tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261740.post112541707578982974..comments2024-01-31T03:00:44.846-06:00Comments on Confessions of a Would-Be Writer: Misogyny MagnifiedLynn Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13444488890483608914noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261740.post-1125422110099960182005-08-30T12:15:00.000-05:002005-08-30T12:15:00.000-05:00I sympathise. I really do. Women are still oppress...I sympathise. I really do. Women are still oppressed in far too many ways in far too many parts of the world. Even in our so-called civilised, equal society in the West - when has there been even a female <B>candidate</B> for US president? And men still control something like 80% or more of the world's financial resources. <BR/><BR/>Oppression in certain countries is, of course, far, far worse. Women executed - by their own family members! - because they were raped. Violated - against their wishes, through no fault of their own - and instead of sympathising society condemns them to death. Female circumcision. The murder of female infants in China under a one-child-per-family policy where male children are prized. There's lots more.<BR/><BR/>(Though there is hope in some of the Middle Eastern and Far Eastern countries; a female friend of mine in Jordan has recently completed her masters in engineering and is now working in DC for a while. When I taught at a UK university, the majority of students from China on our HRM MA were women, most of whom were sponsored by employers. Women are beginning to get a better deal in China). <BR/><BR/>But history tells us some painful lessons when it comes to trying to intervene. I agree: the Taliban was an abhorrent, violent, repressive organisation. Who armed them in the first place? The US, under Reagan, so that they could throw the Soviets out of Afghanistan. Ousting one dictatorship often leads to the installation of another - it seems that the new ruling group in Afghanistan is not vastly different from the Taliban in terms of religious fundamentalism and the treatment of women.<BR/><BR/>Maybe women wouldn't behave like that. Who knows? But this kind of intervention just bothers me, particularly because of how it's worked out in the past. What I would like to see is much, MUCH more highlighting of what's going on. More public condemnation of countries where women, minorities etc are not treated with dignity and respect. For example, just <B>why</B> does the West keep kowtowing to the Saudis? Are we <B>really</B> that desperate for their oil and military bases that we'll simply ignore the way women are treated and the absence of democracy there? <BR/><BR/>Apparently so. And that really makes me mad - and very sad.<BR/><BR/>Thought-provoking blog, Lynn!<BR/><BR/>- WendyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com