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© Newswise.
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Winning the War against Women
At a time when calls for war are made in the name of 'national security,' and covert surveillance is instigated in the name of 'homeland security,' true human security depends upon winning the worldwide war against women, according to Margo Okazawa-Rey, newly appointed director of the Women's Leadership Institute at Mills College (Oakland, CA). "This war is being waged through economic inequality exacerbated by economic globalization, unabated violence against women throughout the world, and entrenched social policies that punish women." She adds, "Approximately 933 million women live in absolute poverty, on less than $1 per day. And, one in five women worldwide are victims of rape -- many by known attackers - yet only 44 of the world's 192 countries formally protect women against domestic violence.* "More than half of 26 U.S. cities surveyed by the 1999 National Conference of Mayors identified domestic violence as the primary cause of homelessness among women," notes Okazawa-Rey, "yet 'zero-tolerance' violence policies in subsidized housing make domestic violence a legitimate reason for eviction from public housing." ** She points out that households headed by women are six times less affluent than those headed by men. "Because women and children bear the heaviest burdens from inequalities worldwide, advancing true human security means women and men must support grassroots work in critical areas such as violence against women, affordable health care, and sustainable economic development." "Women must be involved in making laws and policies that heavily impact their lives," says Okazawa-Rey. "We must elect women to serve as fifty percent of all governors, senators, and representatives in the U.S. to advance security at home. Women should also play leading roles in international policymaking and in every aspect of peacebuilding and dispute resolution." She cites an example of successful global work by women: following years of international organizing, last year's Hague War Crimes Tribunal ruled that mass rape and sexual enslavement during wars should be regarded as crimes against humanity, only surpassed in seriousness by genocide. "Women succeeded in equating women's rights with human rights, and defining rape as a weapon of war under international law," says Okazawa-Rey. The co-editor of Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives (McGraw Hill 2nd ed. 2001) Okazawa-Rey is an expert on militarism and violence against women, globalization and its impact on women, new definitions of human security, and social policy and women of color. Celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, Mills is the oldest women's college west of the Rockies. Set within an urban multicultural environment, Mills provides four-year liberal arts degrees to undergraduate women and graduate degrees to women and men. *According to the UN High Commission for Refugees
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