This is a very interesting article, Lestat. I know little about any of this but a couple of things occur to me which may or may not be sensible
The first is that, while it may be a hopeful sign that some women are gaining a a voice at least in some places, there is a whiff on a very grand scale of women being asked to take responsibility for men's behaviour in circumstances where they do not have the power. That is an age old song. Chinua Achebe refers to similar hopes in his Nigerian trilogy (sorry the name of the trilogy escapes me for now). I like to think there is real cause for hope, but my doubts are not just theoretical
A couple of my acquaintance have just returned from two years in Ethiopia, where they went with voluntary service overseas. They worked in a university, he teaching physics and she biology. They have told me of the difficulties they faced, some of which were common. However for the purpose of this discussion the experience of my female friend is relevant. Bearing in mind that any girl who is being educated in ethiopia already has a certain privileged position, it was dispiriting for her to find how difficult it was for them. As examples, on more than one occasion all the girls in the class were late. This was because the boys had put them off the bus by physical force and they had to walk to get there. Similarly girls were intimidated out of the line in the library so they had problems getting access to books (there is a shortage).My friend told of the attitude of those boys, who would not readily accept her teaching because she is female. This was mitigated because they did have respect for qualifications, and she does have a PhD. But even with that they did not accept the results of exam papers she marked, nor her knowleddge base in many instances. The boys were arrogant and intimidating despite her very privileged status; the girls were timid.
There were many "boys only" activities run in the university and so my friend decided to try to run a girls only aerobics class with a view to getting to know them better and to make a place to build confidence. The boys prevented this by refusing to be excluded from any activity at all, and the attempt failed.
I realise this is one couple's experience in a whole continent and I do not wish to make too much of it. But it made profound impact on them, and it occurs to me that there will be real difficulties in implementing the kinds of change the article refers to in face of attitudes like these, if they are widespread.
I do not mean to say I see no hope in the developments you describe, but there needs to be a very radical change if the educated population behave like this, and it is difficult to see how women can do this alone.
Sorry to be a pessimist
I will sing my song for balance *the rising of the women means the rising of the race*
Linear Mode
