Real Rights. And Wrongs.

Women are abused by culture in all but a few places and contexts.  You'd expect that to be the case in the lesser developed regions perhaps, but certainly not in the west.  You'll notice the illustration (right) is English only with hits in the half-billion range suggesting the continuance of such thinking.  Disappointing.

I was surprised by differences from country to country.  Working in Africa ...

The surprise:  Working late one night with a couple military officers; they were debating and invited me to cast the deciding vote.  The issue: is it appropriate to beat your wife only when she was disrespectful, or should you do so regularly to keep her in line?  These are good hearted Christian gentlemen, interestingly enough, who struggle with the difference between culture and right.  My answer was hard to receive.

The unexpected:  In another country, men are incredible; strong, hardworking, honest; and the women are equally strong, perhaps even more so.  It so encouraged me to see how well they handled their difficult world.  It's an impressive culture, former Portuguese colony, slavery transshipment center, now a democracy, mostly Catholic, emerging economy, recovering agriculturally, virtually no crime or violence.  Women are respected; they are the voice of the communities and perhaps the nation as well.

The world's first twitter revolution ...

After decades of personal sacrifice by millions for equality and justice, what is it going to take to finish?  The debate is now well instantiated on the world's virtual wall; that is encouraging.  
Perhaps we'll tweet the neanderthals out of power.  

It worked in Egypt.  :)