Women for Women International - Fighting for Women’s Rights Around the World

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Women for Women International - Fighting for Women’s Rights Around the World

Women for Women International is an operation that aides women survivors of war, civil conflict, and injustices, and helps them to become self sufficient and educate them on rights awareness. They promote stability, peace, and self sufficiency through matching programs, donations and micro credit loans (WomenforWomen). I chose to write about this organization because I had just finished the book “Honour Lost” by Norma Khouri. This is a love story in modern day Jordan between a Muslim woman and a Christian man; and though all they did was spend time together talking, the woman was killed by her father for disgracing her family. Her murder was classified as an honour killing and her father faced minimal to no punishment. Women for Women International addresses the problem of honour killings and tries to educate people of the tragic issue through their website. Under the “Women in the World Today” link on the top of their homepage there is a column of issues, and you click on the issue of your interest.

“Honor killing is a practice in which men kill female relatives for activities where the female dishonors the family reputation, including… rape. Thousands of girls and women all over the world are murdered by their families each year in the name of family honor…flirting, being a victim of rape, or even failing to serve a meal on time can all be perceived as disgracing the family's honor…women are killed on the basis of a mere suspicion and are never given an opportunity to contest…In one extreme case, a man's dream of his wife's adultery was enough to elicit lethal violence (WomenforWomen).”

The organization was started in the early 1990’s by Zainab Salbi and Amjad Attallah who were moved by the plight of women in Yugoslavia that had been forced into and survived the rape and concentration camps. Under the “Our Heritage” link found at the top of the homepage you learn that Zainab and Amjad were disappointed to be unable to find an organization that helped these women and they joined The All Souls Unitarian Church traveling and providing aid in Croatia.

After their trip they returned to the United States and decided to form their organization. They started off small and have grown to connect over 40,000 women worldwide (WomenforWomen).

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