Solving the world's problems at their root

An idea has been festering in me. I've been reluctant to show it the light of day, cause it's not fully formed and I don't want to look like I don't have my ducks in a row, but somehow the darkness isn't causing it to ripen and allows me to simply ignore it. So I'm bringing it out, half-baked so to speak, in the hope that discussing it will enable me to move my thought process forward.

I have been thinking that virtually all the world's most vexing problems can be advanced by empowering women. What sorts of problems? Oh little things like overpopulation, terrorism, world hunger, human rights abuses, you know, little stuff like that.

So how might that work?

One of the biggest obstacles to stemming overpopulation is lack of access to birth control. In a large swath of the globe, women lack any self-determination in the execution of their reproductive rights. Globally speaking, I maintain that women want control over the timing, spacing and number of children they bear. I maintain that no woman wants to bring children into a world where their chances of survival are slim, where they will starve or suffer needlessly. And yet, they are forced to do so by dispassionate husbands and a perverse social structure that supposedly "values" children. Women are not baby factories.

Freedom to pursue economic independence. When women are economically dependent on their husbands, they have little to no ability to carve a better life for themselves. They have little say outside the home. They are mere chattle. Money is power. Power is a voice. The power of many voices can change the world.

Equal rights. In Saudi Arabia, women cannot drive. King Abdullah has said that he is willing to lift that ban sometime this year. Not sure whether he has or not, but it's clear that it is meant to stave off calls for larger scale calls for equal rights and women's sufferage. Where women are prevented by modesty laws, social convention, and threat of death from full participation in society, men rule with impunity. And as they say, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Delusions of superiority, an unyielding sense of entitlement, fundamental religious beliefs are a breeding ground for terrorism. I believe that women, fully participating in society, would offer a balance. I doubt any woman wants to raise sons to go off on kamakazi missions for Allah. In any event, I think there would be fewer of them if their mothers were respected as full members of society.

Anyway, don't know where I'm going with this, but it seems that just about all these problems could be improved by ensuring that women have the same rights as men around the world. I know it is all jammed up right now, but it seems to me that when you get right down to the root of the problem, it might be improved exponentially by improving the lot of women.

This is the scariest shit I've ever heard

Charlie Gibson's Sarah Palin interview, part 3. I'm sitting here trying like hell not to let this idiot woman talk about putting women back into the dark ages send my blood pressure through the roof.

No to abortion in the case of rape or incest. Keeping in mind that victims of incest are usually juveniles. Sarah Palin supports forcing children to have children fathered by close relatives....pregnancies that occurred by force.

That is so fucked up, I have to repeat it again.

Sarah Palin believes with all her heart that children victimized by sexual predators should then be victimized by their government. No choice in getting pregnant. No choice in whether or not they must bear the resulting child.

My question to Sarah Palin is: Do you just assume that these children will offer up their children for adoption? Is that your answer to everything? Adoption? So, the child that was forced into motherhood by an act of violence is now forced into giving that child up to someone else?

That is so seriously fucked up that I can't even imagine it.

I don't know why this is so personal to me. Sure, I'm a woman, but I was never a victim of incest. Was never raped. My one run-in with violence in a sexual relationship left some haunting emotional scars, but eventually they healed and I was wiser, more wary, and just a tad more militant. The humiliation is the thing that took a bit longer. In any event, I've never been pregnant to the best of my knowledge. I don't think that abortion should be used as a form of birth control. I get pissed at teenagers (everyone for that matter) who don't protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy.

But why do I get mad at these people? I get mad because abortion isn't something to be taken lightly. Women make a decision and sometimes that decision haunts them the length of their days. But no matter how irritated I get at the irresponsibility that sometimes results in unwanted pregnancies, I think that outlawing abortion is certain to marginalize women in our society.

I think there are times, circumstances, and reasons for abortions. Reasons beyond rape, incest, and health of the mother. There are times when not having a baby is the right answer. If Sarah Palin gets her way, women who are faced with these circumstances will become outlaws. And back-alley abortion clincs are proven to harm women.

My grandmother had an abortion between the birth of my aunt and my mother. She nearly died. I nearly wasn't born at all. But even that isn't the reason. I don't know what the reason is. Compassion maybe? Understanding maybe? Knowing what it's like to panic at the thought of being pregnant. (Oh, I HAVE been there.) I got lucky. I just don't know where my passion about this arises.

I do know that Sarah Palin is just about the scariest woman on the planet at the moment.