Gender Issues In Difret
1470 Words6 Pages
Issues regarding gender equality affected the world for years. Gender equality issues hinder females, often violating basic human rights. A common example of this is the right to one's own body. The statement that people have the rights his/her own body is broad. It encompasses matters ranging clothing they want to wear to what gender they want to be. The film, Difret, attends to the ideas of gender equality, rape culture, and the right to one's own body. Addressed by a documentary, these ideas provide a single story about Ethiopian culture.
There are several prominent matters in this film. The first few notable concerns were the prevalence of rape culture, traditions that violate basic human rights, and abduction. These all seem to tie together under the general issue of violating basic human rights; however, they each have exclusive aspects and require independent acknowledgment. According to Feminism 101: A Crash Course in Vocabulary, rape culture is the "normalization of rape and sexual assault within a culture." Rape culture appears within "Difret" shortly after Hirut's abduction. Enforced by the local tradition of telefa and the actions of the village men, rape culture appears ingrained in the customs. While telefa - marriage by abduction - is a tradition, abduction and sexual violence are never acceptable. Stealing girls from their families to marry them is abhorrent. Moreover, raping the girls exacerbates the violation of human rights. This is the junction where rape culture and the violation of basic human rights meet. As stated earlier, everyone has the right to their own body and rape disregards that right. Victims never instigate their rape. By and large, it leaves mental scars that many never heal.
Another prominen...
... middle of paper ...
... viewers. The fact that the film is based off a true story forces viewers to recognize it as someone’s reality.
Overall, the world is still plagued with issues of gender inequality. Twenty years after the case presented in Difret, 41 percent of girls were married by 18 (UNICEF, 2016). The legal age to wed in Ethiopia is 18, yet child marriages still occur. This is a battle that Mehari did an incredible job documenting . Furthermore, rape culture, marriage by abduction, and multiple others were handled with a seriousness that forces the viewer to consider the morality of the situation. Overall, the film exceeded my expectations since I had not seen many foreign films previously. It also served to expand my knowledge of Ethiopian culture. After seeing this film, I hope that the resolution that the court came to was carried on and used as an example for future cases.