Integrating Equality Saves And Promotes Girls Lives

It is interesting I always note what comes into my reality without my seeking and particularly if there is synchronicity. The last few days I watched a film on Geisha, the story of a girl sold by her father to a Geisha house in Japan. She was treated as a slave. I found myself inwardly cringing as I can’t bare to see another suffer. The little girl was beaten, abused and shown no love. She was seen as nothing and dependent given she had been sold, a commodity. Yesterday I saw some information on the trafficking of girls. I found this quite by chance. Today again, I found information on genderocide of girls in India. It was enough to move me to write a blog.

(added in) I’ve just finished two blogs on this subject and went to have dinner. I literally turned on the television to a drama where a man and women were talking with subtitles. I knew instantly it was on the subject of female trafficking. Then I saw the subtitles validate my feeling, female exploitation and debt repayment. So again, another synchronistic moment. I don’t ignore synchronicity.

As a female I have lived through the sense of being seen as less, emotions been regarded as less than intellect, and my role through life as a secretary. Today I am a trained Economist, market analyst, philosopher, performer, educator and writer. This occured because I chose to follow my path, I found who I am. I disregarded societal perceptions. I am fortunate I was raised in Australia where there is less cultural baggage around being female, so I had a chance to realise my gifts. I turn to girls in third world countries and I know it is challenging. I have travelled to India and met a servant girl, I travelled to Egypt and met a Muslim girl who was deciding to make her own way, in Asia I met professional Asian women. So there is change in the gender divide, however, in the article below they are quoting 50 million girls going missing in India, I’ve checked this figure, and it appears correct. According to the United Nations approximately 2 million are trafficed across international borders. These figures are considered unrealiable. The key issue in both cases is the perceived subordination of women and attitudes towards them as commodities or valueless with no connection to their humanity or human rights. The motive of money blinds the traffickers to their crime against humanity.

I’ve decided to write a blog as my inner feeling yesterday and today was the unseen issue in the mainstream of exploitation and devaluing of girls, and hence, females. Exploiting girls or women for sex or slavery is a statement of an illusionary diminished value in the eyes of those engaged in this behaviour.

All life is equal, society or individuals can place a veil over one gender to obscure the truth of equality, others can devalue through perceived economic value or use a girl given she appears vulnerable, but spiritually all is seen. I do definitely sense a law of cause and effect, as you do to another, it returns to you. This can be in this lifetime or when you pass over.

If a person has these feelings it is important to look inward and deal with distorted unnatural feelings, or indeed lack of feelings towards another. A person may choose to exploit or enslave but ultimately they will come to experience this.

When the global community and society at the local level tackles inequality with sincerity we will no longer promote males as heroic, knowledgeable, violent, protectors, superior, saviours or dominant. I am saying that as predominant cultural icons. We see a large contingent of media that promotes males in this way, often the female is demure, cowering, screaming, a victim or admiring the strong hero. Of course these stereotypes are untrue on balance. I have met many courageous women raising children alone, advancing careers in non traditional areas, strength of character (ethics), speaking up, facing problems, displaying heroism and sacrifice, and symbolising love. Yet the standard stereotypes are promoted by the media and reinforced by society and culture without any consideration for the rights of women and the opportunities they may lose because they are not seen for who they truly are.

When we choose to live in equality we will find our best friends, our companions, guiding wise fathers, supportive brothers and friendships, all emerging in a spirit of oneness. The love experienced individually and collectively will be inspiring and greatness will emerge. Moreover, the imbalance we see on the planet today will disappear as the genders will be in balance and harmony. Women and men together have perspectives, gifts and talents that are similar but different, together these strengths will merge and another future will manifest. The latter possible future will be an outcome of whether equality is chosen sincerely as healthy and in balance or not.

Two postings of genderocide of girls in India and the trafficking of girls.

Some facts about girls in India. Refer http://www.protectgirls.org/uploads/Society_for_the_Protection_of_the_Girl_Child_Situation_Overview2.pdf

A 2005 study in the British medical journal, the Lancet, reports that because of this, at least 10 Million fewer girls exist in India today2 (according to population statistics over the past 20 years).

According to the 2006 UNICEF study, “State of the World’s Children,” in India, 7,000 girls a day are aborted just because they are female…”

“Seven lakh (700,000) girls are killed by parents every year in India even before they are born,” says NHRC (India’s National Human Rights Committee) member and former envoy Satyabrata Pal….”

“…Worldwide, the ratio of girls to boys is 1,000 for every 1,005. In India, there are only 914 girls for every 1,000 boys, and often far fewer. A 2009 study by the global anti-poverty agency, ActionAid and the International Development Research Center, for example “found that the gender gap in some parts of the Indian state of Punjab had increased to 300 girls per 1,000 boys – a scenario worse than that revealed in the 2011 census. ActionAid carried out the survey in five states and in all states it found that the proportion of girls to boys had fallen further.”1

MISSING GIRLS IN INDIA

http://www.protectgirls.org/Our_Solution.html

The Society for the Protection of the Girl Child

According to the United Nations, 50 million girls in India are missing- having been aborted, killed or neglected to death simply because they are female.

The Society for the Protection of the Girl Child is a catalyst for change: bringing together religious leaders, nonprofit organizations, governmental agencies, activists and the international community. Together, we educate and motivate for the safety and well-being of India’s daughters.

The killing, abuse and deadly neglect of India’s daughters amounts to a national crisis, resulting in a dramatic increase in crime and other societal ills.

Because the problem is deeply rooted in Indian society, the attitudes of parents, medical staff and law enforcement officials must change if the deadly practices of gendercide are to end.

To facilitate this, the Society for the Protection of the Girl Child organizes networks and partnerships of religious leaders, civil society, governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as volunteers. Together, we motivate and inform. Together, we provide hope.

In addition, the Society works towards providing tools, such as the Girl Child Hotline, which will enable parents in distress to receive advice and assistance from caring counselors.

Working side-by-side, differences can be made. Lives can be saved. And girls can be recognized for the beautiful gifts they are.

TRAFFICKING OF GIRLS AND WOMEN

http://www.unfpa.org/gender/violence1.htm

Trafficking in Human Misery

Although slavery has been formally abolished from the world, the trade in human misery continues. Women, still considered property in some places, may be sold into marriage. Men or women may be coerced into working in brothels, sweatshops, construction sites and fields. As illegal migrant workers, they may be subjected to sexual violence, horrific living conditions, threats against their families and dangerous workplaces.

Because of their subordinate position, women and girls are most vulnerable. In view of the clear link between trafficking and the violation reproductive health and rights, UNFPA is working to draw attention to and address the problem. Trafficking in women and girls was the topic of an international workshop in Bratislava organized by UNFPA in October 2002. More than 60 parliamentarians, government officials and NGO representatives from 25 countries attested to the detrimental effects of trafficking on their populations and agreed that its elimination should be a matter of national policy. However, eliminating this widespread and clandestine activity, which often involves organized crime and political corruption, will require collaborative efforts, with participation from international organizations, governments, NGOs and communities.

Defining trafficking

In a protocol supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, trafficking has been defined as:

“…the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.

“Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.”

The dimensions of the problem

Statistics about trafficking are unreliable for a number of reasons, including the clandestine nature of the activity. However, rough estimates suggest that between 700,000 and 2 million women are trafficked across international borders annually. Adding domestic trafficking would bring the total much higher, to perhaps 4 million persons per year.

Human trafficking has become a global business generating huge profits for traffickers. New trafficking routes are regularly established and the market for fraudulent travel documents, clandestine transportation and border crossing has become increasingly well-organized.

Some victims are lured into subjugation by advertisements for good jobs. Others are sold into service by a relative, acquaintance or family friend. Traffickers target poor communities, and may show up during a drought or before the harvest, when food is scarce, to persuade poor families to sell their daughters for small amounts of money.

The problem is widespread. Although the greatest volume of trafficking occurs in Asia, it also exists in Africa and Latin America. Recently, the European Commission raised concerns about a growing ‘slave trade’ in Eastern European women — some 500,000 may have been forced into commercial sex. As many as 50,000 women and children are brought to the United States under false pretences each year and forced to work as prostitutes, abused labourers or servants, according to a report by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Few cases are prosecuted.

Trafficked migrants are vulnerable because of their irregular legal status, and may face deportation. They often cannot access legal assistance and medical care, and remain dependent on their agents and employers. Trafficking may also occur within countries, however, often spurred by commercial demand for young women in the sex trade.

Causes and solutions

Poverty and inequity are root causes of trafficking. Gender discrimination within the family and the community, as well as a tolerance of violence against women and children, also come into play. Lack of appropriate legislation and political will to address the problem, restrictive immigration policies, globalization of the sex industry, and the involvement of transnational organized criminal networks are other causal factors.

Governments and the international community have been responding to the growing incidence of trafficking. Several West African countries, for instance, recently formed a network to combat the problem. However, more concerted action is needed.

UNFPA is positioned to take a larger role in addressing this issue, particularly by strengthening the capacities of its programme countries. Strategies and interventions to address trafficking should include:

* information and awareness raising campaigns about the health consequences of trafficking
* campaigns targeting males
* provision of reproductive health services and counselling to victims of trafficking
* technical assistance and training for governments, and cooperation between countries who are receivers and senders of trafficked individuals.

UNFPA is one of several United Nation agencies working on trafficking, both through partnerships and by promoting dialogue to bring greater visibility to the issue and share information about it.

Related Links

Sexual Violence and Trafficking (from State of World Population, 2003)

Trafficking in Women, Girls and Boys. Key Issues for Population and Development Programmes