It was 2007, and I was at a loud party with friends. My phone had been ringing incessantly and they were all numbers I didn’t recognize so at first I chose to ignore the calls. Finally, about seven calls later, I decided to figure out what was going on and answered my phone. A male voice answered, sounding expectant of a more enthusiastic response. I asked him why he was calling me, to which he hung up. Barely a second later, the phone rang again, another unfamiliar number flashing on the screen. I answered again, only to have another awkward male voice ask me what I was doing, to which I could only say “Who are you and what do you want?”  He hung up without another word, and that is when I began to panic. When the phone rang again, I didn’t wait for the person on the other line to say a word – I burst out “Who are you people? Where did you get my number?” He sounded confused and said, “Didn’t you put your number on an adult personals forum?”

I remember feeling like the room was spinning, that all the blood had been drained from my body, and in that moment I couldn’t move. I just stood rooted to that spot, stuttering “What?” – angry, confused, shocked, and feeling completely violated.  My personal information was on an X-rated discussion forum, inviting strangers to call me for sex. I knew exactly who was behind it, a former “friend” who now lived in another state. Our relationship had soured a while ago, and in addition to blocking him on all social media websites, I had been ignoring his many text messages and phone calls. The text messages had gone from apologetic to aggressive, but I continued to ignore him. And that led to the events of this evening. It was his way of showing control and that he had the power to make me pay attention to him.

I was unable to log into the site, so I don’t know what happened there, but I did ask the callers to do one good deed and mark the post with my information for ‘deletion’ and ‘abuse’ (assuming there was even such an option). For the rest of the evening, and the weekend, I switched my phone off. I was told I should just change my phone number, but I only saw that as giving him power. I remember feeling determined that I would not let him get away with this. However, this was 2007; not only he did get away with posting my information on that website, he reveled in sending me emails, voicemails, and text messages where he mocked my inability to do anything to stop him. I spoke with the police, both in DC and his state, who told me they couldn’t take action because he hadn’t physically threatened me. They made me speak to a detective who listened to my story, and then as if to verify my statement, ask the offender about it. It was not a surprise that this former “friend” denied every word of my story, and the detective proceeded to close the case. Later, this “friend” called me on my birthday, not on my cellphone but this time on my phone at work, a private number I only shared with select close friends. He later boasted about tracking that number down, and also my address, while also wishing me happy birthday. He sent me pictures to tell me he was in town, to which all I could do was inform building security and immediately file a restraining order. I continued to hear from him but he never physically appeared before me, and his taunts were ‘limited’ to phone and email. Eventually, he left the country and it has been about two years since I last heard from him. It is still unfathomable to me that an individual who considered me a friend could resolve to upset my life in such a cruel manner. But cyber stalking and cyber harassment is a very real, effective, and now increasingly common, strategy for those who wish to express aggression against another individual.

Cyberstalking and Cyberbullies

A January 2009 U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reported that more than 1 in 4 stalking victims reported that some form of cyber stalking was used, such as e-mail (83%) or instant messaging (35%). Furthermore, the report noted that 26.7% of victims considered their victimization a personal matter, and did not report it to police. Meanwhile, the instances of cyber harassment have only increased, and both law enforcement and the targets of the harassment find to their dismay, even today, that there is little they can do.  For instance, even though many states have enacted cyber harassment laws, the perpetrators can only be held accountable by the law when there are threats of physical harm. The FBI has expanded their cyber crimes unit, acknowledging that this is becoming a growing problem that state jurisdiction alone cannot handle.

I find myself aghast with stories of other women, men, and youth who endure the humiliation of having their personal life and personal information carelessly exposed, and their online identity being so thoughtlessly and maliciously tarnished. And for young adults, it doesn’t just end there. Over 42 percent of youth who reported being cyberbullied also reported being bullied at school. The suicides of Megan Meier, Erin Gallagher, Jessica Laney, Jamey Rodmeyer, Amanda Todd are painful reminders of the extremely dark side of the Internet social interactions, and vulnerability for today’s youth.

It’s Just a Game?

Then, there’s the case of feminist media critic and blogger Anita Sarkeesian, whose Kickstarter project to analyze women in video games made her the target of relentless online violence. She faced multiple attempts to bring her website down, was threatened with physical and online violence (a video game was made where players could ‘punch’ her repeatedly, filling her face with virtual bruises and cuts till the screen turned completely bloody). She recently spoke about her experience at TEDxWomen held in Washington D.C:

“Even more disturbing, if that’s even possible, than this overt display of misogyny on a grand scale, is that the perpetrators openly referred to this harassment campaign and their abuse as a ‘game.’  They referred to their abuse as a game.”

Yet, there was a silver lining – these attempts only furthered her commitment to the project, and she also found a supportive community online that was able to help her raise 25 times the original funding goal for her project.

Part of this phenomenon is the eager and vicious cyber-audience that participate in and encourage malicious online activity. Why else would revenge-porn sites, where individuals can send in nude pictures of their exes or anyone else they wish to humiliate, exist? One of the most infamous of these websites was recently taken down, only to have the website founder recently announce that he was going to launch a new website that not only featured user-submitted naked pictures but also the addresses of those individuals profiled. Unbashed and unapologetic, he has told reporters that he doesn’t “feel it’s sleazy at all… Somebody was gonna monetize this, and I was the person to do it.”

Photo credit: Johan Larsson via photopin cc

A country of over a billion, India isn’t a stranger to the baby-boom. Over the last few years, this fertility has been captured into a new business – known as commercial surrogacy or “wombs for rent”. Commercial surrogacy is legal in India as of 2002. Combine that with India’s relatively affordable and high standard of healthcare for developing countries, and couples from developed countries are coming to India (and similarly positioned countries in the developing world) to fulfill their parenting dreams and aspirations. A recent story in Mother Jones shared the following difference in costs – “[An India]clinic charges about $15,000 to $20,000 for the entire process, from in vitro fertilization to delivery, whereas in the handful of American states that allow paid surrogacy, bringing a child to term costs between $50,000 and $100,000.” The same story also estimated that this is a $2.3 billion business for Indian clinics.

What about the women that “rent” their womb? Who are they? How do they navigate the socio-cultural reactions to the physically visible pregnancy? What does this mean for the clients who seek out surrogates in India and other countries? Is there a legal framework to keep in check the exploitation associated with surrogacy? I spoke with India-born and US-based filmmaker Arpita Kumar about her take on these issues in her latest film ‘Sita’, along with the challenges of capturing such a powerful and complex story on camera.

Q: Give us a glimpse into the story of Sita.
A: The film pries open a small window onto a day when the repercussions of a young Indian woman named Sita’s desperate act for change disrupts societal order. When Sita rents her womb out to a Canadian woman, her commercial surrogate status opens a can of legal and ethical worms. My audience for this story is both Indian and global. There are no villains in this film, just people who have their reasons. Therefore, we empathize not only with Sita here but the Canadian woman who has struggled for all these years to have a baby.

Q: How does Sita fit into the dialogue around gender and class in India?
A: The surge in medical tourism and commercial surrogacy in India is largely because this artificial reproductive technology (A.R.T) is cheapest though not necessarily the safest or most ethical in India. Most Indian commercial surrogates are women struggling financially. Similarly, the intended parents who travel half way around the world to rent a womb are not rich. They seek a commercial surrogate in India because either it is illegal back home or they are unable to afford it. However, the inequality of the global economic structure is such that it allows for a middle-class American or Australian to rent the womb of an underprivileged Indian woman. There is significant difference in what it costs to employ the services of a commercial surrogate in the U.S. compared to the services of a commercial surrogate in India. There is always the question of the quality of services provided to the intended parents and there is a lot of news around a surrogate often running away with the child born out of surrogacy. However, very few films capture emotional and psychological effects of commercial surrogacy on an Indian surrogate. Rarely is there a film that highlights the Indian surrogate’s point of view as she journeys through the surrogacy. Rarely is inquiry made about her subjectivity, or her awareness of the dangers to her health and psychology, the legal complications she might get embroiled in. These are the dialogues Sita hopes to initiate.

Q: Tell us about your work as a reproductive rights activist and why you chose this cause?
A: My reproductive rights activism has been largely through my work that draws inspiration from gendered narratives of the body and its reproductive control. I grew up hearing heartbreaking stories from my mother about how her educated, upper –middle class patients would put their health at risk and seek illegal sex-selective abortions. The women had no say over their pregnant bodies and its reproductive rights — a family patriarch or matriarch made the decision for them. Later, one of my first jobs in the U.S. was with Planned Parenthood, and it amazed me that an organization that provides reproductive health care and education to nearly five million women, and men worldwide finds its funding under constant threat because it advocates a woman’s right to choice. The constant threat to ban abortions in the United States reveals once again how state and religion control and maintain the female body. Commercial surrogacy is another control of the female body but this time through commerce. Through my film I don’t advocate against commercial surrogacy. In fact, commercial surrogacy can be a blessing for couples struggling with infertility. However, my film highlights how the commodification of a woman’s body can lead to potential abuse and health risks.

Q: Let’s talk about being a female film maker – this is another one of those industries where the lack of prominent women directors stands out. Is it tough being an Indian female filmmaker, especially when your subject broaches such a sensitive topic?
A: It is tough being a filmmaker despite your nationality or gender. However, yes, white men dominate filmmaking like so many other professions. It is harder then to break into a world where you are not the standard. Therefore, it becomes even more important to make films against the grain. My films have strong female lead characters and highlight narratives that raise questions about equality and female agency. I work and seek out people who work in a similar way and have similar work ethics. During my shoot in India, my entire crew was male and my cast was female. However, I have a dominant personality and it definitely helped empowering my presence on the set.

Q: Tell me about filming in India for Sita compared to your previous experiences. Anything that particularly struck you as brilliant, odd or surprising?
A: My main actor, Garima Bhardwaj, transformed herself physically from a middle-class Indian woman to a woman from a financially and socially disadvantaged background to play Sita. In the film, Sita is from rural Uttar Pradesh and Garima was very impressive in how she transformed the way she dressed, walked, talked, and held her body. However, the most shocking and absurd thing was the reaction of people in Delhi to Garima. We were shooting in a posh hospital and once Garima was in costume and make-up, the security guard would not let her in the hospital. It was shocking and a great revelation for all of us because we realized how somebody like Sita’s womb is desired in this hospital but not Sita herself. Sita is too poor to gain access in such a space. But, the hospital was not the only space. Our next shoot location was a temple and the temple priest practically chased her off the steps thinking she was an “untouchable.” Once again, a shocking and horrifying indication of how marginalized Sita is and how often abused and mistreated.

Q: What’s next?
A: We are about to embark on the international film festival circuit. Where and when Sita’s film festival premiere takes place depends on which festival we get accepted into and where we find distribution. Some prestigious festivals in Mumbai and Delhi are on our list so stay tuned and wish us all the best as we begin our festival journey. You can follow us for updates on our website http://sitathefilm.com or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SupportSita.

Photo via the Support Sita Facebook page.

Last month, 36 Iranian universities shocked education and women’s advocates around the world by announcing that 77 college programs, which were previously open to both men and women, will no longer accept female students. This turn of events has not received any formal condemnation from the Iranian Ministry of Higher Education or Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinajad, though Rooz Online reported that the “Ministry of Education’s academic evaluation organization has taken a position against it and it appears that a review and reversal of the decision may be in the making.” There has been no new development or announcement of a reversal since the news broke in early August.

Resource-efficiency or a legacy of discrimination?

In spite of paying lip-service to the cause of women’s education, recent reports suggest that the Ahmadinejad government has long been working to limit the number of females entering higher education. In 2008, the Majlis [Parliament] Research Centre, a conservative Iranian think tank, published a report that expressed “concern” over the increased number of women in higher education. It called this increase “a waste of the country’s resources for educating professionals.” In fact, the 2006 numbers for women taking university entrance exams was at 60% compared to 42% in 1989. It may not be a coincidence that 2006 also marked the number of seats for females in 26 university courses began to be limited to a certain quota. This was followed by a 2010 UNESCO study whose results showed that women made up about 70% of Iranian graduates in science, more than half in social science, business and law, and more than a quarter in engineering, manufacturing and construction. Even during this latest announcement, Iranian Science Minister Kamran Daneshjoo claimed the main factor to be a need to find a greater “balance” in gender enrollment within the university environment.

One of the several reasons cited by Iranian universities for the decision was a lack of employer demand for women graduates. They cited the employment rate for women under 30 at 28 percent. Indeed, even a recent World Bank report stated that female unemployment in Iran has increased twice that of men (see also “Where are Iran’s Working Women?”) However, the slew of institutional obstacles and social stigmas that emerge for female graduates in the job market are equally a cause of the low employment number. Indeed, the 2008 Majlis report also threatened that the aspirations of educated, job-seeking women would “damage the family institution” as they would prefer to work after marriage too.  Furthermore, the public sector is the main employer for women, hiring 87% of working women, because of the security and easy accessibility it offers compared to other fields. Yet, even they hit a glass ceiling and only 5% of the top managerial positions are held by women. Furthermore, even in the case of self-owned businesses, a recent report held that women constitute less than 10% of entrepreneurs in Iran.

Reactions from the International Community

Iran’s only Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Shirin Ebadi who is a graduate from University of Tehran herself, has demanded that the United Nations investigate the state of women’s rights in the country. In a letter written to the United Nations Women Executive Director, Michelle Bachelet, she expressed concern that this decision by Iranian universities will lead to a decrease in the number of female students to less than half. She also noted other Iranian government detrimental activities and policies around reproductive health and human rights, urging the United Nations to examine the  situation in the country.

During his visit to Tehran in late August, United Nations Secretary-General did not make direct reference to the ban but his prepared remarks included the following statements: “Women now make up more than half of all university [students] in Iran – that’s again fantastic.  This welcome trend must continue with women entering an ever-broader range of professions and fields of study.”

The U.S. State Department’s statement on this decision criticized the actions and statements of the Iranian officials and said that this policy “represents a significant regression for women in Iran” and that it “will further restrict the ability of Iranian women to find employment.”

Image credit j.o.h.n. walker via the Creative Commons License.

In the past few months, a new wave of sanctions have been imposed on Iran by the U.S. and the EU to ramp up international pressure against their nuclear program. The latest effort along these lines by the Obama administration aims to punish financial sector companies and shippers that help Tehran sell its oil, and thus cut off sources of income to the country. Experts at the Brookings Institute noted that this latest move seeks to “close loopholes that have allowed Iran to get around the existing sanctions.” Middle East expert Ms. Susan Maloney also pointed out that “there is clear evidence of rising commodity prices, particularly food prices, and there were indications of a growing public backlash against the impact of the sanctions.” A recent report by the International Civil Society Action Network digs deeper to drill down impact that these sanctions are having on Iranian women.

The ICAN report raises concerns about Western governments motives – while they claim to be supportive of women’s rights worldwide, they seem to be unconcerned about the grave social, economic and cultural impact of their ever-increasing sanctions on Iranian women. For instance, the intensification of sanctions has led to increased economic hardships at the national level, which have, for example, resulted in the Iranian government impose quota-based limitations on educational and employment opportunities for women. The decade of comprehensive economic sanctions in Iraq between the years of 1990 – 2003 and its impact on Iraqi society has been documented by scholars and activities, and is also raised as a parallel in the report. Meanwhile, Iran has operated under various U.S. imposed economic or political sanctions since as back as 1984. While the Iranian leadership denies any suggestions that the sanctions have had a lasting or significant effect, most researchers have found it hard to evaluate the situation because of the lack of transparency or availability of data. In that respect, the ICAN report sheds on the issue, by including varied perspectives from women on the ground. One such example is the facebook comment left by an Iranian women’s activist below:

“Today the fluctuating costs of products in the mar­ket between the morning and the afternoon was truly something worth noting. The cost of tires in the morning was 350,000 Tomans (at about $200-$250 at the time) by the afternoon the same tires were 750,000 Tomans. I think that we should just lay down and die, and only those idiots who keep saying that sanctions will not impact the economy of Iran should be allowed to live.”

Other critics have also noticed a number of similar negative downstream effects the sanctions have had for women.  For example, the sanctions on technology have led to a blockage on access to online services and software — including e-mail, blogging platforms and security tools that prevent user activity from being traced — that are extremely helpful to civilians on the ground, particular those that are leading opposition movements. Similarly, the U.S. ban on financial transactions to Iran has also raised many questions about the accessibility of relief funds to victims of natural disasters or aid groups inside Iran. It was heartening to hear that the U.S. responded to the news of the twin earthquakes that occurred in northwest Iraq earlier this week by allowing donations of food and medicine to Iran without fear of prosecution.

Raising visibility into the impact of these sanctions on Iranian communities and the worsening situation for women, particularly for those who are not supporters of the regime, will allow for more effective foreign policy strategy. The international community should be pressed to push for more transparency and support to issues of human rights in this region. The report from ICAN is a commendable start to this effort—it provides an important perspective in questioning and evaluating the overall impact of these recent and previous rounds of sanctions on Iranian communities, and whether the U.S., EU and the larger international community will be able achieve their ultimate goal in the region.

Photo credit: Please! Don’t Smile

A series of bi-lingual anti-harassment advertisements have been rolled out by the DC Metro (WMATA). This is a positive development for many commuters, including myself, who use metro trains and buses at all hours of the day.

Particularly promising is the online reporting tool located at wmata.com/harassment – it allows for commuters to report incidents where they were sexually harassed directly to Metro Transit Police using a web-based form. Information submitted through the web portal is immediately transmitted to Metro Transit Police for follow-up action, and people who report incidents have the option of remaining anonymous. What’s even more commendable is that Metro provides an email address (harassment [at] wmata [dot] com) on the ad to allow commuters to send a picture or video files to assist an investigation.

DC’s ad-campaign is modeled after Boston’s MBTA’s award-winning anti-sexual harassment reporting and awareness efforts. It also joins other public transportation operators in U.S. cities including New York City Transit and the Chicago Transit Authority who have sought to acknowledge and tackle this issue by issuing PSAs. Some cities, such as New Delhi, India where I grew up wary and discouraged to use public transportation because I was female, have tackled the issue of rampant sexual-harassment on their metro system by providing women-only train cars. It’s an idea that is practical given the harsh realities of Delhi’s female-unfriendly culture, yet flawed in theory because it doesn’t serve as a deterrent to gender-based sexual harassment.

The anti-harassment PSA’s are now reportedly up in 28 metro stations and bus stops, so there’s clearly a long way to go. Given that the campaign was launched in April, one can probably expect the Metro to roll this out more widely around the district. What do you think about this PSA campaign? Were you aware of this effort and have you seen an ad at your local metro stop?

Neha’s interests lie in economic development, technology policy and ICT4D. She has grown up in India, Qatar and the UAE, and attended Mount Holyoke College. She works in government affairs and is also completing an MBA from the George Washington University School of Business. Her aspiration is to promote the use of technology to create and further opportunities for women and youth in developing countries. Her twitter handle is @shahnorama.

Photo Credit Orfgen via the Creative Commons License.