Yesterday, by a 68-30 vote, the U.S. Senate passed Senator Al  Franken’s amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations Bill (Amendment 2588) that, according to Stop Family Violence, prevents the Defense Department from using  contractors that require, “mandatory employment arbitration of employment discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual assault claims”. Franken’s amendment was a response to cases such as that of Jamie Leigh Jones who was raped by fellow employees of Halliburton while serving in Iraq and then told she could not take her case to court but had to pursue her allegations through her employment contract’s binding arbitration  clause.

According to the Houston Chronicle, among those who opposed the bill, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)  said that, “the Defense Department did not want it. He said it would invalidate due process rights of employers and employees and arbitration can be better and less expensive for employees.”  How Sen. Sessions concludes that preventing criminal charges in human rights cases is a denial of due process is baffling, to say the least.

Unfortunately, Franken’s amendment only addresses a small part of the continuing  blatant disregard for women’s human rights as a result of U.S. military actions.  The Asia Times reported yesterday that,

A report by the Washington, DC, Project on Government Oversight recently released publicly tells of the wild naked antics of members of ArmorGroup (AG), which has a United States State Department contract to provide security for the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Hardly mentioned is the use of local bordellos by some contractors. It took a lawsuit filed on September 9 by James Gordon, a former ArmorGroup director of operations, and subsequent whistleblower, against ArmorGroup North America and associated defendants – ArmorGroup International (AGI), Wackenhut Services Inc (WSI), and various management individuals – to bring details to light. Among other things he charges that AG:

• Allowed AGNA managers and employees to frequent brothels notorious for housing trafficked women in violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and shutting down the plaintiff’s efforts to investigate and put a stop to these violations.
• Deliberately withholding documents relating to violations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act allegedly committed by AGNA’s program manager and other AGNA employees when responding to a document demand from US Congressman Henry Waxman on behalf of the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Last week U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated in regard to the unanimous passage of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1888, violence against women is criminal, not cultural.  UNSC 1888 calls for:

• The appointment of a special representative to lead efforts to end conflict-related sexual violence against women and children.
• The creation of a team of experts to help governments in preventing conflict-related sexual violence, strengthening civilian and military justice systems and enhancing aid to victims.
• Reports by U.N. peacekeeping missions to the Security Council about the prevalence of sexual violence.
• Consideration by the U.N. Security Council of patterns of sexual violence during the process of adopting or targeting sanctions.
• The inclusion of women’s protection advisers in peacekeeping operations where it is appropriate, as determined by the U.N. secretary-general.
• The submission of annual reports by the secretary-general on the implementation of this resolution as well as more systematic reporting on conflict-related sexual violence.

While Clinton’s championing of this resolution is welcome and her recognition that violence against women is criminal is entirely correct, the unfortunate reality is that there is a culture of military impunity that allows for this kind of violence throughout the world and that despite a lot of rhetoric and too many Congressional hearings and reports, the U.S. military has shown little inclination to truly end its practice within the ranks. It also needs to be pointed  out that the United States is one of only a handful of nations that has not ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which,

defines discrimination against women as “…any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.”

The U.S. is also one of only a few nations who have not signed U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 which addresses the impact of war on women and the contributions of women in conflict resolution and sustainable peace.  Nor does the U.S. adher to the International Criminal Court’s recognition of rape and sexual assault as war crimes.

In addition, as Ret. Col. Ann Wright pointed out in August, while Hillary Clinton’s strong statements regarding the need to end the horrific and relentless violence against women in the Democratic Republic of Congo are much needed, her plan to bring relief to these women involves using the U.S. military which is quite worrisome, given the record of the U.S. military in regard to sexual violence.  According to Wright,

(T)he U.S. military’s Africa Command (AFRICOM) is sending an assessment team to “determine how to best assist survivors,” and provide “sensitivity training on sexual violence and legal seminars that contribute to the professionalization of the Congolese military.”

If the women of the Congo should Google, “U.S. military – sexual assault and rape,” I suspect they will decline the offer of assistance from the African Command. 1 in 3 women in the U.S. military are sexually assaulted or raped. Women and girls in countries with U.S. military bases are raped by U.S. military. 8,000 U.S. Marines are being “re-located” from Okinawa in great measure because of citizen activist pressure following the numerous rapes of women and girls there. Prosecution rates in rape cases in the military are abysmal- 8% versus 40% in civilian cases.

The August 10, 2009 Washington Post article “Congo’s Rape Epidemic Worsens During U.S.-Backed Military Operation” begins with an alarming statement: “For the women of eastern Congo, a U.S.-backed Congolese military operation meant to save them from abusive rebels has turned an already staggering epidemic of rape has become markedly worse since the January deployment of tens of thousands of poorly trained, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, with people in front-line villages such as this one saying the soldiers are not so much hunting rebels as hunting women.”

We need to also remember that when the U.S. declared war on Afghanistan and later Iraq, one of the justifications was the need to liberate the women in those countries.  Unfortunately despite some gains, living conditions for women in both countries have become increasingly dire which makes Clinton’s plan to utilize  the military infrastructure to provide aid in the DRC very suspect As The Real News Network reports in their series, Africom or Africon, the reality is that the purpose of the U.S. military presence in Africa has nothing to do with women’s human rights:

So while applauding Sen. Franken for taking much needed action to insure that companies like Halliburton are not allowed to profit while blatantly violating human rights, the reality is that much more needs to be done to end the culture of impunity that is an integral part of militarism.

This, that and the other thing that I didn’t quite get to this week…

Laura Flanders of Grit TV talks to Yanar Mohammed, President of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq and Yifat Susskind, communications director at MADRE about the underground railroad for women in Iraq.

Science Progress has a very interesting gendered analysis of male contraception here that examines the economic and health inequities that are implicit in regard to the lack of more options for male birth-control, something that may change in light of a new genetic discovery.

Not being responsible for some or all of these economic, health-related, and other burdens is a significant boon for men. Men typically do not have to dedicate time and energy to contraceptive care, pay out of pocket for the usually expensive and sometimes frequent (often monthly, or at least four times a year) supply of contraceptives, acquire the knowledge about contraception and reproduction needed to effectively contracept, deal with the medicalization of one’s reproductive health, endure the bodily invasion of contraception, suffer the health-related side effects and the mental stress of being responsible for contraception, and face the social repercussions of their contraceptive decisions (such as whether to use a particular contraceptive or to switch contraceptives), and the moral reproach for contraceptive failures. Women who contracept have to devote and sacrifice many aspects of themselves and what they value: their body, health (physical and mental), time, money, etc. These contraceptive burdens and sacrifices limit people’s freedoms. Since men are frequently not responsible for contraception, they are absolved from these burdens and thus their freedom is not infringed upon. In short, men’s autonomy is enhanced by their freedom from contraceptive responsibility.

At the same time, however, men’s autonomy is also diminished by the fact that they are usually not responsible for contraception.

As the article points out, even if  there were more options, social mores regarding male responsibility for contraception would clearly need to change.

Sign the MomsRising petition telling Kraft it is so not okay to put “synthetic growth hormones, artificial colorings like yellow #5, and chemical sweeteners like aspartame” in the macaroni we feed our kids, especially since they no longer use those chemicals in the products (I hesitate to call this food) in other countries.

Our Bodies Our Blog has an interesting piece about tactics used by Merck to market Gardisil.  Regardless of the efficacy and safety of the vaccine (and the long-term answer to that is still unknown), the marketing strategy leaves a lot to be desired.

And last, in the WTF department, a study finds that women are 3 times more likely to be arrested in domestic violence cases in England even though men are far more likely to be the perpetrators.

Vivirlatino has a brilliant piece by La Macha deconstructing how nationalism trumps violence against women when it comes to reporting on violence against women in immigrant communities.  She writes,

(T)his is what happens when people (more than likely men, although the author of that article was a woman), decide that “citizenship” and “questions of citizenship” are more important than understanding and dealing with violence against women. The women who are violated are completely erased from the story or become little more than the vessels that carry the more important story of “how are we going to catch us some alienz?”

Point taken and it is valid not only within our borders but also in our foreign policy.  Time and time again it has been made all too clear that the lives of Afghan and Iraqi women as well as women in our own military count far less than our perceived national interest.  Please read the entire piece, it is a chilling tale.

On a stop in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton kind of sort of called for an end to  the unspeakable sexual violence that is being perpetrated on the women of the Democratic Republic of Congo,saying,

“We do support the efforts to end the militias and the violence they have visited so terribly on the people of the eastern Congo,” Clinton said. But she added: “We believe that a disciplined, paid army is a more effective fighting force. We believe that more can be done to protect civilians while you are trying to kill and capture insurgents.”

And then there is this–turns out, according to the Washington Post, that  we are backing those that have escalated this crisis:

For the women of eastern Congo, a U.S.-backed Congolese military operation meant to save them from abusive rebels has turned into a nightmare of its own.

An already staggering epidemic of rape has become markedly worse since the January deployment of tens of thousands of poorly trained, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, with people in front-line villages such as this one saying the soldiers are not so much hunting rebels as hunting women.

And meanwhile in Iraq it seems that the very well-paid but not so well disciplined private contractor,

Blackwater was guilty of using child prostitutes at its compound in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone and that owner Erik Prince knew of this activity and did nothing to stop it.The declarations describe Blackwater as “having young girls provide oral sex to Enterprise members in the ‘Blackwater Man Camp’ in exchange for one American dollar.” They add even though Prince frequently visited this camp, he “failed to stop the ongoing use of prostitutes, including child prostitutes, by his men.”

One of the statements also charges that “Prince’s North Carolina operations had an ongoing wife-swapping and sex ring, which was participated in by many of Mr. Prince’s top executives.”

Bottom line?  Militarism endangers women’s lives, full stop, no exceptions.  The U.S. military is all too aware of sexual assault being perpetrated within its ranks and by employees of contractors such as Blackwater, there is nothing new about it.  Yet it continues because the bottom line is that it is  systemic to militarism.  It is true in the U.S., it is true in the Congo and in every armed conflict.

Militarism is not how you stop sexual assault.  It is not how you protect the women of Afghanistan.  It is not how you protect the women of Iraq and it is not how you protect women in the Congo or any place else.

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Update:  Air America also has an interesting piece on this:

Clinton’s $17 million aid package will be used to train gynecologists, supply women with video cameras to document perpetrators and assist in programs that try to teach men not to rape. Hothschild has another tactic, that the U.S. government is seemingly less willing to implement.

The outside world has influence over the Congolese army, because we’re partly paying for it. The national government depends on aid money to make ends meet, depends on the UN force to retain control of the east, and sometimes even needs UN planes to transport its soldiers, for there is no drivable road from one side of the country to the other. At a bare minimum, the Western powers have leverage to pressure Congo into purging its army of thugs in senior positions—and could demand far more as well.

Earlier this week George Sodini walked into a health club in Pennsylvania and killed three women and injured nine more.  The chilling blog he left behind makes it clear that the killings were motivated not only by his hatred of women, but issues with his family, loneliness and an overwhelming feeling of powerlessness.

“Women just don’t like me. There are 30 million desirable women in the US (my estimate) and I cannot find one. Not one of them finds me attractive.”

While we are rarely given such direct insight into why men kill women, his sentiments are shared by far too many men throughout the world.  Patriarchy depends on controlling women’s lives and when they cannot be controlled their lives have no value and they must be killed. And the result is that there is not a country in the world where women’s lives are free from the tyranny of men’s quest for power.

In Guatemala where women’s lives are often seen as inferior, the number of femicides has escalated greatly in recent years.

In Mexico, women have been killed in Juarez with impunity for many years, with authorities simply looking the other way.  In a report from the Council on  Hemispheric Affairs we learn that,

The intrinsic value of a victim of femicide is usually questioned following her death. Members of the media and the community alike try to categorize these women as either “good girls”, fitting the archetype of a good daughter or worker, or as fallen women, usually described as prostitutes, sluts, or barmaids. By putting emphasis on the identity of the women, onlookers seem to be placing a higher value on the lives of “well-behaved women” as well as providing a twisted justification for overlooking or minimize the crimes at hand. For instance, in 1995, the then-governor of Chihuahua, Francisco Barrio, advised parents to keep an eye on their daughters and not allow them to go out at night. The implication was that good girls did not “go out” at night and since the unfortunate victims typically disappeared during the night, it followed that by objective standards they were found to not be very good girls. Likewise, when speaking to the family members of the murdered women, the police often explained the disappearance of the victims by pointing out “how common it [was] for women to lead double lives.”

And in Iraq and other countries, women are routinely killed to maintain the ‘honor’ of men. The list goes on, but the point is this:  femicide is a global pandemic.  It manifests itself in different ways in different places, but the cause of all these murders shares a common root and that is the cultural impunity of male power and control.  In short, patriarchy.

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Perhaps one of the most powerful tools for ending femicide is to make it visible and call it out for what it is.  In this country, all too often the murders of white women receive far more attention than the murders of women of color. Via Essential Presence comes this awesome billboard from a group called MOMS designed to bring attention to the nine black women who have gone missing or have been murdered in North Carolina in the last four years.

According to WITN,

Missing or Murdered Sisters or MOMS for short put up a billboard on Sunset Avenue in Rocky Mount. The billboard switches to a different image every 8 seconds with several being about the missing or murdered woman in the area. Over the past four years 5 black woman have been found dead, one is still unidentified. Three other woman are missing.

We thank these wonderful women for making sure these deaths are not simply disappeared.  H/t to Gender Across Borders for bringing our attention to this inspiring campaign.