During my lay over at Frankfurt International Airport last December 2007, I chanced upon two interesting books which caught my attention: “Mukhtar Mai, In the Name of Honour “ and “Desert Flower” by Waris Dirie.
Both books had my eyes glued on each page as Muktar Mai courageously fought for her dignity against a gang rape punishment sentenced for her for a crime allegedly committed by her brother in Pakistan. In the same breath, Waris Dirie explicitly narrated her ordeal as a child in Somalia against the despicable female mutilation.
Successfully, Mukhtar Mai has fulfilled her long time dream of establishing a school in a far flung village in Pakistan that provides not only education to young girls but serves as a crisis center as well to abused women in that local area. With her persistence and determination, she sought justice and vindication against her rich perpetrators and was able to put them to jail for good. ( www.mukhtarmaiwwo.org)
Waris a familiar face to most of women as a commericial model of Chanel and currently, a UN Ambassador for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation is a well respected speaker raises awareness all over the world about the horrible cultural practice of female genital mutilation on young girls in Africa.
Muktar Mai’s and Waris Dirie’s stories are not make believe fantasies. Their stories are based on their real life traumatic experiences may be happening as you read this article. Both of them risked their lives, lost their honours and tainted their reputation at some time to fight for their dignities and rights as women. As they have depicted, it involved a painstaking process of reaching the end result of their physical and emotional struggles.
Now a days, there are women all around us who are in the same predicament as Mukhtar Mai and Waris Dirie . Some may be undergoing physical or emotional abuse, subjected to marriage against their will, forced labor, lured into prostitution out of poverty or simply victims of unfair labor treatment or sex slavery.
I am sure that no woman would like to experience any of the above mentioned objectionable treatment ever in her life. However, we always have a choice in life whether to encourage men to trample on us, endure the pain of abuse or be resillient and fight back and win the crime against women. It’s your choice.
Respectable icons like Muktar Mai and Waris Dirie’s long roller coaster struggles are far from over. They will continue to fight for their respect and dignity not only for themselves but for women around the globe. Every inch of an effort of their hard task to empower women is well worth the fight.Remember that everything depends on us. Let us all join them in making our voices be heard aloud.
As Eleanor Roosevelt puts it: No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Happy International Women’s Day! A toast to all the women in the world!
Both books had my eyes glued on each page as Muktar Mai courageously fought for her dignity against a gang rape punishment sentenced for her for a crime allegedly committed by her brother in Pakistan. In the same breath, Waris Dirie explicitly narrated her ordeal as a child in Somalia against the despicable female mutilation.
Successfully, Mukhtar Mai has fulfilled her long time dream of establishing a school in a far flung village in Pakistan that provides not only education to young girls but serves as a crisis center as well to abused women in that local area. With her persistence and determination, she sought justice and vindication against her rich perpetrators and was able to put them to jail for good. ( www.mukhtarmaiwwo.org)
Waris a familiar face to most of women as a commericial model of Chanel and currently, a UN Ambassador for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation is a well respected speaker raises awareness all over the world about the horrible cultural practice of female genital mutilation on young girls in Africa.
Muktar Mai’s and Waris Dirie’s stories are not make believe fantasies. Their stories are based on their real life traumatic experiences may be happening as you read this article. Both of them risked their lives, lost their honours and tainted their reputation at some time to fight for their dignities and rights as women. As they have depicted, it involved a painstaking process of reaching the end result of their physical and emotional struggles.
Now a days, there are women all around us who are in the same predicament as Mukhtar Mai and Waris Dirie . Some may be undergoing physical or emotional abuse, subjected to marriage against their will, forced labor, lured into prostitution out of poverty or simply victims of unfair labor treatment or sex slavery.
I am sure that no woman would like to experience any of the above mentioned objectionable treatment ever in her life. However, we always have a choice in life whether to encourage men to trample on us, endure the pain of abuse or be resillient and fight back and win the crime against women. It’s your choice.
Respectable icons like Muktar Mai and Waris Dirie’s long roller coaster struggles are far from over. They will continue to fight for their respect and dignity not only for themselves but for women around the globe. Every inch of an effort of their hard task to empower women is well worth the fight.Remember that everything depends on us. Let us all join them in making our voices be heard aloud.
As Eleanor Roosevelt puts it: No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Happy International Women’s Day! A toast to all the women in the world!
2 comments:
Mystique,
Thanks for visiting Pedestrian Observer GB & the comment.
Yes, Mukhtar Mai is one amazing woman considering the circumstance and the feudal sorroundings where powerful clans with perverted values dictates their will on "lower class" in their village.
I actually mentioned her in one of my entries but was unable to follow up on it and was curious if her younger brother got justice too? Was there anything on the book?
An interesting and intelligent blog that draws your attention to issues that everyone reflect should reflect upon.
João de Mancelos
Post a Comment