Feature
June 1, 2009CARE Representative Discusses Women's Rights in the Developing World
The causes of poverty are multi-faceted, but poverty often disproportionately affects women. In developing regions of the world, being poor-especially for women-can be a death sentence. "Five hundred thirty-six thousand women die each year due to pregnancy and childbirth. Many of these causes of death are preventable. This is the maternal health crisis we face," said Derreck Kayongo, the advocacy field coordinator for CARE International. "Maternal health is the least likely of all of the Millennium Development Goals to be met by 2015."
Kayongo addressed students from the Harris School and the School of Social Service Administration in early May during a talk sponsored by the Graduate Certificate Program in Health Administration and Policy and the CARE Women's Initiative. He discussed CARE's worldwide focus on women's health and its connection to the organization's larger mission of defending dignity and fighting poverty around the world through policy advocacy and on-the-ground development projects.
"Women's health, climate change, food for all, access to financial services, gender-based violence, and girls' education are all part of CARE's advocacy agenda," said Kayongo. He shared an example of a project in rural Peru where translators assisted in administering health care, which resulted in a 50 percent drop in the region's mortality during and after childbirth.
While individual projects can be effective, Kayongo said that CARE has a bigger policy goal. "We have found that in many places, girls get married at a very young age. [Once this happens] you have locked them into poverty." While most governments have laws to prevent marriage for people under 18 years of age, there is little enforcement. He would like to see the United States use incentives such as withholding foreign aid unless these policies are followed.
Kayongo has a passion for designing and implementing strong policies for countries because of his personal experiences. Born in Uganda, Kayongo fled to Kenya as a child to escape violence. He has lived in many countries around the world giving him a respect for diversity and native customs, but he believes culture should not be used as a rationale for not respecting women's rights. "There is good culture and bad culture, and you have to differentiate," he argued.
For example, he noted, Westerners should not dismiss dangerous childbirth practices in the developing world as "part of their culture" and let it endanger mothers' lives. He fears that Western women might "believe people who are saying that they don't have jurisdiction to comment on what is going on in the developing world." Kayongo respects what Western women have achieved; he admires the women's rights movement that happened in the Western world in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
The women's movement, he said, needs to continue for those living outside of North America and Europe. As Western women achieve parity, they do not fight quite so hard. Kayongo would rather see them fight for the other women of the world, the "women in India, women in Africa, and women in Eastern Europe-they are living a hellish life, and that is an outrage."
By Elizabeth Vivirito
Contact Information
Eleanor Cartelli
Associate Director of Publications
Phone: 773-834-4752
Email: cartelli@uchicago.edu
