VicHealth says on their web site the statistics are substantiated, likewise the figures for those sections of Pakistan and Afghanistan under the Taliban, their women are better off than Australian women. The only difference it seems is that Australian women are better educated, they dress for fashion and according to UK Liberal Democrat Minister for Women Ms Swinson, young women need to be told they are good at a jigsaw (read Scrabble and Maths) rather than receive compliments on their appearance (which we might presume in the context above somehow adds to their chances of being killed).
According to this VicHealth data, young Australian girls should be told from birth they'd be better off under the Taliban and their restrictive form of Sharia Law.
Michael Short's article discusses Dr Musimbi Kanyoro, the president and chief executive of the San Francisco-based Global Fund for Women was recently interviewed by The Age which can be read, along with a short video and her message: Dr Kanyoro stated: "we all lose as a result of the violence and discrimination suffered by women." (www.theage.com.au)
Dr Kanyoro was forthright: "It is self-evident that nations cannot reach their potential when women are blocked from economic and political participation. Such exclusion also undermines a nation's decency and dignity, as does genital mutilation of girls and forced marriage."
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Michael Short noted that the focus of her message was that women have low status pretty much everywhere and this is why women get discriminated against - "because people do not think we're equal". The first step according to Dr Kanyoro is to involve men - "recognising and changing their behaviour towards women." (www.smh.com.au)
The Global Fund for Women began 25 years ago and functions in 170 nations. It has given more than 9000 grants, worth more than $100 million, to women-led organisations throughout the world to combat issues associated with bringing women onto a level playing field. .
The concentration on technology is on the increase and Dr Kanyoro cites the impact women made through their use of social media during the Arab Spring, which saw popular uprisings bring about regime change in nations such as Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen.
Providing access to education is one of the fund's top priorities. It supported women in Afghanistan who set up clandestine schools when the Taliban regime banned girls from schools. Dr Kanyoro noted that families in such circumstances need access to certain funding otherwise they will sell their girls or they will keep them at home. She referenced that women need to have access to contraceptives to have smaller families. Her comment "You just have to do a lot of things that are holistic" was poignant.
Then this message
UK Women's Minister Liberal Democrat Ms Swinson 33 has advised British parents to stop telling their girls they are beautiful. Swinson says there is too much emphasis on appearance and can lead to "body confidence issues" later in life. (www.smh.com.au)
Praising your daughter for wearing a nice outfit risks sending a message to children that looks are the most important thing to succeed in life, Ms Swinson suggested and that "praising them for their skill in doing a jigsaw and all these other things that they are doing, their curiosity in asking questions and a whole range of things is more appropriate than commenting on looks."
According to statistics quoted by the minister, one in four children aged 10 to 15 are unhappy about their appearance and 72 per cent of girls feel that too much attention is paid to the way female celebrities look.
"It's not like saying that appearance doesn't matter at all," said Ms Swinson. "If you're going for an interview, you will dress smartly and look the part, that is absolutely fine, but it's just the level to which this becomes the ultimate focus of everything, where you have people who won't go to school unless they've put their make-up on, or won't leave the house unless they've spent two hours getting ready."
Ms Swinson says of fathers, "Should not say any inappropriate comments suggesting that women's value is in how they look."
What Australian father worth his salt would get away with never commenting on their lovely beautiful daughters in such a manner. The Song of Solomon gives countenance to it.
This presents
1) Men are very dangerous from cradle to…
2) Women are innocent
Damaging to Victoria and Australia
On the one hand, VicHealth reports that women's lives are seriously at risk in Australia, and on the other, a UK politician claims that parents praising their young women is equally serious.
According to this VicHealth data quoted in the article, Australia (presumably Victoria) is a very dangerous place for women – the predators are their intimate men. If those statistics are true, or anything like being an accurate representation, Victorian women would be a whole lot better off migrating to those parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan which operate Sharia Law where they would be protected.
Perhaps the Government needs to have a close look at why such damaging information to both the State and National interests was allowed into the public domain in the way it was presented. What nation would ever encourage their serious young women to study in a place with such a frightening statistic.
Such statistics, taken to their logical anarchical conclusion, makes Victoria at least, into a "legalised" persecutor of Christian men who cannot guarantee the safely of their wives and children. This includes me, as I have three daughters (and a son), all young adult professional women and a wife of 36 years. These statistics, in the way presented, makes me and every other Christian minister and layman into very dangerous people.
The other possibility is that the statistics have been somehow doctored. They appear to from the courts, but, for example, when more carefully analysed, do they include motor vehicle accidents where women were killed when their intimate man was the wheel. Do they include accidental death when their intimate man was near-by. Do they include youth binge drinking death or drug overdose accidental deaths when their intimate male friends were likewise intoxicated.
Where do such statistics come from to create such a damaging reflection on Australia and the many Christian men who are horrified, and why was this anomaly in the way in which it was presented, (what was the agenda?) allowed into the public domain from a Government body at an International women's conference?
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html
