due on 03/06/2016 - 8 pages policy position paper- APA Style - abstract attached and istructions

Part I: The Research Proposal:

Students will present a research proposal, a written 1-page summary of the policy issue they intend to address, to the instructor by Lecture 3 for comment, feedback and approval.  The research proposal is not optional, and will be worth 5% of your final grade.  

Proposal Paper Women Rights in China and Africa

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Women Rights in China and Africa

Women’s rights have continued to attract global attention especially to some parts of the world. Some continents have made big strides in terms women entitlements in the society while others are still struggling. Most of the western countries have been successful such as Germany which has a woman chancellor. The continents that have been hard hit with trampling of human rights are Asia and Africa. In Asia, countries have been struggling to create equal men and women rights especially with the communist regime that is ruling the country. However, countries like China have been making strides in attaining human rights for several years. Guo Jianmei, Beijing activist cum lawyer, has been on the forefront of this fight for years now and through her NGO, Beijing Zhongze, she has been able to fight for the rights of women in China[footnoteRef:1].This paper will therefore focus on the rights of women in China and Africa[footnoteRef:2]. [1: Phillips, T. (2016). Women's rights crackdown exposes deepening crisis in Chinese society. From The Guardian. ] [2: Mark, M. (2014). African women making progress in battle for equal rights. From The Guardian. ]

There is disparity in many fronts between men and women in China and Africa, for instance most of the marital homes in this county are either owned or co owned by men, leaving only few women to own a home on their own. Women have been shut down both by the laws and the men in their entitlement to leadership, education, ownership of property and a better life. These are the reasons that made Guo Jinmei to fight for the rights of women. Jinamei has been successful for over two decades now in assisting underprivileged women and girls who do not have a voice or resources to represent themselves. Jinamei’s work has been supported by former first lady and secretary of state Hillary Clinton as a form of solidarity. Many of the Chinese population are conservative as they are averse to change due to the fear of the government, they hold on to traditional values and are cautious to change. Jinamei broke out of this conservative nature in order to help the women of China by offering them free legal representation and this has seen women gain some democratic space. Recently the government of China is suspected to be the cause of shutting down of Beijing Zhongze as a part of president’s Xi Jinping’s escalated clampdown on civil society. These actions will see a reversal of the strides achieved in terms of women rights and equality.

In Africa, the situation is similar to that of China with women’s rights being violated through repressive laws, patriarchal societies and retrogressive traditional values. The fight for women rights is alive in all corners of Africa and there have been improvements over the past years even though there is still a long way to go. Mark (2014) provides examples of some of the repressive laws in Africa such as: A Mozambique laws that allow men to go scot free if they allow marrying women they have raped. Such a law legalizes rape in one way or another because one can decide to rape a woman she wants to marry and they will be bound for life. These types of repressive laws do not take care of the emotional trauma suffered for women in such ordeal.

A majority of the African communities are patriarchal and therefore men are considered the head of the household while women’s place is at home taking care of domestic chores and children. Men dominance in African communities has increased discrimination of women in employment, leadership positions, education, opinions and even voting. Even most of the powerful economies such as Egypt and Morocco are ranked highly as countries with the lowest support for women and high discrimination levels for women[footnoteRef:3]. [3: Mark, M. (2014). African women making progress in battle for equal rights. From The Guardian. ]

Just like in China, women who try to fight for women’s rights are clamped down, for instance one of the women activist posed topless in her facebook page had to flee the country after receiving death threats (Mark, 2014). This shows women are not allowed to express themselves and they should abide with African culture such as women should not expose their bodies. Girls being married while they are minors are a common thing in most of African states which is a violation of the girl child right, and to make matters worse, the girls are given out to their “old” husbands by their own parents. Women have not been that supportive in the fight for women’s rights as women do not help in passing bills meant for women.

References

Mark, M. (2014). African women making progress in battle for equal rights. the Guardian. Retrieved 6 February 2016, from http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2014/mar/28/african-women-progress-equality-afrobarometer-report-2014

Phillips, T. (2016). Women's rights crackdown exposes deepening crisis in Chinese society. the Guardian. Retrieved 6 February 2016, from http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/feb/05/china-womens-rights-crackdown-exposes-deepening-crisis-in-chinese-society