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From time to time I have fantasies of imagining myself at the helm of a worldwide revolution. :-)
A revolution to change people's thinking about half of humanity: women!
And this need not involve blood, guts, or loss of lives. Leave that to the warmongering politicians (and let them fight amongst themselves!).
I want a revolution to shake up the thinking of men and women worldwide: that women deserve to be treated with respect and should be afforded the same opportunities as men, starting when they are young girls. This means, EVERY girl in the world should be able to have the same education any boy would have.
Why not? I would think that any society would want to use all of its brains, not just half.
Why, in the 21st century, are women still being treated like second class citizens in so many parts of the world? :-( Valued less than livestock in some places, denied even an elementary education as young girls, and treated as slaves or worse in today's world?
This is the very stuff that makes my blood boil.
I realize there are many economic, political, and cultural factors for why women are still treated shamelessly bad--sometimes worse than animals, as if nothing has changed in the last millennium, but I don't think those are excuses by any measure to treat women as less than equal to men, in terms of being fellow human beings.
Women helped bring life into this world! They are the nurturers and caregivers of humanity!
Yet whether it be peacetime or wartime, they are physically and mentally violated with impunity--by strangers or by so-called loved ones. They are targeted by hungry advertisers who send them messages that they're never beautiful enough unless they use certain products. They're told by society that they're lacking as a woman if they do not become a mother--regardless of the reason. They're easily labeled a bitch when they have the courage to express their opinions, regarded as dirty if a bit too much skin is showing or even for having their period, and they're quickly judged by others based on their appearance.
Among other things.
Get a glimpse of what's happening to the women of the world at:
Amnesty International's Violence Against Women Campaign
Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women
Asian-American Network Against Abuse of Human Rights
That's only the tip of the iceberg...
If I were the leader of the kind of revolution I want, I would pull out all the stops to make sure that throughout the world:
- All the children of the world have a basic education (to my mind, that means through high school).
- Violence against women is UNACCEPTABLE and that severe penalities--with a good deal of public shaming, would be imposed on all those who have violated women (or worse).
- Women in difficult domestic situations have a safe haven to go to.
- Trafficking of women and young girls for prostitution and other forms of slavery is STOPPED and it perpetrators duly punished in an international tribunal.
- Anyone attempting to promote the objectification of women via media, brothels, or whatever, would be fined an exhorbitant fee which would go towards shelters for women. And then maybe...thrown in the slammer!
- Strengthen and enforce existing laws to protect the rights of women.
I challenge the men of the world to stand up for their wives, girlfriends, mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, and women friends in their lives. They don't have to pick a fight--just let the other party know that the offending behavior or remark is unacceptable. The other party can very well be another woman--there are many women who have backward ideas about a woman's place in this world.
I do not wish to be part of the masses that would keep half of humanity from
progressing to help make the world a better place to live. I want to be one who shows the world that women expect to be respected as a fellow human being! :-)
When there are more women leading the countries of the world, this world will surely be a very cool place to live in!
And it'll be a fine time to be on planet Earth when men will be as turned on by a woman's mind as they are by her anatomical parts.
This is my ongoing dream; I'm continually searching for a way to contribute. It's my goal in life: to shake up and shape up people's view of women...to blaze a trail and boldly go where no woman has gone before! ;-)
