K College students conference with women from around the world

K College students conference with women from around the world

by Nora Seilheimer
Kalamazoo Index
March 9, 2006

On the night of International Women's Day, Tuesday, March 7, the K College chapter of Americans for Informed Democracy (AID) celebrated women all over the world with a global video conference entitled "Imagining Ourselves: Women's Emergent Roles in a Changing World."

Utilizing the Upjohn Library's new global classroom, K students were given the opportunity to speak directly with other college-aged women from Afghanistan, Nepal and the Philippines about the progression of women's role in each of their countries. K College students were also accompanied by other American universities such as Northern Colorado University and Marquette University.

AID representative Susan Hwang, K'06, spoke highly of the impact college women can have on creating significant change in women's role all over the world.

"Students are the ones on campus who have the most ability to create change and we thought that International Women's Day was a great way to bring together women from all over the world to discuss who we are," said Hwang.

Despite some technical confusion, this open forum discussion opened the door on many feminist issues. One female representative from Nepal shared the chronological events of a typical day for a woman of her home country.

"She wakes up at 4 a.m., does the housework, fetches water and fuel, cooks and feeds the animals and her family, works in the field in the daylight hours, and then it is time again to feed livestock and do chores. Then she cooks for her family again. At the end of the day she massages the men's aching bones, and then she rests her own aching bones. Women in urban areas wake up at 7 a.m. and go to work all day. They still feed everyone and do chores, as they are still tied down by societal roles," she said.

However, Nepalese women are currently facing a reversal of roles, not unlike that of the American woman during World War II. Most men in rural areas flee from their families in search of jobs. Therefore, the women take on the positions as head of the household. The Nepalese representative recognized this new challenge, but was also optimistic of the recent role reversal.

"It is a challenge, these women have never done it before, but it is empowering to be learning how to be independent," she said.

The women of Afghanistan also shared their hardship in dealing with newly granted empowerment. They spoke positively of support from their government for equality. While many laws permit women an equal lifestyle with men, social acceptance is not guaranteed.

"In the new constitution the rights of women are made equal and the government supports it, but the people do not know it or accept that it is their right to have this good life," the Afghan representative said.

She continued, "We encourage the women to go to the midwifery, to go to the community and build knowledge of themselves. We provide the material to increase their knowledge, but it is still not enough."

The women from the international sites looked to the American representatives for a solution. One student from Northern Colorado University offered support and a desire to help.

"Afghanistan, what exactly can we do to help?" she asked.

In response, the Afghanistan representative showed a strong desire for women's education from those who have it.

"We look to the women of the world for help. Empower our woman who doesn't know she has the right to go out of her house without permission from her husband, or father-in-law and mother-in-law. Our education is very low," the Afghanistan representative said.

While women around the world look to the United States for help in the empowerment of women, criticism befell the country in terms of their actual practice. A student from Goshen College shared that women hold only 19.7 percent of political positions in the United States. The women from the international sites were shocked by such a low number from a country which often prides itself on the equality of both sexes.