wiki, in 2007, 40% were thought to be trafficked sex slaves worth an estimated $29,210 each. The average profit was $3,175 with the lowest for a bonded slave laborer at $950. That is 2.54 billion.  In fact, Wiki quoting, Siddharth Kara, estimates the total for slavers to be around 91.2 billion in just 2007.

This figure does not include the asset and production value of slaves to the new owners. However, these values can be quantified. Learning is one of the first steps toward understanding and then acting. One of my must-reads this week is Siddarth Kara’s book, “Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery”.

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