The Globe’s Women’s Problem

 

By Talia Carner

 (This article was published in Digital Journal in November 2011)

            On November 25, the U.N. again commemorated International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon again urged nations “to help end this pandemic of violence… [in order to] have a more just, peaceful and equitable world.”
            What has changed since 1993 when the U.N. General Assembly adopted resolution 48/104? In 2011, across the globe, women are not only subject to violence, but are still positioned as far inferior to men in every public sphere—political, religious, legal and economic.
            No country is free of “a woman’s problem,” be it full legal rights, maternity care, religious representation, political leadership, education opportunities, or pay equality.
            In South America, under military regimes, poverty is feminized with the highest rate of teenage mothers. In some African nations, maternity death reaches 2,000:1 maternity death in Europe. In the U.S., mothers are disenfranchised and discredited in our courts.
            And what happens in third-world nations stuck in the seventeenth century?
            In the film, The Stoning of Soraya, a man in contemporary Iran wishing to divorce his wife concocts an allegation of infidelity. Using false witnesses in a trial that Soraya is prohibited from attending, she is sentenced to death. As her lower body is buried in the sand, her male relatives and neighbors are her delighted executioners—starting with her own father. The viciousness in which her adolescent son is the first to throw a stone that hits her forehead reflects the misogyny indoctrinated into boys’ minds. It is also linked to global terrorism: Bloodthirsty societies such as Afghanistan, Iran and Saudi-Arabia that are obsessed with women’s bodies’ “purity” are also the countries that produced most terrorists and terrorist acts of the 20th and 21st centuries.
            A child-bride forced into sexual slavery in the Middle East, Asia or South America may dream about fleeing the marriage into which she was sold. But the world outside is more cruel toward an illiterate women. Courageous girls who flee the rice fields of Vietnam or the steppes of Siberia for the promise of jobs abroad, are likely to fall into sex trafficking rings. Every year, one- to two-million girls and women are ensnared into brothels from Berlin to Calcutta.
            The atrocities visited upon women are highlighted in mass rape used as a tool of war. From East Timor to Sierra Leone, wars between nations are won by breaking women, shattering nuclear families, tearing apart villages and wrecking a nation’s spirit. But when people crawl out of the ashes, mores are shattered. In African nations, men expect sex simply by overpowering a female, making gender violence common even in schools.
            Then there is the burning of brides in India, the mass gendercide of girls in China, and clitoridectomy of two million girls a year in Africa and Muslim nations.
            What is the answer for this bleak state of global gender discrimination that results in female misery and death?

            Education.
            When women are educated, they delay marriage age, have fewer children, seek to educate them, present role models for their daughters and a fresh view of women for their sons.
            When women are educated, their earning capacity increases, they are more likely to start their own business ventures, and have a better chance to pull out of poverty.           
            When women are educated, they help better other women’s and children’s lives, seek leadership roles and run for political offices. They use the Internet to reach beyond their narrow world and begin to resist extreme forms of religious fundamentalism.
            Women are not the problem, but rather than solution. Had society heeded the 1993’s resolutions of eliminating violence against women, women, one-half the world’s population would have helped society double its forward move toward development and prosperity.

            # # #
            Author Talia Carner’s most recent award-winning novels often deal with social issues and the plights of women and children. Please check www.TaliaCarner.com .

HOTEL MOSCOW -- Summer Reading

Presenting against the backdrop of Cape Cod beach

Since HOTEL MOSCOW was released, I’ve been on a whirlwind of personal appearances. I do not do “readings,” but rather speak about the background of my novel: my experiences when teaching Russian women business skills and the grim reality of life of Russians during transition time--often worse than under communism. Some groups ask me to speak about the question of today’s secular Jewish identity (the protagonist’s haunting internal struggle.)

        While most often I keynote an event as the sole speaker, the occasional sharing of the podium with other authors is a great bonding experience. Such inspiring recent events were the literary luncheon in Cape Cod organized by a bookstore, Where the Sidewalk Ends, in the plush Wequassett resort (with bestselling authors Jane Green and Beatriz Williams above,) and the Stamford library event in Connecticut (with bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank.)

        In each event the organizers included a talented debut author showcasing her first novel, and it reminded me how far I've gone since 2002 when PUPPET CHILD was published--and how grateful I am forever for the successful authors who helped me along....

​Summer reading! 

  

HOTEL MOSCOW is taking its place as a serious summer read—“thought-provoking yet adventurous," a novel that readers claim to have taken to the beach because they couldn’t put it down. Library Journal joins the choir with this review: “…This tense thriller, based in part on author Carner’s (Jerusalem Maiden) own experiences in post-Communist Russia, is an eye-opening exposé of life following the collapse of the Iron Curtain. ….Carner’s novel of vividly drawn characters and taut suspense adds up to a real-life dystopian page-turner of the un-put-downable variety.” (Read more reviews on my site. )

The Surprise after "The End"

  But when the story ends, the book does not, because the publisher has prepared a series of surprises for you. Appearing as a "P.S.," the section contains “About the author” complete with my photos in Russia as well as exclusive photos of communal apartments, an insightful interview with me by bestselling biographer Lucette Lagnado, my essay “Russia Then and Now,” and a Reading Group Guide.

 TV interviews: 

Ann Bocock interviews me for Between The Covers

A few TV interviews have been particularly thorough and probing, each in its unique way. While Between The Covers  was conducted in front of studio audience and discussed my escape from Russia, which underpins the background of the novel, Jewish Education Media focused on my family heritage, personal life, feminist issues and cultural topics. Surprisingly, Sarder TV probed a topic rarely raised: my take on the nascent realities of women breaking into the business world in the 1980s as well as some of my contributions to shedding light on women entrepreneurs. 

Book tour:   

Presenting at Stamford library 

  

Dozens of speaking engagements are scheduled for the coming months, and many more are in the finalizing stages and will be posted next month. Come to hear me speak in NY, CT, NJ, MA, PA, FL and MI.(Please read the testimonials to get a sense of why you shouldn’t miss such an event.)

      Most importantly, I hope that HOTEL MOSCOW has or will give you a satisfying reading experience, with characters and eye-opening events that will stay with you long after you've finished reading. As a book review blogger, Black Dog Speaks , wrote: "Books contain an intense magic, so powerful that it can transport us to a different time and place... These wizards of words not only teach us about history, but they weave together the threads of history, humanity, thought and perception to create the most vivid tapestries, which tell the stories of places, people and the events in which they partake. Talia Carner’s wand has created such a tapestry that vibrantly depicts a time and a place that most of us know almost nothing about."

Book groups: 

Sutter Home winery selected HOTEL MOSCOW as its June book groups' read receiving 400,000 hits and complete with my recipe of blini caviar for a great book discussion meeting!

Watch the video of my book introduction, and please contactme to Skype your meeting.

And so the fun continues for both me and my readers.

Thank you for making the launch of HOTEL MOSCOW a success!

Yours,

Talia Carner

www.TaliaCarner.com

 P.S.  Did you miss the prior monthly newsletters? Please scroll down for more Talia Tells Tales posts..