Contention 1: Patriarchy in Yemen
Women in Yemen face systemic discrimination and violence. While women’s NGOs are effective, they are overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the task.
Amnesty International 9 [YEMENI WOMEN FACE VIOLENCE AND DISCRIMINATION, November 25, http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/yemeni-women-face-violence-and-discrimination-20091125]
Women in Yemen face systemic discrimination and endemic
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full and equal access to their human rights.
NGOs and civil society groups could effectively change discriminatory laws, but lack resources.
Basha 5 (Amal Basha is a human rights activist and a trainer in the fields of gender, development, and human rights. She serves as chairperson of the Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights (SAF) in Yemen, and is a regional coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Region for the International Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC). She holds an MA in international development and gender and has extensive working experience with UNDP, UNIFEM, the EU, and the ICRC. October, 2005. http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/47387b712f.html/)
South Yemen first ratified the United Nations Convention
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order to avoid accusations of promoting western agendas.
There are a variety of impacts –
First, we must reject gender oppression at every turn – any compromise is a sellout
Gordon and Gordon 95 senior lecturer in the Department of Education at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Gordon, general director of the Foundation for Education, 1995
[Haim and Rivca, Sartre and Evil: Guidelines for a Struggle, p. 130)
Consider the widespread oppression of women. Every
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, exploit, debase, and degrade women.
Second, Violence
We need to investigate gendered identities because they are key to manifestations of violence and generating good knowledge.
Peterson 2k (V. Spike, Professor in the School of Government and Public Policy at Arizona State University with courtesy appointments in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies Institute for LGBT Studies, Center for Latin American Studies and International Studies, “Rereading Public and Private: The Dichotomy that is Not One” SAIS Review, Volume 20, Number 2, Summer-Fall pp. 11-29, published by The Johns Hopkins University Press.)
Gender-sensitive accounts go beyond this by
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the question: Is militarism without masculinism possible?
Patriarchy eliminating matriarchy disrupts a balance and perpetuates war and risks the destruction of humanity
Werlhof 7 [Claudia von, Feminist philosopher, Toronto. “Women and the Gift Economy. A Radically Different World View is Possible,” in CAPITALIST PATRIARCHY AND THE NEGATION OF MATRIARCHY: THE STRUGGLE FOR A “DEEP” ALTERNATIVE 2007 (Inanna), pp. 139-153 http://emanzipationhumanum.de/downloads/capitalistpatriarchy.pdf ]
Patriarchal society as we know it, did
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nature and women has almost never been recognized.
Third, Feminist Epistemology
Traditional empiricism assumes that a selection of facts is complete – feminist empiricism acknowledges that we can’t know everything and that we need to be aware of our position as knowers.
Anderson 11, Elizabeth, "Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2011/entries/feminism-epistemology/>.
The Basic Pragmatic Strategy. The above reflections
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determination of belief (Anderson 1995b, 2004).
Questions of method come first – status quo empiricism constructs an image of the world that it equates with truth. This refactors women into sex objects.
MacKinnon 82 Feminism, Marxism, Method, and the State: An Agenda for Theory Author(s): Catharine A. MacKinnon Reviewed work(s): Source: Signs, Vol. 7, No. 3, Feminist Theory (Spring, 1982), pp. 515-544 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3173853 . Accessed: 10/11/2011 16:57 University of Michigan (Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law, 1989–) York University (Professor of Law, 1988–1989) various universities (Visiting Professor, 1984–1988) University of Minnesota (Assistant Professor of Law, 1982–1984)
Through consciousness raising, women grasp the collective
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, an unreal thing with very real consequences.
Any empirical investigation of knowledge relies on arbitrarily selected background assumptions that come from social values – feminist empiricism fights conservatism in those assumptions which is critical to good truth claims.
Anderson 11, Elizabeth, "Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2011/entries/feminism-epistemology/>.
The core claim of value-neutrality,
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against permitting feminist values to shape scientific judgments.
Fourth, Biopower
Our advocacy makes power visible – our type of inquiry is essential for the progression of feminism
Basu 6 (Marina Basu, B. Sc, University of Calcutta, A Thesis, Biopolitics or the Legislation of Life: A Foucauldian Analysis, 2006)
And most importantly, as “power is
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in reformulating the problem as one of subjectivation.
Without these checks against biopower an unstoppable sovereign force can build universally destructive viruses, removing all power relations from our control.
Foucault 76 Michel Foucault, chair at the College de France and all-American hero, 1976. Society Must Be Defended, p 253-254.
We are, then, in a power
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, will put it beyond all human sovereignty.
Plan
Thus, the Plan:
The United States federal government should substantially increase support for Yemeni civil society organizations to increase women’s participation and women’s rights. We reserve the right to clarify.
Contention 2: Solvency
Now is a key time for the US to support efforts of Yemeni women to fight for political participation and gender rights.
Serpe 11 Research Officer at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). She conducts public opinion surveys and focus groups focused on issues related to democracy in the Middle East and North Africa and other regions of the world, 2011
[Lauren, March 8, 2011. www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/opinion/110307/gender-issues-should-be-yemen-reform]
WASHINGTON As people across the Middle East and
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Yemen and U.S. diplomacy efforts.
US assistance to civil society organizations is uniquely positioned to make a difference – we have an obligation to act that transcends their international CP or their imperialism K
Hoveyda 5 Ambassador Hoveyda, Middle East project director of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, 2005 [Fereydoun, “Arab Women and the Future of the Middle East”, American Foreign Policy Interests No. 27, http://ipac.kacst.edu.sa/eDoc/2006/157373_1.pdf, p. 18-20]
Direct Aid and Cultural Exchanges
One panelist expressed the belief that many opportunities
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of the United States would not be helpful.
And women’s action is key to detonate patriarchy
Sabbagh 5 former Secretary General of the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW), 2005
[Amal, “The Arab States: Enhancing Women’s Political Participation” Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers, International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, http://static0.idea.int/publications/wip2/upload/Arab_World.pdf, p. 67]
‘The women’s movement…is the detonator
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potential as the harbingers of a better future.
We need democracy assistance to support women’s participation in politics and women’s movements to build coalitions against discrimination.
Sabbagh 5 former Secretary General of the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW), 2005
[Amal, “The Arab States: Enhancing Women’s Political Participation” Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers, International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, http://static0.idea.int/publications/wip2/upload/Arab_World.pdf, p. 65]
The non-democratic systems or nascent democracies
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country’s set of priorities, opportunities and challenges.
US democracy assistance to NGOs in Yemen is comparatively better than other actors – good working relations with NGOs that defy governments as well as good relations with even the most conservative Arabic groups.
Burke 10 “Assessing Democracy Assistance: Yemen” Edward Burke, May 2010, Researcher at FRIDE This report is FRIDE’s contribution to a project entitled ‘Assessing Democracy Assistance’ that is being carried out by the World Movement for Democracy. The project aims to gather views on how democracy support can be improved and its impact enhanced. Other case studies and a synthesis report can be found at www.fride.org. www.fride.org/download/IP_WMD_Yemen_ENG_jul10.pdf
Among NGOs, the US is regarded as
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civil society activists in Yemen than European donors.
Women’s movements in Yemen are unique – we don’t link to any of your imperialism or Western feminism arguments
Badran 98 (Gender & History ISSN 0953–5233 Margot Badran, ‘Unifying Women: Feminist Pasts and Presents in Yemen’ Gender & History, Vol.10 No.3 November 1998, pp. 498–518. © Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. Unifying Women: Feminist Pasts and Presents in Yemen MARGOT BADRAN)
The Republic of Yemen (ROY), which
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of the struggle to unify the new republic.
Debates about the implementation of policies and strategies to improve women’s participation in Yemeni politics offers a chance to examine our own political inequalities
Kennedy-Glans 6, the founder and executive director of Bridges Social Development, a Canadian registered charity providing capacity building in Yemen, [Donna Kennedy-Glans is “Gender Jihad: Enhancing Female Access in Politics”, Yemen Online, http://www.yemenonline.info/news-62.html]
The election outcomes – for both the ruling
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implement policies and implementation strategies that have impact.
Empowerment of women’s collective action is the best way to challenge the patriarchal status quo – nothing else works
Monshipouri 9, PhD, Professor of International Relations @ SFSU, 2009
[Mahmood, Muslims in Global Politics: Identities, Interests, and Human Rights, p. 71-72]
Strategies for promoting women's rights in the Muslim
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on distinct or profound differences among such groups.
