Cost and Price - Buying American

Buying American

Eric Johnson

February 20, 2011

In the articles on the changes in status that women are making around the world, all are headed in the same direction as to making education a priority and equal rights.  Some of the articles did use different approaches to get this goal accomplished.  Most of the articles talks extensively about the shift that is going to take place once the women education level is up to the desired standard.  In Kabasakal Arat’s article he spoke about the UN General Assembly resolution of December 1972, which declared 1975 as the International Women’s Year.  In the article from Keddie, Women in the Middle East: Progress and Backlash, Islamists are not in total agreement with this decision.  Many of their “ideologies deny women’s equality with men” (2010, p.210).

During this time women’s equal rights was the primary discussion at all types of assemblies and conferences.  Meeting agenda’s were saturated with the issues that would improve the quality of life for women.  The resolution helped to pave the way for Levine’s article, Educating Girls, Unlocking Development.  Ms Levine found that educating these women so they can improve their environment played a big part in the improvement of values and standards in a women’s life.  When girls are educated in their primary stages they are most likely to survive the odds later in life.  Some of the cultures still are not in total agreement of women being treated equally.  Education takes on different aspects in some of the articles.  In Sarah Boseley’s, Women in Developing Countries 300 Times More Likely to Die in Childbirth, it talks about how the death rate of women is so high in LCDs.  This article focuses on the accountability of women’s right and educating them.  This is beneficial in helping young girls know how a family should function daily.  However in Levine’s article it expands education as more than just a form of birth control.  She is looking at it in means of helping the society to improve.  She speaks about quality education.  My country of Mongolia the women and men literacy rate of 2008 was only a 1% difference.  This is comparative to the Advances in Morocco section in the article by Keddie.  With rapid growth in population and the economic changes, literacy is bound to change and make changes in a society.  As women in other societies began to step-up and get educated and take political offices, so does the women of Iran, “More Iranian women than ever before are conscious of, and concerned about, their rights” (2010, p.213).  This concern caused a push in Muslims countries to look at women actually taking on political positions.  Overall this trend is why educating the young girls in LCDs is again important.  Benefits that are in comparison to them all is advancement in their gender.  Education being an important part will take them to higher heights, which will lead to their country over time progressing with the female leaders.  Once the summation of what needs to be done in each one of these cultures, coming together to continue to educate the women will be an easy task.    In Arat’s article some things that need to be done  for the advocacy of human rights are: “1) analyze cultural norms, 2) acknowledge diversity of cultures and religious sources and 3) demand State parties to be specific about their reservations” (2010, p. 201).  Those items could be helpful in the advancement of women in the Middle East article.  It can help Iran to acknowledge the importance of the rights for women.