Charlotte Bunch, an activist, author and organizer in the women's, civil and human rights movements for four decades, was on the University of Oklahoma campus Thursday for the launch of the Center for Social Justice.
Bunch also gave a public talk as part of Women's and Gender Studies Program Director Jill Irvine's Presidential Dream Course, Women and World Politics.
Bunch is the director of the Center for Women's Global Leadership in Douglas College at Rutgers University. Her lecture was titled "Women's Global Activism; Women's Rights as Human Rights."
She said that women's rights have made a lot of progress over the past few decades in both the U.S. and around the world. There is still a lot more to be done, however.
The push for women's rights isn't just a Western thing, however; countries around the world have a documented history for the push for women's rights in one aspect or another for centuries, Bunch said. These movements weren't called feminism, but they called for social change, she said.
It's important to remember that as Americans, Bunch said. The role that activists in the U.S. should play in the global movement for women's rights is one of supporting indigenous movements, she said.
Many activists from the West want to come into another country and tell them how things should be done, but Bunch said social change needs to happen from within the culture.
"It's always more effective to have local movements working for change," she said.
That's not to say that opponents of women's rights are right in excusing oppression in the name of culture, she said. Culture is not static, but it always changing and always diverse within a society. Human rights should still be valued within a society, Bunch said.
"Culture is constantly evolving," she said. "It is always changing ... but the question of who changes it and how it changes is an important principle in human rights."
Americans should support local women's movements around the world, but need to understand they don't know everything either, she said.
Women's rights in the U.S. has a long way to go as well, she pointed out. There's a lot that can be learned from the changes other countries have implemented, she said.
The U.S. is the last industrialized country that has not ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), often described as an international bill of rights for women.
For those interested in becoming an activist, Bunch said to remember that all global solutions are really local ones.
"When the question is asked how do you start, I think you start where you are," she said. From there, Bunch said in order to expand to other issues and places, put oneself into new situations where one can learn about different kinds of struggles.
Julianna Parker Jones 366-3541 jparker@normantranscript.com
Local news
Activist cites progress, says there's more to be done
- Local news
-
-
Woman in critical condition
A hospital official said a Norman woman remains in critical condition after emergency responders reportedly extricated her from her vehicle....
-
Western Avenue to close for expansion to four-lane highway
On Monday, residents in northwest Norman will be a little closer to having a four-lane highway with paved shoulders as construction begins on 60th Avenue Northwest, also known as Western Avenue. When completed, the rural four-lane will ...
-
School districts ready to go mobile
In October, Norman Public Schools introduced an innovative communications tool with School Connect, a mobile app for Android and Apple phones, which enabled users to access virtually any school-related information with a tap on their touch ...
-
Eye for beauty
Beauty may be hard to measure, but it carries a price tag. For Norman City Council members, developers and the University North Park Architectural Review Board, balancing aesthetics with the cost of doing business has become an ongoing ...
-
Norman Youth Council accepting applications
The deadline to apply for Norman Youth Council is March 30. Interested high school students are encouraged to apply. Youth council is comprised of sophomore, junior and senior high school students who reside within Norman....
-
Dispatcher reports need for extraction after wreck
A Wednesday night car crash in northwest Norman placed one driver in the hospital....
-
Tiger followed his gut on making college decision
In the end, Donovan Roberts went with his gut. It was his gut that the Norman High senior relied on when he originally committed to Arkansas, and it’s what led him to sign with the Razorbacks on Wednesday, despite a late push from the ...
-
Man is still in critical condition
A 61-year-old Patriot Guard Rider from Norman remains in critical condition after being involved in a two-vehicle crash Friday morning. His wife, Cindy Ayers, is maintaining her bedside vigil....
-
Lexington manager remains on leave
Lexington City Manager Jason Orr remains on administrative leave with pay, though the city will have to take action in less than a week. Jason Orr’s first court appearance is set for Feb. 15....
-
Cushing residents closely watching pipeline’s fate
CUSHING — While the Keystone XL pipeline has been grabbing national headlines, Cushing residents and businesses have watched the fate of the line with personal interest....
- More Local news Headlines
-
Woman in critical condition
