Women in Cambodia

Apart from the issues regarding the lack of economic opportunities, many women in Cambodia face so many challenges in society to fully enjoy their rights and well being  because of social norms. Nevertheless in this post I am going to discuss issues concerning women. 

One of which is domestic violence's committed by their husbands or partners. When the issues happen, society or communities tend to not take this issue seriously; yet communities or even authorities who are supposed to enforce law could also be seen to compromise the issue to couples trying to mediate couples.

 An article published by VOD , on “Footage Shows Tycoon’s Domestic Violence Against Entrepreneur Ex-Wife” a Cambodian tycoon badly hitting his wife violently after the wife showed the video on social media. Nevertheless the discussion or comments on social media do not discuss this tycoon should be arrested yet; blaming the victim because she chose to marry a rich man. In addition violence's against women believed to be under-reported as women choose to stay silent as they believe that they do not want to separate as it could affect to their reputation and their children future. The study showed that women experience violence's facing many problems related to their physical, mental and sexual consequences.

 Apart from issue related to violence against women, women cannot discuss what is right for themselves. For instance, women are believed that they should not wear revealing clothes because it affects Cambodian culture and Cambodian women or especially if you are a celebrity you will be called for attitude discipline for just wearing too sexy clothes according to the Phnom Penh Post published in June 2016. 

Photo: the Phnom Penh Post

An article published at Voice of America news “a female police officer in Stung Treng province posting a photo of her breastfeeding at her work on social media was reprimanded a week later ; the photo is covered up with emo. She was instructed by her boss not to do it as it affects Cambodian women's values and institution and made her sign a written apology. In this, women cannot even choose what is best for themselves.

By meta kong

Surrogate issues in Cambodia

In this first blog, I am very keen on writing one of the global topics related to surrogacy; how it is treated in Cambodia and affected to many Cambodian marginalized women. 

 

The Cambodian government made surrogacy illegal in 2016 which prevented surrogacy operations in Cambodia after neighboring countries like Thailand made it illegal; nevertheless this business has been operated underground . 

Surrogacy is the process and practice of using women’s wombs to employers' clients to get pregnant for their babies ; it believes to be be a multibillion-dollar-a-year industry which women do not really sharing a benefit yet exploited due to shadow practices by those operators

In Cambodia where there are a lot of inequalities and social issues; many women lacking economic opportunities choose to do surrogacy. Many women with low wages, like working in garment factories, ended up being surrogate mothers for foreign couples. 

 

Women were promised to be paid about 10 000 USD $ which women would get about 300 $ per month for the first three months after they get pregnant  to make incomes while their original jobs offer 150 $ per month to work in garment factories.

In 2016 the government raided the first surrogacy case which arrested agency persons. Following others the government continued raiding on cases and treating women of surrogate through women trafficking that Cambodia has not adopted any surrogate law. Having no surrogate law yet women were being executed with the human trafficking could keep women at disadvantages.   

The worst cases were when the first case of female surrogate women, in 2018 about 33 Cambodian women were arrested after the authorities raided the surrogate house, and those 33 women's kept in a prison hospital although there is no surrogate law. Women were promised to be responsible for keeping surrogacy babies in return for their freedoms. This situation makes women’s life and their families worse as women are living in desperate situations that they choose to be surrogate. This not only affected women themselves
but their families as they need to allocate their resources, times and mental health to take care of surrogate newborn. 

Post by Meta Kong

Gender, Intersectionality, and Sex

 

In the picture above, we see an image from the “Simpsons” and the description reads “The ones with eyelashes are girls; boys don’t have eyelashes”. A four-year-old already has a sense of gender or should I say sex, and this is how she illustrates or represents it in a drawing. It is interesting to see how gender is defined in the movies that we watch from birth, and I think that’s where our sense of gender is from. Every little girl believes they are a princess and every little boy the prince charming. I also find it intriguing how women are being referred to in many eras in time, from the “other sex”, “opposite sex”, etc. The most surprising to me is the seventeenth-century European view that men and women were better and worse versions of the same sex. “Women are but men turned outside-in”. It is surprising to think that these were the same group of people fighting for distinction in society and stopped wearing heels because women and “common” people started wearing them.  Even though gender distinction is good in some ways for society, it is also important to note that there are a lot of similarities between men and women and we’re not so opposite.  

Fausto Sterling says that we should have five sexes, instead of two. she brings in the idea of intersex people being left out of the equation. Society has a box of males and females and intersex people must fit in even though they face a totally different situation.  In her piece titled “The Five Sexes”, she says “In its place, I suggested a five-sex system. In addition to males and females, I included “herms” (named after true hermaphrodites, people born with both a testis and an ovary); “merms” (male pseudohermaphrodites, who are born with testes and some aspect of female genitalia); and “ferms” (female pseudohermaphrodites, who have ovaries combined with some aspect of male genitalia).  

  The idea of having five sexes can be a bit far-fetched but is it unattainable? I ask this question because the standards of society and the gender binary are so strictly constructed that I doubt there is room for a five-sex scheme. 

Notwithstanding this earlier argument, society has come a long way when it comes to these issues. Fausto-Sterling talks about a doctor who was refused an audience some years back and finally got the audience she requested. This shows that we are growing, and change is happening, though very small. Activism has played a significant role in this regard. The relentlessness of people who have suffered and those who even haven’t has helped shed light on the issue of intersex people.

I particularly like how McCullough puts it in the article. “Finally, McCullough urges physicians to abandon their practice of treating the birth of a child with genital ambiguity as a medical or social emergency. Instead, they should take the time to perform a thorough medical workup and should disclose everything to the parents, including the uncertainties about the outcome. The treatment mantra, in other words, should be therapy, not surgery.”

This statement I think is the best-proffered step in the right direction, if not the solution. Doctors need to educate themselves in this field in other to help parents make the best decision possible for their kids. Parents must also do their due diligence before taking such life-altering decisions for their kids.

 There is a thin line between saying we are opposites or the same is thought-provoking, in the sense that when you analyze the evidence for each argument, you find an iota of truth in there. It is therefore confusing that Wade and Ferree point out that some of these views are wrong. “Seventeenth-century anatomists were wrong, of course”.  I see it from the perspective of “we’re cut from the same cloth”. In the subsequent paragraphs, they talk about a lot of biological similarities between men and women. “The penis and scrotum do have something in common with the female anatomy. The same tissue that becomes the scrotum in males becomes the outer labia in females…This in my opinion points out that the seventeenth-century anatomist was not entirely wrong after all.

Men and women are different but also similar in many ways. Diversity is beauty, and as humans, we must embrace it all.

References

Fausto-Sterling, Anne. (2000). The Five Sexes, Revisited.

Wade, Lisa, and Ferree, Myra Marx. (2019). Ideas. Gender: Ideas, Interactions, and Institutions. (pp 9-36)

EMPOWERING MORE WOMEN IN GHANA’S POLITICS; THE ROAD MAP TO GENDER BALANCE

Women's empowerment has been a topic of discussion all over the world. One of the major means of empowering women throughout the world is equal participation in politics. Bridging gender inequality gaps has been a key issue since 1995, following the Beijing Conference. The concept of providing an enabling environment for women to realize their deepest aspirations stems from the perception that women are weaker and at a disadvantage due to their role in society and as the weaker sex. Various authors have maintained that beliefs concerning gender differences are drawn from classical ideas, Christian ideology, and contemporary science and medicine (Gambetti, 2003; Blakemore, 1998). 

The Empowerment of Women as a Key Strategy for Development is Presented in Section 13 of the Beijing Declaration on the Status of Women in Beijing: "Women’s empowerment and their full participation on the basis of equality in all spheres of society, including participation in the decision-making process and access to power, are fundamental for the achievement of equality, development and peace." When attempting to address gender disparity through empowerment measures, the following questions must be considered critically; what are we aiming to empower to equalize?  How do we ensure equal participation and inclusion of women in political processes at all levels? Have women been given enough position in all aspect of political processes in Ghana?

 Promoting gender equality and women's empowerment has been an effective development plan. It was the third goal set out in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but also one of the goals that has remained unattained. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognize Goal five (5) of this continuous imbalance and have set out to achieve gender equality and empower women and girls before 2030. This goal is crucial to "ensure women's full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life."

Ghana is now ranked 147 out of 186 in the Inter-Parliamentary Union's global assessment of women's representation in parliament. Only 40 of the 275 members are women, accounting for a minuscule 14.55% of the total number of lawmakers. The local and district-level scenarios

are like the national picture. This does not speak well for Ghana's democratic status in the committee of nations because it contradicts Ghana's democratic standing with the rest of Africa. Rwanda, for example, ranks first in the world with 61.3% female representation in the national parliament.

Getting equal numbers of men and women in politics is challenging because there isn't an affirmative action bill, people have a patriarchal mindset, there isn't enough funds, women don't help each other, and there isn't enough mentoring.

 

References

https://data.ipu.org/women-ranking?month=8&year=2022

 UNDP, (2014). UNDP Gender and Equality Strategy 2014-2017, the Future we want: Right and Empowerment. New York.

 

Global Inequality and a media example of Environmental Injustice in Bayelsa, Nigeria

Export-oriented capitalism is a global economic system that produces and perpetuates both poverty and inequality and accumulates capital for the already wealthy and privileged as well as mirrors colonization in the world. Similarly, stratification exist among nations whereby inequality from colonization, ideological influence, and economic powers is enforced by the developed nations over the developing world to access their raw materials. Consequently, the global media plays a significant role in the projection of narratives of western values and neoliberal principles as superior to increasing the dependency of low-income nations. For instance, the World Bank and IMF loans are given to projects in low-income countries with compound interest rates and conditions. Furthermore, development aid by International NGOs, multinational organizations, United Nations, and SDGs use developing countries as a profitable market for development where indigenous raw materials become products. Also, Multinational corporations situated in developing countries continue to exploit local communities and workers under unhealthy and degrading conditions with no environmental protection. Moreover, the political and economic relationship between the United Nations, multinational corporations, and powerful governments have more to do with the problem of producing economic inequality than solving it in today’s world as seen in the media example about the experiences of the indigenous people of Niger Delta in Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

 The media video example above shows the environmental injustice and pollution caused by Shell and other multinational oil companies in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria where the Indigenous people of the Niger Delta narrate how oil is gotten from their lands yet they never benefit from it. How their livelihoods as farmers and fishermen have been affected by the devastating effects of raw crude oil spillage, gas pollution that has created health problems, no clean water, no jobs, unemployed youths are lured into criminality, and underdevelopment. Despite the challenges since 1956, Bayelsa remains marginalized, the multinationals abandon these communities with dangerous and harmful substances with no good clean-up because they are aware of the global inequality that exists between Nigeria, as a developing nation based on the gross domestic product and gross national product.

When we think about development aid in developing countries, we believe it is our hope to become a developed nation. This week’s readings highlight development as capitalism that produces and reproduces subjects in need of aid, as well as its intersections with colonization, gender, patriarchy, and inequalities that exist in governance and economic systems. In other words, the recipients’ voices are not included rather they are socially constructed with stereotypes of being uneducated, lazy, criminals, weak, and needing help in the form of development. Meanwhile, development, humanitarianism, and foreign aid can be described as a business that offers a social, political, and economic tool to generate or secure wealth, power, and socio-political influence by the western powers. Personally, I believe decolonizing the development in these communities will empower local voices and indigenous knowledge of the people of  Niger Delta at the receiving end to be included in the development process and ownership of innovations in their indigenous lands. 

Reference

Newman, D. M. (2015). Sociology: Exploring the architecture of Everyday Life. SAGE Publications.

ICERM. (2022, January 26). Hold Oil Companies Accountable for the Destroyed Lives and Environment in the Niger Delta [Video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/ASVBqdYV8eQ

Trauger, A., & Fluri, J. (2019). Engendered development: Capitalism and inequality in the global economy. Routledge.

A story of hope – Choco Andino Ecuador

When sharing time with youth, I noticed specific patterns that, as adults, we perpetuate. For instance, the mainstream discourses about how young people and children are not able to make their own decisions or that they do not even know what to do or how to do something, however when we pay a little bit of attention, we can encounter that actually young people have their own interests that are shaped by many different factors and interconnected with their social, cultural context.

In this post, I want to talk about La Red de Jovenes del Choco Andino, which is a group of youth people, from 12 years to around 19 years, who live in the communities of Choco Andino. The Choco Andino, is a biodiverse reserve that encompasses 5 countries in South America. for a couple of years, mining companies have threatened this territory, which has caught the attention of many activists and alternative media in Ecuador.

This past summer, I went to the Agroecology Annual National Encounter, which was held in Pacto, a wonderful rural community located within the Ecuadorian Choco Andino Reserve. This encounter gathers people from all over Ecuador interested in agroecology; some are peasants, small-scale farmers, entrepreneurs, cooks, activists, and academics. 

Photo: Ana Carolina Benitez

In one of the activities, I met Cristina, who is part of the Red de Jovenes del Choco Andino; Cristina is 18 years, and she told me that she was attending this agroecology encounter because she feels is important to share the story of their collective but also because she truly believed that only through cooperation is possible to achieve big goals. She told me that they are raising awareness about the territories these mining companies are threatening and how not only nature is being threatened but also people who co live whit nature. I asked her how she does not lose hope, and she told me, "I am a dreamer." Then, she explained to me that it all started with a dream when they started as a group of young people that shared their worries and frustration with the situations happening in their communities. She said that when she was 14, she and her cousins talked about how worried they were because their younger siblings didn't have the technology needed to print or do homework in their homes, so they organized themselves and came out with the idea of creating a shared space where children and young can go to use computers, printers and other devices required for completing their homework. So she said that it was not simple, but they really wanted that, so as a group, they went to the Provincial Council to talk with the authorities about their necessities. They told them to prepare all the paperwork and present the project "officially," so they did, and they obtained the devices required. She also said to me that adults sometimes think young people are naive and inexperienced. Still, it is ironic that they keep complaining about their realities but do nothing about it. She added, "we believed that we actually could do something and that we cannot wait until somebody else helps us or save us," and "we needed to do it by ourselves. "

Nowadays, the Red of Jovenes del Choco Andino is mobilizing themselves in different areas to defend the quality of life of themselves, their families, and nature. They organize events to raise awareness about the biodiverse fauna and flora that exist in Chocho Andino but they also there are actively inviting people to meet the people that live there and that have been living there for many years.

During my visit to Pacto, I remembered that they are two things we should never forget, the problem of universalism in feminist studies (Mohanty). For instance, contrary to what outsiders would think, Cristina does not see herself as helpless or a victim; she sees herself as a person who can choose and create. As Cristina, other young women in Choco mobilized without doubting or being intimidated by the obstacles they could encounter. So, in these narratives, it is visible how they change the notions from being helpless to being the main supporters of community thriving and resilience by action. Finally, I found sense in many authors' when highlighting the importance of reflecting on our positionality when writing/researching. Most of the time, communities/women/people's needs are not the same as what we think they need, as the legacy of top-down approaches has made us believe. We can only validate saberes(plural of knowlegde) as legitimate knowledge by revisiting our interests.

 

I am linking a YouTube video that describes stories and gathers the testimonies of these young women being part of Red de Jovenes del Choco Andino. It is in Spanish, but I invite you to take a look as you may understand the main idea.

 

GENDER INEQUALITY AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Gender inequality is undeniably a grave social and global concern which has become part and parcel of the human existence in the society. Ironically gender inequality begins from no other place but the home; a place which is supposed to be of peace and tranquility. This inequality eventually creates discrepancies between men and women in various spheres like education, political and economic empowerment. Men historically have dominated and as a matter of fact, are still dominating areas of politics, law, education, economics and religion while the only institution women have had a central role is the family, however, women are still subordinated in this institution (Acker J., 1992). Even with the modernization theory which permits the rise of the modern individual, the woman is still unable to freely partake in the market force because women could only do so if it is compatible with their principal role as homemakers (Kabeer N. 1994).

In typical African settings for instance, gender inequality is established right from birth where a girl is given a name like Nutifafa; a name in one of the local dialects of Ghana which symbolizes peace and a boy given a name like Afelete which directly translates as ‘a firm, strong or secured home’  and that symbolizes power. Discrepancies as these are seen not just at the naming stage of both sexes but throughout their entire growing process, where the male child is made to partake in extracurricular  activities like martial arts or karate and to play with toys like guns and huge cars while the female child partakes in activities like knitting and is made to play with dolls and cooking utensils. All these ideas have contributed in the formation of the rigid view where the male is portrayed as strong and powerful and the female is portrayed as weak and just a caretaker. It had made many boys to grow into thinking that anything feminine is associated with weakness. Hence the woman cannot make nor partake in critical decision making.

Men in quite a number of cases tend to use their strength and favor gained from the society in harassing and molesting women. Growing up in Ghana, I have seen many cases where society has the guts to question the dressing of a woman who reports a rape case. This is to justify that, she wouldn’t have been rapped if not for her indecent dressing. Unfair right? Adding to this, a woman is physically abused at home and it is because she provoked the man to hit her. Statistics from WHO (2021) reveals that 1 in 3 women around the world, that’s approximately 736 million women, are subjected to physical or sexual violence by a partner.

Law enforcement and religious institutions often times discourage women from pressing charges and rather encourage family reconciliation reminding women of their purpose in the family which is obey and serve her husband. This again leaves the man unpunished and unchallenged by the laws. 

References

Acker J., (1992). From Sex Roles to Gendered Institutions. Contemporary Sociology, Vol.21, No.5

Kabeer N. (1994) Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought. London; verso 1994

World Health Organization (2021). Devastatingly Pervasive: 1 in 3 Women Globally Experience Violence. Retrieved From URL: https://www.who.int/news/item/09-03-2021-devastatingly-pervasive-1-in-3-women-globally-experience-violence  

 

Improving the Health of the Poor in Mexico

            Recently in my Fundamentals of Global Health class, we discussed Case#9 which was a successful program that was used to improve the health of the poor in Mexico. Nearly half of Mexico's population was living in poverty at the time, and as is the norm, social determinants of health, such as income level, have a significant impact on one's ability to access health care, which is exactly what this case looks at (Levine, 2007). And in 1997, a program called PROGRESA was implemented.

PROGRESA incentivized parents to invest in their children's health

The program was successful (at that time) for a number of reasons. One of the reasons was the fact that this program was created to enhance the supply side was the first component of its success (Levine, 2007). In other words, it was designed to erase the barriers that limited people from using available public services. This was not like the traditional programs that were designed with a focus on providing more public service (Levine, 2007).

Another success element was that the program adopted a 3-stage targeting strategy to enroll people into the program (Levine, 2007). This was important as it ensured that there was the availability of resources to the poor people that needed them the most (Levine, 2007).

Furthermore, the program's monitoring and evaluation were excellent. This was crucial because it guaranteed the program's sustainability under various political regimes in Mexico. Also, the evaluation made the program gain recognition from the international community (Levine, 2007).

Generally, I think the fact that they worked towards a precise, clear, and specific goal was a major success element. For instance, they worked towards eradicating poverty by treating its root causes and the repercussions related to poverty. In the end, "breaking the cycle" allowed for improvements in residents' quality of life as well as the capacity to counteract adverse effects on future generations (both social and economic repercussions) (Meyer & Floyd, 2020).

Also, for the implementation of the program, cash grants were awarded to the mothers and this was a major bone of contention. A lot of people argued that that was the right call while others said it was not. According to Levine, 2007, cash grants were awarded to the mothers because the program relied on top social sciences research for success. I think this was a good idea as mothers are known to be closer to their children when compared to fathers. In most African homes, fathers are referred to as the breadwinners or major providers and as such, would always be outside trying to fend for the family while a lot of mothers are full housewives taking care of the home and children. On average, mothers would probably be the first to know if their children are ill or in need. Therefore, I agree that mothers be given the money for the benefit of the entire family.

Meyer and Floyd, 2020 argued that giving the money to the mothers instilled a sense of responsibility. It gave the mothers the freedom to feel like they could use that money however they saw fit and gave them the respect and independence they so deserve (Sherman et al., 2013).

While studies have shown that mothers are always working towards having means for the family and household necessities, it has also shown that men tend to use such money to purchase alcohol or cigarettes and not for the children’s welfare or health needs (Sherman et al., 2013). This is another reason why I agree with the cash being given to the mothers and not the fathers.

A positive side to this is that the money would be better managed and benefit the entire household. A flip side to this is that it can incite domestic violence as fathers who are seen as the end of the home could feel undermined. Failure to hand over the money to the fathers after the government issues the money to the mothers, could make the fathers violent and lead to domestic violence within the home.

My reason for bringing case#9  to this platform is because of its approach in relation to this Gender and Development class. It was a top-down approach, I could even argue that it had elements of the WID, welfare, and anti- poverty approach as one of its goals was to help women to be better mothers, and poverty was the problem. However, the program was a success. My conclusion is that it does not really matter if the world is using WID or GAD approaches, what matters is utilizing an approach that works for the particular people. There is the need to identify the grassroots, and what they have been doing or are used to. No one shoe size fits all; while WID approaches might work in some places, GAD might work in another and a combination of all approaches might work in other places.

 

 

 

 

Reference

International Labour Organization (2017, September 19). Global estimates of Child labor: Results and trends, 2012-2016. Report: Global Estimates of Child Labour: Results and trends, 2012-2016. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_575499/lang--en/index.htm

Levine, R. (2007). Case Studies in Global Health: Millions Saved. Jones and Bartlett Learning. 

Meyer, L., & Floyd, I. (2020, November 30). Cash assistance should reach millions more families to lessen hardship. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. https://www.cbpp.org/research/family-income-support/cash-assistance-should-reach-millions-more-families-to-lessen

Sherman, A., Trisi, D., & Parrott, S. (2013, July 30). Various supports for low-income families reduce poverty and have long-term positive effects on families and children. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. https://www.cbpp.org/research/various-supports-for-low-income-families-reduce-poverty-and-have-long-term-positive

 

 

 External Links

BBC on Mexico's Welfare Revolution

Impact of PROGRESA on Women's Status 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 “Death in Slow motion: Women and girls under the Taliban Rule” 

 

We were shocked following the news about the war in Ukraine as we were when Afghanistan was forced to yield absolute power to the Taliban, and people were hanging from planes trying to escape because they did not want to suffer under the new laws ruled by the Taliban.

 

However, the world we live in is manipulated by the media. And those owning the viral information allow us to forget what other parts of the world keep suffering quickly. The amount of information we receive daily prevents us from following up on past events, influencing the economic structure, and maintaining the status quo.

 

Nevertheless, I wanted to bring back the precarious situation of Afghan women since the Taliban took over Afghanistan territory because the lives of many are in danger. Their dreams of becoming young professionals, traveling abroad, or attending school have been shattered. 

 

A recent report published by Amnesty International and the New York Times in August 2022 shares interviews of many women from different provinces and ask for help to fight for their human rights. They have been harassed, neglected, and even beaten. Many NGOs have testified human rights violations against women and girls. That’s why I want to share specific information with you, so we can help them spread the word.

 

Women at Work:

 

Taliban restrictions for women on work have decreased the opportunities for their professional development. Most of them feel desperate because the Taliban is interfering with their workspaces. First, they need to have a permit to work. This authorization is issued only if this position cannot be replaced by men or is not considered a “man’s job.”

 

Second, most female employees in the public sphere were asked to stay at home, and in the private sector, many women have been fired from high-level positions. Furthermore, according to the new Taliban policies, all females must be accompanied to go outside by male chaperones or “mahram,” which reduces women’s options to find a job.

 

To aggravate the situation, women who are their families single or principal wage-earner have fewer opportunities to feed their families, and the rates of malnutrition and poverty are growing fast.

 

Education:

 

Education in Afghanistan is banned for girls at the secondary level. The vast majority are facing difficulties to keep studying or teaching. However, teachers and students want to continue their education even though they must insubordinate or break the Taliban’s rules. They are motivated to continue their education in underground schools, online lessons, or by teaching themselves. 

 

Some schoolteachers continued to work without getting payments for months, leading them to sell their household appliances or end up hungry and impoverished. In the case of women, if they go to school they must go with a male chaperone and have surprise controls where a police officer can beat women if they are not accompanied.

 

At the university level, the Taliban’s harassment of female students and restrictions on their students’ behavior, dress, and opportunities have contributed to an unsafe environment where female students are systematically disadvantaged compared to male students. As a result, many female students have stopped attending or decided not to enroll in the university. 

 

The restrictions imposed by the Taliban are most related to gender segregation and dress code. In terms of gender segregation, many universities must ensure that female teacher teach female students. Female and male students use separate entrances and exits, that male and female students attend university on different shifts or days. When such measures are impossible, curtains or other physical barriers are established between male and female students. In terms of dress code, many universities now require female students to wear a burka or a long, black veil covering the body from head to toe.

Female university students had been prevented from using their smartphones on campus, speaking in class, making presentations, attending conferences, meeting male teachers one-on-one, or visiting administrative offices. 

 

In conclusion, the challenges affecting girls’ and women’s access to education at all levels include restrictions on their movement, teacher shortages, and students’ lack of motivation due to limited career options under the Taliban.

 

Daily life:

 

Women and girls are repressed by Taliban restrictions on their human rights freedom of movement. In their daily life, a new policy has forced them to wear dark clothes covering their body from head to toe. The responsibility of this policy to be implemented goes to the male family member, who can be imprisoned if women and girls refuse to follow the procedure.

 

There are surprise inspections in workspaces to ensure all women are spared from men and follow the clothing policy. Taliban have criticized women for wearing different colors or finding a minimal excuse to insult or humiliate women outside their household.

 

Additionally, as mentioned before, they cannot leave their homes unless necessary, and when they do so, they must be accompanied by a male chaperone or “mahram.” Women who are found in their workspace without one are beaten or imprisoned.

 

Child, early and forced marriage:

 

Since the Taliban took over the country, child, early, and forced marriage rates are increasing. There are several components. However, all of them are interrelated to the rules, policies, and actions taken by the Taliban and its members.

 

The most important factors are the economic and humanitarian crisis, failure to guarantee education and professional development for women and girls and different perspectives of families regarding marriage. Some families want to protect their daughters from marriage to a Taliban member; others force them to marry a Taliban member, and Taliban members demand women and girls to marry them.

 

Politics:

 

The Taliban's new policy has banned women and girls from actively participating in politics. They have violated human rights of freedom, expression, association, and assembly. During pacific protests, women and girls have been subjected to harassment, humiliation, abuse, beating, and electric shocks. Additionally, they are dismissed from public positions in the Taliban's government.

 

One crucial setback is the cease of operations of the Ministry of Women's Affairs, which was replaced by the Ministry of Vice and Virtue, which has a contrasting purpose that includes discriminatory treatment and abuse of women and girls.

 

References:

 

https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa11/5685/2022/en/

https://unama.unmissions.org/unama-statement-hijab-directive-taliban-authorities

https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/statement/2022/05/statement-on-afghanistan-by-ms-sima-bahous-un-women-executive-director

https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/news/2022/03/afghan-women-call-for-global-attention-and-action-to-meet-the-needs-of-women-and-girls-in-afghanistan

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/07/human-rights-council-holds-urgent-debate-human-rights-women-and-girls

 

The Divide

When thinking about development, what usually comes to mind is economic growth or the “process of capital formation” as mentioned within the Neoliberal Development Theory. This growth is supported by the notion that economic increase will result in development of all of societies members (men and women included). Nevertheless, it continues to be very evident that despite economic growth, women and men still have large gaps that are reflected in the way not only means of production, savings and investment are distributed but also, who has the knowledge and skills to manage and administrate these things.

As seen on the video, certain gender roles for specific household activities are changing and transforming within western or western influenced societies. Nevertheless, the bulk of domestic work is still carried out mostly by women. What is also evident from the video is that although these domestic tasks from the private sphere seem to be gaining male participation, women participation in the public sphere of economic growth is still not representative. This leads us to infer that within the context of a globalizing capitalist system, economic growth is not neutral but rather a gendered process in which the outsiders continue to be women. Things like knowing how to invest in mutual funds, the difference between a mutual fund and an SIP, filling your own income tax return and knowing what to do to buy a car or house by yourself, are all knowledges that are mostly allocated to men. This is not to say that women do not have the access to this information. In some cases, they do in others there might be barriers, regardless of the case, the acquired gender roles from households seem to replicate themselves in the gendered process of economic growth.

How are gendered roles within households perpetuating the partial or non-existent role of women in finances in the private and public sphere? Are financial literacy programs enough to get women to actively participate in the economy or is this just a “band-aid” for economic inclusion and development? What else is needed or can be done?

Violence at the Southern U.S. border

Achille Mbembe, in Necropolitics, offers this thought in the concluding chapter:

"And so what is freedom if one cannot really break with this accident of being born somewhere -- the relation of flesh and bones, the double law of soil and blood? How can who we are, how we are perceived, and how others take us, come to be indicated, and so irrevocably, by this accident?" (185).

Both a beautiful and scathing critique, Necropolitics argues that sovereign powers sanction some lives at the expense (read: death) of precarious populations. As a Cameroonian Critical/Cultural theorist, Mbembe roots his analysis in an opposition to colonial logics, delineating the forms of control deployed by (neo)liberal democracies against racialized others. Aligned with a critique of liberal democracies, Mbembe positions Western "humanitarian efforts" in former colonies as merely a continued form of capitalist commodification and extraction. 

The common adage "when helping hurts" emerges when discussing the ethics of development, let alone the history. The rise of development interventions in the Global South after WWII remained connected to Western ideals, pointing to "underdevelopment" as an inherent problem in non-western traditions, requiring Western solutions and aid. Escobar notes how the rising importance of development in the Global South justified the expansion of power and control amongst national rulers, as 

"First and Third World elites accepted the price of massive impoverishment, of selling Third World resources to the most convenient bidder, or degrading their physical and human ecologies, or killing and torturing, of condemning their indigenous populations to near extinction; so important that many in the Third World began to think of themselves as inferior, underdeveloped, and ignorant..." (52).

Detailed in the passage above, Escobar clearly points to the epistemic and physical violence carried along with early development, likened to colonial violence. Top-down approaches, relying on Western ideals, like the prevailing neoliberal approach to development, continue to commodify land and people (a violence) -- as the West remains powerful and "superior." Through continual disruption and extraction, the West exploits the rest of the world. 

Just like the violence of colonialism and neoliberalism, immigration at the southern U.S. border represents an added, intentional layer of violence facing (im)migrants aiming to leave (potentially unlivable) conditions at home. No individual makes this decision lightly. In 1994, the U.S. deployed a new strategy to combat "illegal immigration," known as Prevention Through Deterrence. "Prevention Through Deterrence" bares much of the southern border, leaving only dangerous crossing points open with less regulation by border patrol -- like the Sonora Desert, where death by exposure is common. 

The Binational Migration Institute (BMI) aims to track border crossings, particularly working to identify the remains of unidentified crossers. From 1990-2020, BMI notes that women typically compose no more than 15% of annual crossers. However, women are 2.67 times more likely to die by exposure than men, rendering female bodies disproportionately represented amongst "Prevention Through Deterrence" victims. This fact adds to the other forms of violence facing women at the border, like family separation and various forms of assault. 

Though deeply disturbing and disheartening, efforts to raise awareness to this policy persist. Anthropologist and founder of the Undocumented Migrant Project (UMP), Jason de Léon continues to bring awareness to the brutality of borders while rehumanizing the individuals who lost their lives to crossing -- to make lives recognizable, and grievable as lives, in Butler's words. Too often, an individual's recognition, their humanity, is conditioned on their racial or ethnic identity -- the random event of where they were born, instead of who they are. The above image is one installation done by the UMP. 

Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics, (Durham: Duke University Press, 2019). 

Jason de Léon, The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trial, (Oakland, California University Press, 2015). 

Undocumented Migrant Project Website

BMI Report