Today is International Women’s Day. I cannot wish all our readers a “Happy Women’s Day” because truth to be told there is not much to be happy about.
The Times of India says so (link)
Studies show that a woman is raped every 35 minutes in India; female child mortality is higher than male by 25%-50% in India, Bangladesh and Nepal….. the average South Asian woman’s risk of dying in childbirth is a hundred times greater than for a woman in an industrialized country
Before we start congratulating ourselves on living in the US of A, lets pause to consider that the USA is also one of the few countries ( along with Sudan, Somalia, Qatar, Nauru, Palau and Tonga!) that has failed to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. (link)
Whats more disturbing is that it is no longer just the Right that is standing in the way of the ratification- but also so-called Liberals. The Conservatives claim that it could lead to legalized prostitution ( like that’s a bad thing!) and removal of restrictions on abortion. The Left is worried that in a rush to ratify it, a number of potentially damaging exceptions for the US are likely to creep in. Damaging because the US will be ,in effect , telling the world “Do as I say, not as I do “.
Me? I am sad that we even need to be discussing the signing of a treaty that would guarantee equal rights for women. Women make up more than 50% of the population yet the fact that we have to even discuss granting them Equal rights shows how strong the patriarchy is . It has influenced even women’s groups such as the Rightist (and wrongly -named!) Concerned Women for America to oppose the treaty because it is like – and I quote them – “The Equal Rights Amendment on steroids”. And what is wrong with that?
The fact is that all this opposition in born out of fear. Fear that centuries of systems -political, social and religious – that are rooted in the patriarchy will no longer have a legal leg to stand on once this treaty is passed. The treaty requires that that signing nations “embody the principle of the equality of men and women in their national constitution or other appropriate legislation.” Other so -called controversial elements include the question of easy access to abortion and contraception that the treaty provides. I do not believe that the signing of CEDAW will magically solve all women’s issues ( Saudi Arabia signed it and women can’t even drive there!). But signing it will be a start to working towards true Equality – a start towards accepting that women are NOT second-class citizens of the world.
I’ll be happy about Women’s Day when I know that the world is working together to ensure that women have full rights over their lives and their bodies without society, the government and the family telling us what is right for us.
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