The news this morning covered briefly the recent rise from roughly 10% of the top companies' head boards being made up of women in 2011, to roughly 25% in 2015. Some claim this is a somewhat small victory - however when put into perspective I feel this cannot be seen as anything but incredible. Watching the BBC's documentaries on the "worst countries in the world to be a woman", I see that the level of equality we have in this country is pretty remarkable. Although I do not feel this is an excuse to stop aiming for better levels in the future it is important that we do not forget about how far we have come already. Honduras is amongst the highest in statistics for the murder of women - so much so that they have created a term, femicide. Women are brought into hospitals and morgues day after day when cruelly and unfairly abused, beaten and occasionally murdered by men; a couple of these stories and statistics particularly strained my frown line and honestly made me tense with disgust and anger. One woman was told by her husband that he does not want her anymore and that he has had enough of her, upon responding and suggesting she leave if he is not happy, he pulled out a machete and began to hack at her legs leaving her with nothing beneath the shin on either leg and unable to take another step in her life. This husband will most likely have less than 2 years in prison and only be charged with grievous bodily harm.
A 15 year old girl, raped, now sits in the maternity ward waiting to have a check up. In Honduras it is not only illegal to have an abortion or take any form of contraceptive pill but it has also been criminalised, meaning if a girl or woman who was raped decided to have an abortion or "pop a pill" she could face prison for up to 6 years. The disgusting irony here is that, statistically, 95-97% of men get off unpunished for assaults towards women... So the man here who raped the girl and put her in this position will get off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist whereas the girl left with no choice other than prison or a constant reminder as to what was done to her. The girl here hopes to have a boy as they "lead less difficult lives than the girls". What a thing to consider... My child, if a girl, will most likely be abused and assaulted as she grows older but be completely reliant on men. Although, if the child is born a boy, the mother could potentially watch him grow into another predator of vulnerable women.
These girls and women wake up every day unsure of what they face - will they be raped today? Shot today? They have no way of speaking out for their rights, no place they can consider safe. I have no intention to belittle the progress we are making on gender equality in the work place, in fact I feel it is inexcusable to degrade any progress made in this country when there are still so many women who do not even have a say over their own body, women who do not believe they should ever expect their lives to get any better.
My question to myself being, what can be done and how fast?
