In class, I took the time to really pull apart 16 Days of Activism: Grandi calls for better protection of refugees against sexual violence in the workplace. After exploring the UNHCR and Human Rights Watch, something just pulled me back to this article.

As a teenager in the United States, I think that the thought of sexual violence in a workplace can often escape my mind. I have worked at a summer camp since I was 13, and it never ever occurred to me that I could be sexually assaulted in that sort of safe and comfortable environment. However, after reading, I discovered that refugee women in Syria can not even do simple tasks like “gather water or collect firewood” without the fear that they might be sexually assaulted or attacked.

Syrian women and children completing their journey to gather firewood (UNHCR article)

Reading this article brought me back to my blog post about being female and what it truly means to live in this world as a female, though we might have not totally thought that much about it before. The simple fact is that men and women are treated differently. It is much rarer for a male to be raped or assaulted in their work environment as opposed to a woman experiencing it not just in work, but wherever they are in their daily life. We live in a world when women are of lower dominance because of past gender stereotypes, and that is something that needs to be changed. Women need to feel comfortable living in this world and not having to worry about what they wear, how they look, or if they are “asking for it”.

Angelina Jolie, an appointed special envoy of the UNCHR, said that taking more powerful precautions and being more aware of what goes on in workplace environments will be the necessary steps we need to take to protect refugee women.

In the article, the UNCHR states that they “regret that access to safe and lawful environment remains a distant reality for many refugees in their countries of asylum,” (1). In theory, the UNCHR believes that if Syrian refugee women were given the opportunity to work in a place where they provided and supplied their own products, they would be much less likely to get raped or experience sexual violence. Not only would this allow a reduced risk of the violence, but it would also give them a little taste of what it’s like to have a lot of responsibility, live off of the money you make, and the great feeling of being a part of your country’s money income from homegrown products.

Gender inequality combined with sexual harassment has been a problem for a very long time. In the beginning stages, it was incredibly difficult for women to find their voice, speak out and share their stories, frustrations, and anger. However, as time went on and more and more women started sharing their stories, other women around the world began to realize that they were truly not alone in these situations, no matter how alone they had previously felt. When it became easier, women started to feel more comfortable and safe about sharing their stories and being an activist for a female and the terrible circumstances that come with it.

That being said, when I stumbled across this article and delved into it more, I realized that I should be grateful for the position I was born into. I live in a suburban, white affluent community that has each other’s backs and is supportive of each other’s stories and circumstances. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights mentions that all men and women should be treated equally, and to this day, I’m still not totally seeing that. Like I mentioned earlier in the article, I am able to go to work and complete simple as well as difficult tasks without worrying about being assaulted or harassed. Refugee women have to think about this constantly. The world should NOT be that way. The correct steps and precautions need to be taken so that women taking a risk, dropping everything in their homelands to come to America and make a better life for their families will believe that that risk taken was worth it.