So my project is moving along!
Not only am I working on a film, but the group of Moroccans that I am working with want to make sure everything is sustainable, which of course I agree with 100%. So, the group and I are taking it one step further and forming an NGO that will work as a networking tool to help connect women from across the country and also with international opportunities and resources. Check out our NGO website and please stay posted.
http://initiativesdesfemmes.webs.com/
[Free HD] Stardust Free
5 years ago
7 comments:
To oversimplify the needs/problems of Moroccan women in Morocco is the belief that you're not substantially better than everyone else.
Zahwani,
I do understand where you are coming from. The group of Moroccans do not, from my belief wish to oversimplify the needs of their own people yet have had experience and have worked with countless individuals and organizations who have been struggling with issues such as access to the workplace as women, domestic violence which happens on unprecedented levels, sexual harassment, underage and forced marriages, no access to land rights or personal property and despite the new changed to the family code still no access to those rights either. Education in rural areas, for women is exponential. 90% of women in most rural areas are illiterate.
I would like to continue this conversation with you to understand more thoroughly your point.
This project is *so* exciting ~ especially as it is being led by Moroccan women who understand their own issues better than anyone. Of course we are not here to tell them their problems, only to help them realize solutions to the issues they bring to us as volunteers. that's exactly what you're doing through this fabulous project!
The website link doesn't seem to work for me ~ is it correct?
Cortney,
Reading your comment on my previous comment led me to think of two main points:
First, Domestic violence by and large is pretty consistent worldwide. Whether rich or poor, all countries have it.
Second, Women are commodity in poor cultures, as well as rich ones. And? True change must come from within.
Zahwani,
You are absolutely correct, domestic violence does happen worldwide but does that mean it is something that should just be accepted? I do not think that it should be dismissed and the International community does not thing it should be either. Look at the countless organizations, women’s groups and abuse centers that exist in Morocco alone, created by victims and their supporters. Let’s look at the situation of rape which has become endemic is South Africa and parts of war torn central Africa to address the point that ‘it is widespread so therefore it is to be accepted’. 21% of Ghanaian women reported in one survey that their sexual initiation was by rape, 17% of Nigerian women said that they had endured rape or attempted rape by the age of nineteen; and 21% of South African women reported that they had been raped by the age of 15. In recent genocides, rape has been used to systematically terrorize certain ethnic groups, women are seen as a commodity. Men in the Congolese army are told it is their right to violate women. This is a widespread culture of sexual predation and violence but that does not make it acceptable. These are human being and families that are affected by this violence and I do not believe it is justified. Negative action, whether common practice or not should not be accepted or it will propel more hatred and mistreatment of human beings.
I also wish to address the term commodities. Do you mean that they are merely products and articles of trade? This I will have to disagree with you on if that is the point in which you wish to make.
Men, women and children are all more than just goods which are to be dispensed at the needs of others. I value the human life more than that, and as a women, I do not believe I am a product which one can barter with.
With all this said, I feel I need to stress further that these actions and the work that I am participating in is driven in large part by host country nationals and not by an outside force. This project has manifested itself in the hands of Moroccans who are driven by their own motives to make a change and help out their fellow country men and women. The most effective change agents after all, are not foreigners but local women and men who incite a movement
Women, after all hold up half the sky.
(I am sorry if this response sounds heated, I honestly enjoy being able to have this dialogue with you. To help us both understand another view point.)
Hey B
fixed the address. should work now.
Cortney,
I wholeheartedly agree with your suggestings that implicit stopping/ending the inhuman treatment many women are forced to endure in some part of the world. I just don't know how to attain that. And as far as women being a commodity. I based that assertion on the sex trade and the false notion of women's emancipation in the West. This isn't to suppose that women haven't made progress, they did. Some women even make a lot more money than men somewhere. Heck, men are not complaining either.
Take care.
(note: I will be going to Haiti next Thursday with my medical team to treat Earthquake Victims,primarily because I speak French (I'm Moroccan) the rest of my team are all English speaking. So please expect delayed comment if any.
Thank you.
Post a Comment