Condoleeza Rice Signs On to UN Campaign to Fight Violence Against Women
Nov 19th, 2008 by admin
I had read a while ago that once her tenure as Secretary of State is over, Condoleeza Rice planned to devote herself to, at the international level, fighting violence against women. I thought that was wonderful news! If we need powerful women, of whatever persuasion, anywhere, it’s to fight violence against women.
Perhaps the following marks the beginning of this new journey for Rice.
The times are so strange, aren’t they? If leftists or feminists say a woman shouldn’t be Vice President if she has children to care for (as many did! bizarrely!), we’re supposed to still regard them as leftists and feminists, despite the fact that this is conservative, right-wing sentiment and politics. If right-wingers or conservatives support a woman in the White House, family in tow, we’re supposed to continue to regard them as right-wingers and conservatives, even though for hundreds of years, women have been fighting to serve at the top levels of U.S. government. In the same way, if a leftist or a feminist signs on to fight violence against women (well, not many leftists, male or female, would, sadly), we’re supposed to applaud. If someone like Condoleeza Rice, a Republican from the Bush Administration, signs on to fight violence against women, I guess we’re supposed to… what? Condemn her for it? Be suspicious of her motives? Be really quiet about it and not mention it and hope nobody notices?
Not me. With women targeted for femicide, tortured, raped throughout the world every minute of every day, we need some four-star generals in an ever-growing army of fighting women. So, go Condi! I wish you well.
Rice signs onto UN campaign to fight violence against women1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has signed onto a UN-sponsored campaign pressuring governments around the world to find ways to end violence against women, her spokesman said Wednesday.
“The secretary signed the UNIFEM (the United Nations Development Fund for Women) ‘Say-No-to-Violence’ pledge as part of the campaign at the Web site, saynotoviolence.org,” spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
In signing the document on Tuesday, Rice released a statement describing the campaign’s growing momentum and steps it has taken.
“One year ago… UNIFEM began its global campaign to advocate among publics and governments for an end to violence against women,” Rice said in the statement read by McCormack.
“During its June 2008 Security Council presidency, the United States focused on actions that would follow from UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security,” Rice said.
On June 19, she chaired a UN debate that culminated in the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1820, which she said “condemns the use of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict situations.
“Violence against women remains a fact of life in countries worldwide,” Rice said in the statement.
“Like poverty, HIV-AIDS, poor maternal health, and lack of access to education, violence against women is an ill that affects the person, her community, and her nation,” Rice said.
With the campaign going strong, she said, “we should dedicate ourselves to creating awareness among individuals and communities of the great damage violence against women afflicts and commit ourselves to end this atrocity.”
During the debate in New York in June, Rice cited the example of Myanmar where she said “soldiers have regularly raped women and girls even as young as eight years old.”
In the meantime, Rice said the Myanmar junta keeps opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a woman, under house arrest instead of allowing her to take the office as the country’s elected leader.
Rice also referred to widespread acts of sexual violence in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan.
The top US diplomat also highlighted acts of sexual violence perpetrated by UN peacekeepers in several countries around the world.
And it looks like it will be our job to keep the violence among women in western countries, first-world countries, white women, women of colour, upper class, middle class, working class, underclass, natives, poor women, wealthy women, forefront in Ms. Rice’s mind.
Violence among women does not only exist in some third world country. This type of erasure has been going on forever. And the so-called “progressive” left will fight tooth and nail to keep the focus there.
We have to make sure we speak up, correct that, every time. And just like we point fingers at the perpetrators ‘over there’, we have to make sure we do the same here.
Good for her. I hope she makes a difference.
I’ve observed the same thing, Heart, it is so strange, isn’t it? I mean, I’ve seen left-wing women claiming that women with right-wing connections (like church or whatever) should be getting thrown out of the feminist movement, because their motives are “suspect”, and this is coming from women allied to the male left movement, who aren’t even in the feminist movement most of the time, except for when the leftie boys send them in to cause trouble. Talk about suspect motives.
Where did we get this crazy idea that conservative women don’t care about women? Conservative women are about some of the most caring and BE THERE FOR YOU women I know! Conservative women are probably stronger feminists inside, because they are much closer to the real patriarchs with a capital P. Feminists sometimes get stuck in leftist ruts, and we need to be talking to all women left and right.
Good for Condi! I think she’s really going to come into her own once she gets out of that creepy White House.
Despite my political differences with her, I found myself wondering over and over - why didn’t McCain pick Rice as a running mate? If he wanted to go for a woman as his nominee to try to attract disgruntled Clinton supporters, amongst conservative party women, he couldn’t have made a better choice. I would have been tempted to vote for them if he had picked her.
She is of course welcome in the fight against the seemingly never-ending pandemic of violence against women, but why oh why has she done so little for them during her tenure in the Bush Admin and even helped to uphold policies that have been very detrimental to women.
I’m not suspicious of her motives. But I am suspicious of her understanding of the problem, which understanding dictates the tactics she would support, and therefore how much help she can be to women.
Rice negatively discusses the violence done to women in conflict & postconflict environments…but she also strongly believes that women in Afghanistan and Iraq have been served by US intervention and war.
Rice also advocates for women’s rights as a reason to put pressure on foreign governments. I don’t disagree with the idea behind that — women’s rights, all human rights, should be an important part of international dialogue and countries should pressure each other to raise the bar — but I am deeply suspicious of it in practice. Women’s rights have been “important” only when castigating a country for failing on that front aligns with US foreign policy and warmaking/”peacekeeping” — period. And it would be one thing if that selective-vision of women’s rights simply meant that progress were uneven, but what it has actually meant is that there IS no progress. And women in fact lose out, time and again.
I, too, am encouraged that she brought up the actions of UN peacekeepers. But then, the administration of which she’s a part has tended to be much more critical of the UN than the US, when it comes to military action, so maybe her critique of the UN isn’t that suprising. Did she mention the woman-abusing habits of the US troops abroad? No.
I don’t think Rice is evil. I think Rice does care about women. And I’m not interested in deriding her for caring about women. But no, I’m also not interested in promoting her initiatives. Rice is wrong, dead wrong, and that matters. So, engaging her (constructively) seems like the way forward for feminists, IMO.
Charlize Theron is joining the UN fight against femicide and rape, too, after famously playing a Goddess (Will Smith’s latest hero movie) who steps aside from her divinity after kicking cosmic a**, a factory worker who fights sexual harassment and a raped prostitute who fights back with murder and gets convicted in the Western so-called criminal justice system. Given the inherent limitations of the role offerings in patriarchy’s moviedom, Theron has had the professional experiences to prepare her to understand and work to eliminate the roots of the problem. Hopefully, the same is true of Rice, and both women in their public spotlight will not waste their time whacking at the branches.
Glamour named her a Woman of the Year and has some nice things to say about her work:
http://www.glamour.com/women-of-the-year/2008/condoleezza-rice
Her tenure has been controversial, but the din over the war in Iraq has drawn public attention away from some of her most important work at the State Department: championing the rights and health of women around the world. In June she got the U.N. Security Council to officially recognize rape as a weapon of war. “Rape was always viewed as a circumstance of war,” Rice says, “either hush-hush or not in the category of other crimes against humanity. This is a strong message that yes, it is [a crime].”
Quietly but forcefully, Rice helped to both secure a $50 million presidential initiative to fight sex and labor slavery worldwide and launch the first major women’s health campaign in the Middle East. This year, she started the $100 million One Woman Initiative, a public-private partnership that trains Muslim women for leadership. “The difference she’s made is immeasurable,” says Carly Fiorina, a cochair of One Woman. “She’s a visionary,” agrees Democratic strategist Donna Brazile. “She’s created innovative programs for women to serve in leadership roles, helping them to reform their governments.”
Darfurians still talk about Rice, says Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer. The women Frazer met there marveled that Rice had listened so patiently; what many didn’t know is that she’d gone on to persuade the United States to allocate $15 million for rape centers and other programs to restore their lives. Says Frazer, “The women told me, ‘She is our sister.’”
Amananta - Google ‘condoleeza rice lesbian’. There’s your answer as to why Rice wasn’t picked as a running mate. No I don’t know if it’s true, (various people have sworn to me it is) but it seems the ’suspicion’ will still cling to any woman who doesn’t visibly have a male partner.
Polly,
Bingo!
Rice being de-humanized (as if a wind-up, yes-token doll misplayed cartoonishly by Thandy Newton) in the recent movie, W (where Bush, Cheney and Rove are humanized) is another indication that Rice is doing something right for women.
Thanks for the listing of her good works, Funnie.
Interesting point, Polly. It’s required in patriarchy for women to love and revere men, and acceptable in patriarchy for men to love men at all levels (witness the token gay male relationship in Mamma Mia!, among the circles of gal pals all in search of a special man to romance, with no “taboo” lesbian love to be found). Women who put themselves as women and other women first aren’t featured in the public eye, period. The only publicly permissible lesbians are hotties on a male-fantasy model. (Most men would “do” Ellen DeGeneres, or invite her for a three-way.)
Categorize the roles this way the next time you see a movie, watch a TV program, or consider who wins leadership positions.
We have lots of cosmic weaving still to do, not as men do, but as we choose.
a battle cry for rape victims
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/545767