(Credit: Alberto Barreto; reprinted with permission, CIPE)
Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut, In the Land of Blood and Honey, takes on a difficult subject of abuse and other war-induced horrors that women suffered during the Bosnian conflict in the 1990s. In a recent reaction to the movie (summed up by “you should see it — but expect to be pounded”) Steve Clemons, Washington editor at large for The Atlantic and editor in chief of Atlantic Live, talks about the broader issues it raises: the issues of women’s equality and empowerment around the world.
He emphasizes that much of the world lags behind in terms of equal rights for women in peace time, let alone during war, and that it is our shared responsibility to raise awareness of the barriers wormen face and the burdens they shoulder every day. One way to do so is through images that tell this story. They may come in a form of a film like Jolie’s one. But other ways of conveying the message – such as editorial cartoons – can be highly effective as well. Clemons says, “awareness-wrangling is important elsewhere and political cartoons can generate a viral edginess that inspires and empowers others to insist on equality.”
That is precisely what CIPE’s editorial cartoon contest set out to do. By attracting more than 1,000 entries from around the world in three categories — democracy, corruption, and gender equality – it helped inspire people in different countries to find a common language on the issues of global importance.
In the category of gender equality, Steve Clemons’s favorite is the cartoon featured here. He explains, “The entry pasted above of the world on the back of an old cleaning woman evoked the strongest response from me — and was one of the semifinalists in gender equality. It was done by El Tiempo (Columbia)’s political cartoonist Alberto Barreto. This cartoon, at least in my reading of it, depicts the doubled down abuse that women worldwide endure. First, they are expected to do the tasks many men won’t do, holding the world and countries and their homes and communities together — while nonetheless being looked down upon.”
It is a powerful cartoon indeed and there are many others, chosen by a distinguished panel of CIPE contest’s judges, that you should make sure to see. Follow these links to see the winners in gender equality and the remaining two categories as well as semi-finalists. And spread the word to make a difference.
