The Women’s Crusade
In The New York Times Magazine Special Issue article “Saving the World’s Women,” Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn write that even though the status of women has not been seen as a “serious” international issue; in this century the “paramount moral challenge . . . is the brutality inflicted on so many women and girls around the globe.” In places where women and girls have a “deeply unequal status, they vanish.” Studies estimate that 60 to 107 million women are missing. They disappear into sexual servitude, or die from not getting the same food and health care as males. And yet, Kristof and WuDunn report, “there’s a growing recognition . . . that focusing on women and girls is the most effective way to fight global poverty and extremism.” Aid has been found to be more effective when aimed at women and girls. Often, these investments have a “net economic return,” and “greater female involvement in society and the economy appears to undermine extremism and terrorism.”
- Kristof and WuDunn write that “more girls and women are now missing from the planet, precisely because they are female, than men were killed on the battlefield in all the wars of the 20th century. The number of victims of this routine ‘gendercide’ far exceeds the number of people who were slaughtered in all the genocides of the 20th century. What is “gendercide”? Is the disappearance of up to 107 million women a genocide? Why has it not been widely recognized as genocide?
- Microfinance organizations usually focus their assistance on women, because studies have found that “some of the most wretched suffering is caused not just by low incomes but also by unwise spending by the poor – especially by men.” One study found that when men had extra money, more household income was spent on tobacco and alcohol, but when women had extra money, the households spent more on food—“when women command greater power, child health and nutrition improves.” What do you make of these findings? Should women be given aid money over men? Taking into consideration that giving women more aid money has proven to be more effective, is this gender discrimination?
- Kristof and WuDunn tell the story of Saima, a Pakistani woman whose unemployed, debt-ridden husband used to beat her and looked down on her for having two daughters and no sons. After receiving a $65.00 loan, Saima started her own embroidery business, eventually earning a solid income—enough to pay off her husband’s $3,000.00 debt, and provide for her family. Her husband no longer beats her, and when Saima had another daughter, he was not upset, explaining that “girls are just as good as boys.” Why do you think Saima’s husband changed his mind about women? If more women like Saima were given the chance to start a business, or educate themselves, do you think more men would change their view of women? Would there be less gender discrimination?
- If women do “represent perhaps the best hope for fighting global poverty,” as Kristof and WuDunn report, how can they be empowered to help fight poverty? What can be done to convince countries where women are prohibited from attending school that women should be educated?
- Lubna Hussein, a Sudanese journalist, was recently convicted for wearing pants. What does this suggest about the challenges women face?
