One United Nations’ estimate says that between 113 million and 200 million women around the world are “missing.” Every year, between 1.5 million and 3 million women and girls lose their lives as a result of gender-based violence or neglect. As the Economist, which reported on the policy paper, put it last November, “Every two to four years the world looks away from a victim count on the scale of Hitler’s Holocaust.”
Zuzu reminds us: “Just to put it in a little perspective, that’s about the number of women and girls in the US.”
Go read this article. Now.
• In countries where the birth of a boy is considered a gift and the birth of a girl a curse from the gods, selective abortion and infanticide eliminate female babies.
• Young girls die disproportionately from neglect because food and medical attention is given first to brothers, fathers, husbands and sons.
• In countries where women are considered the property of men, their fathers and brothers can murder them for choosing their own sexual partners. These are called “honor” killings, though honor has nothing to do with it. Young brides are killed if their fathers do not pay sufficient money to the men who have married them. These are called “dowry deaths,” although they are not just deaths, they are murders.
• The brutal international sex trade in young girls kills uncounted numbers of them.
• Domestic violence is a major reason for the deaths of women in every country.
• So little value is placed on women’s health that every year roughly 600,000 women die giving birth. As the Economist pointed out, this is equivalent to the genocide in Rwanda happening every 12 months.
• Six thousand girls undergo genital mutilation every day, according to the World Health Organization. Many die, and others live the rest of their lives in crippling pain.
• According to the WHO, one woman out of every five worldwide is likely to be a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime.
All these figures are estimates; registering precise numbers for violence against women is not a priority in most countries.
I don’t love some of the language she uses (like “Third World”). But at its heart, I think her op/ed is correct. We need to be raising our voices and screaming about these abuses.
Three initial steps could be taken by world leaders to begin eradicating the mass murder of women. A tribunal like the International Court of Justice in The Hague should look for the 113 million to 200 million women and girls who are missing. A serious international effort must urgently be made to precisely register violence against girls and women, country by country. And we need a worldwide campaign to reform cultures that permit this kind of crime. Let’s start to name them and shame them.
Yes, yes, and yes. The one thing that I think she misses the mark on is assuming that some cultures permit these kinds of crimes, and some don’t. That’s simply not true. All cultures in existence today permit violence against women to some degree. Some permit it to a much greater extent than others — some outwardly encourage it, some do so more tacitly — but it’s present everywhere. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t come down harder on the places where it’s worse, but it’s irresponsible and innaccurate to assume that it’s a problem with “those people” and that it isn’t on your doorstep, too.
Who says feminism isn’t necessary?