Peter Daou has a great piece up at UN Dispatch about Obama’s speech in Cairo, and the emptiness of his rhetoric surrounding women’s rights. Obama is certainly not in an enviable situation: The previous administration paid lipservice to women’s rights as an excuse to invade entire nations, and framed gender equality as a Western invention that we were going to bring to the backwards, barbaric Middle East by force. As a result, American talk of feminism is understandably met with skepticism and even hostility, and local women’s rights movements in places like Afghanistan, Iran and Egypt have experienced profound setbacks, as men in power are increasingly able to argue that feminism is a colonialist import and a tool of destruction. So I can’t blame Obama for not hammering the gender equality point, and I’m a big believer in providing quiet support for local women’s movements instead of “offering” equality at the barrel of a gun.
But all that said, Peter is right to point out that human rights (and women’s rights) shouldn’t be ignored just because the previous administration used them as weapons of war (and because the previous administration was remarkably hypocritical in their total disregard for human and women’s rights at home). Peter writes:
Take the issue of women’s rights, addressed in Obama’s Cairo speech with the most tepid language:
“The U.S. government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would deny it.”
“I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal, but I do believe that a woman who is denied an education is denied equality. And it is no coincidence that countries where women are well-educated are far more likely to be prosperous.”
“Now let me be clear: issues of women’s equality are by no means simply an issue for Islam. In Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, we have seen Muslim-majority countries elect a woman to lead. Meanwhile, the struggle for women’s equality continues in many aspects of American life, and in countries around the world.”
“Our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons, and our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity – men and women – to reach their full potential. I do not believe that women must make the same choices as men in order to be equal, and I respect those women who choose to live their lives in traditional roles. But it should be their choice. That is why the United States will partner with any Muslim-majority country to support expanded literacy for girls, and to help young women pursue employment through micro-financing that helps people live their dreams.”
Is that a joke?
With women being stoned, raped, abused, battered, mutilated, and slaughtered on a daily basis across the globe, violence that is so often perpetrated in the name of religion, the most our president can speak about is protecting their right to wear the hijab? I would have been much more heartened if the preponderance of the speech had been about how in the 21st century, we CANNOT tolerate the pervasive abuse of our mothers and sisters and daughters.
I return to the example of Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow:
“13-year old Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was stoned to death in Somalia by insurgents because she was raped. Reports indicate that was raped by three men while traveling by foot to visit her grandmother in conflict capital, Mogadishu. When she went to the authorities to report the crime, they accused her of adultery and sentenced her to death. Aisha was forced into a hole in a stadium of 1,000 onlookers as 50 men buried her up to the neck and cast stones at her until she died. When some of the people at the stadium tried to save her, militia opened fire on the crowd, killing a boy who was a bystander.
A witness who spoke to the BBC’s Today programme said she had been crying and had to be forced into a hole before the stoning, reported to have taken place in a football stadium. … She said: ‘I’m not going, I’m not going. Don’t kill me, don’t kill me.’ “A few minutes later more than 50 men tried to stone her.” The witness said people crowding round to see the execution said it was “awful”.”
Enough with the perpetual campaign. True justice, true peace, these are earned through courageous decisions and bold actions. Real truth to power.
If we are to fix America’s image in the world and if we are to heal the planet’s myriad ills, it will not be done through contrite kumbaya speeches about how we are all one world and how we should all coexist peacefully, no matter whether the remarks are delivered in Cleveland or Cairo. It will be done by leading through example, by righting the many wrongs here at home, by seeking justice and fairness for all, by doing what is right, not saying what sounds pleasing to the media elite and the pliable punditocracy.
Exactly. It’s time for Obama to start setting an example on human rights issues.