Are African Women Too Dominated?

[AnnieA]

Originally Posted by Neuling

Yes, indeed the mutilation is carried out by women, the ritual is maintained by women. But I don't think it was women that originally came up with the idea of cutting off parts of themselves. They just maintain the tradition of thinking that women need to be inferior and obedient, without really knowing why. That happens with so many rituals and customs. They are maintained because people are too stupid or scared to simply challenge and abandon a ritual or custom.

Thank you. You said it much better than I can.

[jtur88]

Every Sub-Saharan African country except Botswana has either signed or ratified the Maputo Protocol, an agreement which absolutely bans all forms of female genital mutilation, as well as westernizing laws relating to marriage, divorce, inheritance, child custody, education, professional access, and all other issues relating to the role of women in society. Maputo Protocol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I'm sorry that not every country enforced every provision of the protocol at nine oclock this morning, some things take time. But Africa is in fact making huge strides toward the rights of women. Violations of the kinds of women's rights that you are accustomed to are rarely found in the African mainstream, and generally, abuses are restricted to rural areas which aren't even reached by the central governments, much less the western European cultural propwash.

FGM is still practiced in a few places, but many African countries have legislatively banned it, although with varying enforcement, and there are very few places where it still occurs in the 21st century. Interestingly, the strongest stand against it has been in Burkina Faso, the poster child of African backwardness, while the only country to not embrace the Maputo Protocal is Botswana, the shining star of African progress.

Statistically, only 1/5 of all African women have ever been circumcised in their lifetime, nearly all of them decades ago, with the practice having dwindled to near anecdotal status in recent years.

The bottom line is, Yes, or course, there is some excess of social inequality scattered through Africa. But that is simply the residue of centuries of culture passed down through families. One could also argue that Hispanic and Native American women in the USA are "too dominated", but extreme instances are scattered and change is taking place.

This topic (domination) has little to do with FGM, which is a totally different issue, and what is needed is for more westerners to visit Africa and see first hand how the culture actually functions in the real world, instead of just reading hysterical stories in the world tabloid press and on Vice TV. There are several sub-Saharan countries in which the literacy rate is actually higher among women than men, and in nearly all of them, the number of school children is near male-female parity.

[Motion]

Originally Posted by jtur88

This topic (domination) has little to do with FGM, which is a totally different issue

So the women and girls who live in cultures where it is expected for girls to have this done to them can easily opt out with no reprecussions?

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by Motion

So the women and girls who live in cultures where it is expected for girls to have this done to them can easily opt out with no reprecussions?

What I said was that women can rise to high levels of influence socially, politically, economically, professionally and intellectually in cultures where FGM might still be practiced in a few remote backwaters. And the practice of FGM is diminishing rapidly, to near zero in many African countries, and to a statistically insignificant number in most of the others. There is not necessarily a direct link between FGM at one end of the social spectrum, and enlightened feminimsm at the other, since there is not enough FGM taking place anymore to affect the entire society.

It is still entirely possible that African women are less dominated than in some other parts of the world, such as Cordilleran Latin America, even in the complete absence of FGM and the dominance of European (Roman Catholic) influence.

[Musa O]

Originally Posted by Neuling

I do think that sooner or later humans will all go similar ways and if they don't they will be considered backwards. In times of global exchange, media, etc. there is a kind of global evolution, that was missing as long as people were more or less isolated. Thus I do think that the most advanced cultures will largely determine the direction which less advanced cultures will go. Regardless whether it makes sense or not.

Seems the saying ' Society is the greatest cult ' is true.