To tie our theme of movement/immigration to this week's reading, which traced the history women's rights from the late 19th century to today, I found some interesting news pieces about the incidence of runaway girls in Iran. Most of the articles I found were written in 2000/2001, but it is not unreasonable to think that this issue persists today. This BBC article cites that authorities find and take in 30 runaway girls every day, a figure that may only represent a small fraction of all runaway cases. For many of these girls, the only option once they've fled home is prostitution.
The BBC article mentions the Reyhaneh House, a women's shelter that houses girls who have run away from difficult family situations. It turns out that a documentary called Runaway was made in 2001 profiling the Reyhaneh center.
Obviously runaway children are not a phenomenon limited to Iran alone. However, I did think that the BBC article and the film synopsis framed the runaway problem in the context of Iran's traditional roles/rights for women. The reading for this week talked about Iranian women "fighting back" against regressive policies that have eroded their social and political rights -- is running away a way of fighting back, a last resort indicative of a deep-rooted repression of women, or something else?
ok it's Iraq but it's interesting
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Here is a link to a blog put up by Morgan on a different Blog. There are a
number of entries that tie more to your topic than theirs. Enjoy.
15 years ago
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The BBC article you posted was such a sad side to this story. After reading your post I expected these girls to be rebellious just against Islamic law or inequalities against women and run away from their families to escape that sort of sub-existence. I didn't even think of drugs or the abusiveness of these situations, which only worsens the sort of repression they're living in (like the girl who was forced into marriage with a man who chained her up all day).
ReplyDeleteI think running away can be fighting back because it is a way for a woman to stand up for herself. It is a recognition that she deserves better than whatever abusive or dangerous patriarchal family situations she finds herself in. It is probably the only action these girls can undertake because they are so largely isolated by and dominated within their families. What is so sad is that even with the work of places like the Reyhaneh House they're not really achieving freedom, most are falling into prostitution and some are even raped and killed. Running away doesn't necessarily equate to a solution, and it doesn't necessarily make a person visible, so it's hard to say it's "fighting back" in the same way you could call a protest etc. I think runaways are fighting back against their families in particular but are not fighting back against the larger system of repression.
I definitely agree -- the situations these girls are in are complicated by the fact that, in addition to inequalities promoted by law, they may also face domestic abuse. Running away from her family is a way of escaping and rejecting domestic abuse and subservience, but it is still discouraging to think that the government in her country does not accord women the help they need to empower themselves outside of the traditional family structure. The reading for this week talked about how traditional culture has fueled a demand for female doctors and teachers, and as a result the government has conceded a certain amount of liberty to women to pursue high-level careers. In the same way, the government may need to change its stance on women's rights if it truly wants to limit prostitution -- women need to have employment and educational opportunities as well as legal protection in cases where family life is abusive or unacceptable. I don't know how feasible those kinds of changes would be, but it would be a start towards expanding roles for women in the society.
ReplyDeleteI think that the girls are clearly making statements about their families, but aren't the familiar situations a reflection of the bigger picture?
ReplyDeleteI believe that they may not be making conscious decisions to protest the gender repression, but their actions (and especially with so many incidences) are a clear statement for change.