The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44^th President of the United States is not only the world's most televised event. His first 100 days have likewise kept people attuned, especially those from the global South who are counting on his pronouncements on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other thorny issues.

On his third day of office, Obama made a bold and expected move, reversing the Global Gag Rule, which prohibited the use of American money to fund abortion procedures or even counseling overseas.

The Guttmacher Institute has said that the last several years saw on the average 187 million unintended pregnancies, 60 million unplanned births, 105 million induced abortions, 2.7 million infant deaths and 215,000 maternal deaths, leaving more than half a million children motherless.

While it will take some more official procedures before funds can flow to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and other organisations and reproductive health services can be delivered to women, Southern feminists would like to see more.

Sylvia Estrada Claudio of the Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) and the University of the Philippines, “We are hoping that such level of aid is not population control but based on women's rights, that he would take an integrative approach to reproductive rights and abortion, that his decisions would come from an understanding that these issues are part of social justice issues.”

Albeit the US government is focusing intently on the economic crisis, an occupation which some analysts say, has softened American posturing and investments in militarisation overseas, women are expecting the US to be more vigilant in its economic policies but at the same time, earmark more financial support for advocacies that the Bush administration chose to marginalise.

“We expect the US to support improved global financial regulations which include such mechanisms as an international currency transaction tax (CCT) that would generate the necessary resources to meet in particular, the sexual and reproductive health and rights of marginalized women and youth,” added Saira Shameem of the Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW).

Despite the pronouncements on the US troops being pulled out from Iraq and Afghanistan, many believe that the US is poised to maintain its strategic military role in more subtle ways. At the height of the recent Gaza was for instance, little was heard from him on Israel's aggression.

Gila Svirsky of the Israel-based Women in Black movement asserted: “For Obama to be a better friend of Israel, he has to push Israel to make more compromises and to settle disputes not by force of arms, but by dialogue. He has to force Israel to confront the fact that we cannot get to peace as long as we are occupying Palestinian land.”

Meanwhile, Rochelle Terman of Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) remarked, “Obama understands that Muslim women know what’s best for Muslim women. He understands that women’s rights can never advance in an atmosphere is social and political catastrophe. He knows that Muslim fundamentalists do not represent Muslim women, and that the Muslim world is not in a clash of civilizations with the ‘West.’”

Obama may indeed be keeping with his promise of change. Prior to his reversal of the Global Gag Rule, he ordered the closure of Guantanamo Bay in one year and the suspension of all trials in the clandestine prison. While there are indications that Obama's proposed changes are to be forward-looking, these are unapologetic of the pains of the past.

But Southern women want more than softening or reversals of the Bush administration's positions on various issues such as women and gender, peace and security, and other aspects of foreign policy. Instead, they call for genuine accountability in forging through the future.

Sources:
Interview with Gila Svirsky, Women in Black Movement (27 January 2009).
Interview with Rochelle Terman, Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) (30 January 2009).
Interview with Saira Shameem, Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW) (28 January 2009).
Interview with Sylvia Estrada Claudio, Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) (29 January 2009).
Guttmacher Institute. (23 January 2009). “Obama Rescinds “Global Gag Rule,” Commits to Funding UNFPA.” URL: _http://www.guttmacher.org/media/inthenews/2009/01/23/index.html _
Nina Somera. “The Gist for Gigi: An Interview with DAWN's General Coordinator, Gigi Francisco.” URL: _http://www.isiswomen.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1160&Itemid=1 _