person:madeleine bunting

What went wrong for Afghanistan’s women? | Madeleine Bunting | Global development | guardian.co.uk
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/sep/26/afghanistan-women-what-went-wrong?intcmp=122

The security situation has become increasingly dangerous in the past few years. A recent attack on local staff employed by Oxfam, which led to three deaths, is believed to have been caused partly by the practice of employing women. Attacks on girls’ schools and women teachers continue.

“Those who work outside the house risk their lives every day,” says Zarghuna Kargar, an Afghan author and journalist, who presented the Afghan Woman’s Hour on the BBC World Service. “They face risks from their neighbours, their colleagues and strangers in the street. I don’t see any evidence of a cultural shift over the last 10 years. There are still strong roots to the traditions.”

#femmes #Afghanistan

Kenyan girls fight back against genital mutilation | Madeleine Bunting | Global development | guardian.co.uk
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/apr/18/kenyan-girls-rebel-against-fgm

But even worse it causes huge emotional conflict within the closest, most important relationships. We see a daughter arguing with her mother over why she refuses to be cut, and a wife arguing with her husband. One of the most poignant moments is when Nancy, an exemplary daughter in every respect, challenges her mother’s authority. She doesn’t want a life like her mother’s, she declares. You can see the bewildered hurt on the mother’s face; this kind of rejection may be familiar to many a western parent but perhaps still a novelty in a culture where the idea of making your own fate in life, particularly for a girl, is completely alien.

Implicit in this rejection is a judgment of the inadequacy of the mother’s life, a repudiation of her form of love. “I don’t want to grind stones all my life like you,” says Nancy. “I bury you, you bury me in a vicious cycle of daughter and mother.”

#Kenya #excision