International Day of the Girl

October 11, 2012 is the first International Day of the Girl. Like with Woman's History Month in March, there may be some detractors who want to know why it's necessary to have a day (or a month) set aside for females. We have a Children's Day, so why do we need a day just for girls? Because so long as girls are marginalized, devalued, sold, sexualized or denied education, we need to honor them and be aware of the plight of girls around the globe. Why, because things like a girl being shot because she wanted an education happen.

When I read about Malala Yousafzai, I was horrified, angry, and depressed. Fourteen years old, shot by the Taliban because she wanted to go to school and had the audacity to blog about it. A teenaged girl, targeted for assassination, because she wanted an education. Some extremist bastard shot a child because she wanted to go to school. No matter how many ways I phrase that, it's still awful. And honestly, I'm not "angry," I'm fucking mad as hell. But it's not just Pakistan. It's not just Muslim countries. This evil-mindedness toward girls happens everywhere.

 

What you can do to help today, and affect real change:

• Rescue a girl from indentured servitude in Nepal.

In western Nepal, many indigenous families from the Tharu ethnic group subsist as farm laborers. Unable to make ends meet, they have been forced into a desperate trade – selling their daughters to work far from home as bonded servants in private homes or as dishwashers in tea houses. Some of these children are as young as six. Alone and far from home, these "indentured daughters" have no knowledge of the ways of city people or of other cultures, and most speak only the local dialect. Their living conditions are entirely at the discretion of their employers. The bonded girls seldom attend school and have no prospects for a decent future. Some are ultimately forced into prostitution.

• Send a girl to school in Afghanistan.

The Zabuli Education Center was founded by Afghan native Razia Jan through the Razia’s Ray of Hope Foundation. Razia’s dream of a school for girls became reality through the collaboration of several extraordinary women — as well as the vital support from generous organizations and the hard work of staff and volunteers.

• Sponsor the education of a Maasai girl in Kenya.

The Maasai Girls Education Fund was created to improve the literacy, health and economic well-being of Maasai women in Kenya and their families through education of girls and their communities. MGEF provides scholarships from primary school through university to girls who have never enrolled in school, or who would be forced to drop out of school for cultural or economic reasons, and we are committed to each student until they have the knowledge and skills needed to enter the workforce in Kenya.  With economic empowerment, this new generation of Maasai women will end early marriages and circumcision of girls and bring greater literacy, health, and economic well being to future generations.

Want something closer to home, or think this is only a Third World problem?

• Donate to Children of the Night in the United States.

Children of the Night is a privately funded non-profit organization established in 1979 and dedicated to rescuing America's children from the ravages of prostitution.

Note: I looked for something similar in Canada, and didn't find it. Prostitution is legal there, but child prostitution is not, nor is child trafficking. If you know of an organization that helps Canadian girls escape prostitution, or helps Canadian girls generally, let me know!

If you know of an organization that seeks to raise up girls and give them equal status to boys, post it in the comments!

If you don't have the cash to donate to an organization, you can donate your time. Mentor, raise awareness, make your voice heard. Find more ways to affect change here: amazingwomenrock.com/links-to-empower-girls, ungei.org/ (United Nations Girls' Education Initiative), and of course dayofthegirl.org/.

Girls matter. And if you need an explanation why, you're part of the problem.

Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves

One theme in comics is the idea that if only women were running things, it'd all be swell. Superia formed her group the Femizons to remake the world with this idea in mind. Nicole Hollander is credited with the quote "Can you imagine a world without men? No crime and lots of fat, happy women!" A variation of that was in the dialog of a Living Single episode. Synclaire asked Khadijah "But did you ever stop to think about what the world be like without men?" who replied "A bunch of fat happy women and no crime!" (Khadijah, of course, was played by Queen Latifah, who's famously plus-sized herself.) 

I will admit, there's been times that I've thought the same. But to believe that, you have to assume that women are non-violent, ever-logical and inherently peaceful. This is demonstrably not the case. We are human, we are prone to making poor decisions just like our male counterparts, and whether we admit it or not, hormones do play a role in our behavior. (What the guys don't know, or don't want us to know is, their own hormones cycle just like ours. The difference is, their hormones follow a 24-hour cycle, instead of a monthly one.) You could make the argument that, because of this, men are much more likely to be on the same page with one another during the course of a day, where women, who don't all follow a perfect 28-day cycle, are potentially at odds with one another. (Menstrual synchrony studies have produced wildly differing results. It's an interesting idea, but one that has not been conclusively proven.) But I digress...

In my personal observations of women, myself included, I am forced to state that women would not make inherently better world leaders than men. Frankly, I think we'd ƒµ¢|< up just as badly as the men do, but in different ways. (No, I will not give up my Girl Card; unpopular truths are still truths.)

Saying things other woman may not like doesn't make me less of one.

My husband and I have had a number of spirited discussion on the nature of women and men, politics and rights. There have been many times we've had to agree to disagree. We're coming at the topics from our own points of view, and that is colored by who we are as individuals as well as by our gender. And no matter how sympathetic we might each be to the opposite sex's point of view, we simply cannot truly understand the fe/male experience without living it. Added to that, I have some significant hot-button issues that I am not capable of being objective about, no matter how hard I try. The fact that I can acknowledge that makes me (usually) think a little more before I open my mouth and say something really inflammatory and turn a conversation into an argument. (No doubt he'd disagree, but there again, he can't understand just how much restraint I'm exercising, can he?)

ANYWAY... Back to the Femizons. The Femizons were a group of women assembled by an evil genius, Superia. Superia is pretty sure that a world ruled by women would be better than the one presently ruled by men, particularly on her Earth in her timeline. You see, Marvel Comics has multiple Earths. It's all pretty confusing, but Superia (real name Dr. Dierdre Wentworth) learns that she is the ancestor of a race of Amazons in a different timeline than "this" one (Earth-616) where we are. Naturally, she decides to try to bring about that same reality on this world, and gathers an army of ethically flexible females to help her bring it about.

This is wrong-headed on several levels, the first of which I have already touched on. But another flaw in Superia's plan is that she's recruited criminals to be part of -- founders of, really -- this new female-dominated society. Now, on the one hand, it makes some sense. You're going to want women who are not inclined to defer to men, strong women who won't take crap from anyone. On the other, you don't have to be a thug to be strong. And when loyalty can be purchased at the right price, it doesn't seem like the best foundation for trust and cooperation.

However wrong-headed it is, I am currently fascinated by the whole idea of the Femizons. Fortunately, to read up on the storyline, I don't have to hunt up hundreds of comics to get the full story. "The Superia Strategem" is a 6-issue miniseries in Captain America starting with #386 (1991). (Thank you, eBay...)

What I hope to do, because I need more projects, is to create the Femizons roster -- some 40+ women -- by customizing action figures. Many of the characters appear in only a few comic book issues. Add to the sparse appearances of these characters, they are also villains AND female, so they don't have action figures already, meaning that if I want to have the Femizons roster, I'll have to make them myself. The good news is, loose female figs can be had. (I don't want to buy minty carded ones because A. they're more expensive, B. some collector might want them and C. they're more expensive.) The bad news is, I am an utter novice at figure customization. And by "novice" I mean all I've done previously with toy customs is to repaint the eye color and tone down the lipstick on a Barbie doll. But there's more positive news: a good friend of mine does G.I. Joe custom figs and will be able to give me advice -- huzzah! So, once my 21 year old comic books and the box of loose women* arrive, I'll be able to take a closer look at the various characters and determine who will make the easiest first custom and find the right base figure for her. 

I'm pretty sure that this is one of the more insane projects I've ever taken on. I mean, I don't have room to display all the figures I have now, let alone someplace to display 40 more. (I have some thoughts on that, though, so not an insurmountable issue.) If you read my other blog at all, Creative Miscellany, you know I have incredibly varied interests and a wretchedly short attention span. I have many dozens of UFOs† and WIPs‡ in varying stages of completion, starting anything new without finishing some of the old is madness, really. Which sort of proves my suggestion that this is one of the more insane projects I've taken on...

* In joke.
† UnFinished Objects
‡ Works In Progress