Are the rights of women in different countries being discriminated against? Are women being controlled? Are women being denied rights because of their gender? Women in many countries are being discriminated against, controlled and denied rights daily. Women’s rights are far worse to that of a man. They are being abused, raped, mistreated, beaten, sexually assaulted, taken advantage of and many more drastically unethical things. Many countries have laws prohibiting women from engaging or participating in certain things. They also have laws which govern the women on topics such as education, employment and child-bearing, to name a few. Does this make it right just because they have set these laws? I don’t think so. I believe that it is unethical and immorally unacceptable. To know that some countries live like this makes me tremble inside. I believe in equality all across the board.
“China has a communist state government. It is the world’s fourth largest country. Its population is 1,313,973,713 as of July 2006; 637,510,130 being women. Its growth rate is 0.59% (2006)1“ The number of women have increased significantly since the earlier years. “Girls (women) were an issue back in the early 1900’s due to the high percentage of babies being born and not taken care of. Women were being tricked into either having an abortion, sterilizations or some type of birth control was being offered.2 The Chinese government also tried to implement a policy, which is called the “One Child Policy” in order to reduce the population, raise the average standard of living and receive political stability.3 ”Women made up the majority of the unemployed. They were the first to be fired and the last to be hired. Women were paid far less than a man. Their working conditions were very poor. Domestic violence was high for women and girls. Women were being penalized for speaking out against their human rights. Many laws have been put into place in regards to the human rights of women, but they failed to come up with something that protected them or enforced the law. When someone violated the law, officials basically ignored the law.2“ “In 1995, the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, reiterated how important the employment of all human rights by women and girls and how it was a priority for governments and the United Nations. They discussed how the governments should promote and protect the rights of women and not violate them.4” There are many laws being put into place currently to protect the women’s rights of China, but is it working? Are they currently being enforced is the question at hand.
“The country of Zambia has a republic government. Its population is 11,502,010 (2006). The women make up 5,784,332. Its growth rate is 2.11% (2006). Zambia is faced with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It has an HIV/AIDS expectancy rate of 16.5% (2003).5“ “Many girls have been put into the situation of having to take the motherly roll in their household because they have lost their mothers to HIV/AIDS. This then puts them at risk for sexual assault or abuse. Many girls find themselves being raped by their uncles or fathers, scared to say anything because they don’t have anyone else to rely on, leaving them at risk for HIV/AIDS. Other young girls are being raped by their caretakers, guardians or men targeting young girls who they feel don’t have the HIV virus. Another reason for men targeting young girls is because of the myth that having sex with virgins will cure AIDS. Many girls don’t really get their education because they have to quit school to take care of a family member suffering with AIDS or who are sick. Most boys in the household continued to go to school. The problem this country faces is no help from the justice system. Girls are afraid to go to the authorities about the sexual abuse because they feel it will do more harm than good. The judicial system is not sympathetic to these kinds of cases.6” “The HIV/AIDS virus is being passed around through sexual transmission and mother to child transmission. Many wives contract the virus from their husband and it is then passed on to another male during a “sexual cleansing.“ A sexual cleansing ritual is when a wife’s husband dies, then they have sex with the husbands relative to get rid of the husband’s spirit from the wife.8” Another big issue that Zambia deals with is domestic violence. “Domestic violence occurs within the household and there isn’t a plan as of yet on how to prevent it. In Zambia, men are the dominant gender in their household; therefore leaving the woman subject to abuse and the risk of getting the HIV virus. Women are basically owned by not only the husband but by the husbands family as well. When the couple gets married, the woman is bought by the family; so therefore, they feel that the women is also their property, so she is not only mistreated by her husband, but by his family as well. Law enforcement officials don’t know how to deal with these domestic violence cases, so they try to talk the woman into returning to her husband to try and work things out.7”
“Zambia has a “Termination of Pregnancy Act”, which women have to abide by before they can get an abortion. Abortion is legal in Zambia. Most women end up going behind the law and getting illegal abortions which leave them with many complications.7”
This just goes to show that each country is faced with different issues of the human rights of women. The issues are there and are need to be addressed in depth to try and promote equality. I think that women and men should be treated equally. These two countries have similar issues, which goes to show that it’s a big problem all around the world. I’ve never personally been to a country where the human rights of women are drastically different, but I sympathize for those who go through this daily. I sympathize for the children who are faced with these issues. It is sad to know that the governments and legal systems don’t do as much as they do. There should be more laws or plans in place to try to resolve or minimize the inequality.
1 The World Fact Book - China. Last updated 12 December 2006.
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/ch.html
2 (1995). Caught between tradition and the state - Violations of the human rights of Chinese women. China Rights Forum, Fall 1995.
http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/article?revision%5fid=2602&item%5fid=2601
3 (1995). Unfair burdens: Impact of the population control policies on the human rights of women and girls. China Rights Forum, Fall 1995. (An abridged version of the above).
http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/article?revision%5fid=4162&item%5fid=4161
4 (May 2000) Human Rights of Women. United Nations Department of Public Information, May 2000.
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/followup/session/presskit/fs9.htm
5 The World Fact Book - Zambia. Last updated 12 December 2006.
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/za.html
6 Defending Human Rights Worldwide. Human Rights Watch, 2003
http://hrw.org/reports/2003/zambia/zambia1202-01.htm
7 Bourke-Martignoni, Joanna (2002). Violence against women in Zambia. OMCT
http://www.omct.org/pdf/vaw/zambiaeng2002.pdf
8 (November 2002), Suffering in Silence - The Links between Human Rights Abuses and HIV Transmission to Girls in Zambia. Human Rights Watch, Nov. 2002.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/zambia/zambia1202-04.htm#P235_25334
No comments:
Post a Comment