There’s an imaginary War on Women that exists only in the minds of Democratic politicians trying to scare voters and score political points. And then there’s the real War on Women.
The former is misleading, tiresome, and over-covered by the media. The latter is real-life, tragic, and rarely receives media attention.
This dynamic was interrupted in recent weeks with the abduction of 276 Nigerian school girls by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram, which made the front pages and nightly news.
Concerned Women for America and its 500,000 members join others — including the 20 female senators and 79 female representatives who wrote letters urging President Obama to take action — in outrage over this atrocity.
While we join in the bipartisan condemnation of this kidnapping and efforts to raise awareness about the girls, tweets of disapproval are never a substitute for a serious foreign-policy strategy.
That means the hashtag-created awareness needs to transition to a larger discussion about the rise of jihadists who use violence and abuse of women and children to perpetuate a radical ideology.
Why were those girls abducted in the first place? Boko Haram wants to create a sharia-law state, which teaches that educating women is sinful and capturing women and children in the name of jihad is justified.
The majority of the abducted girls were believed to be Christians, another reason why they were targeted. Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram, claimed in a video released last week that the girls have converted to Islam, showing about half of them dressed in black and gray hijabs, reciting the Koran, and praying to Allah.
Now the girls face a life of forced labor or sex slavery. CNN quoted Shekau as saying, “I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah.” He went on to say, “There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women. I sell women.”
Continue reading this article on National Review Online.