By Marion Wise
Daily Bruin Contributor
Discussing female circumcision, gender equality and independence
in Dodd Hall Wednesday night, some women said they accept their
cultures, despite situations Western standards might deem
discriminatory.
Drawing a crowd of about 15 people, six speakers representing
life in Egypt, Ghana, India, Singapore, Switzerland as well as for
African American women, shared their personal experiences with
gender issues.
“I don’t feel limited. I feel like the world is
at my doorstep. I think a lot of the limitations (on women) are
ones that we’ve brought onto ourselves,” said Raji
Rykert, a panelist from India.
Conversely, Arama Sey of Ghana said women in her culture are
expected to both attend college and to know how to cook.
“A woman is as independent as the society allows her to
be,” Sey said. “You’re being kept within certain
bounds. You just don’t do what you want to do.”
Women’s Forum 2001, an event honoring March as National
Women’s History Month, was sponsored by the Undergraduate
Students Association Council Office of the President.
Speakers hand-picked by the non-profit organization, Women in
Network, answered questions put forth by Aldriena Rico, of the
president’s office. The audience also had an opportunity to
ask questions of the speakers.
Panelist Dina Tawfik discussed topics affecting Egyptian women,
including the practice of female circumcision, which she said still
occurs in some villages.
“These circumcisions occur actually to encourage sexual
abstinence,” Tawfik said. “There’s been an
incredible change recently. There’s been a lot of people
speaking out against this.”
She also said her mother’s circumcision has had lasting
effects on her life.
“My mother still remembers it, and chokes up,” she
said.
In Egypt, however, female circumcision is not viewed as a gender
equality issue, she said. In fact, Tawfik said, most Egyptians
don’t recognize inequality as a legitimate women’s
issue.
“In Egypt, sometimes I think there’s not a
definition of the word,” Tawfik said of gender inequality.
“There’s not this feeling of inadequacy. For the most
part, everybody’s pretty happy where they are.”
Third-year English student Carrie Farrar said she was surprised
that the speakers, including Tawfik, accepted their cultures
considering some of the problems these women face.
“I think it was a challenge to my own personal opinions of
how women are treated in these cultures. The way they viewed
themselves within their culture ““ they all seemed pretty
secure. I think I’m a little more critical,” Farrar
said.
Rykert described the injustices Indian women experience,
particularly widowers and those who do not give a large dowry at
marriage. These women frequently suffer violent deaths, she
said.
“I think a possible solution is instilling the notion that
women are valuable,” Rykert said. “I think, for the
role to change, it’s going to start with women.”
Sey discussed differences between her culture’s
perceptions of women and those of many Americans.
“We accept the fact that a woman can’t do the things
a man can do,” Sey said. “Equality for a woman is
achieving her full potential, raising a family, and succeeding in
whatever career she is intelligent enough to obtain.”
Dr. Saphry May Liauw of Singapore also described a culture that
does not stress female independence.
“We do not strive for independence as much as you do
here,” Liauw said. “Why should we be independent when
we get our identity in the family?”
The forum was the second of such events put on by USAC President
Elizabeth Houston. Last year, as director of women’s issues
for the Student Welfare Commission, Houston sponsored a
women’s forum which focused on the problem of eating
disorders.
Houston said she looked to WIN to help her organize the event
because the network is a neutral organization with contacts of
diverse cultures.
“I specified that I wanted them to be people who have
personal experience, not just anyone who can shoot out a bunch of
facts,” Houston said. “I thought it was great. I
personally got a lot out of it.”
But some attendees had thought differently about the design of
the program, including Debika Far, a third-year communications
studies student.
“I’d like to see speakers with more factual
information. I think part of the problem was because three of the
speakers were born and raised in the United States,” Far
said.
David Dahle, chief deputy of staff for Houston’s office,
said low attendance, which he attributed to the rain, did not deter
from the program.
“I just wish that more people could see what our office is
doing,” said Dahle, a third-year political science and
sociology student.