Dr. Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak consider the impact of patriarchal attitudes. They make evident that everyone has a responsibility of moving forward the equality of women, in order to create progress for all. There are three actions that men specifically can take to begin empowering women and engaging in a process that’s going to break down patriarchal stereotypes.

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Transcript

Dave: [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 177, Three Actions Men Can Take That Move Us All Forward.

Production Credits: [00:00:10] Produced by Innovative Learning, maximizing human potential.

Dave: [00:00:30] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie: [00:00:36] And my name is Sandie Morgan.

Dave: [00:00:38] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Sandie, glad to be back with you for another conversation on how we can inch forward, jump forward, occasionally crawl forward, but move forward on this issue as we are always working to do every time we get together.

Sandie: [00:01:02] And it’s such a complex issue, Dave. So, I enjoy the opportunities we have when it’s a discussion between the two of us and we’re able to explore some of the less direct aspects of this. And I was really privileged to do an author interview with Dr. Elaine Storkey for her new book Scars Across Humanity and it might be something you’d be interested in reading although it’s a little depressing.

Dave: [00:01:33] Well, we’re seven years in on this podcast and I’m still feeling positive about what we’re doing so I can handle a little depression.

Sandie: [00:01:42] Well in her book she discusses the scope of the problem of violence against women and the impact of patriarchal attitudes. And I keep hearing this same theme as people are in the #metoo movement, transition from Boy Scouts of America to Scouts of America. The idea that we have to break down some of those generational attitudes of patriarchy, men over women. So, I thought it would be interesting to really start there. When I asked Dr. Storkey about where violence against women starts she said and I’m going to quote this from her, “It starts in the womb, in places like India and China where boys are valued more than girls for reasons of religion, family, and economics. This leads to girls being aborted at alarming rates, starts in the womb. In other countries, we see the practice of female genital mutilation to assure sexual purity for marriage. And the next horror I found was child marriage, little girls violated by their husbands, losing everything their education and their independence.” That’s overwhelming. And a person could easily say wow I’m going to leave that to somebody else. But it takes men being involved in the response. And just in the recent days, there was a news release from India with a landmark ruling. And you think about their legislative, and law enforcement, and judicial environment and it is predominantly led by men. So, this ruling isn’t about women winning, it’s about men becoming involved. And so, the ruling states that sex with a child bride is always rape. And this was a massive win for girls’ rights. So, you look back at what Dr. Storkey said about little girls violated by their husbands, losing everything their education and their independence. And you realize this is a big win, yes. But there is more to it. What is the more to it? We have to end that opportunity for men to have that kind of power over a little girl because instead of being in a marriage where now it’s going to be called rape, instead of being in a marriage shouldn’t she be in school? Shouldn’t she be pursuing her future, her education? How can that become part of the bigger picture?

Dave: [00:04:47] One of the things that I’ve become more aware of because of you Sandie and certainly Bonnie, my wife, is noticing some of the patterns that I think I wouldn’t see otherwise without the perspective of a woman’s look into the situation. And I’m struck by how many times you or Bonnie or someone has just pointed out to me things that happen in everyday conversation even within our own friendships and household that can be very patriarchal and are things that some of us brought with us, I know I did from childhood and generations ago of things that you know society was different. And so, it’s easy to hear stories like the ones you just shared and think like oh gosh we live here. I mean for speaking for us, we live here in Southern California, we’re very enlightened because we are past a lot of these things. And yet we all have a place to move forward on this where we all have the responsibility I think to identify the things that we are still doing in relationships that contribute to this and sometimes are not as apparent as they may be like with the law you just cited. But in our own households, and how we interact, and what kind of language we’re using with boys and with girls. And we think a lot about that in parenting.

Sandie: [00:06:14] And you have a boy and a girl.

Dave: [00:06:17] We do, and the boy is older and so there are some natural things that I mean an older child tends to be more of the aggressor. I know this from my childhood, you know two brothers. That said, you know we have a lot of conversations around what respect looks like. And you don’t get to touch the other sibling without their permission. And Bonnie and I talk a lot about how really setting the expectation for that at an early age at age 4, 5, 6 years old of respect. And I do see even in our own family how we can, I shouldn’t say anyone else, I can certainly fall into some of those patterns if I’m not thinking about it. It’s easy to miss it just because that’s the environment that I grew up in and others grew up in.

Sandie: [00:07:01] And you bring up a really good point that these things come from your childhood, these perceptions. And how do w...