Coping with Discrimination Against Women

Yesterday two women received death sentences around the world–and although these occurrences are usually ignored–they received international attention because their punishments were absurdly and horrifically unjust.

In Sudan, a woman who refused to convert from Christianity to Islam will receive the death penalty after nursing her newborn baby for two years in prison. In Pakistan, a pregnant woman was stoned to death in broad daylight on the street when she married a man against her family’s wishes.

These sentences were not randomly committed on the sly–one was decided by the government and the other was done in public.

It’s been a difficult week for women around the world. The senseless murders of the women at UC Santa Barbara show that discrimination against women, and the idea that women can be owned exist in all societies–near and far.

As women travelers who work to empower ourselves to travel the world–to arm ourselves with information, to seek out and overcome challenges,to combat discrimination against woman, to put ourselves face-to-face with both the beautiful and the ugly–how do we cope with the pain that so many women face around the world–simply because they are women?