Patriarchy of course killed her. Were she a male politician would she have been allowed to walk around with no security? I highly doubt Musharref walks around without security. It is interesting to note that Al Qaeda claims responsibility...an organization that would like to all but eliminate women from the earth and certainly from political situations. Not only that but men with power like Bush and Musharref sat there and just let her continue to have threats against her.
It's interesting that this follows my post on women. It is very sad that Bhuto was killed, but if this country and its allies were serious about being for democracy and human rights this tragedy could have been avoided. The truth is women in positions of power are threatening and so rather than aid the woman, we all let her down.
I for one feel very badly that these events were allowed to happen and I will have to consider some thoughts as to what will be the future of Pakistan and the region in the wake of this. However, women's issues have been set WAY back by this event.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
The Women
Wow, has it really been over a month since my last post? It seems so strange that it has been so long. The politics of sex have always been a strange topic, and especially when examining Biblical society, but it is still true in modern society. Some have asked me to write commentaries on Dinah, Ruth, Deborah, and Esther and perhaps I will find the time to write about these women in addition to Tamar's commentary in the previous post. Each of these women has a story to tell after all with love, tragedy, humor, and other assorted qualities of a good story. However, this is not that sort of post.
My topic this time is the politics of the women. The women in general, what does it mean to be a woman? This varies from places like Saudi Arabia where women don't really exist as people, to places like Iran where they become doctors and lawyers, to places like the USA where in some cases they are high powered and in other cases they are screwed. Femaleness is apparently very political. Why is it so political? I was once told that it is so political because men are jealous of women's ability to give life and therefore feel a need to exert control over women. I don't think this is the case. I think that what we have here is an identity crisis and it is brought on by men forgetting how to be men and so women can't really be women. This is an over simplified view of the world of course, but seeing as I am planning on moving on to greener pastures at some point in the not too distant future it is important to keep things as simple as possible.
There are obviously many ways to be male or female, but this is not a post about masculinity being dead or my thoughts and feelings on that topic. This is a post about the political system interacting with women. If Margaret Thatcher had been a man would people have mocked her as much as they did and call her the "Iron lady" probably not, she'd probably have been treated much the way Vladimir Putin has been treated, he's been mocked in the context of Russian history but no one has commented in a mocking manner about the way he acts as a man.
Positions of power are always tenuous and need special attention no matter who is in them, but it seems that once in a blue moon power gets turned on its head. Looking at for example the Thompson campaign. If Mrs. Thompson was 24 years older than Fred would people say the things about Fred that they say about her? It's an interesting question. What is power and where does it come from, who really holds the power in these couples?
The most interesting example of women politically speaking I believe is the women of Iran. Iranian women are very free and yet very un-free at the same time. This is often more true of American women than we wish to admit (perhaps this is also true in Europe I don't know). The Iranians are a very proud people and should be given more respect from people than they have been getting.
My topic this time is the politics of the women. The women in general, what does it mean to be a woman? This varies from places like Saudi Arabia where women don't really exist as people, to places like Iran where they become doctors and lawyers, to places like the USA where in some cases they are high powered and in other cases they are screwed. Femaleness is apparently very political. Why is it so political? I was once told that it is so political because men are jealous of women's ability to give life and therefore feel a need to exert control over women. I don't think this is the case. I think that what we have here is an identity crisis and it is brought on by men forgetting how to be men and so women can't really be women. This is an over simplified view of the world of course, but seeing as I am planning on moving on to greener pastures at some point in the not too distant future it is important to keep things as simple as possible.
There are obviously many ways to be male or female, but this is not a post about masculinity being dead or my thoughts and feelings on that topic. This is a post about the political system interacting with women. If Margaret Thatcher had been a man would people have mocked her as much as they did and call her the "Iron lady" probably not, she'd probably have been treated much the way Vladimir Putin has been treated, he's been mocked in the context of Russian history but no one has commented in a mocking manner about the way he acts as a man.
Positions of power are always tenuous and need special attention no matter who is in them, but it seems that once in a blue moon power gets turned on its head. Looking at for example the Thompson campaign. If Mrs. Thompson was 24 years older than Fred would people say the things about Fred that they say about her? It's an interesting question. What is power and where does it come from, who really holds the power in these couples?
The most interesting example of women politically speaking I believe is the women of Iran. Iranian women are very free and yet very un-free at the same time. This is often more true of American women than we wish to admit (perhaps this is also true in Europe I don't know). The Iranians are a very proud people and should be given more respect from people than they have been getting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)