In April, the Pentagon announced that starting May 14th, women in the United States armed forces would be permitted to serve in ground combat units. As I mentioned on this very blog back in March, American servicewomen were, up until now, prevented from officially serving in combat. Shoshana Johnson, a former POW in the Iraq War, mentioned that there are no clearly-drawn lines that separate combat zones from non-combat zones. Johnson was a cook for the army when she was captured by enemy forces in 2003. Unfortunately for her, the enemy did not get the memo that she was not officially designated in a combat post. This change in policy now brings a greater degree of equality to America’s armed forces. It is long overdue.

I am pleased to report this news as part of my final posting to the Women in War Zones blog. The work our organization pursues in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues, and indeed there is much left to be done to eliminate the use of rape as a weapon against women and girls there, but it is comforting to know that America and its military has the power to see value in both genders and move forward. It is my sincere hope that more individuals will see that there is very little that makes us different as men and women. We all want to be treated with fairness and dignity, regardless of the box we put a check next to on paper.

I hope our readers will continue to support Women in War Zones by creating fundraisers, mentioning the organization in conversation, and hosting screenings of the documentary. Your support allows us to continue to help women in Democratic Republic of the Congo heal from rape-induced trauma and change the way people see women and girls.

Many thanks to you all!

Marta Rusek

In March, Al-Jazeera reported a story on 16-year-old Amina Al Filali, who attempted suicide by drinking rat poison in order to release herself from a forced marriage. Al Filali’s husband entered into the covenant of marriage to his young wife after raping her. Morocco has laws on the books to permit rapists to marry their victims after the fact, to spare the women from the shame of being de-virginalized prior to marriage. In Arab societies, a woman losing her virginity outside of marriage is considered a disgrace to her family. Unfortunately, this law seems to favor men, as the marriage would nullify any legal proceedings to bring the rapist to justice.

Meanwhile, U.S.-based news organization CNN has been following the brutal gang rape of a mentally ill 17-year-old girl in South Africa, along with allegations of rape from U.S. service women, both in active duty and in prominent military academies.

South Africa has long been considered the Rape Capital of the World (a title that caused me to beg my recruiter at Peace Corps to send me anywhere in Africa but there), but this case involves the existence of a video that was later uploaded online and distributed among young people in the nation. The rapists, ranging in age from 13 to 17, were not shy and appeared to take pride in turning a mentally-ill girl into a sex slave on camera. Later, when the underage rapists were brought into South African court to enter pleas on charges of rape, kidnapping, and the creation and distribution of child pornography, they covered their faces so they could not be seen by the public or news cameras. Stardom on the world stage proved to be too overwhelming for them.

In America, the survivors of rape at the hands of military officers have to contend with being labeled “whores” or “mentally-incompetant” to serve. “Don’t come bitching to me because you had sex and changed your mind,” one commanding officer yelled at a female Marine when she tried to report her attack. That Marine was later discharged from the military for having a personality disorder, a condition that would have existed years prior to her admission into the Marine Corps, and in all likelihood would have prevented her from being accepted. Other female members of the armed forces have told CNN about similar diagnoses that were handed down shortly after they reported being raped during their service.

While I commend the South African government for prosecuting the rapists of a mentally-ill girl, and thank U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for holding a press conference to address the “unacceptable” number of sexual assaults being reported in the military, more needs to be done. One rape is too many, and the devaluing of women can actually freeze the progress of nation. Naomi Wolf penned a fantastic opinion piece for Al-Jazeera entitled The Price of Oppressing Your Women, and in it she hits the nail on the head:

Female oppression is a moral issue; but it also must be seen as a choice that countries make for short-term “cultural” comfort, at the expense of long-term economic and social progress.

By raping, abusing, and limiting the women and girls of a nation, you are robbing schools of their students, the business world of its entrepreneurs, governments of their leaders, the medical profession of its doctors, and the nation of its progress. The culture of rape continues when no hell is raised over the mistreatment of a woman. Change has to begin with behavioral adjustment, namely through educating the young men. Respect for women is a learned behavior, just like respect for authority. The adjustment also needs to be made at the legal level. Crimes against women must be prosecuted, and if rapists are pleased with sharing their crimes on videotape for all the world to see online, their presence at their trial should receive publicity, as well. The message needs to be sent to men, young and old, that being an idol on YouTube and Facebook does not excuse breaking the law. Wouldn’t it be something if news coverage of a man’s crimes against women were posted alongside his social media profiles on Facebook and Twitter? How many friends would “Like” those stories?

Marta Rusek

Map of Takhar, Courtesy of Google Maps

In a shocking move to deter young women from receiving an education, Islamic extremists in Afghanistan poisoned the drinking water at a school in the northeastern region of Takhar this week. The victims were 140 young girls and one teacher. According to CNN, a similar incident occurred in 2010 when over 100 school girls and teachers became ill after drinking water that had been contaminated in their water tank.

A speedy recovery is hoped for these young ladies and their teacher, but an even greater hope exists for change. Girls across the world face countless obstacles when it comes to getting a good education. In The Gambia in West Africa, where I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in 2011, it was not uncommon to hear about girls being seduced and molested by their teachers, and the practice of financiers exchanging money for tuition and supplies in exchange for sexual favors from their young female beneficiaries happens in nations in Africa and around the world.

The United Nations chose to focus on women’s empowerment as part of its Millennium Development Goals, a list of focuses that are aiming for a 2015 completion. Unfortunately, this goal does not address the finer details of achievement. You can put a girl in a classroom and give her books and instruction, but how do you know for sure that she is learning the information? How do you prevent the distractions that could bring her education to a screeching halt? There are fathers who don’t see the value in educating their daughters when they are valued primarily as wives and mothers. There are teachers who take advantage of their students and their innocence. There are school fees that may cost more than a family’s monthly income. There are few mentors to teach the girls how to identify and achieve goals.

When it comes to applying a major development initiative, it’s important to implement the initiative on a local level. As it’s been written here in the past on the Women in War Zones blog, local problems need local solutions. For the girls and female teachers in Afghanistan, there needs to be support and accountability on the community level. Community leaders need to emphasize that violence against its students will not be tolerated, and measures should be taken to protect the girls and ensure that facilities are safe for them to use. In The Gambia and other nations, leaders need to assert the value of their women and girls, a value that is rooted in holy books like the Koran. If community leaders partnered with religious leaders, and pointed out that taking advantage of a girl’s virtue was a violation of religious values, the amount of harassment faced by female students would decrease.

Respect for women starts early – it is a learned attitude. If fathers, teachers, community leaders, and members of the clergy are not teaching young men to value and respect women from a young age, they will not learn it at any other time. If a crime perpetrated against women and girls, like attempted murder through poisoning their drinking water, goes unpunished, it sends a damaging message that will deter female learners from taking advantage of their right to receive an education. And the loss of a new generation of learners is a loss the world cannot afford right now.

Marta Rusek

The issue of exposure when it comes to the portrayal of crime victims in the media has been raised regularly since the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Feburary of this year. Critics contend that more often than not, white or Caucasian victims tend to attract more airtime and outrage as opposed to victims that are not white, don’t come from “good” neighborhoods, work in occupations society deems low-ranking, or who live a life of poverty. In some cases, victims of crime are even dismissed by the media when their ethnicity is released to the public.

When IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn was accused of sexually assaulting a maid in May 2011, news sources like the Guardian were quick to publish details of the crime and described it as “brutal”. When it was revealed days later that the maid was born in the African country of Guinea, the tone changed. Police collected forensic evidence from the hotel room and documented the bruising on Nafissatou Diallo’s vagina following the attack, but the New York Times reported “the accuser has repeatedly lied,” and that there “are issues involving the asylum application of the 32-year-old housekeeper, who is Guinean, and possible links to people involved in criminal activities, including drug dealing and money laundering.”

Compare that to the treatment of French writer Tristane Banon, who accused Strauss-Kahn of trying to rape her back in 2002. In all the articles I reviewed on Ms. Banon and her accusation, there were no allegations of misleading authorities. No one even questioned Banon’s decision not to go public with the accusation until later (a move she said was prompted by her mother, who said that Strauss-Kahn was “close to her family and to their politics”). No reporters dared to question her decision to delay making an announcement. Banon also got a glamorous photo to accompany her write-up.

Equally notable is the emphasis placed on both women’s’ professions: in every article I researched for Nafissatou Diallo, she was referred to as “the maid” (“The Maid Speaks” declares Business Insider), while Tristane Banon was always reverently called a “journalist” and “writer.” (Check out the captions for the pictures below.)

Strauss-Kahn's Victims: The Journalist and The Housekeeper

It begs an unfortunate question: how is a rape victim supposed to look? What kind of victim invokes greater sympathy and public outrage?

In collaboration with Wyoming-based photographer Lauren Kinde, I’ve put four photos of American women alongside four photos by Melanie Blanding of women in Democratic Republic of the Congo. Their names and occupations have been omitted.

Photos by Lauren Kinde/Melanie Blanding

Does one lady look more deserving of attention and sympathy over the other?

Photos by Lauren Kinde/Melanie Blanding

Do the women’s skin colors make a difference?

Photos by Lauren Kinde/Melanie Blanding

Would you care about them any less if they were mothers? Single and unmarried? Rich? Poor? Doctors? Housekeepers?

Photos by Lauren Kinde/Melanie Blanding

At the end of the day, a woman’s ethnicity and profession are irrelevant when crimes, including rape, are committed against her. It is the crime and its details, including the identity of the criminal, that deserve careful investigation.

Marta Rusek

I recently came across this simple yet compelling talk from Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee. Her greatest contribution thus far (though I am sure there will be more) was assembling an interfaith coalition of Christian and Muslim women in Liberia. These women would assembled, adorned in white garments, to peacefully protest the ongoing Second Liberian Civil War. In 2003, as a result of their relentless campaigning, the war came to an end and forced Charles Taylor, the brutal warlord-turned-president, to flee Liberia. Leymah’s friend and co-organizaer, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, would later be elected the first female head of state in Liberia.

This TED Talk was filmed in March of this year, and allows viewers to hear Leymah’s frustrations and heartbreak as she shares her stories about young women being raped by their teachers and school financiers, and bright girls in poor communities who cannot access the schools and textbooks that would surely change their lives. Leymah believes that unlocking the potential in these bright, impoverished young women in Africa and elsewhere would add tremendous contributions to the healthcare industry, the business world, educational institutions, and even politics.

As the world struggles to find its way in the midst of economic turmoil, I hope that Leymah’s words will find enough sympathetic activist ears to make this progress possible.

Watch the video here:

Marta Rusek

I have six children. The oldest is 11 and the youngest is 9 months, just a baby.

My husband and I moved to Kamanyola before we had our first child. We first settled there to flee from the war. Our life was good until it was time for me to give birth to my first child, our oldest son. After I left home for the hospital to have my son, rebels came to our village.

That day, my husband was working at the river. Back then he would work sifting through the dirt to find minerals. He had no time to react when they seized him. They came with guns and knives. Those who tried to run were shot. Yes, they killed some people, but my husband was taken along with many othersfrom the village into the bush.

While this happened, I was stuck at the hospital until someone came to pay my bill. I felt confused and scared because I didn’t know why my husband had not come for me. I had no money so I waited for my parents to come and pay my bill.

I went home from the hospital alone with my newborn baby. When I got news of what happened, I was sure that my husband was dead and that I was now a widow. I had no money and no way to feed myself. I was hungry and weak. I was worried because I didn’t know how to care for my baby.

They kept my husband in the forest for three months feeding him mud. Everyday the rebels would schedule deaths. Over time he watched all his friends and neighbors die. One night they came to him and said, “Tomorrow will be the day that you die.” The next day he had to get water from the river for the rebels. My husband knew this would be his only chance to escape. He thought to himself, if I run I will most likely die, but if I stay Iwill definitely die. So he took a chance and ran from the river. For days he hid in the bush, fearful for his life that the rebels would find him and kill him.

When he finally returned to the village, I could not believe he was alive. He was the only person to survive and I thanked God for this miracle. Even though I was happy he was alive, we both feared that the rebels would return to the village to find my husband. Many of our neighbors also believed thathe would lead the rebels back to our home. We had no money to flee from our village, so every night we would hide in the bush. After some time had passed they never came. So we began sleeping in ourhouse again. After this experience, my husband saw life in a new way. He bought a camera and began taking pictures of everything. He took pictures of our life together. He also bought a sewing machine for me and I was very thankful.

When I became pregnant with my fifth child who is now three years old, the rebels came again. This time they robbed us and took everything we owned. They killed many people, including our friends and neighbors.

When we survived, we decided to leave Kamanyola. Now we are here, in Panzi, but life is not good. We do not have jobs or money. Here we have to rent a house. We have nothing because it was all taken by the rebels. I cannot make money here because the rebels stole my sewing machine. Ever since I was attacked, I have had pain in my chest which prevents me from carrying heavy loads so I cannot make money this way. The x-ray costs forty dollars at the hospital, but I do not have the money to pay. Here my life is full of difficulties.

I’d like the world to know that Congolese women need their rights to be protected and we cannot have rights until we have peace in Congo. Please allow us to have a place in the world.

Authors note: The individual telling me this story is a tiny woman of 30 years. Looking at her, you might guess she is in her mid-twenties. She has a young, feminine face with well-defined cheek bones. Unless she is smiling, her face naturally rests with a sadness to it. Her voice is soft and quiet. She frequently twiddles her hands in her lap. One of her eyes is greyish blue, I believe it to be a result an optical injury or early on-set cataract. She has a child like shyness to her that is quite endearing.

The woman mentions that she rents her home. This may not seem problematic to many but tenants face many issues when renting property and their rights are not respected by property owners. Landlords frequently make drastic changes to the cost often and often without notice. They can sell the house/property with less than a day’s notice to their tenants. This sort of instability and lack of concern for families who rent often leaves people homeless.

In regards to her stay at the hospital, many patients are not released until they are able to pay their bills. Women are often remain for months on end if their husbands or families are unable to pay their medical bills. In cases of rape this can be particularly traumatic for victims and often further phsychological instability and feelings of abandonment and isolation.

Marie J. Targonski-O’Brien

No one likes the word “rape.”

I’m guilty of not caring for it much myself. Whenever friends or family ask me what I’ve been up since returning home from The Gambia in West Africa last year, I mention that I write articles for Women in War Zones.

Relative: Really? I’ve never heard of them. What do they do?

Me: It’s an organization that raises awareness of women who are raped in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Relative: Oh…

(Awkward silence ensues)

 

After one too many awkward silences, I opted to use a different phrase to describe the work I do.

Friend: Women in War Zones? What’s that?

Me: They help survivors of gender-based violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Friend: That’s neat! You know, I used to know someone who worked in Africa…

(Conversation on the continent of Africa commences)

It’s interesting to me how many people are eager to talk about violence or have generic conversations about Africa, but shut down at the mention of rape.

A survivor receives counseling

To be sure, it conjures up pretty horrendous images. Even worse, the shame and anguish that affect a rape survivor convince a large number of survivors to deny that the crime perpetrated against them was in fact rape. In a historical report published in Ms. magazine in 1985, psychologist Mary Koss interviewed 3,000 randomly-selected female college students across America. Koss used a rather controversial method to determine if a respondent was a victim of rape. (Note: Use of the word “victim” is Koss’, not mine.)

From Researching the “Rape Culture” of America by Dr. Christina Hoff Sommers:

Koss counted anyone who answered affirmatively to any of the last three questions as having been raped:

8. Have you had sexual intercourse when you didn’t want to because a man gave you alcohol or drugs?

9. Have you had sexual intercourse when you didn’t want to because a man threatened or used some degree of physical force (twisting your arm, holding you down, etc.) to make you?

10. Have you had sexual acts (anal or oral intercourse or penetration by objects other than the penis) when you didn’t want to because a man threatened or used some degree of physical force (twisting your arm, holding you down, etc.) to make you?

 

Based on her definition of rape, Koss and her team determined that “15.4 percent of respondents had been raped.” However, of those respondents, “[o]nly about a quarter of the women Koss calls rape victims labeled what happened to them as rape.”

Dr. Sommers writes:

According to Koss, the answers to the follow-up questions revealed that “only 27 percent” of the women she counted as having been raped labeled themselves as rape victims…Of the remainder, 49 percent said it was “miscommunication,” 14 percent said it was a “crime but not rape,” and 11 percent said they “don’t feel victimized.”

The downplaying of rape, as a crime or in the frequency in which it happens, is nothing new. Cristina Perez, the Director of Outreach for Women Organized Against Rape in Philadelphia, explains, “In general, most people have a tendency to deny what happened, because they don’t want to remember it or talk about it…[I]t’s more traumatizing when weapons are involved, or the rape is committed by a gang, or happens in an area of conflict.”

Perez has been an outreach counselor for WOAR since 1998, and a majority of her clients are men and women who fled their home countries for the safety and stability of America. These survivors are particularly vulnerable to long-term psychological damage because their ordeals were systematic.

“I work with a lot of people from Latin America, including Guatemala, where there are major conflicts going on,” Perez tells me. “In times of conflict, rape is used as a weapon against the women, to humiliate them. It becomes normal since it’s part of the war. It’s shocking to think about. It’s part of the control and power over the victims, and the trauma is more difficult to help because of the connection between the war and the rape. So if war is part of what is normal, rape becomes normal, too.”

It’s hard to imagine living day-to-day in a land that institutionalizes rape against its citizens, male and female. It’s also hard to compete with other causes and non-profits that women promote loud and proud. There are breast cancer walks, organizations that raise money for women’s reproductive health, and public service announcements for diabetes and osteoporosis. At a time when 54% of rapes are not even being reported to police, and 48 women are raped every hour in Democratic Republic of the Congo, it seems odd that women are not raising a bigger stink about the growing number of victims.

I prefer to use the word “survivor” when discussing a woman who has been raped and lived to tell the tale. Yet in this instance, when numbers are on the rise and very little effort has been made to bring sexual violence against women in America and around the world to the forefront, it would seem fitting to use “victims” to describe the instance when women have been abused and that abuse has produced little to no outrage from the public.

There was an instance in our past when the public did unite to successfully eradicate an epidemic that claimed the lives of millions of victims and produced plenty of survivors. Polio afflicted children and adults, and those who didn’t die from it were visibly affected by it. “We knew someone who had lived through polio when we saw them,” my mother, Mary Rusek, told me. “People were deformed by it. Some children lived out their lives in an iron lung that breathed for them because of their polio.”

When polio began infecting more high-profile individuals, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose paralysis was caused by the disease, demand from the public to prevent and cure it became overwhelming. A vaccine was finally developed and released in the mid-1950s, and today, polio is non-existent in the Western Hemisphere.

Public figures also played a major role in the AIDS crisis. When major celebrities like Rock Hudson and Freddie Mercury both died of complications from HIV infections, and an Indiana teenager living with AIDS named Ryan White shared his story of discrimination at the hands of his school, the public took notice. Foundations began to form, pressure was brought to bear on pharmaceutical companies to produce more medicines to help HIV-positive patients, and legislation was passed to enforce medical confidentiality and prevent housing, employment, and organizational discrimination against HIV-positive individuals.

These epidemics were contained as a direct result of pressure from concerned citizens, and the more obvious they became,

   

In recovery at Panzi Hospital, DRC

through the deaths of public figures to the battle cries of survivors and their loved ones, the more reformations in policy and healthcare become a reality. When the need to address these widespread crises became an urgent priority, they were for the most part contained. Of course, the spread of HIV is still a problem in this country, but the efforts of activists, policymakers, and healthcare companies significantly contributed to changing the virus from a death sentence to a manageable chronic condition.

Rape, and the trauma and degradation that comes with it, needs to have the same amount of highly-publicized outrage from survivors and advocates if attitudes are to change. Rape survivors and the people who love them must make their voices heard and support organizations that are already raising awareness and providing support to women and girls who have been raped (like this one).

Preventative measures, including educating young girls on assertiveness and respect when it comes to one’s self and relationships, need to begin early and be reinforced often. Training must be provided to officers of the law and healthcare providers, both of whom are the survivor’s initial point of contact and help lay the foundation for moving forward. At no time should a survivor be made to feel that what has happened to her was brought on by something she did or has done in the past. No one, female or male, deserves to be raped.

I do not like the existence of the word “rape” in my vocabulary. It should be like the word “polio” – a seldom-used term to describe an epidemic that has long since been defeated. However, until the public takes notice and begins to more openly condemn this crime, which has claimed millions of victims and produced countless survivors and will continue on its trajectory unless enough voices unite to block its path, it will have to do for now.

Marta Rusek

Helping women and girls in DRC never tasted so good!

On behalf of our organization, I’d like to thank our Philadelphia-based supporters who attended our Dine and Donate fundraiser at the California Pizza Kitchen last night. We hope to host another fundraiser in the City of Brotherly Love very soon, and when we do, we’ll let you all know. Thanks again!

Marta Rusek

Nayala sits in the chair in front of me with her ankles crossed, hands sitting in her lap. Every time I see her she is smiling. Her frame is petite but she has wide, eager, brown eyes. She is a pretty woman who is frequently late, but is more advanced in English. She walks with a stick, hunching over to grab hold of her knee as she moves. She has a strong personality but is not confrontational. She’s outgoing, but she is never the loudest person in the room.

“I am 25 years old.” She begins, her head cocked to the side. “I grew up in a village called Ebambaro, with my five brothers and one sister. I am the oldest of all my siblings. Not all of us had the opportunity to attend school but luckily I was able to go for some time. I was never able to finish because we ran out of money to pay my school fees. That is when I began to learn English.”

“When I was 20 years old, I came to Bukavu to study.”, she pauses letting out a deep breath of air. “At that time, I wanted nothing more than to be able to finish school. I had a brother (her cousin) who was working here in Bukavu. At the time he was making good money and offered to pay for my school fees. I was excited to get out of my village and come to the city. I bought a bus ticket but when I arrived I discovered my cousin had been fired from his job. So, I never had the chance to finish school and I started working right away.” She says this with a shrug, lifting one hand out of her lap, palm facing upwards. Her wooden stick is tucked underneath her upper arm against her torso.

“He had a sewing machine so I started to sew to make money. This was my only option since I cannot carry heavy loads. Even though I work every day, I still do not make enough money to afford school. That’s why I’m here at Wamu.”

“After being in Bukavu a few months, I met a man who became my husband. I bore two children for him, a 5 year old boy and a 3 year old girl. I was happy with my children and my family. One day, my husband came to me and told me he had to travel. I did not know his reason but I accepted, what else could I do?” She purses her lips together and pauses. “After that day I never saw him again. Now I am alone.”, She slips this last statement out with a tightness in her jaw. I try to search her eyes for emotion, but she continues.

“Here in Congo, Women are considered as animals.”, I nod. Asking her to elaborate. Her eyebrows raise and her wide eyes narrow, darting out the window. “When you raise your cow or your goat, you feed it whatever, you you treat it whatever way you like. You tell it where to go and when. Women are no different. When a man comes to a woman he can tell her to do whatever he wants and she has no choice. There is no alternative for us.”

She turns back toward me, “I wasn’t in class earlier this week because my Father is dying.” She pauses. “I don’t even know if he is alive or dead today.”, her face dropping down to the ground.

“The day before yesterday, I got back from his village, visiting my family. He has been in the hospital for over a week now.” When I ask her what he is suffering from, she responds by saying, ”It is serious. He has many back problems.” All his life he has been a  farmer. Now that he is dying, my family needs help and since I am the oldest, it is my responsibility to help my mother care for the family. There has been an epidemic this year that killed off the plants, so my family lacks income.  The only skills my parents have are in agriculture. All of the people in the village are suffering. What can a farmer do if the crops will not grow? ”

After living in Bukavu for the past 5 years, I may have to return to help my family. This is not what I want.” She continues shaking her head. ”But life may lead me to do so.” She looks directly into my eyes. ”Of coarse, I love my family and I want to help my mother but I can’t” When I ask her why, a smirk grows on her face and she looks at me like I am making her state the obvious. ”Because I am a lame.” She pauses, holding her stare on me and I see a bit of tired anger in her eyes.

“The only life people can have in Ebambaro is the life of a farmer.  I do not have the strength to farm. When I was 2 years old I got a disease. My family did not have money to take me to the hospital. By the time I was treated it was too late and I my legs didn’t grow properly. I used to use a walker until it broke. Now I walk with this stick.” She says slapping her hand against the wooden walking stick that is laying across her lap.

“But, I am surviving.”, she says with close lipped smile.

As told by a Wamu Woman

Written by Marie J. Targonski-O’Brien