Which women deserve rights?

 (Hint: All)

In the Oxford University Press peace text Approaches to Peace: A reader in peace studies, 4th ed., David Barash writes about the evolution of human rights and international law, noting that, pertaining to the humans who make up more than half of the species--women--rights in many societies in both previously colonized and colonizer nations are often protected more often for men.

"...forced seclusion and isolation of women in certain contemporary Hindu and Muslim societies; sexual mutilation, as currently practiced on millions of young women in numerous African societies; polygyny; restricted or nonexistent choice as to marriage; substantial discrimination regarding educational opportunities, especially in some conservative Islamic countries, and--even in such ostensibly liberated societies as that of the U.S. and the UK--restricted economic and professional opportunities along with underrepresentation in political life" (p. 187).

We see it in the US in large pockets of various subcultures, such as Christian nationalists who abide by some of their pastors' commands[1] to women to vote as their husbands instruct them to vote. Donald Trump--who famously threatens to sue any school he attended which releases his transcripts--consistently refers to women he likes as "really attractive," and women he doesn't like as "dumb" (or equivalents[2] to those terms). It absolutely follows that "conservative" politicians and "justices" are anything but conservative with the rights of women, overturning a half century of a woman's right to make her own health care decisions.

This moral arc of the universe is not a smooth one, with some jagged edges as rights fought for and won are erased, setting the stage for the next struggle to both regain lost rights and win new ones. That is the long story, which will only continue when we help each other and the next generations understand what previous generations suffered, struggled for, and succeeded in getting.

References

Barash, D. P. (Ed.) (2018). Approaches to peace: A reader in Peace Studies (4^th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

 

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/01/maga-trump-men-supporters-womens-rights

[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/21/trump-harris-dumb-stupid-low-iq/