Stop the Gendercide Against Women

Speech held by Ayaan Hirsi Ali in Köln on Internetaional Women's Day

The Gendercide against us

By Ayaan Hirsi Ali

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-- 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 girl 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, brothers and husbands murder them for choosing their own sexual partners. These are called “honour” killings, though honour 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 deaths; they are murders.

-- The brutal international sex trade in young girls kills uncounted numbers of women.

-- Domestic violence is a major killer of women in every country on the globe. Women between the ages of 15 and 44 are more likely to be killed or maimed by their male relatives than as a result of cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war – or all of them put together.

-- 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 twelve months.

-- Six thousand small girls undergo genital mutilation every day, according to the United Nations. Many of them die. Others live the rest of their lives in crippling pain.

-- According to the World Health Organization, one woman out of every five is likely to be a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime.

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How many tribunals have been set up to put the perpetrators of these crimes on trial? How many Truth and Reconciliation Commissions have been established? How many memorials around the world remind us to mourn these victims? Are women disposable goods, somehow less than fully human?

As I speak I can hear the usual excuses. “We don’t really know whether it’s a systematic annihilation.” “It’s their religion, and many women don’t seem to mind belonging to that religion”. “You can’t attack people’s culture.” “It’s unfortunate for the victims, but in times of war and poverty, people die.”

But the world is not becoming more violent – at least, not for men. As the Economist points out, the world is in fact getting measurably more peaceful. The number of wars and civil wars around the globe dropped by 40% between 1992 and 2003. The worst conflicts– those which claim more than 1000 lives – went down by 80%. Between 1991 and 2004, 28 armed conflicts were ignited (or reignited), but 43 of such struggles have been contained or doused.

And poverty, too, has little to do with it. Rich countries persecute women too. In Saudi Arabia, women may not vote; they may not leave their neighbourhoods or their country without the permission of fathers or husbands; they may not work, or choose their spouses, unless their guardians permit it. Women in Saudi Arabia are never adults. They are at best household pets, at worst domestic slaves – but they are never equals. And yet nobody could call Saudi Arabia poor —except in cultural terms.


MUCH MUCH MORE...

http://ayaanhirsiali.web-log.nl/categorie/46044 (scroll down a bit to find the title - it's her blog)

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