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Dr. Bogaletch Gebre
Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights
Founder, Kembatti Mentti Gezzimma (KMG) Women's Self-Help Center
“A person starts to live when he can live outside himself” - Albert Einstein
The Board of Directors GHC, The Nomination Committee, Dr. Nils Daulaire, President and CEO, GHC, and Distinguished guests and fellow nominees, I am so humbled and so honored to accept this prestigious, Jonathan Mann Award on Human Rights, established in honor of Dr. Jonathan Mann, a visionary, who promoted the idea that human heath and human rights are inseparable and structured it as a global rights issue. I especially feel, my presence today is a recognition and affirmation of the critical half, women, the first volunteers of our world. I accept this honor, on behalf of women of Africa, specially, the third class citizens of our continent, principally, rural women and women of city slums, whose life and health is compromised daily; who labor without pay, who give themselves and their love without condition, by doing so, who make life and peace possible for everybody else. I also accept this honor on behalf of my mother, my sisters and cousins, who paid heavy prices so that I could be here today; who, themselves, died a preventable and untimely death, because their human rights and human dignity were not observed, for they were born females.
Dr. Jonathan Mann wrote “How Can Women Fight AIDS? For, he knew, women, because they are denied basic principles of human rights and of their position in society, they will not win the battle against HIV/AIDS. Unfortunately, his prediction became true in the worst form. Today, women of Africa constitute the largest group (59%) living with the virus and dying of AIDS. UNAIDS report for Africa indicate young women and girls, 15-24 now constitute 75% of all those living with HIV/AIDS in that age group.
International Agency for Cancer Research states that the economically developed world was successful in exporting cancer risk factors to developing countries, that a billion people will die in the next century, and the majority would be in developing countries and the most common from cancer would be breast cancer.
Studies around the world indicate domestic violence (that is within the household) against women and girls to be the largest cause of death for women (15-44 age group), more than AIDS, TB, or Malaria.
Violence against women and girls is the most pervasive human rights violation in the world today. Gender based violence both reflects and reinforces inequities between men and women and compromises the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims, women and girls. It encompasses wide range of human rights violation, including sexual assault and abuse of children, incest, physical and mental abuse, force, coercion, murder; customary practices such as Female Genital Mutilation, bride abduction, sex trafficking, slavery, deprivation, directed at an individual woman or girl. This violence causes physical, psychological harm, humiliation and deprivation of human dignity and whole life. It is the sanctioning of commonplace violence on women that perpetuates female subordination and female poverty and ill health. Home is also where children, particularly the girl child learns her fate from her mother. Even when she has a choice and opportunities to escape from the violence, she does not. This is because she had been so deeply conditioned to accept her fate. The home is also the very place where sons learn violence against women. They learn to value women as objects; as passive resources to be used abused, and exploited. It is essential when addressing female health, that we begin by looking at the root causes- the sanctioned and institutionalized violence against women.
We have daunting challenges in breaking the cycle of violence against Women and securing the right to dignity and the right to a healthy life for Women. The place we begin at Kembatti Mentti Gezzimma –Tope (KMG), an indigenous, women centered None-for profit, organization, was identifying and tackling the root causes-–here, I mean, the Gender Apartheid, which had led to the sanctioning and to the institutionalization of violence against womankind, from cradle to grave because of their gender.
Although, this may not be the forum to explore and compare and contrast gender apartheid against racial apartheid in depth, the two forms of apartheid are strikingly similar:
- Each is equally an offence against human rights and human dignity.
- Each elevates one category of humans as superior to another; leaving the subordinate category without a broad range of fundamental human rights.
- Racial supremacy gives privilege and power to whites over blacks while the parallel patriarchal system gives privilege and power to men over women.
- Just as black culture and racial differences were used as a justification for the white power over blacks, so equally sexual difference was used as the justification for male power over females. Whereas racial apartheid confined the male black to the factory conveyor and cotton belts, so gender apartheid confines female workers to the kitchen.
- Racial apartheid was justified by the beliefs that whites are biologically and mentally superior to blacks, whereas gender apartheid is justified by the belief that men are biologically and mentally superior to women.
- Morally superior to blacks whereas gender apartheid similarly ascribes moral superiority to men, giving moral weakness and blame to women
- Socialization blacks in inherent superiority of whites;
- Gender apartheid socializing and conditioning women in inherent superiority of men
- whites in power who claimed to be the "paternal" and benevolent custodians of the welfare of subordinate groups. Whites claimed to be acting in the interests of all racial groups, although the statistical history clearly show that they were using their monopoly of power to maintain privilege, and disburse state benefits and services primarily to their own white group.
- As with racial apartheid, the most elementary disaggregating of socio-economic statistics will quickly reveal that male decision-making serves to give most of the rewards to men, and most of the work to women. This is just as true within the government of the state as it is within the government of the household.
Such paternalistic and patriarchal claims are an offence against the most basic of democratic principles of representative democracy which states that all interest groups must be proportionally represented in the decision making process, in the making of laws and in the allocation of public resources. The mere existence of male domination of parliament (averaging 89 percent in Africa) should be enough to alert all women and those who support equality for women that women’s interests are not being properly represented.
It is when we have better understood the nature of gender apartheid that we will be better able to abolish poverty and other violence against women. When we have properly understood the close similarity between racial and gender apartheid, we will be better able to learn from the successful struggle against racial apartheid in the 20th century. From these lessons we can build the necessary strategies to fight gender apartheid in the 21st century, and improve the national health.
Human rights principles are directed towards ensuring that no one group in society can dominate another; turning another group into oppressed servants and slaves. Just in racial apartheid, segregation and discrimination, women are denied, Equality in law and under the law; equal rights in marriage and sexual relations, the right to dignity; the right to life, the integrity and security of the person, the right to equality of opportunities in access and control to resources; Women are lynched, chased out, abducted and raped, maimed, mutilated, and deformed, abused, used, discarded, shot and killed.
As with the fight against racial apartheid, the struggle against inequality of women must begin with women themselves. Sadly, women have culturally accepted violence as normal, ‘natural’ and a woman’s fate. Women bear the violence and suffer silently.
Therefore, in order for women to lead the struggle and be the principal social agency of change, women themselves must go through transformation, from a state of passive resources and objects to active citizens.
The other major difficulty, unlike in Racial Apartheid, instead of the oppressors being located in the northern suburbs, they are within women’s households – as husbands, fathers, sons, uncles, brothers and other community members.
Therefore, the women’s struggle for freedom and equality has to be different – qualitatively - the kind that addresses the notion of “solidarity of humanity” , committed to the survival and wholeness of the entire people, for the integrity of female and male.
As one of the major mission of Global Health Council and Community of Global Health Networks is to advocate to policy leaders (makers); and raise awareness for global health issues, Gender Apartheid the human right for women must be part of its advocacy and Campaign. When the largest number of people in the world is denied basic human right, and the right to life, how can we talk about health issues, independently, out side the very life itself?
When Dr. Jonathan Mann passionately spoke and wrote about inextricability of health and human rights, he was not only referring to the right to health, but also about human dignity.
The great dreams of the international conferences in Nairobi, Vienna, Cairo, and Beijing have never come to pass. It matters not the issue: whether it’s levels of violence, or HIV/AIDS, or maternal mortality or armed conflict, or economic empowerment, or parliamentary representation, women are in terrible, terrible trouble. And things are not getting better for women.
“As Margaret Mead said “ It has been a women’s task throughout history to go on believe in life when there was almost no hope. With you, to gather, KMG and the women of Africa may have hope.
If you could take nothing else from what I mumbled to day, I hope you will carry two things; the notion of Gender Apartheid, that we cannot afford to have Gender Apartheid just as we could not afford to have racial apartheid in the 21st. Century; be it in the name of culture, religion, or in any other name. It is not good for the Development of Healthy Society Healthy Economy, as Racial Apartheid was not good for industrialization and Cooperate business!
I dare to ask you to support the struggle of womankind against Gender Apartheid, just as you stood firmly and supported against Racial Apartheid; be shareholders in Kembatti Mentti Gezzimma Tope’s movement for life with dignity and freedom for all.
As Dr. Jonathan Mann said “People say there is no use trying to change the world. But if we do not try, will it Change?
The great book also tells us “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly now; love mercy, now; walk humbly, now. You are not obliged to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it." Talmud.
And I say, we are obliged to keep trying to do the best we can do, every day; with commitment to action, it is possible to see change in the world.
Thank you, so much for honoring the womankind.
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