Specific Purpose: To inform the audience about women’s rights in the Middle East, Africa, India, and Nepal.
Central Idea: Our goal is to inform the audience about what women go through all over the world and bringing light to it.
Introduction
I. (Attention Getter) How many of you enjoy the fact that you can wear whatever you like to university? How many of you enjoy that you can travel freely without the permission of your spouse? Today we will discuss women in countries around the world that don’t have these rights on a daily basis.
II. (Audience Adaptation) In the U.S. we are farther forward in women’s rights than other countries, and today we will explore what it is like to be a woman in these developing countries.
III. (Purpose) Today, we would like to inform you about all of the different rights that women experience all over the world.
IV. (Preview) We each chose a country that offered a good amount of insight into the different rights that women are given in different cultures around the world.
a. First, Raina will take us to Africa to explore the vast countries within and how they treat women.
b. Our next stop will be in the Middle East where I (Kirsten) will tell you how their religion and culture ties into the rights that women are given.
c. And lastly, Kiana will take us to India to explain how living in extreme poverty effects how women are treated.
TRANSITION:
Body
I. African countries vary greatly in regard to women’s equality. For instance, Rwanda is one of the world’s leading countries for gender equality while Uganda is ranked almost dead last for women’s rights. When we consider the continent of Africa and all of its’ countries, collectively the rate at which gender equality is moving is extremely slow. According to a report done by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in March of 2017 titled Women’s Rights in Africa, a newborn baby will have to patiently wait approximately 80 years before that child can see a world where both males and females are treated as equals. Yes, eight decades will pass before people of the opposite sex will be viewed equally in Africa. Today I will go over key issues related to gender equality in Africa, which will include reproductive rights, child marriage, and female genital mutilation.
a. One of the most alarming issues in Africa is the current sexual and reproduction health rights including the spread of HIV, unsafe abortions, and maternal deaths.
i. I will now go over the current issues with current issues with child bearing and maternal deaths in Africa.
1. Women’s Rights in Africa states Africa’s Criminal Code was changed recently to allow for the for the termination of a pregnancy in certain situations, such as if the pregnancy resulted from non-consensual intercourse, including statuatory rape, and if the woman’s life is endangered while pregnant.
2. It also says that African women accounted for 63% of all deaths worldwide resulting from avoidable complications pertaining to childbirth and pregnancy.
3. In Africa, there is a much greater risk of females contracting HIV than males.
A. The same report states that sexually transmitted infections, such as HIV, affect 4 out of 10 women between the ages of 15-24 in Africa. This statistic alone indicates the high need for providing access to methods of contraceptives for women to stop the spread of infections.
ii. Domestic violence is still heavily prevalent throughout the continent of Africa.
1. According to Women’s Rights in Africa, 1 in 3 women experienced violence both physically and/or sexually by a partner. Currently, 6 countries in Africa have yet to implement legal protection against violence, particularly domestic, against women.
b. Now we will discuss the harmful practices in Africa that are rooted in traditional and cultural norms.
1. First, I will discuss the issues related to child marriage in Africa.
A. An excerpt from Women’s Rights in Africa states, “Only five countries in Africa have an absolute legal prohibition on child marriage. All other legislation contains exceptions permitting the marriage of children below the age of 18 with either parental consent, judicial oversight, under religious or customary law, or in cases of pregnancy.”
B. Also from the same report, it stated that nine of the ten countries with significant instances of child marriage are in Africa and that 125 million African women and girls alive today were married before the age of 18. It also says child marriage often leads to violence in the household and sexually transmitted diseases, like HIV. It also limits girls from advancing in the work field and continuing education.
C. Child marriage has a disproportionately negative impact on women and girls and is often justified on traditional, religious, cultural or economic grounds. Child marriages often leads to intimate partner sexual violence and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. It also inhibits girls’ access to education and to vocational and life skills.
ii. The second issue I will talk about is the practice called Female Genital Mutilations (FGM) that continues to occur in some African countries.
1. According to the NAW magazine article The True State of the State of Women’s Rights in Africa written by Regina Jane in March of this year, FGM is defined as “a form of gender-based discrimination and violence akin to torture. This practice is not based on any valid premise and has no health benefits. It generates profoundly damaging, irreversible, and life-long physical damage. It increases the risk of prenatal death for babies born to women have survived it.”
2. In an article from the magazine African Renewal titled Taking on violence against women in Africa written by Mary Kimani in 2012, it says that FGM often causes uncontrollable bleeding leading to infection, incontinence, issues with baring children, and sometimes death. An estimated 130 million women and girls alive today have undergone FGM.
c. Finally, we will overview the current improvements in laws and equality for women in Africa
i. From the article, The True State of the State of Women’s Rights in Africa, Regina states that the Maputo Protocol was adopted on July 11th, 2003. The protocol includes many rights for women including protection from harmful practices, rights in marriage, access to justice, and equal law protection. However, since then, four countries still have not ratified the protocol. Those countries are Cameroon, South Africa, Namibia, and Uganda.
ii. Political participation by women in some African countries outrank many developed countries, including the USA.
1. The same article says that Rwanda, which has 63.8% female participation, is ranked number one in the world. South Africa and Senegal are also ranked amongst the top ten for female participants in government and politics.
iii. In a report done in 2000 by the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) it stated that in Kenya, girls have been influenced to evade FGM because of their advocacy efforts. Men have also been encouraged to marry women or girls even if they have not been circumcised. Efforts have been made to help disowned or runaway girls that refused to be circumcised
iv. Although there have been many improvements in more recent years, changing cultural norms and gender roles will be the most difficult step to overcome in order to achieve equality for women in Africa. Law enforcement must act on new laws against gender discrimination and treat domestic violence as the crime it actually is. I believe education of both males and females will be the catalyst that African countries need in order to promote positive change.
TRANSITION: Now that we’ve been taught some of oppression that women face in Africa from me (Raina), Kirsten will take us north to find out about how culture and the Islamic Law takes part in women’s rights.
II. Today, I will be speaking about women’s role in the government, how Islamic Law shapes women’s rights within these countries, and how feminism is prominent in these countries.
a. Since 2005, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have made drastic changes to their laws and rules pertaining to the government.
i. In an article written by the Associated Press on March 8th, 2014 called “A Look at the Rights of Women in Arab Countries” they stated that in Saudi Arabia, “women were finally granted the right to vote in 2005, and following that there were thirty women appointed to the top advisory body, the Shura Council.”
ii. Also according to “A Look at Women’s Rights in Arab Countries”, the UAE passed a law recently that mothers are allowed to pass citizenship to their children, which opens up many doors for them.
1. For example, it gives them access to social services and government jobs—something they did not have access to before this.
iii. They (Saudi Arabia) recently overturned the ban on women being able to drive.
1. According to an article from the New York times written by Ben Hubbard on September 26th, “Women will now be allowed to drive—ending a long-lasting policy that has become a global symbol of the oppression of women in the ultraconservative kingdom.”
2. Many women in this country have protested this law since the early 90’s resulting in their arrest or imprisonment. A large influence on the overturning of this law was, “due to the damage that it did on the kingdom’s international reputation from other countries.”
b. One of the main reasons that women in these countries have faced oppression for such a long time is due to their religion (Islam), and the laws that they have to abide by because of the Sharia/Islamic Law.
i. According to Billion Bibles updated in 2017, “Sharia Law is the Law of Islam. The Sharia Law is cast from Muhammed’s words, which he dictated.”
ii. Also according to Billion bibles, here are some of the laws.
1. “A woman or girl who has been raped cannot testify in court against her rapist(s).”
2. “Testimonies of 4 male witnesses are required to prove rape of a female.”
3. “A woman or girl who alleges rape without producing 4 male witnesses is guilty of adultery.”
4. “A woman or girl found guilty of adultery is punishable by death.”
iii. In a journal written by Sanja Kelly in 2014, a project director for the Freedom House, a research institution. Kelly conducted a study that pertained to these specific Arabic states, and this what she found.
1. She writes, “The Gulf Countries were the worst performers in nearly all subject areas examined in the 2005 Freedom House study. Scoring particularly poorly in the categories analyzing legal rights and protection from discrimination, political rights, as well as women’s personal status and autonomy.”
2. With these family laws still in act, domestic violence becomes a very significant problem. According to the sharia law, “A man can beat his wife for insubordination.”
c. Finally, I will speak about feminism, and what it means to young women in these countries. Many women end up leaving these Gulf Countries to come to the United States to pursue a career or higher education.
i. In a newspaper article called “Discovering Feminist Students in the Middle East” written by Deborah Williams, a well know New York Times author, she writes about teaching a class about feminism to women and men who are not from the United States.
ii. One student talks about coming to the states to get a higher education and her parents take on the situation. The article states, “A young woman from South Asia said her parents told her it was alright to have a career, but ‘of course’ she would stop working when she got married.”
iii. Deborah says that a problem with teaching this class is the negative connotation that feminism has and the preconceived notions that many students hold coming into the class.
1. A problem that comes up is when students are speaking they automatically start their sentences with, “I’m not a feminist, but…” this becomes a problem within the class, “because these students believe there should be equity between the sexes but ‘feminists’, in their mind, were angry man-haters who did nothing but complain.”
d. Although there have been many strides in the right way, there are still many obstacles that women face and will continue to face in the future and I think it is important that we bring to light what is happening to these women.
TRANSITION: Now that we’ve heard how religion ties into women’s rights in the middle east from me (Kirsten), let’s hear from Kiana about the oppression in India and how women face discrimination there.
I. Lastly, we discuss women’s rights in India. There are many legal rights appointed to women in India for their protection, but far too many of these rights are overlooked, ignored and broken every day.
A. I am going to be informing you on the issues of domestic violence, dowry deaths and how the women of India are fighting to reinforce their rights.
1. In 2006 the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act was set in place.
a) This legislation was put in motion to protect women from their abusers.
b) It protects women who are or have been abused by their offenders.
c) Not only does legislation protect women physically, but also protects women from mentally being abused.
2. Domestic violence in marriages are not uncommon in India.
a) Sadha Chaudhary, author of the article “Domestic Violence in India” published for the Journal of Indian Research in 2013 write, “India’s National Family Health Survey-III, carried out in 29 states during 2005-06, has found that a substantial proportion of married women have been physically of sexually abused by their husband at some time in their lives.”
b) In some states percentage rates regarding women who are abused by their husband reach as high as 59%.
c) Domestic violence is not just committed by spouses.
d) Intimate partners, family, even extended family members commit violent acts.
B. The Dowry Prohibition Act (1961).
1. In relation to domestic violence, dowry deaths in India is when a girl is impelled to commit suicide, tortured, harassed or even murdered by her husband.
a) The definition of a dowry is, “Property or money brought by a bride to her husband to their marriage.”
b) Dowry death usually occurs with arranged marriages and newly weds.
c) If the husband is not satisfied with the dowry he will sometimes increase the dowry driving women to commit suicide.
(i) Unpleased husbands will also torture and harass their wife
(ii) Worst cases they murder their wife or even burn them, often referred to as “bride burning.”
2. Priya R. Banerjee, author of the article “Dowry in 21st-Century India,” goes in depth by enlightening readers on how many actual deaths occur from dowry.
a) Banerjee states, “The National Crime Records Bureau of India, recorded a total of 8,618 female deaths related to dory disputed in 2011.”
b) Over the past few years dowry deaths have steadily risen.
C. These unjust acts toward India’s women have been going on for centuries. Here’s what women are doing to fight back against these inequalities.
1. Women are rising up and speaking out about these wrongful acts of violence.
2. Activist set forward to reinforce the national level Domestic Violence Law that was passed by the Indian parliament in 2006.
a) More and more women have been taking a stand on this law and more and more men are facing the consequents when breaking the law.
b) The punishment for breaking this law is 20,000 rupees ($450) and up to a year in prison. Police are also acting on this law more too.
Conclusion
I. (Review) Today, we discussed key issues pertaining to women’s rights and gender discrimination all over the world, and what people are doing to combat these issues.
a. Raina (I) showed us the forms of oppression all over Africa.
b. Kirsten showed you how far the middle east has come in women’s rights.
c. And finally, Kiana showed us that India still have a way to come on women’s rights.
II. (Closing Statement) Throughout the world, women face oppression on a day to day basis. Whether you are in Africa, the Middle East, India, women are doing whatever they can to make laws between the sexes equal. I hope we brought to your attention how bad it is to be a women and I hope you become an advocate for women’s rights worldwide!