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Jewish World Review March 30, 2011 / 24 Adar II, 5771 Taking Feminism Overseas By Jonah Goldberg
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Feminism as a "movement" in America is largely played out. The work here is mostly done. At a time when education matters more than ever, more American women attend college than men. More women graduate, with better grades and get more advanced degrees. As Even the fight for "pay equity" is an argument about statistics, lagging cultural indicators and the actual choices liberated women make -- to take time away from paid jobs to raise their kids (never-married women without kids earn more than men) or to work in occupations like the nonprofit sector that pay less. These are the fruits of feminist success. And, as the father of a little girl, I'm grateful for many of feminism's achievements. And as a conservative, I'm delighted that so much of the energy and passion on the right is fueled by women, a fact that causes no small amount of cognitive dissonance on the left. For instance, when That is the kind of thing intellectuals say when they have nothing worth saying anymore.
The good news for those who want to continue the fight for women is that there is plenty of work left to do -- abroad. The plight of women in other countries is not only dire, it's central to global poverty and the war on terrorism. Jihadism is largely a male problem. This shouldn't be a surprise, given that jihadis commit mass murder in pursuit of a virgin bonus in the afterlife. Islamist extremism and oppression of women go hand in hand. And while the correlation between poverty and terrorism is often overstated, the correlation between prosperity and women's liberation is profound. Female education is tightly linked with GDP growth, lower birthrates and even higher agricultural yields. It's also tightly linked with human freedom and decency, which is why no Islamic "spring" is possible without a feminist revolution. Countless Islamist countries practice gender apartheid and countenance wife-beating, honor killings and female genital mutilation. Islamist radicals have thrown acid in the faces of young girls for trying to go to school. In After being admitted to the Meanwhile, as But there are signs of hope as well. In a widely circulating video, And she offers a reminder for us all that the real war for women's equality is now a battle to be fought in foreign lands.
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