Women in the Developing World-The Key Change Agents
Gender discrimination is the greatest human rights violation in our world today. We live on a planet where the majority of women live in countries where women are subjugated, marginalized and disempowered. Millions and millions of our sisters in the developing world are discriminated against, treated as second class citizens, and live oppressed and constricted lives.
In the developing world, women have the entire responsibility for almost every aspect of their family's health and well-being, yet they are systematically denied the information, education and freedom of action they need to fulfill that responsibility. The truth is:
-- A staggering number of women unnecessarily die in childbirth each and every day.
-- For the first time in the history of HIV/AIDS more women and children than men are infected.
-- Of the children not in school, most are girls.
-- Two-thirds of the world's illiterates are women.
-- 80% of the world's refugees are women and children.
-- Violence against girls and women is endemic.
-- 130 million women have suffered female genital mutilation.
-- 100 million girls and women are "missing" from our world because of sex-selective abortion, female infanticide, malnourishment, abuse and neglect.
And, here's the irony-these oppressed, malnourished, and often illiterate women are the key to the future in three fundamental ways:
1. There is an inextricable link between women's well being and the overall health of a society.
2. Women play an unrecognized, unsupported and unpaid role as producers and contributing members of society.
3. And women are critical decision makers in their families, communities, nations and the world, even though their voice is often silenced.
Women in the developing world are the key to the end of hunger and abject poverty. They are the key to healthier societies, to faster economic growth and to greater social justice.
So, these key change agents must be empowered-the shackles and constraints that control, diminish and dehumanize their lives must be removed. The inevitable conclusion, supported by study after study, is that when women are empowered all of society benefits. There is:
-- faster economic growth
-- increased agricultural production
-- less corruption in governance
-- lower childhood malnutrition
-- lower child mortality
-- more children in school, including girls
-- greater social justice
-- and, the overall health and wellbeing of a society is greatly improved.
For our human family, gender discrimination is the greatest moral challenge of our age, and history will judge us on how we respond.
Gender discrimination thrives in silence. It is time to break that silence. The women and men of the developed world are uniquely qualified to end the silence and to contribute to this sea-change of consciousness.
In support of our sisters in the developing world, I urge you to speak up and speak out about the status of women in our world. You can start by sharing this communication with your family, friends and colleagues.
What's needed is social transformation, catalyzed by awareness. Together, let's break the silence that shrouds, and keeps in place, gender discrimination in our world.
Do this, and you will contribute to the liberation of millions of your sisters in the developing world. Do this, and you will contribute to ending hunger, ending abject poverty, and ending the worst human rights violation in history.
I've lived in India and spent time in 17 countries of sub-Saharan Africa-I know the women of the developing world. I've been in their homes. I've met their children, and I know their lives. I promise you that they are worthy of being known, supported and empowered. In fact, if we continue to oppress them, we do so at our own peril.
----By Joan Holmes
