Women winning

There has been quite a lot of publicity recently about the fact that no women made the shortlist in this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

As the economy has deteriorated, a higher percentage of those thrown on the scrapheap have been women.

The French President, Mr Sarcastic, recently felt he had the right to advise the world that Angela Merkel, the German President, is overweight because she eats too much cheese.

The UK police recently admitted that every year they are seeing an ever-increasing number of "honour killings", where male members of families kill women because those males believe the women have betrayed the "honour" of their families.

In various countries around the world, women languish in prisons because they were raped and the society in which they live blames them for being victims of this heinous crime.

President Obama visited Iraq this week to talk to the last American troops to leave the country, to them what victory had been won. Yet in that country - and indeed in Afghanistan - women have not won the basic right to decide the career they wish to pursue or which man they might wish to marry.

I could go on but there is really no need.

Time to wake up, ladies.

For centuries there have been "Freedom Fighters" in every corner of our planet, who are sometimes even prepared to die for their "freedom".

Unfortunately, those "freed" have almost always only been the male members of the species.

In most of the 200 plus countries around our world, women are no more "free" than they were 100 years ago.

When will we start to put this right?

Never while we are prepared to listen to - and vote for - men who pay lip service to equality for the sexes.

So in 2012, where we have a vote, let's start to use it to select women - and men - who really believe in women's rights.

And where we do not have a vote, we need to engage in peaceful civil disobedience until the right to vote is gained.

There is no more important issue. Please make it YOUR issue in 2012.
 

Friday, 23rd December 2011

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