(HOST) The parades, fireworks and picnics celebrating our democratic values may be over for another year, but former Vermont governor and commentator Madeleine Kunin wants us to remember that there are still places in the world where basic human rights are denied to many.
(KUNIN) Women and girls have seen their lives improve in most parts of the world, thanks to reduced poverty and improved education. That is why it comes as a shock to learn that child brides in Yemen’s rural areas are still common.
A recent case in the Arab peninsula, reported in The New York Times, brought the plight of these children to light. The average age of marriage is 12 to 13, an age when their bodies are not mature enough to bear children. The result is that the country has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.
One girl, 10 year old Nujood, was married off by her father to a 30 year old man, who then beat and raped her. One day, after unsuccessful protests to relatives, she walked out of the house, took a taxi, and went to court – actions unheard of in Yemen, where girls are often kept indoors. A sympathetic judge and a kind lawyer enabled her to get a divorce – a highly unusual set of circumstances.
Another 8 year old, married to a 35 year old man, took matters into her own hands and ran off to a hospital after a severe beating. Her case is yet to be resolved.
Yemen, like some other Arab countries, also has one of the lowest participation rates of women in government. In the lower house of Parliament it is 0.3 percent. In Quatar and Saudia Arabia, where women are still not allowed to vote, the percentage is zero.
There is a relationship between women’s political power and their vulnerability in society. In these countries, rights for women are not theoretical debates. They are matters of life and death. The increasing influence of hard line Islamic conservatives in some areas has increased their subjugation to unjust laws and traditions.
As the United States foreign policy is centered on spreading the benefits of democracy, it must also concentrate on the plight of women and girls. Without their equal treatment – more than half the population – there can be no genuine democracy.
The stories of these two child brides tell us clearly that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights – the exact words proclaimed by Hillary Clinton at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Until we fully recognize that the subjugation of women and girls is a violation of human rights, the exploitation of girls will unfortunately continue.
Our challenge is to expose such traditional practices for what they are – a degradation of both the girls who are the victims and the men – and sometimes women – who are the perpetrators.