WHYS in Boston

Young women do certainly face gender-based challenges; but so do young men. They each face different ones. And of course, the slant toward all sorts of societal power - political, judicial, economic, religious, and educational - is definitely toward the male side. While no society on Earth has perfected gender equality, some are certainly a great deal more out of balance than others. The Middle Eastern and African regions come to mind. Curiously though, I think the more developed societies with their hideously well-developed marketing techniques are doing the greater disservice to young women. A market place has been created for items and activities; cosmetics, clothes, shoes, music, magazines, etc., whose sales depends upon emphasizing young women’s sexualization rather than their maturation. Nine year old, prepubescent girls needn’t be teetering around in tight tank tops, short skirts and platform shoes! There isn’t a logical, societal purpose for such things to occur. The only reason for it is greed, and not just for money. We can prove we know better; but we still offend logic!
I do think that events like this Boston gathering are very important because the only way out of the current imbalance is a redistribution of the various powers of society. Talking and organizing is the only way to start. I would select organized religions as a first and continuing target. Nothing trumps ambition more effectively than being labeled as the “opposite sex” compared to the Supreme Being. Female society has been battered over the heads by shamans, priests, imams and monks for much too long. So long as this primal tyranny exists, obtaining the more productive positions of power will always be more difficult for women. Besides, why can’t the grand caliph or pope be a girl? Indeed, it is illogical and wasteful as well, that women aren’t represented slightly more than half at every level of power in society.
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"Is getting a fair trial harder if you are female?
From lenient sentencing for those guilty of attempted honour killings, to female drug mules with heavier jailterms that the dealers, and rape victims imprisoned for breaking sex before marriage laws - is the justice system weighted against women"

This must be a third world thing, because in the US, women get much more lenient sentencing, and get acquitted a lot more often than men would for the same crimes. Whenever there's a false rape accusation, the accused are in jail for weeks or months, and then the accuser confesses to making up the story, and the most consequences there are is that she gets community service, meanwhile the falsely accused had lots of legal bills, a destroyed reputation, etc..
I think there's been work to having more equality int he legal system, as women are being more often charged for crimes that would have been swept under the carpet, but sentencing still has large disparities between the sexes. Also in the civil system, the courts are heavily biased in favor or women in both divorce and child custody.

Examples from the UK:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1311004/Judges-ordered-mercy-women-criminals-deciding-sentences.html

Also not even that long ago there was a suggestion from someone in the UK involving the Prison system who recommended that all women's prisons be closed and they get community service in stead. Just for women, not men. That's hardly equal treatment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13666066

Re: Is getting a fair trial harder if you are female?

The issues of honor killings and rape victims being imprisoned for breaking sex before marriage laws is worthy of discussion. Instances like this show a breakdown in the legal system protecting true victims of crime.

Re: Are women not allowed to be girls first?

Babies are having babies and continuing the cycle. Marriage doesn't even usually enter into some women's minds as they are all about having a good time. We live in a society that rewards sexy over substance. Men reward this superficiality by gravitating towards women who are dumber than dirt, have little morals and values, and then they whine when those women treat them terribly.

As far as an appropriate age for having sex; that should be when it is part of a monogamous relationship without external factors such as poverty or societal pressure contributing to the decision to have sex. This should happen after you are married.

There is nothing wrong with young girls having chores and responsibilities. All children should have those. However; an 8-5 job is something that should be reserved for adults. Children should focus on their education to ensure that they are able to continue to college and eventually have an 8-5 adult job.

I just wanted to send my congratulations to these inspiring and articulate young women activists in Boston .. the loss of similar young activists in Norway is much on my mind ... please stay active and powerful ... the world needs you !

Stay strong.

Does anyone pity children who had their childhood taken from them, or voluntarily grow up in a hurry? We heard about girls or boys who get high school grades are not always popular in social life. Children are curious to learn, to explore the world around them. When they "discover" sex, they don't just lost their childhood innocence, they also stopped intellectual development. How about the joy of simple play?

I am an American male with a family and a daughter that is 13. We spent a year in Vietnam. My question is, why is it that in Vietnam, and possibly other Asian countries, sex is low on the priority list? When I investigated this question in Vietnam, I could not come up with a clear answer. In America, we have had this pro/con argument over teenage sex for decades with, I think, a current decrease in teen pregnancy rates?

doctors say a girls body is not ready for sexual activity until she is 18. until doctors re-define that then all u young girls better shut up before u get pregnant. none of u r ready. none of u r ready for the perils of sex at that age and thats the problem. way too much teen pregnancy. u young girls have way too much free time if u have time for sex. be patient and it will mean so much more to you when u do experience it for the first time. ur bodies arent even ready to enjoy sex like that yet. ur not even enjoying it. ur bodies are simply taking abuse.

I was at a total loss for words about the bonbing and mass murders in Norway. There was nothing I could think of to mitigate the pain people there must be experiencing. Similarly, the death of another innocent, Ahmed Omed Khpulwak, in Afghanistan must be truly hard for the people at Bush House. At first, when I read your blog I thought of something clever to say, but it was shadowed by my feelings of complicity in the whole US-Middle East invasion mess, insofar that I was nowhere near vociferous enough in my opposition to it. Save to say that the Norwegians need to stop blaming themselves, and chalk it up to the singular actions of a complete madman. In the US, we have our Timothy McVeigh and George W. Bush, who neither understood the consequences of their actions.

Wow, and then people wonder why no one posts anymore.

Yesterday I tried to post a comment, but the system just kept twirling its little uploading symbol, to no avail. No way will I spend the time to rethink that post. By the way, yesterday was hardly the first time that I ran into this upload problem.

And then coming back today, I notice that all of the comments that were waiting moderation yesterday are STILL waiting.

It doesn't matter whether it's WHYS or someone else at the BBC that is responsible for this. The simple fact is, it should hardly be surprising why people quit posting. My only surprise in all of this is that evidently, people at WHYS didn't know about this problem?

We have a rather strange justice system in the UK despite all the propoganda as to how perfect it is.The victim is treated as the criminal male and female.There again i suppose as long as it makes the legal system lots of money.

Women should find their rights this includes justice and equality even in political issues