Kayla Richards

Transnational Project
4-10-2015
I have learned to identify with contemporary issues regarding women that I
lacked the knowledge of prior to taking this course. I have learned about the growing
awareness of womens oppression and theoretical arguments about gender
preferences. Ive learned how Passive, emotional, and nurturing are feminine terms
that automatically consider women for certain jobs. These jobs include housewives,
teachers, nurses etc. These should not always be labeled as gender specific jobs. For
example within households the father should know how to be passive and nurturing with
his loved ones. We often hear stereotypes about fathers and the role they play in the
lives of children. Sometimes these stereotypes are even biased based of ethnicities and
cultural backgrounds. Gender specific lifestyles should be opportunistic for everyone.
How can we say that we are free or have rights if we constantly judge others for
rightfully expressing themselves. Women are often looked at in a more sexual sense
than men do in the world. Men are often looked at as powerful authority figures. This is
something that we as a society still need help with for breaking the cycle. Men and
women can work together in such places and allow things such as education or the
proper experience to determine their intelligence, work performance, and ability to
succeed. These factors should not be determined by things such as stereotypical biases
formed against specific genders. Women being discriminated against provoked further
more issues across the globe.
For my Transitional piece I chose to focus on the issues of human trafficking and
the slavery of women in South Africa. This topic is such a broad issue for women of the
African culture. Trafficking is used in many forms of exploitation. Some of the forms
include: Prostitution, pornography, marriage licenses, even things such as criminal
activity.
Link: https://youtu.be/7VxD3RmRUf0 (Kids on Human Trafficking in South Africa)
In an article titled Women And Slavery: The Popularity Of Female Slave Trade In
Africa, Its Causes And Consequences", Guvenc suggest that not only are women more
common in the African internal slave trade, but they were also in high demand. Of the
several reasons women were preferred as slaves the most common is reproduction.
There are fewer free women in proportion to the demand by rich male traders of both
slave and free origin. Men who opted for lower priced marriages were held at more
responsibility. He was responsible for her because he wanted to keep her on behalf of
the family (Guvenc, 2). A man who opted for a higher priced marriage gained the right
to get rid of the wife and still claim the children she bore.This was disturbing to read
thinking of how there are women who live for families and children and some are
neglected afterwards. These women are forced to basically donate their bodies to their
owners and give them children.

These women will never have the satisfaction of saving themselves for their true
love. The second reason women are more preferred as slaves in South Africa are
because of their sexual assets. Women severed as concubines to their masters. The
only way a women had the true right of being free is if she was the mother of a freeborn
child ( Guvenc, 3). Women were forced to have children in order to not be looked at as
a sexual object. In reality I feel as though this would make them more of a sex figure.
They are not willing having consensual sex technically so they are not valued as rightful
human beings. Women are more appreciated for their body parts rather than them as a
person. A societal factor for freeborn males differed for males across the region, while
freeborn women have no choosing of her sexual partner prior to marriage (Guvenc,3).
These contemporary issues not only withhold women from a traditional family style
setting but it also depicts them. Women have to fathom the idea of never having a
complete family with a husband of their own.
In an article titled Human trafficking: research challenges for South Africa, Carlos
Allais suggest that The topic of human trafficking sparked academic interest in the mid
1990s (Allais, 6). When you look at the protocol for defining human trafficking it can be
broken down into many forms of exploitation. The first being slavery in the form of
Human Trafficking. Human Trafficking is viewed as a contemporary form of slavery that
is characterized by:
Sexual exploitation
Debt bondage
Forced labor/marriage ( Allais, 7).
The second form of human trafficking is prostitution. This form suggest that
there is temporary ownership over a human being and there is consent given from the
human being(Allais,7).It saddening how many cases we hear about nationally where
women are forced to prostitute themselves for the sake of their families. You hear on the
news or in newspapers about illegal immigrants who are used in acts of prostitution for
lack of citizenship. One can only wonder how so many of these cases go so unnoticed
yearly. Then I come to question how many cases are there and they have just not been
reported. I believe that the women who dont report these cases fear that they will get
hurt by the individual the escaped from. They may feel as though they could get traced
by reporting them. Reporting more cases statistically would help greater the chance at
getting the ones who run the human trafficking off the streets. The third form is
organized crime. This form is looked upon as the role of criminally sophisticated,
transnational crime groups as a driving force behind the highly profitable trade of
smuggling and trafficking unauthorized migrants or asylum seekers ( Allais, 7). I believe
the term organized crime fits the scenario perfectly. Individuals come up with a get rich
scheme that allows them to take advantage of innocent people. These crimes have
gone on for so long it is hard to believe that corrupt public officials are not involved
some way. Human Traffickers need help with things that only public officials would be
able to help them with. These things include transportation, moving money and being
able to secure legit visas.
How do we measure the problem one might think to ask? Researchers believe
that if we first take different types of data or global estimates of our trafficking victims,

profits from trafficking, data of people arrested, and community surveys, then there will
be a much better chance at efficient law enforcement( Allais, 8). With the proper
amount of data there will be opportunity for more efficient and preventative resources.
This policy could also lead to being more effective with anti-human trafficking . The
hardest part about reporting is getting individuals to come forward. The other factor to
take into consideration is the many of innocent victims who are still in custody of human
traffickers. The data has to be more reliable and accurate.
In the article titled, Fighting Human Trafficking in South Africa, the author writes
about human trafficking is motivated by money, often for the victim as well as the
trafficker. Saraoi states that not much has been done about the trafficking issue
because there is little known about the root of the magnitude (Saroi, 1). This well known
fact raises issues about the many of cases being unreported. I believe it is the fact that
many consider this issue not as important or they feel as though no one would believe
them. Individuals want to feel safe and secure enough to give information regarding
traffickers without putting themselves or their family members in jeopardy. The articles
provides information on how Children and women have trafficked goods such as drugs
and small arms (Saroi, 1). This article provides suggestions on ways trafficking victims
are advocated for. No one has the right to force you to do something or keep you
against your will. If one is trafficked or kidnapped, you are the victim of an organized
crime. You may be in debt to your trafficker, however this is still not concerned legal.
Saroi suggest that the best practices to fight human trafficking require a holistic
approach sensitive to issues of poverty, vulnerability, livelihoods, genders, class and
ethnicity (Saroi,1).
In an article titled, "Trafficking In Slavery's Wake: Law And Experience Of Women
And Children In Africa." Scarpia suggest that the end of slavery marked the act of
trafficking especially among women and children (Scarpia, 2). Scarpia describes the
modern day issues of women slavery as well as the past. Enslaving African human
beings was a profitable enterprise for America, especially in the South. African human
beings were legally considered chattel or moveable property in certain Southern cities.
This article focuses on the roles of the women of Africa how they may differ from women
of other cultures. South Africa like many other places have reached a point where the
act of selling human beings is not considered wrongful. Trafficking can be compared to
the buying and selling of drugs. One may believe this to be true in the sense that the
seller does not feel bad about his or her actions since they have financial gain. South
Africa is not the wealthiest country in the world by any means which increases the
chance of trafficking as a way to make money.
Link: https://youtu.be/5edIV83eWu0 ( Human Trafficking in South Africa)
Link: https://youtu.be/tFOnofrggY0 ( Personal Tafficking story of Oklahoma Teen)
In a speech addressed by President Barack Obama, he states It ought to
concern every person because its a debasement of our common humanity. It ought to
concern every community, because it tears at the social fabric. It ought to concern every
business, because it distorts markets. It ought to concern every nation because it

endangers public health and fuels violence and organized crime. Im talking about the
injustice, the outrage, of human trafficking, which must be called by its true name--modern day slavery. This speech was not only heartfelt but it is true. Often times stories
become less important to the public eye once the next big thing happens. It is
unfortunate that innocent lives are being taken advantage of all over the world.
All of these articles shed light on the harsh realities of Human Trafficking. Trafficking
Operations witnessed from women across the world include being locked up for weeks,
months, and sometimes cases are still ongoing and not able to be reported. These
women are drugged, terrorized and raped. Victims are kept under control by repeated
abuse and fear of their families being in danger. The persons responsible as the
trafficker are the ones who collect the money, and run day to day operations. Large
impacts not only include the weakening of the economy but also Mental and health
issues on the victims. In conclusion I believe this could be an ongoing issue unless the
right people come forward and advocate. There needs to be a certain type investigation
that not only tracks previous history but also factual evidence of unreported cases.
These unreported cases could hold the key to finding some of the huge cases that have
been swept under the rug. In doing this paper I have come to the realization that the
United States does not deal with this issue as often as other places. Our efforts should
go more towards helping those that are involved. We can continue to push this issue by
trying to spread Democracy, world peace, national security, and the humanitarian help.

Sources
1. Allais, Carol. Human Trafficking : Some Research Challenges For South Africa.
Acta Academica 45.3 (2013): 268-290. Academic Search Complete. Web.9 March.
2015.
2. Guven, Begum. "Women And Slavery: The Popularity Of Female Slave Trade In
Africa, Its Causes And Consequences." Journal Of Academic Studies 7.26 (2005): 221230. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.
3. Scarpa, S. "Trafficking In Slavery's Wake: Law And Experience Of Women And
Children In Africa." Enterprise & Society 14.4 (n.d.): 866-868. Social Sciences Citation
Index. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.
4. Terada, Saori, and Paul De Guchteneire. Fighting Human Trafficking In Southern
Africa. Forced Migration Review 25 (2006): 31 Academic Search Premier. Web. 9
Mar.2015.
5. https://youtu.be/7VxD3RmRUf0 (Kids on Human Trafficking in South Africa)
6. https://youtu.be/5edIV83eWu0 (Human Trafficking in South Africa)

7. https://youtu.be/tFOnofrggY0 (Peronal Trafficking Story from Oklahoma Teen)

8. Obama, Barack: Every nation can tackle slavery.
The CNN Freedom Project Ending ModernDay Slavery RSS(2012). Web.
http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/25/obama-every-nation-can-tackleslavery/