Further Oral Activity-Women's Power

FOA

“No More Abuse Campaign”

This is a campaign that was launched by the King Khalid foundation, a non profit organization that uses a powerful, simple and compelling image to make a statement against the dominating male figure in Saudi Arabian’ society. Denied the right to travel without consent from their male guardians and banned from driving, women in Saudi Arabia are now monitored by an electronic system that tracks any cross-border movements. This campaign is an excellent example of feminine power because clearly women in this society are beginning to come together against a corrupt system that has been in place for so long in Saudi Arabia. The fact this campaign even exists is a testament to women uniting to protest their right to freedom, which is being taken away from them in their lives on a regular basis. I think that this is really the strongest form of women power. When women can come together in support of something greater than themselves.

The Abused Goddesses Campaign

This campaign in India highlights domestic violence through its use of iconic religious imagery with modern day problems. This campaign depicts hand-painted goddesses bruised, battered, and beaten with a message at the bottom: “Pray that we never see this day. Today, more than 68% of women in India are victims of domestic violence. Tomorrow, it seems like no woman shall be spared. Not even the ones we pray to.” It also has a telephone number one can call. This new campaign expands the lens of how we look at domestic violence in India. The new Abused Goddesses campaign is genius in a number of ways:
1) It points out the irony of the oppression of Indian women juxtaposed against female deities in Hinduism, the largest religion in the country.
2) Using bold religious imagery forces people to pay attention to the message. Whether people agree with it or not, this campaign forces a conversation around domestic violence and the trafficking of women and girls.
3) The images combine art with reality. The images are beautiful and realistic looking. They’re not abstract images open to interpretation and subjective points of view. They are direct and explicit: this is what domestic abuse looks like on Indian women, important Indian women.
So, will this campaign create enough stir to bring about better implementation of the domestic violence laws India already has in place? Time will tell. But for now, we can be sure that this campaign has been effective in opening up the dialogue about domestic violence in India and setting the bar when it comes evocative and haunting awareness-raising campaigns

Depilex Smile Again Foundation

While this image is hard to look at it contains a positive approach.
“Place your hand over this side of her face to see what hydrochloric acid can do.
Place your hand over this side of her face to see what hope can do.
Hundreds of Pakistani women are victims of acid attacks. Help us rebuild their faces, and their lives.” This advertisement for the Smile Again non-profit foundation turns an image that at first shocks the viewer, into an up-lifting and inspiring message. Unfortunately in other countries such as Pakistan the majority of the victims of these acid attacks are women. The Smile again Foundation hopes to not only confront this global issue but impact the lives of the individual victims of these attacks. What I find so beautiful about this image is the fact that these women are willing to share their stories and their faces to inspire change in our world.

Malala

This is a photograph of Pakistanis honoring Malala, a young girl from Pakistan, while she is in the hospital after being shot in the head for speaking up against the Taliban regarding education. She was 11 years old when she took a stand against the Taliban, who had issued an edict that all girl’s schools should be closed. She protested by writing an anonymous blog for the BBC and appearing in a New York Times documentary. Today, after spending three months in the hospital, she has written a book soon to be published called I am Malala and also is the youngest person to ever be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She has also founded the Malala fund, a non-profit organization promoting women’s education. What her story says about feminine power is the same as all the other images I have shown you all. In other society’s, where women often receive less rights than we do in the United States, women power is often seen in the form of protest. Women use their individual story’s of injustice and abuse to bring about change and to unite women from all over to take action against the injustices present in their society. I think that this courage to speak out is one of the greatest example of feminine power I could ever show you.