Zoe Benezet-Parsons's blog

RAISE Hope for Congo will not be the only ones celebrating International Women’s Day next Monday. If you aren’t able to join us for our March 8 peace walk across Arlington Memorial Bridge, or even if you plan to attend and are looking for further ways to recognize the important day, look no further than the Save Darfur Coalition website. The organization is encouraging supporters and their friends to be creative with their plans for International Women’s Day and have come up with some of their own ideas to get you started.

For instance, watch a film focused on violence against women in Sudan, host a discussion in your community concerning the ongoing issues in the countryside, or write a letter to your government representative, urging him or her to prioritize the fight against gender-based violence. You could even experiment with one or two of the tantalizing traditional Sudanese recipes posted.

So get creative and find a way meaningful to you to recognize and honor women worldwide for the obstacles they have overcome. What is truly important is that women and men from continent to continent show solidarity for peace and women’s empowerment around the world.

Sign up to attend the D.C. peace march here. Hope to see you on the bridge on Monday!

Photo: Women in Congo celebrate (AP/Rodrique Ngowi)

Technorati Tags: Advocacy Darfur and Southern Sudan Eastern Chad

Human rights advocates and international women’s organizations late last week welcomed the introduction of the bipartisan International Violence Against Women Act, or I-VAWA. Senators Kerry (D-MA) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) were joined by Representatives Ted Poe (R-TX), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and William Delahunt (D-MA) as they voiced their commitment to halting rape, domestic abuse, and brutality for girls and women worldwide. According to the United Nations, 6 out of 10 women, or 1 billion people, will experience abuse or sexual brutality in their lifetimes.

Originally crafted by Vice President Joe Biden (then Senator Biden) and Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), then Chairman, now Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I-VAWA encourages U.S. aid programs to target organizations operating around the globe that emphasize education and economic involvement for women. By giving women the tools they need to better care for their families and for themselves, entire societies will benefit from an increased knowledge base and improved health. The bill also demands that the U.S. government devise a response to mass violence against women within three months (perhaps with the Democratic Republic of Congo in mind). 

The speakers drew upon examples from Afghanistan to emphasize the key role women play in decreasing insurgency and dampening extremism. The speakers also linked the level of social and gender equality to the prevalence of rape, crime, and terrorism. As Senator Kerry said, quoting Secretary Clinton, “A society that values all members is more likely to value life.”

Two women’s rights activists were also among those speaking, contributing stirring stories from their own experience fighting sexual violence. According to them, the success of I-VAWA would be a strong symbol of solidarity.

I-VAWA currently commands the support of only a quarter of the Senate and far less of the House, dozens of votes below the 118 mark required to keep the bill alive and moving forward. In the closing remarks of the presentation, Representative Schakowsky appealed to the efforts of advocacy organizations to give the International Violence Against Women Act the exposure and public interest it needs to become law and begin making an impact.

What might be the first step? If the gender ratio in the hearing’s female-dominated audience (about 10 to 1) was any indication of wider public support, we’ve found our first challenge. The placard attached to the podium – “Strengthening national security by ending violence against women and girls” – is a start, but ultimately success tackling global violence against women will require a realization that it isn’t ‘just’ a women’s issue but a men’s issue too.

Photo: Woman in a clinic, eastern Congo

Technorati Tags: Advocacy Eastern Congo

NPR affiliate WPSU, the radio station of Penn State, recently featured Professor Lee Ann De Reus explaining her belief in Ubuntu, an African philosophy that says each of us is part of an interconnected global community, and its relation to her experience interviewing women who had survived rape in Congo. De Reus traveled to eastern Congo last summer as a 2009 Carl Wilkins Fellow through Genocide Intervention Network and blogged for Enough Said while she was there.

On the radio program, De Reus recounts her amazement that the majority of the women who shared their horrific stories with her had forgiven their attackers. Yet she ultimately realized that, “when there is forgiveness, there is hope and part of our souls is restored.” The connection between all people dictates that everyone has a duty to uphold the highest standards of humanity. De Reus said she has “a responsibility now, to the women of Congo, to serve as witness, messenger, and advocate - to tell others about the crisis, to share the powerful stories of forgiveness, survival and hope, to work for change. I believe in practicing ubuntu, so we can all be fully human.”

Read and listen to De Reus tell her own story on the program This I Believe.

Photo: Lee Ann De Reus and a child in Bukavu, Congo (WPSU)

Technorati Tags: Advocacy Eastern Congo