This woman was the director of WATCH, a non-profit agency, that works throughout Nepal as well as with governments of other countries to stop the selling of young Nepali women by their parents. Poverty and the caste system and other features of the social structure of Nepal puts a low value on women so that impoverished parents of daughters are often driven (enticed?) to sell them. Most of these girls, if not all, are sold to "contractors" who transport them to India where they are sold to brothels in places like Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta and other large cities and forced into prostitution. Girl infancide is still practiced in the more remote areas of Nepal but is rapidly declining.
Statistically, between 5,000 and 7,000 Nepali girls like those in these photos are sold every year and shipped off to brothels in Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta. More than 20,000 Nepali women are at risk of being sold.
The strategy of WATCH and other organizations focusing on women's rights and health is to make people aware of the complex social and economic issues that make the sale of these young women part of Nepali culture. WATCH has been successful at getting police to help in some of the cases and also to find witnesses that will testify against the perpetrators, but the main thrust of their work is to educated teachers and others who come in contact with young women. In the past few years the number of young women sold has been cut dramatically and other countries are offering some assistance.
I had a briliant co-workers at one time and we were working on a project to help farmers in the United States transition to more sustainable agricultural practices and production techniques in grain, vegetable, meat and dairy. Late one evening she called me on the telephone to say goodbye. She was leaving. She told me the World Health Organization (WHO) had offered her a job she didn't feel like she could refuse. It was to go to Macedonia and war torn Croatia and work with mothers in those countries to help them educate their daughters. When her work was completed in those areas she was to continue and go from country to country. I was sad she was leaving but I was envious, too. I wanted to go and I keep thinking how important her job is and how difficult a task it must be in some ways, the different possibilities involved in the different different cultures. I was envious about what she would learn. I felt what she was doing was the most important thing one could imagine. And I think often about why we don't have a program to teach men how to raise their sons (and daughters), to teach men to care.
In contrast here is this photo of pornography being sold on the streets of Kathmandu that the women at the conference had grave concerns about. Pornography grows exponentially eveery year. It's the global market pushing relentlessly. It's also about men. Pornography is a market entity driven by men. It is the further exploitation of women by men. It's growing into a multi-billion dollar industry in the West. It seems to be part of who we are, like the market place itself, as it has been around for thousands of years. I now see efforts to condone it because there is no way to stop it. In the popular media it is joked about and accepted as an everyday thing, but it is driven by men and exploits women on a number of different levels. It portrays women as one dimensional and needing to satisfy men in particular ways in order to be accepted. Most pornography creates the illusion that sex is not so much about relationship and more about having fun, being cool, like smoking.
This woman was the director of WATCH, a non-profit agency, that works throughout Nepal as well as with governments of other countries to stop the selling of young Nepali women by their parents. Poverty and the caste system and other features of the social structure of Nepal puts a low value on women so that impoverished parents of daughters are often driven (enticed?) to sell them. Most of these girls, if not all, are sold to "contractors" who transport them to India where they are sold to brothels in places like Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta and other large cities and forced into prostitution. Girl infancide is still practiced in the more remote areas of Nepal but is rapidly declining. 
Statistically, between 5,000 and 7,000 Nepali girls like those in these photos are sold every year and shipped off to brothels in Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta. More than 20,000 Nepali women are at risk of being sold.
The strategy of WATCH and other organizations focusing on women's rights and health is to make people aware of the complex social and economic issues that make the sale of these young women part of Nepali culture. WATCH has been successful at getting police to help in some of the cases and also to find witnesses that will testify against the perpetrators, but the main thrust of their work is to educated teachers and others who come in contact with young women. In the past few years the number of young women sold has been cut dramatically and other countries are offering some assistance.
I had a briliant co-workers at one time and we were working on a project to help farmers in the United States transition to more sustainable agricultural practices and production techniques in grain, vegetable, meat and dairy. Late one evening she called me on the telephone to say goodbye. She was leaving. She told me the World Health Organization (WHO) had offered her a job she didn't feel like she could refuse. It was to go to Macedonia and war torn Croatia and work with mothers in those countries to help them educate their daughters. When her work was completed in those areas she was to continue and go from country to country. I was sad she was leaving but I was envious, too. I wanted to go and I keep thinking how important her job is and how difficult a task it must be in some ways, the different possibilities involved in the different different cultures. I was envious about what she would learn. I felt what she was doing was the most important thing one could imagine. And I think often about why we don't have a program to teach men how to raise their sons (and daughters), to teach men to care.
In contrast here is this photo of pornography being sold on the streets of Kathmandu that the women at the conference had grave concerns about. Pornography grows exponentially eveery year. It's the global market pushing relentlessly. It's also about men. Pornography is a market entity driven by men. It is the further exploitation of women by men. It's growing into a multi-billion dollar industry in the West. It seems to be part of who we are, like the market place itself, as it has been around for thousands of years. I now see efforts to condone it because there is no way to stop it. In the popular media it is joked about and accepted as an everyday thing, but it is driven by men and exploits women on a number of different levels. It portrays women as one dimensional and needing to satisfy men in particular ways in order to be accepted. Most pornography creates the illusion that sex is not so much about relationship and more about having fun, being cool, like smoking.
No comments:
Post a Comment