Untitled

Why is violence against women and women's rights not seen as being of the utmost importance? Women give birth to men. Without women, no one would be here. We need to acknowledge the importance of women in our society and treat women as though are lives depend on them because ultimately they do. It's ridiculous that women's rights were ever not considered human rights. Women are humans right? So where is the question?

Anyway, I believe that Bunch is right when she says that women need to think and act globally in their activism. It is easy to focus on the country in which we live because the policies of that country have a huge impact on our lives, but as women, we need to fight for women everywhere. Also, a win for a woman in one area of the world is a win for a woman in our country too. Global change is key if we really want permanent change in further recognition of female rights.

Abu-Lughod's piece made me realize something of importance. Earlier in the year, I wrote in a blog post that I didn't want people to see me as different. I didn't understand why we couldn't all just be people. However, after reading Abu-Lughod's piece about Afghan woman I understand why recognition of differences is important. If we do not recognize difference, we do not attempt to understand people who are different from us for who they are. As Abu-Lughod points out, Afghan women may not want what American women want. It is important to recognize that American women and Afghan women are living in completely different cultures and have different values. Otherwise, one group's values gets ignored, or the other group becomes perplexed when the group they are trying to help does not want what the helping group wants. If we do not recognize the differences between women, we impose our own values on other women.

I'm glad I read this piece because I now see that recognition of difference is important in furthering people's lives. You cannot help or understand someone if you ignore the fact that they may not be like you. Different people have different needs.