Keeping in mind that the advancement of women is the advancement of all people, it is still important to keep in mind that over the course of classical Western history women's rights were in constant fluctuation. When we take a look around us, here at Exeter, we see the equality and freedom for women. But while there are many female role models in America, men still make up the majority of politicians and business leaders, and the objectification of women is still pervasive in mainstream society. Expecting Africa to change their expectations of women as "patients" to "agents" is great, but as Mary brought up, plans for how exactly this is to be done were not fully addressed in the reading. While improving women's agency will better the general well-being of women, how can women even have a voice if they are dying, or need intense medical care? It's a cycle. Women don't have the agency for adequate health care or food, and their children become orphans, and if those orphans are female, the same then happens to them. Many are simply trying to survive. Perhaps having women-specific healthcare programs funded by foreign aid (assuming the money is properly allocated) is what this situation calls for, and women-specific programs to improve their social conditions and empower them, such as through literacy. The positive effects of women empowerment seems obvious, but the actual way to go about them seems a bit more complicated, especially when the idea of woman as something that is acted upon, rather than a human being with deliberate choice, is culturally embedded.