Handing me
the newspaper, my husband said, “You are going
to want to read this.” The article
was about the Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force (MHTTF). He was right – I was interested.
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I had just completed
a three-year teaching commitment at a university in Africa. Now back in Michigan,
I was reordering my life and looking for a way that I could be involved in my community.
I always
have had a passion for women’s issues and after working in Asia and Africa it
only intensified. During my time in
developing countries, I often observed
women being treated as second-class citizens. For
example, I found women reticent in voicing their opinions because they knew
they wouldn’t be valued. I learned that
it was common for people to turn their heads when a husband was beating his
wife in public because it was no one else’s business. Students shared with me that female teachers
looking for jobs would often have to earn their positions by first having
sexual relationships with the principal.
The list goes on, but needless to say in many of these communities the devaluing of a woman began at her birth
and ended only at her death.
I suppose that
none of this should surprise me. In many
developing countries, where most people live in poverty, the boy child is often
viewed as the most valuable resource for the family. Investing in the boy child is seen as the best use of money and time,
because more than likely the girl will one day marry and leave the family,
while the boy stays. So boys often
receive special treatment, while the
girl is seen as a commodity to be used.
Due to this
mindset, girls in my estimation were frequently vulnerable to human trafficking by both
fathers and mothers. When a family
needed money or when a girl wanted money to be able to go to school, a parent
would often tell the girl, “It is time for you to get into this man’s business”
(a euphemism for prostitution). Having
few options, the girl would sell her body to earn money or would find a “sugar
daddy,” with whom she would live based on the promise that he would send her to
school. In some communities, even the school system wasn’t a
safe place for girls; a male teacher could tell a female student if you
want a good grade you have to “love me.”
Girls often were used as commodities to earn money with little thought of the negative
effect it had on them and the community.
-----
“Yes,” I
said to my husband, “I am interested in the article about MHTTF, and I am going
to contact them to see if I can get involved.”
I joined MHTTF as a concerned citizen motivated by what I had observed happening around
the world. However, as I have served on
the task force my thinking has expanded. I now understand that labor trafficking is just as important of
an issue as sexual trafficking and boys also are victims.
TAKE
ACTION: Even though I am not directly
affiliated with an agency fighting human trafficking, as an individual there
are still things that I can do to help make a difference. The good news is so can you! I encourage you to contact the task force and find a way that you can get involved at either the local or state level.
Vicki
Kloosterhouse, Ph.D. is a concerned citizen who lives in Oakland County.
