There seems to be a lot of talk about “rape rooms” lately in defense of the war in Iraq. The Administration would love us to believe that they sent troops because they care about the Iraqi people, but if they were so concerned, then why did they wait this long? Why haven’t they gone after Sierra Leone, Kosovo, the senate Republic of Congo, and Rwanda, where raping women during conflicts is common? Why haven’t they tried to “liberate” the estimated 135 million women who have undergone forced “female circumcision” (mutilation of the clitoris and parts of the labia) which is a common procedure in much of Africa as well as Egypt, Oman, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates? Why haven’t they sought “regime change” in Ukraine, Moldova, Nigeria, the Dominican Republic, Burma, and Thailand where women have been bought and sold as sex slaves? Why is the United States the only industrialized nation that hasn’t ratified the U.N.’s Women’s Rights Treaty?

We actually know the answer to that last one. The Treaty was on its way to ratification in the senate in 1994 when the “Republican Takeover” happened and the Republican Party took over the House and senate. There it sat the the shelf for eight years because the Republicans objected to the treaty’s perceived “pro-abortion” slant as well as the treaty’s failure to reinforce gender-based stereotypes that are “anti-family”. It wasn’t until 2002 when the Democrats controlled the senate that ratification of the treaty even made it out of a senate commitee (in a 12 - 7 vote). Unfortunately, the treaty never got a full vote and has reverted back to the senate Foreign Relations Committee. (You can contact them here.)

But then again, the US has it’s own rape problems to worry about :

The Air Force acknowledges that at least 56 cases of rape or other sexual assaults at the academy have been investigated in the last 10 years, though only one male cadet has faced a court-martial as a result of any accusation, in 1995. He was acquitted. Eight other male cadets have been expelled in sexual attacks since 1996. The academy concedes that it has no records of sexual assaults in the first 20 years of women’s admission, starting in 1976.

You can find more information about global women’s rights issues here and here.