Middle East

Basketball Star Takes Brave Shot for Democracy.  [Afghanistan] When she slips off her veil and dons Nike trainers for her daily basketball game at a Kabul gym, Sabrina Sagheb is already challenging many orthodoxies of Afghan society.  She will challenge many more when she becomes the youngest woman to stand in Afghanistan's first parliamentary elections on Sept 18. 
Tough Road for Women Standing for Election.  [Afghanistan] Female candidates hoping to stand in the forthcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for September, say poor security and strong conservative traditions are hampering their ability to compete in the historic poll.  Women wanting to stand in the election, particularly in rural areas, said they had been warned to withdraw their candidacy, either verbally or by letter. 
Afghanistan's First Woman Governor.  [Afghanistan] Afghanistan's former women's minister is settling into her new job as the country's first female governor.  Habiba Sarabi was appointed by President Karzai to run the province of Bamiyan. Many observers argue the move was to demonstrate his country's commitment to women's rights. 
India's New Women: The Rains Have Come and You're Not Married?  [India] In most parts of India, July and August are months of unrelenting rain.  According to the Hindu calendar, this time of Sravana is also highly auspicious; perfect for embarking on new ventures, particularly of the nuptial kind.  Metaphorically speaking, it makes sense: summer - baked earth, pounding monsoon, the promise of harvest; woman - earth; rain - fertility; man - cumulonimbus cloud; little green shoots - progeny, and so on. 
The Bollywood Girl: From Virgin to Vamp.  [India] She is a Bollywood actress, and as such, trained to play the role of a virginal glam-doll, not a sexual aggressor.  By tradition, a Bollywood heroine is a one-dimensional creation who may wear eye-popping bustiers or writhe passionately during a song in the rain. B ut she is unfailingly virtuous.  Whether girlfriend, wife or mother, she is the repository of Indian moral values.  In the ancient epic "Ramayana," the hero Lakshman draws a furrow in the earth, the Line of Lakshman, which represents the limits of proper feminine behavior, and requests that his sister-in-law Sita not step outside it.  As if heeding his exhortation, Bollywood heroines have rarely stepped out of line, even for a kiss. 
Nine Steps to Women’s Safety.  [India] Delhi police may not take hours to respond to women's distress calls anymore.  The police have kicked off nine measures to ensure the safety of women after its commissioner was summoned by Union home minister Shivraj Patil on July 21 following the rape of a woman in a moving van.  Among these are several steps to prevent rape, molestation and sexual harassment on the ground.  The police will now have a round-the-clock "women mobile team" to attend to urgent and distress calls from women, and a 24-hour helpline number.
From Superstition to Savagery.  [India] Threats and charges of witchcraft occur in a number of Indian states that have large tribal populations with traditional beliefs about witches.  Indian newspapers periodically publish reports about women who, after being accused of being witches, have been beaten, had their heads shaved or had strings of shoes hung around their necks.  Some have been killed.  In a tribal society steeped in superstition, the spells of witches often are blamed for stubborn illnesses, a stroke of bad luck, the drying up of wells, crop failure or the inability to give birth to a son.  But social analysts and officials said that superstition and faith in witchcraft often are a ploy for carrying out violence against women.  "Superstition is only an excuse.  Often a woman is branded a witch so that you can throw her out of the village and grab her land, or to settle scores, family rivalry, or because powerful men want to punish her for spurning their sexual advances.  Sometimes it is used to punish women who question social norms," said Pooja Singhal Purwar, an official at the Jharkhand social welfare department.  According to a study by the Free Legal Aid Committee, an advocacy group that works against witch-hunting, only 2 percent of people charged with witch-hunting are convicted in court.  "People go scot-free because witnesses are hard to come by.  Villagers often approve of the torture meted out to these women," said Girija Shankar Jaiswal, a lawyer who heads the organization.  "They think witch-hunting is a heroic act and that it will clean the society of evil."
All Party Meet on Women's Bill Likely Soon.  [India] In its final effort to evolve a consensus on the much-debated Women's Reservation Bill, the Government proposes to call an all-party meeting in a week to ten days before its introduction in Parliament.  The All India Mahila Congress (I) has asked the Government to introduce the Bill in its original form providing for 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
Hoisting Flag Against Fatwas, Women March.  [India] Some of the women do not even enjoy the right to have tea at a restaurant.  The streets of Bhendi Bazaar, the old Muslim district in south Mumbai weary with aged buildings, heavy traffic, unregulated, crowded shops and the reputation of being home to the most conservative opinion in the community, saw a startling sight yesterday.  About a hundred women, many of them wearing burqas, came marching down, carrying roughly-made cut-outs of maulanas with their faces crossed out.
Latest Update from the Iraqi Women Network.  [Iraq] The Sit-In that we've organized on July 19th in Al-Ferdaws sq was marvelous.  Despite the fiery heat and the deteriorating security situation, brave women from different governorates have taken the initiative to raise their voices demanding to ensure women's rights and equality in the constitution and protesting against the attempt to marginalize the role of women and their human rights as well as the role of the civil society orgs in the process of writing constitution.  We stand there for three hours raising our demands and meeting with media and distributing flyers and posters to people in the street.  During that, a small group of women appeared in the street holding banners and slogans against "absolute" equality of women.  They shouted slogans for Islam and Qura'an.  One of them has clearly stated in an interview that they demand for Qura'an to be adopted as a constitution and for establishing an Islamic government. They stood for half an hour and left.
Women Need to be Represented in Constitution.  [Iraq] Aid organizations working in the Middle East have called for greater protection of women's rights under the new constitution in Iraq, which is currently being drafted. 
Acid Attacks on “Immodest" Women on the Rise.  [Iraq] For Sumeya Abdullah, a 34-year-old primary school teacher in the capital Baghdad, life will never be the same again.  In late June she had her legs burned by corrosive acid in a street attack because, she believes, she was not wearing her veil and the traditional 'abaya' covering common in many Middle Eastern countries.
Women Must be Included in Peace Talks, Policy Decisions.  [Israel] The government will be required to include women in any group appointed for peace negotiations or to design domestic, foreign or security policy, according to a groundbreaking law passed by the Knesset.  To win the cabinet's support, the law's proponents, MKs Yuli Tamir (Labor) and Eti Livni (Shinui) had to giveup the demand for a minimum of 25-percent representation by women in the relevant bodies.  Instead, the wording agreed on was "suitable expression will be given to the representation of women from a variety of population groups, given the circumstances."
Senate Body Calls For Fair Inquiry Of Gang Rape Case.  [Pakistan] The Senate Standing Committee on Interior which met under the Chairmanship of Senator Ayaz Khan Mandokhail in the Parliament House here Saturday has stressed upon the security agencies to conduct fair and impartial inquiry into the issue of gang rape of 15 years old girl at Shahzad Town Police Station in Islamabad.
Women Brave Bigotry and Threats to Stand in Poll.  [Pakistan] Courage and determination are Shad Begum's only weapons against centuries of tradition and months of intimidation.  The 26-year-old social worker is preparing to contest next week's local elections in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), where religious hardliners have been doing everything in their power to stop women standing for the district assemblies.  The risks can be deadly.  Last month Zubaida Begum, an outspoken local women's rights activist whom Shad Begum considered her mentor, was shot dead by gunmen.

Back