Women’s (non) Rights Around the World
by: Emma Karsten
Across the globe, women are discriminated against and treated unequally, and in every country the discrimination is a little different. In the US, women struggle with equal pay. In China, sexual assault is a major problem. In North Korea, women are shamed when becoming involuntarily pregnant. In Saudi Arabia, women can’t really do anything. In order to correct inequality across the globe, people need to learn about what others go through. We need a change, and we need it now.
Women in North Korea are killing their babies. Killing them while they are still in the womb. Not aborting, but somehow finding a way to miscarriage, and here are some reasons why: in North Korea becoming a part of the “Worker’s Party of Korea” is a big deal because it can secure a successful life for women. In order to do this most women join the military, and that’s where they become involuntarily pregnant. The majority of the senior officers are male, and because they are “so much better” they decide to “manipulate and harass young women, threatening to block their chances of joining the party if they refuse or attempt to report the abuse” (Source E). So in order to sustain a good and prosperous life, these women have to endlessly worry about being sexually assaulted and not being able to do anything about it. For some women, after becoming pregnant, they try to miscarriage or hide their own child because they will be blamed and ridiculed. According to Source A some try…
- “Tightening their military belts to hide the child”
- “Take anthelmintic medicine (anti parasitic drugs designed to remove parasitic worms from the body)”
- “Jumping off or rolling down high mountain hills”
Sadly, it’s “not surprising to find fetus’s in army toilets”. Women in North Korea need to be able to stand up for themselves. And I’m not saying that they aren’t brave enough, I’m rather saying that they don’t have anyone that will defend them.
This problem does not only occur in North Korea, because if a woman in China is sexually harassed by a male figure in the society they are “urged to keep silent” to save that man’s job, career, or even their fame. Xiong Jing, director of the Beijing-based Women’s Media Monitor Network, from Source A, said that “They’re famous, they’re powerful, and they make great contributions (to society), that’s exactly what makes them think they have the power to sexually harass women”, and the worst part is that all the women live with this. One woman (who was sexually assaulted) decided that she was going to report her offender, but the man turned out to be a “prominent state television anchor”, so later she was “urged by the police to withdraw her complaint” because the man she accused was an “enormous ‘positive influence’ on society”(Source A). What makes men so important that females, who have not only been physically, but also mentally injured, can’t report them? If we really want our world to be more equal this is a major step that needs to be taken.
In the early 1990s, there was a famine in North Korea, and it was put upon most women to sell products and food in order to support their families. They had to find a way to feed their starving families which usually meant that they had to get into black market trading, which isn’t even the worst part. Men were taking advantage of this opportunity and forcing their spouses to trade the families food for alcohol; imagine how bad that would be. You either trade your family’s food and or supplies for alcohol or you are beaten. For many people, both would happen because not much good comes out of people who are drunk and angry.
Driving, wearing makeup, swimming in a public, competing in sports, and interacting with men are all things that we as American women take for granted, because all of those things above are considered unlawful in for women in Saudi Arabia. Driving used to be a big controversy in Saudi Arabia. There have been many debates about the pro’s and con’s of women driving, and for most of the nations history, they weren’t allowed to drive. Yet, in June 2018 the ban was finally lifted. Even though this is a big step for women’s inequality, they still face many other complications. First of all, women can’t make any major decisions, “including travel, obtaining a passport, getting married or divorced and signing contracts” (Source C), without a male permission. Since women and girls need their guardians “authorisation” to file a complaint, the system is practically hopeless for victims of abuse or violence to speak out simply because the police don’t (often) believe them(Source C). So in simpler words, it means if “Woman A” was assaulted by her guardian, she couldn’t do anything about it because she wouldn’t have her guardians permission. Yet, in May of 2017, the women gained a small victory when it was announced that they wouldn’t need permission to “enter a university, take a job, and to undergo surgery”(Source C). These steps of change for women are beneficial, but they still face many obstacles.
If 100 people were asked if women should be allowed to be included in sports, how many do you think would say yes? Personally, I would think that most, if not all, would agree that women should have the right, because they do have a right to compete freely in sports. Well, at least everyone except the women in Saudi Arabia. In 2015, Saudi Arabia proposed hosting an Olympic Games without women, because the male figures have a “hard time accepting that women can compete in sports”(Source C). That’s when most of the other countries shot back saying that women do have rights and should be allowed to compete. So, Saudi Arabia sent their women, but while they were their the women’s experience wasn’t the best. Women were sent to the London 2012 Olympics and as soon as they stepped foot on the Olympic stage, the clerics (priests) started calling them prostitutes. That’s the exact word that was used, too, the picture shown represents what the first ever Saudi Arabian woman who competed in the Olympics wore. Is the first word that comes to your mind when you see her “prostitute”? Women are not objects and should not be discriminated against for their clothing choices, especially not when competing in appropriate clothing, for their own country.
So, women all over the world face inequalities, not just in the US. Women deserve rights, and people need to become more aware of the problems other face, because as people change so will our world. Feminism is promoting equal rights for everyone, and I believe that step by step we can make a world where feminism doesn’t need to be a thing because everyone will truly be equal, and if that’s not a good goal, then I don’t know was is.
Sources
“Women in China face unique #MeToo challenges, but see some progress.” CNN Wire, 28 July 2018. Global Issues in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A547952619/GIC?u=olat54637&sid=GIC&xid=d94d8d4c. Accessed 15 Jan. 2019.
“Six Things Women in Saudi Arabia Still Can’t Do.” The Week UK, The Week UK, 5 June 2018, www.theweek.co.uk/60339/things-women-cant-do-in-saudi-arabia.
Lim, Hyun-Joo. “What Life Is like for North Korean Women — According to Defectors.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 9 Sept. 2018, www.independent.co.uk/world/north-korean-women-rights-kim-jongun-domestic-violence-sexual-harassment-a8525086.html.
“London 2012 Olympics: Last in Her Heat… but Saudi Athlete Sarah.” Evening Standard, Evening Standard, 9 Aug. 2012, www.standard.co.uk/olympics/athletics/london-2012-olympics-last-in-her-heat-but-saudi-athlete-sarah-attar-scores-a-first-for-women-8022339.html.
