Readers of the blog have recently brought it to my attention that, while I talk extensively about people in my life in some posts, I quite frequently tend to omit a certain “other” from my stories. While this slight is somewhat intentional (I don’t want you knowing everything there is to know about my personal life), it does not follow that David plays an insignificant role in my life. In fact, he has inspired several previous posts, and today’s post is courtesy of an article he forwarded me this morning. Such a good panda, he is.

It seems that the women of Kuwait have finally won the right to vote. Although conservatives in the government opposed the measure strongly, the reform-minded government pushed it through by a 35-23 majority. Celebrations have ensued, with people dancing and lighting fireworks into the night sky. One woman, Badria Darwish, said, "Let's enjoy this moment and then contemplate a better future for our country and kids. We are now the decision-makers of our future along with men, for a change.”

I am always struck by the strong voices of our sisters around the world, especially when contrasted with our own relative silence as Americans. The article cites the United States as one of the driving forces behind the reforms in the Kuwaiti government. Yet our own government still refuses to ratify the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), a United Nations treaty in effect since 1979 that has been ratified by 175 other nations.

And that’s not the only thing left to be done for women. What about paid maternity leave for families (one of the mandates that prevents the U.S. from ratifying CEDAW)? What about the increasing feminization of poverty, worldwide and in our own backyards? What about the double discrimination women of color have to face because of both race and gender? What about the fact that our country is half women, and yet Iraq has a higher percentage of women in its new representative government (31%) than we do as the world’s oldest continuous democracy (roughly 19%, or 82 women out of 438 seats)? What is going on here?

We applaud victories by Kuwait and other women around the world to secure equal rights in their home countries, and for them, the inequities are much more stark. But why have we ceased to work for such victories at home?

Perhaps young women have heard too many women who work for change called “femi-Nazis” and worse. Perhaps we don’t see our lives as being directly affected, as the lives of Kuwaiti women are. Perhaps we just don’t want to live lives of constant struggle against the powerful, especially when we’re personally doing okay.

But is that really living out what Christ calls us to?

“One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you, for there are many people in this city who are my people.’” --Acts 18:9-10

Kelsey

Kelsey, we all knew you had a boyfriend. Why else would you hang out with baptists? :)