Thanks to Lindsay, who may have graduated and moved on but is still sending me things to post, for this excellent editorial that reminds us all of the privilege we have as feminists in the US. Amidst our daily work and struggles, as well as continued and pervasive sex, race, ... inequality, it can be far to easy to forget the powerful freedom of being able to actually think, focus, and act on them. We would all do well to remember that calling ourselves feminist is a privilege.
It's Hard to Debate Feminism When You're Dodging Bullets
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Farewell
elleI don't know if any of you are old enough to remember this the way I do, but when Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald made headlines for treating her own breast cancer while over-wintering at the South Pole (there, summer here) it was one of those ultimate girl power moments for the impressionable me. Not only was performing a biopsy and chemotherapy on yourself pretty bad ass, she was over-wintering at the South Pole! How cool is that (about 75 below on a good day...)! Her death yesterday, from a return of the cancer, has taken an wife, mother, activist, and crazy role model. Our best to her family and all those who knew her.
Friday, June 19, 2009
World Refugee Day
June 20th is World Refugee Day, so take some time to reflect back on the gendered nature of violence, the gendered nature of peace, and the ways in which community upheaval (be it violent, natural, or otherwise) affects the ways in which that community rebuilds.
Here We Go Again...
elle
Didn't I already tell people this!! Reports have come out indicating that the number of the world's hungry has topped 1 billion people--up 11% from last year (which comes out to 100 million people, FYI). However, what this article fails to mention is that the majority of the hungry in the world are women and girls, and that the World Food Programme specifically calls gender inequality a 'major cause and effect of hunger'. There are a lot of issues at hand when discussing hunger and food insecurity, but articles like this that make no mention of the reality that women around the world eat less and eat last--which has a major impact on everything from health to education--aren't helping us face up to that reality.
Time for face up to it. Denying women and girls education, personal and economic autonomy, and legal rights affects EVERYTHING, including how many of them go to bed hungry every night.
Didn't I already tell people this!! Reports have come out indicating that the number of the world's hungry has topped 1 billion people--up 11% from last year (which comes out to 100 million people, FYI). However, what this article fails to mention is that the majority of the hungry in the world are women and girls, and that the World Food Programme specifically calls gender inequality a 'major cause and effect of hunger'. There are a lot of issues at hand when discussing hunger and food insecurity, but articles like this that make no mention of the reality that women around the world eat less and eat last--which has a major impact on everything from health to education--aren't helping us face up to that reality.
Time for face up to it. Denying women and girls education, personal and economic autonomy, and legal rights affects EVERYTHING, including how many of them go to bed hungry every night.
Monday, June 1, 2009
In Memoriam
elleNo matter where you stand on reproductive rights, I hope that we can all acknowledge the tragedy of the murder of Dr. George Tiller in the vestibule of his church in Wichita Kansas yesterday. Dr. Tiller, targeted for decades because of his work providing abortions in Kansas, is survived by his widow Jeanne, 4 children, and 10 grandchildren; our hearts go out to them all.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Here We Go Again
No surprises here, but Burmese pro-democracy activist (and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate) Aung San Suu Kyi was under trial again this week. Her sentence to house arrest was due to expire May 27th, so the government needed a new reason to keep her under their control. The darling of the west, Suu Kyi has been under house arrest in her native Myanmar for 13 of the past 19 years. While her profile has remained fairly high, some scholars have begun to question whether her power was waning. Well, well done ruling military junta, you have once again handed her an international spotlight. Shows the power of fear and a brutal military regime that their PR can be that bad and they are still in power.
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Lesser of Two Evils
elle
I'm sure you've all heard about the Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi detained, convicted and sentenced in Iran for "spying", and her release on appeal today! Hooray, although I would like to point out that her sentance was changed today, not her conviction, and her 'trial' was an absolute farce. Ms. Sarberi's release may do much for continued talk between Iran and the US, but her career has been irrevocably damaged by the conviction, and she will most likely be leaving Iran (where she has lived the last 6 years) and returning to the US.
In honor of Dr. Shirin Ebadi's talk here at OSU 2 weeks ago, I wanted to highlight the case and the work of Dr. Ebadi for human rights around the world--her organization was involved in Ms.Saberi's appeal. Dr. Ebadi's talk, while definately prepared for her middle and high school aged audience at PeaceJam rather than those of us who do this for a living, both addressed the realities of gender oppression around the world and the absolute necessity of democratic governance to address gender inequity. It can be hard, as someone who spends a lot of time thinking about the problems of our democratic government to remember how essential it is to human rights. But from there we have to remember that if 50.1% of the people vote for a bigot it's still a democratic election, even if we don't like it. So, democracy is not enough. We have to educate ourselves and each other, demand excellence and transparency from our candidates, and hold ourselves to a higher standard. At Archbishop Desmond Tutu's speech in Portland last week he admonished the audience by saying that Americans are so warm, open, and generous--why can't we export that instead of guns.
I'm sure you've all heard about the Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi detained, convicted and sentenced in Iran for "spying", and her release on appeal today! Hooray, although I would like to point out that her sentance was changed today, not her conviction, and her 'trial' was an absolute farce. Ms. Sarberi's release may do much for continued talk between Iran and the US, but her career has been irrevocably damaged by the conviction, and she will most likely be leaving Iran (where she has lived the last 6 years) and returning to the US.
In honor of Dr. Shirin Ebadi's talk here at OSU 2 weeks ago, I wanted to highlight the case and the work of Dr. Ebadi for human rights around the world--her organization was involved in Ms.Saberi's appeal. Dr. Ebadi's talk, while definately prepared for her middle and high school aged audience at PeaceJam rather than those of us who do this for a living, both addressed the realities of gender oppression around the world and the absolute necessity of democratic governance to address gender inequity. It can be hard, as someone who spends a lot of time thinking about the problems of our democratic government to remember how essential it is to human rights. But from there we have to remember that if 50.1% of the people vote for a bigot it's still a democratic election, even if we don't like it. So, democracy is not enough. We have to educate ourselves and each other, demand excellence and transparency from our candidates, and hold ourselves to a higher standard. At Archbishop Desmond Tutu's speech in Portland last week he admonished the audience by saying that Americans are so warm, open, and generous--why can't we export that instead of guns.
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