This post is dedicated to International Women's Day! We commemorate all women who became victims of brutal oppression, and all women who haven't got the same rights as men. Just realise that the fight is not over yet!
World Press Photo of 2010 was taken by a South-African photographer Jodi Bieber. She took a portrait of the the 18 years old Afghan woman Bibi Aisha who featured the cover of Time Magazine.
According to the jury this photo of the woman with a mutilated face is a symbol, which is significant for the situation in which many women still live.
Women displaced by armed conflict – often living alone with their children – are frequently exposed to sexual violence, discrimination and intimidation. Many face poverty and social exclusion as well. International humanitarian law therefore includes specific provisions protecting women, for example when they are pregnant or as mothers of young children.
When Aisha was 12, her father promised her in marriage to a Taliban fighter to pay a debt. She was handed over to his family who abused her and forced her to sleep in the stable with the animals.
When she attempted to flee, she was caught and her nose and ears were hacked off by her husband as punishment.
Left for dead in the mountains, she crawled to her grandfather's house and her father managed to get her to an American medical facility, where medics cared for her for ten weeks.
They then transported Aisha to a secret shelter in Kabul and in August she was flown to the U.S. by the Grossman Burn Foundation to stay with a host family.
This month, she had a prosthetic nose fitted at the non-profit humanitarian Grossman Burn Center at West Hills Hospital in California as part of her eight-month rehabilitation.
As long as there are women who are surpressed, abused, forced to marry men they don't love, and whose rights are not the same as those of men, we have to fight for them and observe 8th March as International Women's Day.
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20 comments:
Thanks for alerting me to this extraordinary woman, Reader. It's humbling to read about the things that some women endure, too many women endure.
We need to know more about this. Thank you.
IWD is my topic for tomorrow, and ABCW.
Sadly I was unaware of this day.
That young ladies story is horrific and I am sure there are thousands we will never hear about. This has to stop!!! We need to support those who are trying to change this.
Thank you Wil for bringing this to our attention.
A very important post.
Thank you for bringing International Women's Day to our attention. I'm glad Aisha is getting help, but I can't help but wonder how many other women around the world need help.
I remember this story. It happens all over the world. Most of those we never hear about. In Japan when I was over there, some farmers, especially, sold one or more daughters off to pimps in prostitution. I am sure that is still going on.
Il reste beaucoup à faire pour la condition de la femme, et pas seulement le 8 mars, hélas!
Merci de rappeler ce combat.
I read about this poor woman’s tragedy – oops you said you like me to write in French. Depuis tous les temps les femmes ont été victimes de brutalités. Il y a encore beaucoup à faire.
The cruelty is just inhumane... or maybe not. I guess this is exactly what humans are capable of. We do have to fight this. Your post calls attention to what our real battle is.
Thank you, Wil, for sharing this with us! It is important that more and more people become aware of the horrific treatment of so many women in our world today. A very important post it is indeed!! Again, thank you!
Sylvia
Super post! It's almost incredible that in this day and age women are still treated so badly. Humans can be so cruel to one another!
Wil, this is absolutely heartbreaking. It is so appropriate to International Women's Day.
-- K
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel
Thank you, Wil! There are so many women who are treated worse than farm animals -- many of us have come a long way but we won't be there till equality is universal.
How humans can be so cruel! Thank you for letting us know this information. It's very important.
I have read awful stories about dowerys in India. In many countries, women are treated badly as if they were not humans. Aisha's case is the tip of the iceberg. But I am so relieved to hear she was rescued.
We must fight for helpless women against violence.
Humans do the cruelest thing but humans can do the nicest thing too.
Reader Wil, thank you for sharing.
What a moving story! I remember this photo but was unaware of the full truth. I look forward to the time when gender-based crimes are a thing of the past.
how appropriate subject and picture for today!
unfortunately, there are women like aisha among us in western countries as well. perhaps not mutilated, but oppressed and living in constant fear of the lives. in some countries there is legislation to protect those brave enough to report abuse they've had to endure, in some countries the law doesn't, still, do much for the victims.
let's hope the leaders world over will address this issue, sooner rather than later!
Wil...THANK YOU for this posting. It is so hard to understand the horrific things that can happen to women abroad and here as well....Good post, my BlogFriend
IOngelooflijk maar de realiteit!!!
Ik word er gewoon misselijk van
het is niet te geloven dat zoiets gebeurd op onze aardbol :(
Man's inhumanity against man - will it ever stop....excellent evocative post Wil.
I read about her n number of time, each time the story stirs me up in many different ways.
A very happy IWD to you!
This is one of the saddest thing that happened in our society, we thought we are all civilized and intellectual and we are different from the people of centuries ago but in reality there are still so many people who think the same.Thanks for this post!
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