Hi,
Today I had a chance to see a female western professor placate Stone Age views of several educators from developing countries regarding female education. I went to outgoing Professor Sue Grant Lewis's talk on gender inequality, education and development in the Summer Program -which was very heated yesterday after Porfessor Reimer's raising up the gender and Human Rights issue.
She seemed to have a calming influence on the audience, right from wearing a Bangladeshi outfit - to being a woman herself and stressing that inequality exists in USA also even at Harvard refering to Harvard President Summers remarks of Jan - and that in private sector in US incl Univs like Harvard - females get only 78 cents for every one dollar earned by their male counterpart . Other female participants and TFs joined in.
Oneof the moderate looking guys, sitting next to me started shaking his head - and repeatedly said "she should not have said this, she should not have said this" --I think he thought that the professor was saying something unheard of about USA. I reminded that this had been a recent controversy at Harvard. later he wondered that if women appointed through quotas then quality would go down - maybe it would initially - as in case on India's quotas for so-called low castes did for some decades and later they picked up.
It was amusing to see how some men debated with the professor about minor issues as to why Gender Parity Index is Female/Male (women on top) --and not Male/Female (men on top)-- till one of the female participants interjected that even in her country while top management starts discussing gender issue - it turns into a laughter and joking session--and trivialize the issue.
The gentleman who was speaking of Taliban's piety yesterday spoke out against female empowerment - that if females become empowered they would throw the males out of the house. A female participant replied - now we know where you come from - and i can tell you that it would not be so - infact just the opposite would happen.
Suddenly the middle aged, head scarf wearing, quiet female educator from North African country --start nodding her head - and suddenly smiled and raised her hands well above her head and clapped. again she became her normal quiet self after this display of emotion. Her colleague from her country was the one who had spoken against female education yesterday initiating the discussion.
Shows how women in developing countries want empowerment , but in some cases dare not raise their voices openly. Professor Lewis also raised the issue that third world feminists do not want the feminism of the West. Perhaps she was refering to their aversion to western style feminism epitomized by sexual freedom (abandon) including in some cases promotion for lesbianism (no male domination) or bra burning etc. These headline making issues draw immediate attention in the developing world - rather than those of female empowerment per say
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Today I was reading a book - The most dangeorus man in the world - by King - Dawood Ibrahim - an Indian now in Pakistan http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=378&item=4547875832&rd=1&ssPageName=WD1V
who is under govt protection and wanted by Interpol , USA and India and supporting Osama and nuclear terrorism
The book stated that in the 80s Benazir Bhutto, Harvard educated first female Prime Minister of Pakistan (and of entire Islamic world) had told George H W Bush " You are creating a Frankenstein Monster" --when CIA launched creation of Madrasas - Islamic religious schools to create fundamentalists to fight against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in those days.
Now those little kids are of my age -- and cannot unlearn what they were taught. Still fighting in the name of Islam through Al Qaeda.
Bhutto is now in Exile in UK, for speaking out against dictatorship in her country. Her father too had been a Prime Minister of Pakistan and removed by such a military dictator.
Her statements reveal that she had an insight about the crucial role in shaping world history. Her husband was recently released after serving a 14 year sentence on allegedly cooked up charges of getting a political rival killed.
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