Worst Country in the World to be a Woman

According to the American Journal of Public Health, the Congo (a country of 70 million people in Africa about the size of Western Europe) is officially the worst country in the world in which to be a woman.

In the 3 hours since I've been awake, 144 women and girls have been raped there.

Of course, the numbers could be much higher as these statistics were gathered in face-to-face interviews.  How many women do you know are 100% forthcoming about repeated sexual violence committed by war criminals as well as "regular" people?

Let's try for some perspective here: in the United States, a woman has about a 0.05% chance of being raped once in her lifetime.  That's 1 person in every 2,000.  In the Congo, that percentage leaps to almost 3% (3 people out of every hundred); and in the worst hit areas of the war zone, it's almost 7% (7 people out of every hundred).  And those are very conservative numbers.

The implications are staggering...not just for the victims, but for their loved ones and their children.  We're talking about a generation of babies growing up knowing their father raped their mother.  There could be a veritable explosion of sexually transmitted infections, from curable syphilis to HIV and AIDS.  And the psychological ramifications of unchecked sexual violence is nearly indescribable.

So what can we do?  There are many charities aimed at helping women in the Congo, including WomenforWomen.org, RaiseHopeforCongo.org and RunforCongoWomen.org. 

The armed groups perpetrating most of the violence against women are after control of Africa's major mineral contributions to capitalism: gold, tin, tungsten and tantalum.  These are major ingredients in our electronics (including our cell phones and laptops).  You can push retail companies sell items made from non-conflict materials (similar to the recent uproar over blood diamonds).

The only other thing I can suggest is teaching our children the world is bigger than our personal backyards...it's necessary to maintain an emotional connection to human beings all over the globe.  Service to mankind should be a hallmark of everyone's existence from childhood on.

I know it seems impossible, but we have to try.  You don't just fight the fights you can win...you fight the fights that need fighting.