The End to Child Marriage

                In America, we are lucky enough to believe that marriage should be the mutual joining of two people who are in love and value one another spiritually and emotionally. Young girls in countries, such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Yemen, do not experience that right. Too Young to Wed would like to fix this inhumane issue. Men, no younger than 23, are marrying children as young as six years old. They are then consummating their marriage with these girls as well, creating mothers as young as nine years of age.

                Too Young to Wed is a persuasive campaign that uses images as well as narratives to bring light to child marriage and end the practice through law. According to UNICEF, child marriage is the formal marriage or informal union before age 18 and 57% of girls in Afghanistan are affected by forced marriage before the age of 19.

                United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is an advocate for Too Young to Wed believes “child marriage is a violation of human rights. Fashion photographer Nigel Barker and actress Victoria Justice have petitioned the Obama Administration to focus efforts on ending child marriage as well.

                Many, in our society, question how child marriage can still be an existing practice in the 21^st century. However, in many underprivileged communities that do not receive the education we do, child marriage is seen as a moral practice. According to girlsnotbrides.org, “Child marriage is a traditional practice that in many places happens simply because it has happened for generations – and straying from tradition could mean exclusion from the community.” And, in many of these same places, girls are not valued as much as boys. Girls are actually seen as a burden. Giving away a daughter through marriage allows parents in poverty one less person to feed. In some cases, a dowry is required for the bride, and many poor families welcome this extra income.

                Too Young to Wed uses these facts as well as documented images of girls who have already been married and have become mothers at young ages to affect the public. Roshan of Afghanistan is featured on Too Young to Wed’s website. She was married when she was eight to a 55 year old man. Her mother sold her because she didn’t have enough food to feed the rest of her family. The public is targeted by these images and stories and by the exhibitions Too Young to Wed holds throughout the world in countries such as Lebanon, Indonesia, and Jordan.

                However, tradition and poverty are preventing the end of child marriage. Men who rely on young, uneducated women to take care of duties at home are exposing themselves to the media to show the women’s vital importance to their communities. However, the images they present depict girls who are 12 and 14 mothers multiple children. Asla in Yemen is highlighted on Too Young to Wed’s sit as a 14 year old girl washing a newborn while her two year old daughter plays in the corner of the image. The United Nations Population Fund also found that social norms are preventing the traditions from changing child marriage. The UNPF says, “Often when child brides are married off to older men, it is to restore or maintain family honor or to settle a father’s debts or to obtain some other financial gain.”

                October 11, 2012 marked the first International Day of the Girl Child and was also the launch date of Too Young to Wed. The photo exhibited at the United Nations moved the UN to pledge to stop child marriage through this campaign. However, Stephanie Sinclair (Founder of Too Young to Wed) spurred the campaign on with her photo journal series of women and girls in Afghanistan who set themselves on fire. Sinclair found one common factor that linked at the victims - they were all forced into marriages at young ages.

                  The difference between Too Young to Wed and others existing previous campaigns that act to stop child marriage is that Too Young to Wed is actively involved with their subjects and their "consumers." Too Young to Wed has a traveling exhibit that tells the story of the girls who were forced into marriage. The wives and mothers will speak out against the act to the consumers of the message as well. Previous campaigns have only reported the women's stories. They never actually made it a reality for the audience (listeners). Too Young to Wed also supports the women already forced into a marriage by counseling services and supports the women who have escaped child marriage by giving them work.

          The more that people speak out, the more Too Young to Wed believes opinions in communities can change the norm of child marriage. The persuasive campaign focuses on displaying these exhibits within impoverished countries that rely on child marriage and educate women and families to realize that there are other options to the problems of poverty and tradition. The end goal, ultimately, is to create change in the views of the societies practicing child marriage and ending the practice for good.

 

Sources:

Girls Not Brides (2015). Retrieved from http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/why-does-it-happen/

The Associated Press (2014, Jan. 8). Laws fail to stop child marriage retrieved from http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/1/19/rights-group-lawfailingtoprotectchildbrides.html

Too Young to Wed (2015). Retrieved from http://tooyoungtowed.org/#/takeaction

Feminism: What Equality Means

           Dismantle Misogyny is a community page that has riveted the Facebook population. As of now, 12, 978 people and businesses have liked the page and even more have shared its message. Dismantle Misogyny states on its Facebook page that “This page is dedicated to raising awareness about institutionalized sexism and dismantling rape culture. TERFs and SWERFs are not welcome here.”

            For those who don’t know, TERF stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminists; SWERF stands for sex-work exclusionary radical feminists. However, for clarification, Dismantle Misogyny does consider themselves radical feminists, just the kind that includes all definitions of “female.”

            The page focuses on feminism from the perspective of a woman, yet is the stereotypical image of radical feminists. Dismantle Misogyny aims to do just that, however the message they are publicizing in not gender equality, but an uplifting of the female sex above the male gender. The group frames this idea and message by using experiences of women being oppressed, harassed, or sexualized by men. There are also examples of corporations and society taking advantage of a woman’s social weaknesses and exploiting her.

            Once specific post Dismantle Misogyny made retweeted @elliebotoman writing, “’why do feminists hate me’ why does a movement for women become so misunderstood to the point where it’s still about men.” Dismantle Misogyny also posted, “An abusive man may embellish his childhood suffering once he discovers that it helps him escape responsibility. The National District Attorney’s Association Bulletin reported a revealing study that was conducted on another group of destructive men: child sexual abusers.” The community page focuses on men being abusers. Many posts repelling Dismantle Misogyny’s ideas of feminism say that these radical ideas are why the word “feminism” in many cases is seen as an insult. And because of this, it is in many cases seen as unproductive by the public.

            HeForShe.org, on the other hand, advocates the dictionary definition of feminism which is as follows from the Oxford English Dictionary: “Advocacy of equality of the sexes and the establishment of the political, social, and economic rights of the female sex.” Equality is the key term for the HeForShe movement. It focuses on the fact that women are not the only ones oppressed by their gender and that society does not always see men is a caring light (as stated above by Dismantle Misogyny’s posts).

            HeForShe uses men and women to become advocates for each other. One of their slogans is, “Gender equality brings together one half of humanity in support of the other half of humanity, for the benefit of all.” This sentence does not designate a specific gender to the task of supporting the other. It is saying that men and women must support each other equally. Women are not the only ones capable of being raped or assaulted. HeForShe uses examples to support the frame that men are not the only gender capable of being abusers in a relationship. Men, for example, are oppressed by society as paternal figures. It is rare if there is a baby changing station in a man’s bathroom, yet it is to be expected in a woman’s. Women receive maternal leave, yet in many cases, men do not. In comparison to Dismantle Misogyny, HeForShe.org has received 468,155 signatures from men alone saying they support the movement and its definition of feminism. Let it be known that this number does not represent the number of women who agree with the movement. Obviously, true gender equality is accepted more so by men and women when representing both sides of the equation.

Sources:

https://www.facebook.com/DismantleMisogyny?fref=ts&ref=br_tf

http://www.heforshe.org/

The Rosie the Riveter Ethical Violation

      In 2013, Swiffer thought it would try a different tactic in order to advertise its product, the Swiffer Bissel Steam Boost. Within the pictured advertisement, Swiffer paid a woman to dress as Rosie the Riveter. Yet, instead of flexing and representing one of the first iconic images of femininity, Swiffer had its model hold the Bissel Steam Boost instead.

     With this advertisement, Swiffer takes Rosie the Riveter out of the factory where she can work and contribute to the war and the economy and sends her back to the kitchen – right where every stereotypical advertisement of women was before. Rosie the Riveter stands for female empowerment in the workplace and in many cases, inspired housewives to file into working careers. With this advertisement, it’s as if Swiffer is saying that women actually belong in the kitchen, cleaning up after the household no matter how much they think, “We can do it!”

     There was obvious backlash against Swiffer from this sexist advertisement. In the Huffington Post Article, “Swiffer Says It Will Remove Rosie the Riveter Images From Its Ads," Heather Beschizza tweeted, “We can do it! Because cleaning kitchens in woman’s work. #swiffer #sexist.” In the same article, Jason Weisberger, Boing Boing blogger, said, “I love the clear tribute to an important historical image done in such a way as to piss on its legacy.”

     Swiffer claims in the article “Swiffer Feels the Heat After Putting Rosie the Riveter Back in the Kitchen" from Adweek that their “core value is to make cleaning easier, no matter who’s behind the handle.” Yet, even that statement poses an ethical dilemma. Rosie the Riveter was a symbol of change for women to step out of the stereotypes that bound them. That ad does not depict a male holding the Steam Boost. And, the commercial does not have a man cleaning the kitchen. The piece of equipment is a Swiffer. It’s highly doubtful that anyone “who’s behind the handle” wouldn’t be able to clean easily with it, regardless of gender or even age. And, because this is the case, why did Swiffer deem it ethically appropriate to use a woman in the commercial, cleaning a kitchen and then Rosie the Riveter in the ad if the company was trying to show “anyone” could use its product. It quite blatantly looks like the Swiffer Company was targeting a specific audience.

     Which leads into the next point. Even though this add is now two years old, the rules of feminism and the progressive thinking about the 21^st century has not changed much within the last two years. As a society, America is constantly able to blog on social media and post opinions about political events and advertisements such as this. Feminism is real and the lack of equality is a real issue. Swiffer violated its ethical standards by taking an inspiring image that spoke volumes for feminists and using it to stereotypical characterize women to be sent back to the kitchen. Especially in today’s society of so many voicing their opinions and sticking up for what they believe in, Swiffer should have known that this advertisement was one of the worst ethical decisions to get an audience’s attention.