Equal Rights For Women Worldwide

Posted by Mary Rayme May 10, 2007

A report from Amnesty International, Maze of Injustice: The failure to protect Indigenous women from sexual violence, indicates that Native American women and Native Alaskan women are the targets of rape by non-Native males. In other words, these women are being targeted by non-Indian men who don’t live on the reservation. Why?

In no small part, it goes back to how the United States government has treated Native Americans Indians, or Indigenous populations in the country since the very beginning. This from the United States Declaration of Independence, and just one of a long list of grievances that the colonies cited against King George of England:

“He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”

From this one sentence, it is clear that in 1776 Native Americans were considered the enemy of the ruling white men. Indians were eventually defeated by the newcomers to the New World, and were forced to give up tribal lands and live on reservations.

Perhaps we are not viewed as “merciless savages” but women are not viewed as equals in society by both men and women. We live in a culture, in the United States, where Feminism is considered a dirty word that conjures up images of man-hating, hairy-legged lesbians who want to teach Herstory, not History. Why is this?

Maybe one reason is that The Equal Rights Movement is stalled and not going anywhere. Recently, I viewed the first season of Saturday Night Live from 1975. A young and earnest Candice Bergen urged everyone to support the Equal Rights Amendment. I felt nostalgic and sad all at the same time. Where did ERA go? Why do women still make 72% of the salary of their equal male counterparts? Why is there a higher crime rate against women? Perhaps it is because like Indigenous women in Alaska and Oklahoma, we are targeted by males for abuse and disparity.

The statistics from the Amnesty International report are cause for alarm. Native American women are 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than the general population of all other women in the US. More than one third of all Native American and Alaskan Native Women will be raped. The comparable statistic for the general population of all other women is less than one out of five. Many Native American women do not report rapes because they believe they will be ignored and not believed. The report gives evidence to the widespread indifference to the Native American female population.

A dictionary definition of feminism: the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. We need to continue to advocate for women worldwide. As Mother’s Day approaches, consider the mothers, women, sisters, and female friends in your life. Wouldn’t you want them to be treated humanely, kindly, and equitably? Would you want a member of your family to be targeted as the vicitm of a violent crime? Of course not. Would you want your mother to be paid inequitably? Of course not. This Mother’s Day, let us urge the United States government and Native American authorities to work together to respect and pay honor to our women. We need and deserve to be protected.

But don't take my word on the issue. Read the report here.