


Terry Cullen
Feb 24, 2023
India
Categories:
Women, Women's Rights, Femicide, Domestic Violence, Violence Against Women, Gender Parity, Gender Equality
Sania Mirza is India’s most famous tennis star, and she won 43 major titles during her 20-year career. In 2015, she and Martina Hingis won 16 titles, with three grand slams in the mix, to become the greatest women’s doubles players of all time.
Mirza grew up in modest circumstances in Hyderabad, India, on courts made of cow dung and riddled with potholes. She was a natural at playing tennis. She captivated her country when she burst onto the international tennis scene in 2005 as a teenager.
Mirza, a Muslim in a country predominately Hindu, faced discrimination in unlikely places. Muslim Clerics issued a fatwa (a ruling on the point of Islamic law given by a recognized authority) about her tennis clothing declaring it indecent, un-Islamic, and corrupting. She is cool, outspoken, and unapologetic and is often criticized cruelly and bitterly in her own country.
Mirza used her international stardom to forward women’s rights, routinely speaking out against domestic violence, sexual assault, and unequal standards between men and women in professional sports.
The 36-year-old played her final tennis match on February 21 and is now officially retired. Sania was a trailblazer who fiercely defended her right to be who she was in the face of hatred and discrimination.
Unfortunately, today, women who stand up, speak out and achieve are met with anger, discrimination, and hatred. Men do not experience that to the same degree that women do. Sadly, because of these attitudes, countless women have never realized their full societal potential.
The United Nations Foundations identifies five things you can do to help advance women’s rights. You can move any of these in your hometown as part of a grassroots campaign:
-Level the Law. Equal protection matters and laws must reflect it. Identify and target discriminatory laws and develop a strategy to change them. The World Bank reported in 2019 that countries enacted 274 legal and regulatory reforms worldwide in the previous ten years. For example, Peru, Namibia, and Malawi revised inheritance and property rights laws. As a result, female labor force participation increased substantially in the following decade. A win for women’s rights and a win for their economies. Some countries still allow you to kill a woman or girl with impunity, which starkly illustrates there is so much more work to do.
-Count girls and women. Many countries (even in developed countries) need to be more consistent in counting girls and women in their census, surveys, and studies. Equal application of census and surveys is essential for providing equal services. Take healthcare data, for example. For years, the medical community believed that men and women experienced heart disease and heart attacks the same. Not true. That belief came from data gathered from studies, mostly with men. More studies targeted towards women and heart disease disproved it. Did this bias cost some women their lives in the past?
-Elevate women into positions within government where they can serve, inform and improve government. Do this by creating and clearing a path for women to follow. Women can contribute so much to the peace and prosperity of a community and a nation. Women in positions of authority are more likely to resolve crises without violence, advocate for inclusive social benefits and find lasting peace processes. Stable governments in peacetime contribute to overall economic well-being. According to the UN, more women in government promotes better gender balance in the workforce, further enhancing economic prosperity and predictable GDP increases.
-End gender-based violence. Here’s a startling statistic. Globally, one in three girls and women experience sexual or physical violence during their lives. Violence against women is a significant cause of death and incapacity worldwide, so much so that a new word is part of our lexicon, femicide. Generally, femicide is the murder of women because they are women. Here is another startling statistic. Domestic violence against women and children costs the global economy $8 trillion (yes, you read that right). Violence undermines a community and a country, affecting your peace, health, security, economic opportunity, and social cohesion.
-Pay for parity. Simply put, invest money and time into creating true gender equality. There are many ways to do it. Several countries provide good examples, such as Albania, which offers free legal aid services for women. One way to help women’s rights is to increase access to enabling technologies. Estimates say that about 50% of all women globally have no access to the internet.
Identify the needs in your community and find the means to invest time and money to improve the conditions. It is an investment that comes with an economic payoff. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) estimates that closing the gender gap in countries with the most discriminatory practices could increase their GDPs by 35% on average.
Many communities and countries seek to be more economically competitive and increase their wealth. There may be a different way to achieve that result. After all, when did you last make an investment that gave you a 35% rate of return?
Photo by Valentin Balan on Unsplash.
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