we hold up half the sky

This post is a little past due, but what can I say, school starts tomorrow.

I feel like over the summer I sort of fell out of my zealous pursuit of women's issues. I tended to gravitate towards articles on education or basic current events. And then the New York Times snapped me back to my proper place.

(Tangent: I've realized that a lot of this blog is a reaction to things in the Times. Interesting).

Their Sunday magazine last week was titled "Saving the World's Women." The multimedia package includes stories, videos and photos about the struggles of women in several countries, including Pakistan, Burundi, and Afghanistan. I've blogged in the past about several of these issues, but I give the Times major props for devoting such a large project to the topic.

Also of recent interest to me was Sec. of State Hillary Clinton's recent trip through Africa. A Washington Post article published before her stop in the Congo detailed the horrors of rape spreading through the war-torn country. The article even goes as far as to suggest that U.S. intervention in the country is making the problem worse: we back the increased miliary efforts, which in turn means more soliders "not so much hunting rebels as hunting women."

Many people still fail to see the connections between the Congo and Uganda to the post-Rwandan genocide. And even though some justice is being sought in that country, it's still to be seen what sort of long-term social and political effects will come about. Hopefully we'll see more productive solutions applied to the supposed end of the genocide in Darfur.