Owlspotting

I have a dear friend who has embarked on a fun quest to save the world. While I’m currently doing my part by watching movies until 4 AM while nursing a bottle of Romanian wine (thus making life better for countless people who don’t have to deal with me), she struggles for a better world in the Romanian office of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

She was sad this morning because some of the Romanian coverage of a recent UNFPA release, the giant State of World Population treated the findings as less than trivial. The report’s focus was on the state of migrant women, who as the BBC reported “make up half of all international migrants, totalling 95 million.” Reuters lead like this: “Governments worldwide must do more to protect a growing number of women from exploitation when they venture overseas to work and earn money for their families, a U.N. report said on Wednesday.”

At the bottom of the foodchain was the Romanian daily, Ziua, which is not traditionally a thrashy tabloid, but sure looked like one in this case. The headline: “The broads are leaving.” In an attempt to localize the report, the subhead continues: “Over one million Romanian women have left the country, either seeking a man or seeking men.”

After all, that’s the only consequence to women migrating. We’re left to jerk off left and right and wonder who will cook us lunch from now on. Maybe saving the world should start with teaching Romanian men that women are human beings, too. I know. You’ll think that’s not possible, but I bet there is some science to back that up.