Women (and girls) must be warriors

Aberash faces exile from her village and cannot see her family

I was just reading a horrific BBC News story about a 21-year-old Ethiopian woman whose stalker disfigured her face with sulphuric acid and found a link to this story from 1999 on the same page. Somewhat heartening, though bittersweet:

BBC News June 18, 1999
Ethiopia: Revenge of the abducted bride
Charlotte Metcalfe, director of the BBC programme 'Schoolgirl killer' tells the story of Aberash Bekele, a young Ethiopian women on trial for murder after killing the man who abducted and raped her.

Read more here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/371944.stm

International Women's Day rant

It happened last week and I'm only just getting around to writing about it because, as a single working mother, I had other things to do. I always find Women's Day depressing at best and infuriating at worst. For one thing, why isn't there a "Men's Day"? (answer: because they get the other 364 days of the year). Living in Brazil, where men reign supreme because women let them, I have all sorts of irritants "up with which to put". This year, I was on a plane from Rio to Salvador - yes, on March 8th - and a female flight attendant wished the passengers "Happy Women's Day". A man sitting near me (as part of a loving couple) said, "Ah, but isn't it men that make women happy?" (A loose translation of: "A felicidade da mulher não é o homem?") Good thing his girlfriend was sitting between us or I'd have thumped him. I have nothing against the male gender in general - some are my closest friends are men ;-) However, I will start to feel that women have arrived when the CNN anchors are a 60-ish woman with plenty of wrinkles and white hair, sitting beside a 30-something man.