It has been twenty years since Hillary Clinton (then the First Lady of the United States) made a groundbreaking speech to the UN on the subject of women’s rights. She stridently declared that ‘women’s rights are human rights’ and so they should be. Gender equality benefits everybody, not just women. It is expected that in a few months, perhaps even weeks, Hillary Clinton will announce that she will run for President in 2016 and attempt to break the ‘ultimate glass ceiling’. If she wins, it will be a landmark for women’s equality around the world.
In a recent BBC documentary entitled, Hillary Clinton: The Power of Women, Clinton is interviewed along with other previous women Secretaries of State, Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice on how being the most important women in the world allowed them to effect change for women less fortunate than themselves.
What was shocking to learn from the documentary, is that rape, one of the most heinous of crimes, is still being used as a weapon of war around the world. Albright highlighted that when she came to power during the Balkans conflict, ‘women’s bodies became the front-line’ of the war. Rape is a crime of power and domination; when used as a weapon, it becomes incredibly dangerous and powerful, men were often impregnating women on the losing side of the war to declare their victory. War was no longer fought on a battlefield, but in people’s homes and women’s bodies. When one sees a woman as a war tool, she becomes less than a human, it is objectification of the most horrific level. Once again, men need to be reminded that ‘human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights’. Until this becomes proper practice around the world, we must keep repeating it and shouting it out loud.
If people are not educated, it is easier to keep them in bondage. Condoleezza Rice commented that the situation for women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule was similar to the treatment of slaves in America: they were kept in bondage to prevent them from being autonomous and powerful beings. Women were, and still are, considered less than men, second-class citizens and deliberately oppressed. The Taliban tried to execute Malala Yousafzai because she was on her way to school, to gain an education, because she campaigned tirelessly for herself and her peers to have access to education. Why are women with books so threatening to a patriarchy? Is it because those leading the patriarchy are aware of how powerful women really can be? It is sadly amusing to think that the Taliban were scared of a girl with a book.
Only a few weeks ago, a woman was beaten to death in Kabul accused of burning the Q’ran. Is religion against women? Is it encouraging its followers to view women as subordinate and not equal to male leaders? Women in the Far East live in archaic regimes that are controlled and ruled by men in the name of religion. Religion is merely a veil with which to keep women oppressed and under control of men. Women’s purpose in these regimes are to be wives, to produce heirs and to keep the patriarchy alive. Even today, ISIS are luring girls to Syria with the promise of being a Jihadi bride. The idea of keeping house is romanticised and promoted as the ultimate goal for a woman. Why are these girls so desperate to leave Britain for this life?
According to this documentary, as of last year, most Afghan women remain ‘impoverished, marginalised and disempowered.’ Prostitution and trafficking is still prominent in many countries around the world, the profits of such organisations exceed those of Google, McDonald’s and Apple combined. It’s no wonder that women are still used in this manner. When it is so easy to subdue and break a woman into contributing to a multi-billion dollar business, there is little temptation to promote change and gender equality. Most of the world is ruled by men, there is no country, even in 2015, that has achieved full gender equality. The statistics demonstrate that the subjugation of women is too profitable for men, it is done to keep the men in charge. Why would they want to change that when they’re getting such a good deal out of it?
It has been almost a year since over 200 girls were seized from a school in Nigeria. Once again, in a crime that parallels that of the attempted assassination of Malala Yousafzai, the girls were taken because the terrorist group, Boko Haram, did not believe that it was right for women to be educated. Since that day, #BringBackOurGirls has trended over 1 million times on Twitter. Still the girls have not been rescued. Intelligence has indicated that the location of the girls is known, but it is not in the best interest of governments to free them. They have other, more pressing preoccupations. 200 enslaved girls can wait for another day.
We must not forget about those girls. They have paid a price simply because they were born different from their fathers. Why are we oppressed? Because the thought of an educated woman is the most threatening thing to the patriarchy. Well men should be scared. Equality will happen, it is not just beneficial to women, but to men all around the world. An equal society is a more powerful and healthy society. The ceiling will be smashed, but only if we keep chipping away at it, pane by pane.
@feminism_is 