Saturday, June 20, 2009

June 14

Today we attended a meeting with a group of women from Justicia Global. We discussed gender issues and inequalities in the Dominican Republic and the United States. It is suggested that gender inequalities are only present in so called “backward” countries and not present in the more developed countries such as the U.S. Gender oppression in embedded into our capitalist system, sometimes oppression is hidden and sometimes it is more deliberate.

One example of gender oppression in both the DR and the US is the issue of abortion. In the DR there is no legal separation of church and state. This is apparent with Article 30, a law recently passed stating that life begins at conception. This gives the government and patriarchy more control over women’s bodies without their consent. There is a parallel phenomenon in the US because even though abortion is legal, it is still a widespread topic of debate. This reflects how religion plays a big role in our own government.

Although many women in the DR are beginning to break gender norms, it doesn’t mean that the patriarchal ideology is being broken. For example, 53% of working women have a degree from secondary education, whereas 43% have that same education. Yet women make 30-44% less than men. In the US women make $0.25 less to every dollar men make.

One thing that I really took from the meeting was that patriarchy and oppression of women are universal issues. Until we recognize that these issues are not only hurting women, but men as well, we will never achieve equality.

Contributed by Devon

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