Wednesday, May 5, 2010

She Wasn't Even There

Ambassador Susan Rice was conspicuously absent when the UN voted Iran onto the Womens Commission, as well as to 3 other committees. Click on the title for details. Like Mr Grenell I find her silence on this not only astonishing but also frightening. What can we hope to gain in the UN by allowing Iran to sit on these committees? Why is Ambassador Rice not speaking out against this? I have said in a previous post that feminist and other women's groups around the world should be screaming about this. And yet...not a word...not a peep...from our Ambassador...from anyone. Wonder why? Maybe we have illusions that once Iran learns about the plight of women everywhere they will change their ways. More than likely however, this is part of the conciliatory, soft, hands-off, no harsh rhetoric stance we have chosen to take towards this country which would like nothing more than to destroy us. We are making a big mistake if we think that if we let Iran have some small bones that they won't want the whole feast. They not only want the whole feast, they intend to take the whole feast. And the Women's Commission is just the start. What's next? Allowing them to sit on the Commission for Gay Rights if there is one? Oh...wait...that's right...Ahmadinejah on his visit to Columbia did say there were no gays in Iran so he probably wouldn't want Iran representation on such a committee even if it did exist. Suffice to say that this decision, like many other UN decisions, makes absolutely no sense at all.

Back during the Civil War, women were fighting for the right to vote as well as abolition of slavery. The issue of abolition was allowed to take precidence as it was considered larger, more critical and more likely to win in the legislative arena. It wasn't until the early 20th century that women finally won the right to vote. I believe that if we don't speak up about the US allowing Iran to sit on the Womens' Commission we will be repeating the mistake we made with suffrage by allowing our issues to be placed on the backburner. In fact it seems pretty clear that women have once again been thrown under the bus for the greater good. Having Iran on this council will be a disaster as they have not shown any effort in changing their current treatment of women and are most likely to advocate even harsher treatment for women of the world. What could the US and Ambassador Rice have been thinking? What are we women thinking??

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