Women
Iranian journalist Hossein "Hoder" Derakhshan recently posted a link to a wonderful site: Women in Iran. The site is run by a relatively new organization of, well, women in Iran, and is dedicated to advancing human rights by giving voice (in Farsi and in English) to the struggle for women's rights in the Islamic Republic. From the site's English translation of the "About Us" section:
The Iranian Women website is trying to open a window, however small, to the life of Iranian women, this always hidden half of our society.� This site, with the slogan of �Women�s Right is Human Right�, tries to tell the story of struggles, issues, and successes of Iranian women, and in this way, would like to shake the hand of all who believe in the social and intellectual equality of women and men.�
They appear to just be starting on the English translation of the site, but what is already available in English is definitely worth your time to visit.
Tomorrow (well, technically, today) is Thanksgiving here in the United States, a time for remembering the good in our lives, and for giving thanks for it. It's commonly said that we do not know what is truly valuable until we have lost it. There's some truth to that, but sometimes it is enough for us to see others who have less than us of something good in order to know that we should be grateful for having it at all.
So I've been looking around, and I've been thinking.
Slavery was an ancient evil, accepted by cultures and governments across the world and down through the millenia, only to be chased from the earth in the last few centuries. Its destruction as an institution was the greatest achievement of its age and one of humanity's greatest achievements ever.
In this age, we are more and more awakening to another ancient stain on humanity's soul. In many cultures and in all ages the role, dignity and value of half our species has been denied and assaulted. Whether "feminine" has been interpreted as "worthless" or merely "less", the abuse and suppression of women has crippled societies and crushed lives. Whether argued as divine revelation or as natural law, the mostly unthinking, widespread acceptance throughout history of the supposed inferiority of women has fouled many of our accomplishments and fed many of our atrocities. If one believes in a just, rational and loving Creator, surely one must know how great and deep an insult it is against the Divine that we have permitted such evil for so long.
Considering the breadth of the world and the depth of history, what progress has currently been made against this ancient iniquity is isolated and so far brief. In many places, now, the equality and value of women is recognized. In the Civilized world, even those who in their hearts do not yet see the worth of women are at least likely to be embarrassed should their neighbors find out their "backwardness". For a short time, in some cultures, a little progress has been made.
You may live in a world in which issues of gender are framed in terms of "equal pay for equal work", "equal access to opportunity" and "empowerment": you are living in the enlightened part of the world. There are many places, in which many millions of women live, in which such discussions have no context, in which women have many rights only through consent of their husbands, in which women may be purchased and sold, in which murdering or raping a woman "for honor" is an accepted tradition.
But there is now an enlightened part of the world. There is civilization. And, as happened in the previous centuries' war against general slavery, those cultures and realms outside of today's definition of civilization will soon relent in their assault on the feminine, whether due to evolution, revolution, or extirpation. The war against slavery is in this sense unfinished...but not abandoned.
Any culture that makes of itself an enemy of its own wives, mothers, and daughters is an enemy of all of civilization. Thankfully, any such culture has but a short time left in this world. Civilization spreads. The denigration of women, like all other evils, will likely exist eternally within the hearts of poor individuals, but its cultural acceptance cannot long stand against the wave of change now breaking upon it. Some cultures will change. Some will end.
It's heartbreaking to look out into the darkness beyond civilization. But, looking out, I can see the light spreading. This year, that is what I am thankful for. I am thankful that humanity is waking up, that civilization is spreading, that the world is, though painfully, becoming a better place.
On a more personal level, I am thankful for the women in my life. Each one has been a gift, right down to the most recent of all, my new little daughter. Most particularly, that my daughter will grow up free from fear of slavery, fully in charge of her own rights and person, in a culture in which such is simply assumed, is something I am most thankful for indeed.