Nations on separate learning curves

The first Miss Afghanistan in 30 years is donning a red bikini as she tries to earn the Miss… The first Miss Afghanistan in 30 years is donning a red bikini as she tries to earn the Miss Earth title.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ In India, authorities are trying — in light of a glaring scarcity of female children in relation to males — to step up efforts against the illegal practice of aborting female fetuses.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ It’s important for Americans, as privileged observers, not to jump to judge either situation.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Miss Afghanistan, Vida Samadzai, 25, was born and raised in Afghanistan. She came to the United States in 1996 to avoid the Taliban regime, which mandated all women must wear the flesh-concealing garment known as a burka.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Now, as a contestant in a beauty contest, flaunting herself in a tiny swimsuit for the world to see, she says she wants to return to Afghanistan to speak about women’s rights and raise money for women’s schools.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ It’s easy for Americans, more than 150 years after the first women’s rights convocation in Seneca Falls, NY, to feel sorry for Samadzai and call her efforts misguided. After all, many progressive elements here say that swimsuit competitions are demeaning to women, objectifying them.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ In Samadzai’s case, even being an object is preferable to being property — being someone else’s object. When American women first took to public beaches in ankle-baring swimsuits, it was a great stride forward from repressive modes of thinking that condemned them to hiding behind crinolines and corsets.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Afghanistan is not at the same place as America on the feminist learning curve. Samadzai’s prancing in a contest, however distasteful it may seem to American feminists, is a huge step in the right direction.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Another step in the right direction was the outlawing of the process of using ultrasound to determine the sex of a fetus — and abort accordingly — in India in 1996. Until then billboards and newspaper ads encouraged parents to have ultrasound and be saved the financial and cultural burden of raising daughters: providing a hefty dowry or bride-price to a prospective husband’s family, and giving the girl up completely to the husband’s family after she is married. Now, women are becoming scarce and men are having difficulty finding wives.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The notion of women’s rights is a relatively new one in America. In cultures as ancient as India and Afghanistan, the time they’ve spent considering the question of rights for women is a blink of an eye. It would be unfair to judge them using our standards, at least at this stage in the game.