Abuse & Marginalization Of Women

| by Ruwantissa Abeyratne
Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it
never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives mouths.
- ertrand Russell, !he "m#act of $cience on $ociety
% &uly ', ()*+, ,ontreal , $ri -an.a /uardian0 "t has been said that Aristotle, one of the
greatest thin.ers of all time, was convinced that women were inferior to men. 1e based this
erroneous theory on the even more fallacious view that it was the mans semen which formed
the foetus while the womans role in #rocreation was that of a mere inanimate rece#tacle. $mall
wonder then that lesser mortals whose blatantly inelegant and inade2uate moral sense lead
them to gang ra#ing women and stoning #regnant women to death on the vile 3ustification of
honour .illing. A woman cannot change her religion without the threat of being #ut to death or
being sentenced to life im#risonment. "f women are of the wrong caste and are vulnerable and
too #oor or wea. to defend themselves they are ra#ed, .illed and hanged. "f they dare educate
themselves they are .idna##ed in droves and made to vanish into thin air. 4lsewhere, a young
schoolgirl is shot for standing u# for the rights of women to be educated. $he barely esca#es
death.
" read in the most recent issue of the "nternational 5ew 6or. !imes that between 7ebruary ()**
and A#ril ()*', 8)) women in 4gy#t had been abused and .illed during the conflict situation in
that country. !he 9orld 1ealth :rgani;ation states that violence against women com#rises a
wide range of acts < from verbal harassment and other forms of emotional abuse, to daily
#hysical or sexual abuse. At the far end of the s#ectrum is femicide= the murder of women.
7emicide is the intentional .illing of women 3ust because they are women.
9omen and children #ay the biggest #rice in situations of conflict in countries. At the /lobal
$ummit to 4nd $exual >iolence in ?onflict held in -ondon in mid &une this year, Angelina
&olie, @5 $#ecial 4nvoy for the @5 1igh ?ommission for Refugees said= A6oung lives are
being ruined by sexual violence in $yria, $outh $udan and ?entral African Re#ublic, as we
gather here, as we s#ea.. 7or #eo#le in those countries, the actions we have #romised cannot
come soon enough. 7or them, shattering im#unity must begin now. " ho#e that all of us, having
met survivors here, will understand the true urgency of this situation. 9e can never again #lead
ignorance < we .now what is at sta.e < and we must wor. to end im#unity in those conflicts
now.
At the same conference ritish 7oreign $ecretary 9illiam 1ague said= Alistening to the stories
of suffering overcome and communities rebuilt through the effort, resilience and wisdom of
women we have felt truly ins#ired this wee.. 7or the fact that we have never given this issue
the #rominence it deserves owes much to societal attitudes and failings= our failure never
decisively to re3ect and condemn the denial or stifling of the full ex#ression of womens rights
over a very long time. 9e have tolerated and still do tolerate violence and discrimination
against women in many forms in all 2uarters of the world, and women still do not occu#y their
rightful #lace in the economics, in di#lomacy and government of many nations.
?ome to thin. of it, it is not only abuse of women that is des#icable but also their
marginali;ation on all counts. !he third ,illennium /oal of the @nited 5ations is to 4liminate
gender dis#arity in #rimary and secondary education, #referably by ())8, and in all levels of
education no later than ()*8. !he goal goes on to say that the world has achieved e2uality in
#rimary education between girls and boys, but few countries have achieved that target at all
levels of education. !he #olitical #artici#ation of women .ee#s increasing. "n &anuary ()*+, in
+B countries more than ') #er cent of members of #arliament in at least one chamber were
women. "n many countries, gender ine2uality #ersists and women continue to face
discrimination in access to education, wor. and economic assets, and #artici#ation in
government. 7or exam#le, in every develo#ing region, women tend to hold less secure 3obs
than men, with fewer social benefits. >iolence against women continues to undermine efforts to
reach all goals. Coverty is a ma3or barrier to secondary education, es#ecially among older girls.
9omen are largely relegated to more vulnerable forms of em#loyment.
$imone de eauvoir, in her monumental boo. !he $econd $ex mused= Aut first we must as.=
what is a womanD E!ota mulier in utero, says one, Ewoman is a womb. ut in s#ea.ing of
certain women, connoisseurs declare that they are not women, although they are e2ui##ed with
a uterus li.e the rest. All agree in recognising the fact that females exist in the human s#ecies;
today as always they ma.e u# about one half of humanity. And yet we are told that femininity
is in danger; we are exhorted to be women, remain women, become women. "t would a##ear,
then, that every female human being is not necessarily a woman; to be so considered she must
share in that mysterious and threatened reality .nown as femininity. "s this attribute something
secreted by the ovariesD :r is it a Clatonic essence, a #roduct of the #hiloso#hic imaginationD "s
a rustling #etticoat enough to bring it down to earthD Although some women try ;ealously to
incarnate this essence, it is hardly #atentable. "t is fre2uently described in vague and da;;ling
terms that seem to have been borrowed from the vocabulary of the seers, and indeed in the
times of $t !homas it was considered an essence as certainly defined as the somniferous virtue
of the #o##y.
!his brings to mind the odious and abhorrent #ractice of the #artial or total removal of the
female external genitalia, which is called genital mutilation. !he 9orld 1ealth :rgani;ation
has stated that female genital mutilation %7/,0 includes #rocedures that intentionally alter or
cause in3ury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. 91: goes on to say that
this #rocedure has no health benefits for girls and women and can cause severe bleeding and
#roblems urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility as well as com#lications in childbirth
and increased ris. of newborn deaths. ,ore than *(8 million girls and women alive today have
been cut in the (F countries in Africa and ,iddle 4ast where 7/, is concentrated. 7/, is
mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age *8. 7/, is a violation of
the human rights of girls and women.
7/, is a social convention where a #articular society traditionally calls for this atrocity to be
committed against females. $imilarly the ra#e and abuse of women is a social construct that is
seen in some 2uarters as the ex#ression by man of his #hysical su#eriority over woman and that
i#so facto, a man would not be a man if this is not demonstrated. !his came out in several
interviews of the #ublic by the media in the aftermath of the gang ra#e of a student in Gelhi in
Gecember ()*(. :ften women dare not com#lain for fear of being ostraci;ed, or accused of
their guilt or in the extreme being murdered.
y *FHB the @nited 5ations ?ommission on the $tatus of 9omen develo#ed the ?onvention on
the 4limination of All 7orms of Giscrimination Against 9omen. "ts #ur#ose was to create a
medium to voice international standards and sto# discrimination against women by individuals,
organi;ations, and enter#rises. "n *FHF the @nited 5ations /eneral Assembly ado#ted an
international bill of rights for women that defined discrimination, #romoted e2uality in all
arenas, and #romoted freedoms that should be fundamental. A chec.s and balances system was
also #ut into #lace so each country would be held accountable.
!his is mere li# service at best. :ne wondersIshould there be an international criminal court
to handle this matter before which leaders of $tates will be brought to answer for crimes
against females in their countriesD "f res#onsibility does not devolve at the to#, the miscreant
will always get away.
!his could be one way of ensuring accountability.
!he author is a former senior #rofessional in the @nited 5ations system. 1e currently runs his
legal consultancy firm in ,ontreal.