Sharon Mijares - A Force Such as the World Has Never Known: Women Creating Change

A Force Such as the World
Has Never Known

Women Creating Change

Women Creating Change

edited by

Sharon G. Mijares, Aliaa Rafea and Nahid Angha

INANNA Publications and Education Inc.
Toronto, Canada

Copyright 2013 Inanna Publications and Education Inc.

Individual copyright to their work is retained by the authors. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, recording, or any information or storage retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Published in Canada by

Inanna Publications and Education Inc.

210 Founders College, York University

4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3

Telephone: (416) 736-5356 Fax (416) 736-5765

Email: inanna.publications@inanna.ca Website: www.inanna.ca

The publisher is also grateful for the kind support received

from an Anonymous Fund at The Calgary Foundation.

Note from the publisher: Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

Front cover photograph: From left to right, Christine Oatis, Blanesta Ada, Angela Willis and Sharmin Ahmad. Photo: Gerardo Romero, un University for Peace,Costa Rica.

eBook development: WildElement.ca

Printed and Bound in Canada.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

A force such as the world has never known : women creating

change / edited by Sharon G. Mijares, Aliaa Rafea and Nahid Angha.

Includes bibliographical references.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-77133-056-5 (pbk.). ISBN 978-1-77133-057-2 (pdf)

1. WomenSocial conditions21st century. 2. Women social reformers.

3. Womens rights. 4. Social change. 5. Feminism. I. Angha, Nahid, editor

of compilation II. Mijares, Sharon G. (Sharon Grace), 1942-, editor of

compilation III. Rafea, Aliaa, editor of compilation

HQ1161.F67 2013 305.42 C2013-902597-9

C2013-902598-7

This book is dedicated to Elinore Detiger-Huber,

who is truly an embodiment of the world mother,

tirelessly serving in so many ways.

It is also dedicated to all people, both male and female,

who are similarly striving to make our world

a healthier place for all life.

If ever there comes a time when the women of the world

come together purely and simply for the benefit of [hu]mankind

It will be a force such as the world has never known!

attributed to British poet, Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)

We are grateful to all the contributors who have shared their caring and their stories in this book. The Table of Contents alone evidences the vast areas of concern that have been addressed throughout it.

This most inviting book cover was first inspired by Luciana Ricciutelli and then photographed by Gerardo Romero at the United Nations University for Peace in Costa Rica. We want to thank Gerardo along with the women in the image, namely, Christine Oatis, Blanesta Ada, Angela Willis and Sharmin Ahmad.

We would also like to thank all the many people who have inspired us, the editors, throughout our lives as each of these persons has made a contribution to who we are and what we inspire to be and do. Their teachings and presence are the background of this book.

Certainly, Inanna Publications is the right publisher for this book and we are more than pleased that Luciana Ricciutelli, Editor-in-Chief, and her team worked through the manifestation of this polished and completed volume you are holding in your hands. It has been a perfect blend of professionalism and personal care.

We have created this gift in the hope of inspiring many other women to come forward, bringing increasing feminine presence. Together, we can create a balanced world, one in which the presence of women, men children and all aspects of nature are respected and cherishedfor this is a foundation for peace.

Sharon Mijares, Aliaa Rafea and Nahid Angha

August 2013

T he title of this anthology A Force Such as the World Has Never Known came from a quote that is familiar to me. I had used it myself in Urgent Message from Mother: Gather the Women, Save the World and in my mind is linked with Victor Hugos famous quote, There is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come.

The editors, Sharon Mijares, Aliaa Rafea, and Nahid Angha bring together contributors to this anthology who are seasoned, fiercely compassionate activists who are making a difference. They are women who rescue, teach, and empower girls and women and are advocates for positive change in judicial and religious institutions. They tell us about the lack of equality and the results of this for women in Syria, Japan, Costa Rica, Brazil, Bangladesh, Tibet, India, China, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Liberia, United Kingdom, Iran, Uganda, Venezuela, Sweden, Canada and the United States of America. We learn about the discrimination and abuse that inspired their activism, about what reality can mean for girls and women. They tell about what has worked: educating girls in circles, liberating a country, recognizing rural women leaders, seeking justice, doing conflict resolution, providing sanctuaries, and creating innovative solutions. In their activism on behalf of others, they are also personally growing in wisdom, faith and courage themselves. This is an anthology whose authors draw from differing and deep spiritual traditions.

For years now, I have been going to the United Nations when the Commission on the Status of Women meets and when non-governmental organizations ( ngo s) present panels, speakers and workshops. Each year, I am inspired by the vision, effort, work, and accomplishments of these mostly on the ground non-profits, and their leadership. I also continue to be appalled and moved by what I learn. Reality can be terrible and should not be happening to anyone. There is genital mutilation of young girls done in the name of religion, the trafficking of women and girls into prostitution, depriving girls of food when there is scarcity, the notion in parts of the world that education is only for boys, there are the child brides and marital rape. It is a reality that when economic conditions worsen, that domestic violence increases. It is learning about the preventable deaths in childbirth, and how untreated fistulas from lack of obstetrical care doom a woman to physical misery. It is about how aids is brought home by husbands, and leaves children to raise themselves after the death of their mothers for lack of treatment. There is so much moreand it will continue until human rights mean equal rights for everyone and decisions that affect the family and the world are made by mothers and fathers.

I had mistakenly assumed when I first went to the United Nations in 2002, that there would be another womens conference in 2005. There had been four previous ones, the last in Beijing in 1995, and I expected the fifth one would happen in 2005. Not only was this not the case, but I learned that there would be no further womens conferences. My book,