Women's rights and democracy
Perhaps American Enterprise Institute's Reuel Marc Gerecht let the cat out of the bag when he said on Meet the Press last Sunday: "I think it's important to remember that in the year 1900, for example, in the United States, it was a democracy then. In 1900, women did not have the right to vote. If Iraqis could develop a democracy that resembled America in the 1900s, I think we'd all be thrilled. I mean, women's social rights are not critical to the evolution of democracy.
Taken from a NOW newsletter. You can find the rest of the article here.
I don't even know what to say about that comment, except that I always thought the purpose of invading Iraq was supposed to be to "liberate" the people. Democracy is and should be, in my mind, a far secondary issue or goal. (Not getting into the whole terrorism/WMD fiasco here)
I guess "people" doesn't include women. My mistake.
Taken from a NOW newsletter. You can find the rest of the article here.
I don't even know what to say about that comment, except that I always thought the purpose of invading Iraq was supposed to be to "liberate" the people. Democracy is and should be, in my mind, a far secondary issue or goal. (Not getting into the whole terrorism/WMD fiasco here)
I guess "people" doesn't include women. My mistake.
posted by jessica rabbit at 11:12 AM
3 Comments:
I don't see why it's that naive or unrealistic. After all, we proved that we can go backwards easily enough by looking at what happened to women's rights in Iran in a short period of time.
Plus, just because something isn't easy to accomplish doesn't mean that you have to settle for less, especially if less is, well, wrong, and a violation of human rights, as it is in this case.
If they were trying to set up a constitution which mandated female circumcision, perhaps people would be a little more outraged.
Why you are right in chastizing the comments for what they literally say, I think the theme he was making is: any progress is better than none.
But then again I am a man, so I'm not sure if my opinion should count in this matter.
I guess so. Piss poor way to say it, though.
I guess the question is also, progress for whom. I don't particularly see this as progress for women.
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