WOMEN CLAIM SEAT AT THE TABLE TO EMPOWER PEACE

[Taking a reference from the former president, Pervez Musharraf’s  book -  ‘In the Line of Fire’ which sounds stunningly patriotic, Mr. Musharraf  as saying- ‘land over my dead body’ - not allowing the pilot to  land the plane, on some nearest Indian airport to save some 300 lives on board,  flying over Arabian Sea and fuel running critically low  on  12 October 1999 - I  had asked  if  Mr. Musharraf was a nice man. The Pakistani girls said, “If there were Pervez Musharraf today, he would have visited the flood victims immediately. He was a nice guy but corrupt people threw him out. But  you know, Benazir Bhutto was  also a  nice lady”.]

By B. K. Rana

Two participants of the conference

With a  theme "Claim Your Seat at the Table” - Empower Peace - a Boston based non-profit organization successfully concluded, ‘Women2Women – America 2010’,  a one week long, (August 3 – 10 , 2010)  international conference in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The participants were young school girls of age  15 - 19 as of July 31, 2010 and who were accompanied by their teachers to facilitate them during the programme.

The participants came from different parts of the world, mostly from Arabian and Muslim countries as: Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Canada, Cyprus, Egypt, Guatemala, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sudan, Tajikistan, Tunisia, United States, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Scotland, Uzbekistan, and Yemen. All smiling, brighter, curious, promising and tittering young girls took part in the programme and went home learning something new that :

“ Despite much progress, women and girls are still the most discriminated-against group in the world”,

 
” Of the 1 billion people living in absolute poverty around the world (unable to secure basic life necessities), 60% are women and girls.”  

”Women make up 2/3 of the estimated 876 million adults worldwide who cannot read or write “,

”Girls make up 70% of the world’s 130 million youth not attending school.”

 
”Women contribute 2/3 of the world’s working hours, yet earn only 10 percent of the income”. 

”14 million girls aged 15-19 give birth in developing countries each year.” 

”Every minute of every day, a pregnant woman dies from mostly preventable causes.” 

”At least one out of every three women and girls will be severely beaten in her lifetime.” 

” There is unfortunately no community in the world that is untouched by these issues. It’s time to come together and make a difference.” 

The conference had a fee of $500.00 due by July 28, 2010. The participants had to find sponsoring agencies to manage their air fares and accommodations also. They found the sponsors and this way  they came, they shared, they learnt and flew back home. There were host of sponsoring agencies, to name few of them: US Embassies in the respective countries, Harvard University, North Eastern University, Lesley University  etc. They are doing this project since some years, after the September 11, 2011 terrorist attack in the United States. But surprisingly some other countries in the Himalayan region as: Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and China  seemed not to have sent any participants in the programme. These countries house over 2 and 1/2 billion people currently and there are enormous challenges of  women and issues of development in these countries. ‘Why did not those countries send any participants to the conference ?’ This question kept coming into my mind for couple of days.

I had  an opportunity to briefly talk with few of the participants at Harvard Square in Cambridge. News of huge floods and landslides from Pakistan, China, India and Nepal were hitting the world web. During those past two weeks or so, Pakistan was hard hit both by natural calamities: the floods and landslides and terrorist attacks alike. 

Along with his Oxford trained son, the Pakistani  President Asif Ali Zardari was on a mission to some European countries ‘to smooth over relations after Mr. Cameron recently criticized Pakistan for failing to fight terrorism’. While at home Nawaj  Sarif and former cricket star  Imran Khan were criticizing Mr. Zardari not cutting trip short ‘to return home, where the floods have affected more than 12 million people, and have killed at least 1,500, according to government and United Nations estimates.’

“He would have been remembered and criticized even if there were no floods in the country,” Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said. “I am the chief executive of the country. I am here and my whole cabinet is here to supervise the relief operation, which is our responsibility and not the president”. Reported The New York Times,  offering a clear picture of  weaker Pakistani government facing enormous  challenges both natural and man made - the terrorists attacks.

I took a chance to ask  two  participants from Pakistan whether they had any idea of their president who was on a trip to Europe while the country was submerging in the waters and some 1500 people were already killed.

They replied, “ It is sad we are having floods and many people are being killed. Our president should have been at home  helping the flood victims.” 

Taking a reference from the former president, Pervez Musharraf’s  book -  ‘In the Line of Fire’ which sounds stunningly patriotic, Mr. Musharraf  as saying- ‘land over my dead body’ - not allowing the pilot to  land the plane, on some nearest Indian airport to save some 300 lives on board,  flying over Arabian Sea and fuel running critically low  on  12 October 1999 -  I  had asked  if  Mr. Musharraf was a nice man. The Pakistani girls said, “If there were Pervez Musharraf today, he would have visited the flood victims immediately. He was a nice guy but corrupt people threw him out. But  you know, Benazir Bhutto was  also a  nice lady”.

I had also asked other two young girls from Lebanon, who took pride in in their country and said that they were  from a nice democratic country in the mid-east. They praised Rafik Hariri, the slain prime minister of the country.

                       

With her two young students, there was another young Algerian teacher who spoke in  fluent English. She said ‘I teach English in my school and these two bright girls are my students. They are taking part in the conference. I am helping them. We have a nice society. Everything is fine with us.”

But my mind just swung around and reached Iran. Now,  I can see pictures everywhere in the web, the supporters of Mir Hussein Mousavi in green, flooding the streets of Tehran, chanting against  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for having rigged the election 2009.

And now, there again is a shocking news on Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, a mother of two, convicted in May 2006 of having an "illicit relationship" with two men after the death of her husband. The woman was sentenced to death by stoning. The world condemned the verdict and  put pressure on the Iranian government to not stone her to death. The president of Brazil granted asylum to the woman. Now, the Iranian government comes up with another case, which seems to be more fabricated that  Ms. Sakineh committed murder of her husband. A  video has been posted in which  Ms. Sakineh is shown confessing  her husband's murder. It seems  Iranian authorities  are out for taking Ms. Sakineh’s life. A lawyer for  Ms. Sakineh 'suspects she was tortured into confessing that she was an unwitting accomplice to her husband's murder.'

Such kind of  ‘Women2Women’ programme can be crucial in changing the world particularly  the Muslim world, even if  the international condemnation and pressure  could not save Ms. Sakineh’s life.

They have some solutions posted in their webpage reading “ While the statistics above are shocking, so too are the results when women and girls are able to participate fully in society. Women involved in the political, social, and economic life of their countries and communities are better-positioned to increase attention for women’s rights. Simply providing women and girls with an education can lead to healthier families and children, less poverty, and stronger national economies. Education also equips women with the knowledge and skills needed to realize their potential and protect themselves from harm. By participating in W2W, you will learn how to Claim Your Seat at the Table and become part of the solution.”

Let’s hope  Women2Women’ programme can also become one of the effective tools to change the women’s world.

Watch live streaming video from women2women at livestream.com