Global Women Global Issues.docx

Global Women: Global Issues
Kristin Tencza
March 28, 2017











Many persons are generally aware that gender inequality and disparity exist. However, many are dangerously and concerningly unaware of the extent to which gender oppressive practices exist on a global scale. All over the world women are being held subject to cruel and inhumane punishments solely on the basis of their gender. Gender discrimination, prejudice and oppression has always existed, but globally, it's being ritualistically practiced at an all-time high and its deleterious effects are sweeping the globe. Scholar Shawn Burn relays in her book titled Women Across Cultures, that globalized gender discriminatory practices have essentially propelled wide-spread gender inequality, or "the disadvantage of females relative to males", into fruition (2011). Global gender inequality is a complex worldly issue that requires looking deeply through a variety of lenses inclusive of cultural customs and norms, religious praxes and views, patriarchal notions, governmental policies, corporate conglomerate agendas and corresponding advertisers, as well as generalized notions of social roles including but not limited to gender roles.
In order to bring about effective and significant positive change, the scope of the problem must be honestly assessed and as Burn quoted "the truth will set you free but first it will make you mad"—when it comes to the issue of the global marginalization, dehumanization, commodification and objectification of women the truth is pretty ugly (2011). Gender inequality is the result of men being awarded greater economic power, political efficacy and legality power which in turn has contributed to patriarchal notions of male superiority making violence against women an acceptable practice thereby deducing women to mere objects as opposed to human beings. Materialist explanations of gender inequality view "the oppression of women as a social, historical and alterable phenomenon" meaning they see it as something that is a result of accepted cultural practices, processes and views cultivating a distinct other worldly view towards women over time thus ultimately solidifying a perceived patriarchal and ideological notion that women are inferior to men (Burn, 2011). Whereas sociocultural explanations of gender inequality look directly at the way in which gendered roles and power relations are constructed into a hierarchy through socialization (Burn, 2011). In tasked with solving the issue of gender inequality we must analyze its roots in a way that is both critical and mindful.
Burn lists some basic sexual rights namely: "the right to equality, the right to privacy, home and family, the right to life, liberty, and security of personhood, the right to recognition as a person before the law, the right to marry and to found a family, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the right to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment, the right to equal protection under the law and the right to bodily integrity" (2011, p. 69). Now many of these rights, if not downright violated, are in some way limited, jaded, or unattainable for women in all parts of the world. This is gravely concerning and outlines the severity of the issues at hand—gender inequality—as basic human rights are being violated and in a way that is deliberately so. Female genital mutilation, son preference, child marriage, acid attacks, honor killing, dowry wages, menstrual isolation/sanitation prevention, isolation on the basis of sexuality, sex trafficking, prostitution, rape, violence against women, educational deficit, the gender wage gap/the glass ceiling, the feminization of poverty, the second shift, denial of reproductive or maternal rights, denial of basic health care and the manipulation of the female physical body as well as its corresponding image are all instances of gender discrimination, disparity and inequality. Harsh, oppressive practices, prejudiced notions and epistemic violence pitted against women are daily taking place on a wide-ranging global scale, and the implications of this are literally dire.
These malicious and malignant practices that are detrimental and nefarious towards women are unacceptable, and it is through the generation of awareness around these deadly social issues that we can change their corresponding practices and mitigate the damage (where possible) instilled by their deliberate implementation. Social awareness is paramount to generating and initiating great positive change. Through the strategic and mindful implementation of awareness in regards to global gender inequality and its coinciding issues, I fully believe we can outline the need for protective and restorative practices and thus create a better world where women are appreciated and valued in every culture. Currently, the UN relays that globally, women make 23% less than men (and that number staggers even lower for women of color, women who aren't cisgender, and women who don't identify as heterosexual). Globally, we've told women that their worth, their time, their energy, their efforts are wavering at a value that is approximately 80% of a man's. This is devastating and to change it we must implement empowerment through education in order to reallocate resources fairly and eradicate gender roles as well as their social stigmas and implications such as prejudice, oppression discrimination, dehumanization, objectification, commodification and extreme inequality.
Human trafficking and sex trafficking are large global slavery trades that mainly affect women. According to UNICEF, an estimated 21 million persons around the world are trafficked and $32 billion is generated annually by the human trafficking trade (2013). Humans are trafficked for various reasons including forced labor, domestic services and prostitution. Women are most commonly trafficked for prostitution purposes, and according to Equality Now women and girls make up a stark 98% of the victims trafficked for sexual exploitation. Sex trafficking contributes to the global ideology that deduces women to their bodies and dehumanizes them by pronouncing them chattel for the taking. "The trafficking of women and girls for sex is just one instance of women as property and is a form of modern-day slavery…sex trafficking pulls women and girls into prostitution against their will, and is the most common identified form of human trafficking with 79% of all human trafficking crimes resulting in forced concubinage" (Burn, 2011).
Female genital mutilation refers to all procedures "involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for cultural or other non-medical reasons" (UNFPA). There are 29 known practicing countries where female genital mutilation is concentrated and it has serious implications for the sexual and reproductive health of both girls and women alike (UNFPA). There are 4 different types of female genital mutilation, however, the most common type, namely 80% of cases entails "excision of the prepuce, with or without excision of part or the entire clitoris" (Burn, 2011). According to UNFPA "immediate complications include severe pain, shock, hemorrhage, tetanus or infection, urine retention, ulceration of the genital region and injury to adjacent tissue, wound infection, urinary infection, fever, and septicemia"—all of which can result in infection so severe that it's fatal (UNFPA). Whereas, "long-term consequences include complications during childbirth, anemia, the formation of cysts and abscesses, keloid scar formation, damage to the urethra resulting in urinary incontinence, dyspareunia (painful sexual intercourse), sexual dysfunction, hypersensitivity of the genital area and increased risk of HIV transmission, as well as detrimental psychological effects" (UNFPA). These nefarious effects seem to distinguish any cultural benefit that could possibly come from the nonmedical ordered cutting of a female's genetalia. "Some 3 million women and girls are expected to undergo female genital mutilation every year, while some 100 to 140 million have already undergone the practice…the most typical age is between 7 and 10 years or just before puberty" (Burn, 2011).
Acid attacks are a well-known form of violence pitted against women mostly in the Middle East. "Acid is a highly corrosive chemical that has a catastrophic effect on human flesh…it causes the skin tissue to melt, often exposing the bones, sometimes even dissolving the bone" (Acid Survivors Foundation). According to the Acid Survivors Foundation the overwhelming majority of victims of acid attacks are women, and most of them are blow 18 years of age (Acid Survivors Foundation). Most often, women are held subject to acid attacks as a result of displeasing their husband by violating a dowry agreement or dishonoring him which would then justify the acid attack as an honor killing.
Son Preference is most apparent in regions where poverty is prevalent, and where families might view the "continuity of the male line as a matter of particular importance" (SVAW). In many developing nations sons are considered the future of the family, and the ones who will be able to provide for their parents in old age. This contributes to the ideology that sons are viewed as assets and daughters are viewed as liabilities. "A 2006 study of 850 families conducted by Promoting Human Rights Education in Bangladesh, a nonprofit organization that focuses on violence against women and girls, showed that 93% of Bangladeshi families preferred a son, viewing them as a "blessing" to home and country, while 93% viewed girls as a "problem" (SVAW). "For more than 100 years, the Indian census has shown a marked gap between the number of boys and girls…sons add to family wealth and property while daughters drain it through dowries; sons continue the family lineage while daughters are married away to another household; sons perform important religious roles; while daughters have to be defended and protected" (UNFPA). "In the early 1980s in China there were 108 male births to every 100 female, only slightly above the natural rate; by 2000 that had soared to 120 males, and in some provinces, such as Anhui, Jiangxi and Shaanxi, to more than 130. The result is that more than 35 million women are "missing" (The Guardian, 2011). Women and girls are such a perceived burden to impoverished families that their lives are on the line as a result. "In its most extreme form, son preference is seen in female infanticide and the prevalence of sex-selective abortions" (SVAW). Sex-selective abortion constitutes aborting a female fetus solely because of its gender and female infanticide is the deliberate maiming and killing of female infants. Too many girls are not even given a proper chance to develop in life because before they are even born their family already perceives them as a problem meaning they are already greatly disadvantaged.
Prostitution is a multi-billion-dollar industry and an estimated $186 billion is spent on prostitution annually (Havoscope). China accounts for $73 billion, Spain accounts of $26.5 billion, Japan accounts for $24 billion, Germany accounts for $18 billion and the United States accounts for $14.6 billion (Havoscope). There are at least 13,828,700 prostitutes currently in the world and of those 13 million, 5 million reside in China, 3 million reside in India and 1 million reside in the United States (Havoscope). The amount of monetary funds that women obtain for their services differs greatly. A high-end escort located in New York City can take home upwards of $10,000 a night whereas a Bangladeshi woman would receive just 60 cents for similar services (Havoscope). The buying and selling of sex contributes to the globalized notion that women are products offering services to be bought and sold—women are people not products.
Maternal health also encompasses reproductive health and reproductive rights. Maternal health is not just the issue of a woman, it is the issue of a family and should be treated as such. "Almost all maternal death can be prevented as evidenced by the huge disparities found between the richest and poorest countries…the lifetime risk of maternal death in high-income countries is 1 in 3,300, compared to 1 in 41 in low-income" (UNICEF). "Almost all maternal deaths (99 per cent) occur in developing regions" (UNICEF). "Sub-Saharan Africans suffer from the highest maternal mortality ratio – 546 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, or 201,000 maternal deaths a year" (UNICEF). The government, men, the global economy, large corporate conglomerates, religious organizations and women all have differing agendas in terms of reproductive rights—and these differing agendas too often clash.
"Around the world, rape and sexual abuse are everyday violent occurrences-- affecting close to a billion women and girls over their lifetimes" (Equality Now). According to UNICEF, globally, "120 million girls under the age of 20 (about 1 in 10) have been subjected to forced sexual intercourse or other forced sexual acts at some point in their lives" (UNICEF). Rape culture is a well-known term that exposes the failure of patriarchal societies to effectively protect women against violence and sexual violence in particular. Legislation in regards to protecting women from forced concubinage is severely and grotesquely lacking. Rape is globally prominent across all cultures as a result of living in a patriarchal world that prioritizes exerting power and separating or isolating persons—particularly women—through the forcible creation and exertion of power structures.
Today, like any other day, 800 million women and girls will be bleeding, but for many women this natural bodily process is considered taboo. "In India, nearly 70% of girls had no idea what was happening when they first got their period and 88% of menstruating women have no access to sanitary pads" (One). Menstrual health and isolation is yet another pervading issue that women are faced with. "Across the world, taboos surround menstruation. In Tanzania, some people believe that seeing a menstrual cloth will curse its owner and in Bangladesh, women bury their cloths to banish evil spirits. In remote areas of Nepal the tradition of chhaupadi separates women and girls from society during their period as they're seen as impure" (Water Aid America). Women's news relays of a Nepalese girl named Sangam Shrestha who got her period at the age of 10 and as a result was kept in a dark room for seven days. "I was not allowed to look at the sun, touch any male family member nor even hear their voice," said Shrestha, who lives in Nakhipot, Lalitpur, a municipality near Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. "I could not even go to the bathroom and had to make a pot my latrine for seven days" (Womens News). "In rural villages, mainly in the Hindu communities in the western part of Nepal, many women and girls spend their periods in an animal shed or a separate shed built outside their homes—this isolation practice is part of chhaupadi (Womens News). "Girls and women can die of exposure to the elements and to such risks as a snakebite, finds a 2010 field bulletin published by the United Nations. That report detailed the death of an 11-year-old girl who suffered a bout with diarrhea and dehydration that began while she was confined in such a shed. Her family and neighbors refused to take her to hospital, believing they would become impure if they touched the menstruating girl" (Womens News).
Marriage before the age of 18 is a fundamental violation of human rights, yet child marriage, arranged marriage and forced marriage are all scary realities for too many young girls and women. "Child marriage often compromises a girl's development by resulting in early pregnancy and social isolation, interrupting her schooling, limiting her opportunities for career and vocational advancement and placing her at increased risk of domestic violence" (UNICEF). "Globally, about one in seven adolescent girls (aged 15 to 19) are currently married or in union" (UNICEF). "One third of girls in the developing world are married before the age of 18 and 1 in 9 are married before the age of 15. In 2012, 70 million women 20-24 around the world had been married before the age of 18. If present trends continue, 150 million girls will be married before their 18th birthday over the next decade. That's an average of 15 million girls each year" (ICRW). "Girls living in poor households are almost twice as likely to marry before 18 than girls in higher income households. More than half of the girls in Bangladesh, Mali, Mozambique and Niger are married before age 18. In these same countries, more than 75 percent of people live on less than $2 a day" (ICRW).
Women and girls experience a deficit in both primary and secondary education as well as literacy. "More than two thirds of countries and areas have reached gender parity (GPI between 0.97 and 1.03) in primary education. However, girls remain at a disadvantage in many countries, particularly in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. In South Sudan, for example, the gender parity index, or GPI, is 0.66, meaning that 66 girls are enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys" (UNICEF). "In the most recent years for which data are available, young women accounted for 59 per cent of the total illiterate youth population" (UNICEF).
The feminization of poverty is a term that is gaining popularity as the gender wage gap grows bigger and the glass ceiling grows thicker. Globally, women are paid 23% less than men. Women are working harder, they are working longer hours, and they are making less. The Second Shift, a phenomenon coined by Arlie Hochschild reveals the heavy burden that women across the world are faced with. Apart from daily work duties outside of the home, women are faced with so many domestic and childcare duties within the home. Many women are taking on double the workload while remaining underpaid.
Lastly, and perhaps most concerning, we live in a patriarchal world—a world that is essentially dominated and run by men. This creates grave implications for women. Globally, men are in control of the female body and the corresponding image of the female body. Reproductive rights, maternal issues, and health care for women are decisions that politically speaking are made by men. In many cases women are not provided the efficacy to make decisions about their own bodies. The global perception of what it means to be a woman has become so tainted and thwarted by patriarchal ideologies and notions that one wonders if the true potential of woman has yet to surface. The global control of the female body through forced violence, through manipulation of the image of the female body in social media, through creation of the perception of what it means to be a female in advertising, has diminished what it truly means to be a female. Globally, we have commodified and objectified the woman to the point where she is seen as walking chattel—a walking mannequin—and all the evidence is listed above to prove this global phenomenon.
Historically speaking strewn across a multiplicity of cultures, the women's image and symbolism has been battered with rhetorical practices lacking sound logic and grounded in patriarchal views. This grotesque depiction of the value of the female is a result of hegemonic ideologies polluting both societal and cultural infrastructures by tainting and limiting the women's roles and capabilities thus diminishing their worth ultimately dehumanizing them. A society cannot thrive when half or nearly half of its population is being treated with extreme cruelty. However, if we say that these global issues are just women's issues then we are missing the point entirely—these issues aren't women's issues, they are global issues, meaning everyone is a part of the causation and the solution. Maternal care, feminine health care, feminine protection and safety, gender equality, paid parental leave—these are global familial issues and they need to be addressed immediately.



References
Acid Survivors. (n.d.). Acid Violence. Retrieved from http://www.acidsurvivors.org/Acid-Violence
Burn, S. M. (2011). Women Across Cultures (3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Equality Now. (n.d.). Sex Trafficking Facts. Retrieved from http://www.equalitynow.org/traffickingFAQ
Equality Now. (n.d.). The Global Rape Epidemic. Retrieved from http://www.equalitynow.org/campaigns/rape-laws-report
Havoscope. (n.d.). Prostitution. Retrieved from http://www.havocscope.com/prostitution-statistics/
ICRW. (n.d.). Child Marriage. Retrieved from https://www.icrw.org/child-marriage-facts-and-figures/
ONE. (2015). It's Time to Talk About Menstruation. Retrieved from https://www.one.org/us/2015/06/24/its-time-to-talk-about-menstruation/
SVAW. (2010). Son Preference. Retrieved from http://www.stopvaw.org/harmful_practices_son_preference
The Guardian. (2011). China's Great Gender Crisis. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/nov/02/chinas-great-gender-crisis
UNFPA. (2015). Female Genital Mutilation. Retrieved from http://www.unfpa.org/resources/female-genital-mutilation-fgm-frequently-asked-questions
UNFPA. (n.d.). Son Preference and Daughter Neglect. Retrieved from https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/resource-pdf/UNFPA_Publication-39764.pdf
UNICEF. (n.d.). Child Marriage. Retrieved from https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/child-marriage/
UNICEF. (n.d.). Education. Retrieved from https://data.unicef.org/topic/education/primary-education/#
UNICEF. (2013). Female Genital Mutilation. Retrieved from https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/female-genital-mutilation-and-cutting/#
UNICEF. (2013). Infographic: A Global Look at Human Trafficking. Retrieved from https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/infographic-global-human-trafficking-statistics
UNICEF. (2015). Maternal Mortality. Retrieved from https://data.unicef.org/topic/maternal-health/maternal-mortality/#
UNICEF. (n.d.). Sexual Violence. Retrieved from https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/violence/sexual-violence/#
Water Aid. (n.d.). Menstrual Health. Retrieved from http://www.wateraidamerica.org/menstrual-health
Womens News. (n.d.). Menstrual Isolation. Retrieved from http://womensenews.org/2015/03/in-nepal-menstruation-can-mean-days-in-isolation/

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