Region

• The Banished Voices of Muslim Women. [Guardian Unlimited, UK] We have grown used to reading of the plight of the wretched Muslim woman living in societies that crush their will, trample over their rights and strip them of their freedom. Every day new voices join themselves to the endless lament, pleading with the West to intervene and liberate Islam's "caged virgins". But on the woman crushed beneath tanks in Baghdad, dying at checkpoints in Qalandia, or buried beneath the rubble of a shelter in Qana, these voices remain silent. The woman gunned down by a soldier is of no interest to them, if she happens to find herself in Palestine, Iraq, or Lebanon. She simply is not relevant to the "liberation agenda".

• Bid to Bring Female Voice To Islamic Law. [CBS News, NY] For centuries, devout Muslims have looked to the fatwa — an opinion based on religious reasoning of a learned individual or committee — for direction on how to resolve moral dilemmas ranging from the mundane to the sublime. And for centuries, Muslim women have conceded the ground, for the most part, to the men who issue these opinions. That's beginning to change. Meeting in New York over the weekend, Muslim women from 25 countries began laying groundwork for the first international all-female council formed to issue fatwas. Their idea: to ensure that women's perspectives on Islamic law become part of religious deliberation in the Muslim world — particularly on issues such as domestic violence, divorce, and inheritance.

• Muslim Women Flex Muscles. [Sydney Morning Herald, Australia] Muslim feminists from around the world have vowed to create the first women's council to interpret the Koran and overcome two stereotypes about their religion: that Muslims are terrorists and Islam oppresses women. The women's council was among the most groundbreaking ideas introduced at a weekend meeting of more than 100 leaders in the fledgling Islamic feminist movement. Many in the newly formed group, the Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality, said strict sharia law was not divine because it was created by men and should be changed to incorporate women's rights. "In our societies, men hold power and they decide what Islam should mean and how we can obey that particular understanding of Islam," said Zainab Anwar, executive director of Sisters in Islam, a Malaysian group working on women's rights within the Islamic framework. "I can't live with a God that is unjust," she said. "The law is progressive, but those men controlling the law aren't."

• Veil or Not to Veil? Islamic Leaders Pushed to Shape Ancient Question. [The Associated Press] Earlier this year on an Arabic Web site, a Muslim woman scholar posted an open letter to the Islamic world. "Take off the veil, sister," began Elham Manea, a professor of Yemeni descent who now works in Switzerland. Her opinion was not new — that head scarves and other coverings for women are not mandated by the Quran or Islamic tradition. But the essay's impassioned tone quickly grabbed attention. Supporters hailed it as a timely manifesto against Islam's conservative tide. Traditionalists scorned it as the ramblings of a Muslim blinded by the West. Both sides could agree, however, that despite all its cultural twists, the question of the veil is a religious one, and one that is stubbornly hard to pin down — just what does Islam demand?

• Media Constantly Misreports Abuse of Women in Islamic Countries. [Men's News Daily] I can only assume that the media is walking on eggshells, fearing that Muslims will claim “racism” or blame them for “intolerance” when it comes to properly identifying abuse of women in the Islamic world. Why else would they shy away from identifying such abuse as a common occurrence endemic in Islam? Rarely, in fact, does one see a story on abuse of women in Muslim countries connected to Islam in any way. It is almost always presented as some incidental or isolated occurrence, not connected with the culture or religion that spawns it.

• Muslim Scholars Join Rare Anti-Female Circumcision Conference. [International Herald Tribune, France] Prominent Muslim scholars from around the world, including conservative religious leaders from Egypt and Africa, met Wednesday to speak out against female genital mutilation at a rare high-level conference on the age-old practice. The meeting was organized by a German human rights and held under the patronage of Dar Al-Iftaa, Egypt's main religious-edicts organization. It was held at the conference center of Al-Azhar, the highest Sunni Islamic institution in the world. Al Azhar's grand sheik, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, attended as well as Egypt's Grand Mufti, Ali Goma'a, whose fatwas are considered binding religious edicts. It is rare for such religious figures in Egypt to attend such a conference on an issue that remains sensitive and controversial here. An estimated 50% of schoolgirls in Egypt are thought to undergo the procedure, according to government statistics.

• Afghanistan’s Only Female Minister Presses for Women’s Rights. [Boston Herald] Five years after the Taliban’s fall, women aren’t beaten if they leave home without a male relative. Girls can go to school, and a quarter of Afghan parliamentarians are women - as mandated by law. But life remains bleak: Many women and girls face domestic violence and forced marriage in this conservative, violence-plagued country. In many provinces where the government wields little power, life for women remains as it was during the rule of the Taliban. “We’ve had three decades of war in Afghanistan, which have had very bad consequences for women,” Minister for Women’s Affairs Hussn Banu Ghazanfar said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It takes time to solve these problems.”

• Suspected Taliban Attack on Female Legislator, Husband Killed. [Zee News, India] Suspected Taliban gunmen on motorbikes ambushed a female provincial councilor’s car in southern Afghanistan, killing her husband, police said today. The attackers struck as Legislator Zarghona Kakar and her husband stopped at the traditional roadside bakery in Kandahar province yesterday, Provincial Police Chief Esmatullah Alizai said. Kakar was unhurt but the gunmen mowed down her husband as he left the car to buy bread, he said. "Police have launched a serious investigation into the incident but have not arrested anyone so far. The men who carried out the attack covered their faces and were not recognized," Alizai told. Alizai blamed the "enemies of Afghanistan" for the attack. Afghan officials use the term to refer to the Islamist Taliban movement that has been leading an increasingly violent insurgency since being ousted in late 2001. Kakar is one of three women in the male-dominated council for Kandahar province, which was the birthplace for the Taliban regime.

• Forced Marriage, Abuse Behind Afghan Women Suicides. [Middle East Times, Egypt] Forced marriage and chronic abuse are among the key triggers for the growing cases of self-immolation among women in Afghanistan, a regional conference heard Tuesday. The high rate of illiteracy - with under 20% of women said to be literate - and an incompetent justice system also meant that many women could not see their way out of problems and so took their own lives, the three-day meeting heard. The conference of about 400 people, including from other countries that have similar rates of suicide such as Bangladesh, Iran, India, and Sri Lanka, was called to try to find ways to stop the phenomenon. Experts said that there were no accurate overall figures, with hospitals and police not keeping proper records and many families hiding their cases because of shame.

• Nongovernmental Organization Giving Afghan Women Hope. [Washington File, DC] Active in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, Women for Women International (WFWI) helps widowed survivors of decades of conflict gain confidence and vocational skills. The organization began helping women victims of war in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992. Now working in nine countries, WFWI helps women and their families in conflict zones re-establish stability in their lives. The WFWI Afghanistan chapter has trained nearly 9,000 women in job skills, literacy, rights awareness and business management since 2002.

• Women to Meet. [Gulf Daily News, Bahrain] Her Highness Shaikha Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, wife of His Majesty and chairwoman of the Arab Women's Organization, will chair the organization’s first conference in Bahrain. First ladies or their envoys at the Arab League will participate. For the first time, representatives from non-governmental organizations will also attend. It will be held in the form of workshops to introduce achievements of these Arab countries.

• Niece Forced into Sex Trade. [Gulf Daily News, Bahrain] A prostitute has told how her own uncle brought her to Bahrain to work in a vice den, having sex with up to eight men a day, on fixed shifts. The 24-year-old Bangladeshi said she brought in up to BD800 a month from clients, but her uncle gave her just BD100 and kept the rest. She was arrested in a raid on the East Riffa vice den in July, along with another woman, aged 20 and a man, aged 33, also both Bangladeshi. The women have each admitted prostitution, along with living in Bahrain illegally, since they were no longer working for their sponsors, the Lower Criminal Court heard.

Egypt

• Egyptians Demonstrate Against Alleged Assaults on Women. [International Herald Tribune, France] A small but ardent group of Egyptian men and women protested Thursday against what they saw as their government's indifference to an alleged sexual assault of women in the city center last month. About 100 protesters stood outside the Journalists' Syndicate in downtown Cairo, chanting slogans against President Hosni Mubarak and the police force. An equal number of riot police, wearing helmets and carrying batons, faced the demonstrators but made no attempt to disperse the nearly two-hour protest. "Every day there is sexual harassment, but there is no violence," said demonstrator Manal Hassan. "This is different."

• Silence and Fury in Cairo After Sexual Attacks on Women. [New York Times] There is fear in the shops along Talat Harb Street, and shame. It is not because of what the people who work here say they witnessed, the crowds of men groping women and pulling at their clothing. They fear the police returning, and they are shamed by their own silence. Store owners in Cairo tried to fight off young men who had surrounded a victim of groping. Recently, reports surfaced on Egyptian blogs, on television and in newspapers that groups of men had roamed the city streets during a holiday weekend and attacked young women — actually chased them down in packs. There were accounts from witnesses and victims. But in the culture of Egypt’s one-party state, the charges were received as a critique of the security services. There was no collective soul-searching, no government call for an investigation. There was, instead, adamant denial followed up by state-sponsored intimidation of potential witnesses.

• Parliament Session Begins Wednesday, Women's Bill Not Listed. [Monsters and Critics.com, UK] Despite repeated assurances from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the long-awaited legislation seeking one third seats for women in parliament and legislative assemblies has not been listed for business during the month-long winter session of parliament, which begins Wednesday. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi Tuesday claimed the government would evolve a consensus on the controversial bill and bring it for legislation. 'The government is trying our best to bring consensus over the bill. There are differences of opinion. The home minister is talking to all parties,' Dasmunsi told reporters.

• Women's Reservation Bill to be Tabled in Par's Current Session. [Daily News & Analysis, India] Under pressure from the Left allies, UPA on Wednesday decided to bring the Women's Reservation Bill in the current session of Parliament but questions remained if the constitutional amendment measure would turn into a law. A meeting of the UPA Coordination Committee held at the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's official residence here gave signal that the ruling alliance was all for quota for the fair sex with Railway Minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad initiating the move. This was significant given that RJD had opposed an introduction of the bill in its original form which provides 33% reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.

• Government Assures Protection of Women. [Chennai Online, India] The Tamil Nadu government has submitted to the Madras High Court that it has evolved a strategy for proper implementation of the Domestic Violence Act for the protection of women in the state. The Home Secretary and Social Welfare Secretary today appeared before the first bench, comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice K Chandru, based on summons issued to them in connection with a Public Interest Litigation filed by K Alamelu Saruthiri, Secretary, 'Sweet Heart Movement for Have-nots' that the act had not been implemented properly.

• Why Women Take a Beating. [Times of India, India] Why do women put up with abuse? At first it's for love. But after a point, it's societal concerns. "They worry about how society would view a person who's separated from her husband," says Dr Anjali Chhabria. Violence becomes a way of life for the victim. Also, the perpetrator shows a pattern — always begging for forgiveness and proclaiming his love after an act of violence. "This confuses the victim, who then starts making excuses for the violence. She starts believing that she provoked the outburst. They feel if they change, the violence would not occur. Often these people have low self esteem," says Chhabria. There's growing violence even in relationships between youngsters, who face similar dilemmas. "His temper is his only problem," cries 20-year old Vinisha Patel, who is often battered by her 22-year old boyfriend. "I can't leave him for that," she says helplessly.

• Jharkhand Women Fight Hunger with Foodgrain Bank. [Monsters and Critics.com, UK] Reeling under drought and hunger, women in some Jharkhand villages are fighting back with 'foodgrain banks' for those in distress. The efforts of the women in Ghatshila sub-division under Jamshedpur are an eyeopener to the state government and speak volumes about the management skills of rural women. The women here have established a common granary system, called Dhanya Gola, where they store additional foodgrains. 'We store what is surplus. They are distributed to families in need,' says Dhaniya Devi of Laydih village. Echoes Sonari Devi of Huruumbil village: 'Here drought and hunger are common. During drought the grains are distributed among the needy families.

• Accused Rapist to be Slapped in Public in Northern India. [The Associated Press] A man in northern Indian will be publicly slapped 51 times as punishment after village elders found him guilty of raping a neighbor who is deaf and mute, a village chief said Friday. The elders stepped in to review the case because local police had failed to arrest the accused man after a complaint was filed by the victim's husband, village head Badr-ul Hasan told The Associated Press. "Police told us that since the woman is deaf and mute, she is not able to narrate the incident," Hasan said.

• Female Feticide Case Detected in Punjab. [PunjabNewsline.com, India] The district administration Saturday succeeded in tracing another case of feticide in the district and arrested two women of Rahon, a mother and daughter duo, midwife Mohinder Kaur and her daughter Balvir Kaur on the spot under the MTP Act and Section 120 of IPC. The room, situated on the first floor of their house in which the illegal activity of aborting a fetus was being committed, was sealed and the surgical equipment used in the crime were sealed and taken in to possession by the police. Deputy Commissioner Krishan Kumar said that a team comprising Civil Surgeon Dr Balvir Singh, DSP Gurmukh Singh Cheema, DHO Dr I.S.Shekhawat, MO Dr Usha Kiran and social activist Birval Takhi of Upkar Coordination Society, caught red-handed Mohinder Kaur and Balvir Kaur this morning at their residence in Mohalla Pahar Ganj in Rahon while committing feticide and terminating the pregnancy of Jagir Kaur of Behloor Kalan.

• 38% HIV-Hit in India Are Women. [Times of India, India] More than 38% of those living with HIV in India are women, most having acquired the virus from regular partners who were infected during paid sex. According to the 2006 AIDS epidemic update compiled by UNAIDS and WHO, which was released on Tuesday, unprotected heterosexual intercourse is the cause for the bulk of HIV infections in India. Over 5.7 million of the 8.6 million people living with HIV in Asia are from India, most of them adults aged between 15 and 49. According to the report, India is experiencing a highly varied HIV epidemic which appears to be stable or diminishing in some parts while growing at a modest rate in others. In some rural areas, the prevalence of HIV ranges between 1.1% and 6.4% among adults, underlying the varied character of the epidemic.

• Skewed Sex Ratio! No Problem, We Will Buy Tribes. [MedIndia, India] Patel community in Gujarat, who are known for their entrepreneurial skills and its hold over agriculture and business, are now in the trade of buying tribal girls for their inheritance. This issue has caused a severe sociological problem in the country. One of the main reasons for the fall in female child ratio in the community is the traditional dowry system. Prof Gaurang Jani, senior sociologist associated with the Gujarat University, while commenting about the aversion towards female sex said: 'the aversion towards the girl has been around for centuries.' In ancient days, evil practices like ‘doodh piti’ were practiced in the community in which a new-born girl child was killed by drowning her in a pot of milk.' But today to the contrary to the above practices, the community is even ready for female feticide. The skewed male-female ratio (fall in the female ratio) availing in the community is the main cause. It is believed that an amount of anything between Rs.50,000 to 1 lakh is given to the tribal family for buying girls from areas like Vadadora, Bharuch, Panchamahals. 

• Indian Traffickers Turn to Poor for Sex Trade. [Independent Online, South Africa] Human traffickers are increasingly turning to India's poor and insurgency-wracked northeastern states in their search for young girls to work in big city brothels, police and activists say. Over the past five years there has been a rise in reports of missing girls from the remote region of eight states, an increase which authorities believe is due to trafficking. Police say at least 700 girls from the region have been reported missing over the last five years, 300 of whom disappeared in 2005 alone. But activists estimate thousands of northeastern girls disappear every year - most of whom are not reported by families due to the stigma associated with being part of the sex trade.

• Iran Blocks Student, Women's Websites. [RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, Czech Republic] Several websites have been blocked in Iran over the past 24 hours, Radio Farda reports. Among them are advarnews.us, which belongs to Iran's main reformist student group, and meydaan.com, which covers women's issues. Iran has been labeled an enemy of the Internet by the French media watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

• Women At Sports Events A Victory, But 'Not Enough'. [Radio Free Europe] Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has ordered authorities to allow women to enter sports stadiums and attend national football games. Conservatives have deemed it un-Islamic for women to attend men's sporting events, and a ban has been in place since the establishment of the Islamic republic in 1979. But in a letter to the head of Iran's Physical Education Organization, Ahmadinejad wrote that women and families help bring "morality" and "chastity" to public venues. RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari talked on April 24 with a prominent women's rights activist, Mahboubeh Abbass-Gholizadeh, about the reversal. She calls the decision the result of pressure by activists.

• Walls Close in on Iraqi Women. [The New York Times] The things the women missed were almost too small to notice at first. Simple numbers and dates began to elude their memories. They were hugging their children less. Past pleasures, eating and listening to music, began to feel flat. They were shouting at their husbands like army commanders. Small as they seemed, these scraps of life were the effects of the war as discussed by four Iraqi women on a cloudy Saturday afternoon in a women's center in Baghdad. Their stories began with a familiar theme: the shrinking lives of middle-class families in the capital. Social clubs have emptied out. Weddings have been sparsely attended. But as the circle has become smaller, and as they focus intensely on just staying alive, they said, even the basics are being stripped away. "All the elements of society have been dismantled," said Fawsia Abdul al-Attiya, a sociologist and a professor at Baghdad University. "You are afraid because you are a woman, a man, a Sunni, a Shiite, a Kurd. "All these things start to change society."

• Violence in Iraq Increasingly Targeting Women. [Middle East Times, Egypt] Women are increasingly the victims of violence in Iraq, as direct targets of assassinations and as widows left without support after the deaths of their husbands, an Iraqi women's activist said Wednesday. "Many women activists have been murdered, many women university professors. Many women physicians have been killed, women in the police forces, reporters, and journalists," Rajaa Al Khuzai, president of the Iraqi National Council of Women, told a news conference in Vienna. "We are losing an average 100 Iraqi [men] every day ... so I think [we have an additional] 3,000 widows every month ... and all of them are young and have no support for them and their families," she added.

• Female Shiite Assassination Groups Dispatched to Baghdad. [Global Terrorism Analysis, DC] Recent chatter on jihadi forums points to a new organized death squad in Iraq. The new group is allegedly composed of Shiite female assassination units that will target Sunnis. Sunni jihadi websites have warned their followers about this new threat, saying that these female units, called al-Zahra groups after Fatima al-Zahra, the daughter of the Prophet and the wife of the Muslim caliph Ali, are trained to kill Sunnis with bayonets and handguns equipped with silencers.

• Iraqi Female Journalist, Her Driver Gunned Down in Mosul. [People's Daily Online, China] Gunmen shot dead an Iraqi female journalist working for a local newspaper in the northern city of Mosul along with her driver, a police source said. "Fadiyah Muhammad al-Taie, and her driver were killed by gunmen in the morning in the Zahraa neighborhood in eastern Mosul City," Brigadier Sa'id al-Juboury from the city police told Xinhua. Taie was gunned down on her way to her office. The paper al- Masar she worked for publishes in Mosul, Juboury added. Two days ago, a cameraman, Muhammad Mahmoud al-Ban, 56, working for the Iraqi private al-Sharqiya satellite channel, was also killed in Mosul by unknown gunmen.

Israel

• Officer Convicted of Raping Female Soldier. [Ynetnews, Israel] The IDF Southern Command Military Court convicted an officer of raping a female soldier who served under his command on Sunday. The court ruled the complainant's version of the incident, which occurred in June 2004, as credible. The complainant testified that the officer, a second lieutenant, had thrown her down on a mattress, licked her neck, opened her shirt and yelled at her to "shut up" when she tried to speak. The complainant charged that the officer forced her to perform oral sex on him, even after she vomited. The relationship between the two began after the officer propositioned the soldier, who rejected his advances. The judges noted in their verdict that the complainant sought to distance herself from the officer. "It would seem that the defendant turned the tables on the basic understanding of what constitutes a relationship with members of the opposite sex," wrote the judges, "according to his twisted notions a woman who shows resistance during a sexual act is normal and should be interpreted as courting and not objection on her part."

• Jordanian Father and Son Charged in 'Honor Killing' of 17-Year-Old Girl. [The Associated Press] Jordan's prosecutor charged a father with murdering his 17-year-old daughter by electrocuting her, a court official said Tuesday, describing the 16th honor crime investigated this year by authorities in this conservative society. The man's 15-year-old son was also charged in the incident that occurred Friday in Amman, the Jordanian capital. Most families expect daughters to remain virgins until they are married and some believe girls who mix with men who are not relatives bring dishonor to the family. The men repeatedly hit the girl on the head with a club, then administered an electrical current to her after she ignored her father's orders not to leave their home, a court official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to give statements to the media.

• Female Terror 'Honeytraps'. [The Australian, Australia] Kashmiri terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba is believed to have recruited a "honeytrap brigade" of female militants to gather vital information from Indian soldiers about troop deployments and strategy. The existence of the brigade has reportedly alarmed Indian security agencies already concerned about incidents in which their soldiers have passed on classified information to the terror group linked to al-Qa'ida. Intelligence agencies have become aware of a steady stream of women returning to Kashmir after receiving arms and tactical training in camps in Pakistani territory.

• First Congress of Working Women Started its Work. [Kazinform, Kazakhstan] Today in Astana has started its work the first Congress of Working Women of Kazakhstan, involving 370 delegates from the countrywide. Those attending highlighted invaluable contribution of working women, mothers to frther advanced socio-economic growth of the counry, state’s heightened attention to socio-economic protection of women, maternity and hcildhood’s legal and social support.

• German MP Hails Kuwait as Pioneering Model in Democracy, Women's Rights. [Kuwait News Agency, Kuwait] A member of the German parliament here on Thursday expressed his admiration for democracy, politics and women's rights in Kuwait, hailing the country as a pioneering model to follow in this respect. The remark was made by Hans-Johachim Horster, chairman of the German Arab parliamentary group in the Federal Diet (Bundestag), in an interview with Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) on the sidelines of the Gulf Cooperation Council Days Conference, which kicked off here on Wednesday. It resumed its activities in the Bundestag on Thursday with debates and lectures on women's role in the society and their participation in political and economic activities.

• Ramadan Over, Women of Beirut Prowl for Mates. [ New York Times] This is a city of nightclubs, but the night life is something else these days, and not just because of the feverish edge sharpened by the war last summer. By 8 p.m., women in their 20s and early 30s are prowling in packs of five and six, casting meaningful glances at any and all passing men. In the bars the women dance for hours - often on top of the bar - and legs, midriffs, bare shoulders and barely covered bosoms are offered for public admiration. Samir Khalaf, a professor of sociology at the American University of Beirut, said the scene astonished his American colleagues. "They are just shocked," he said. "'This is Lebanon, the Middle East?' they say. They can't stop talking about all the belly buttons, about all these highly eroticized bodies. You see it everywhere here, this combination of consumerism and postmodernism and female competition." For a few weeks twice a year, after Ramadan and before Christmas, thousands of Lebanon's young men return from jobs abroad - and run smack into one of the world's most aggressive cultures of female display. Young women of means have spent weeks primping and planning how to sift through as many men as possible in the short time available. The austere month of Ramadan ended a week ago.

• 'Women Healthcare Highly Neglected Area in Chakwal'. [The News - International, Pakistan] Women in remote areas are very keen to absorb knowledge on issues affecting women's health but complain that advocacy campaigns are limited to cities and big towns. Women in remote and marginalised communities have mobility constraints and cannot acquire information unless health education is imparted to them in their community setting, said participants of a one-day workshop with women councillors from Chakwal. The meeting was coordinated by Women Political School and was jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Women Development and United Nations Population Fund. Thirty women councillors from Chakwal district participated in the workshop held at Tehsil Headquarter. Resource person Najma Lalji effectively engaged workshop participants on reproductive health, family planning, HIV/Aids and violence against women. Participants from a common social background but different age groups had a similar stance on most social issues.

• Violence Against Women on the Rise in North. [PakTribune.com, Pakistan] The each coming day rise in violence against women in north has increased concern in human rights watchdogs and officials of women affairs organizations. Ratio of violence against women like rape, honor-killing and betrothing of women against their will have swelled in the north. According to human rights organizations dozens of cases of violence against women, including, rape and honor-killing have been occurred in northern provinces of Jozjan, Faryab, Kunduz, Sar-i-Pul, Balkh and Takhar. The victims often complained they were not provided justice as the wrong doers in most cases are more influential than the honor preservers.

• Women Protection Bill Acceptable After Ulema Proposed Amendments. [Online - International News Network, Pakistan] Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Leader of Opposition and Ameer Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) has said that only with the incorporation of amendments proposed by ulema the Women Protection Bill can be accepted. Addressing a press conference at the Parliament Lodges on Tuesday along with the Central Leader of JUI Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and others, Maulana Fazl said that rulers talk of extremism but are themselves pushing the nation towards it.

• National Assembly Adopts "Women Protection Bill 2006". [PakTribune.com, Pakistan] Pakistan's lower house of parliament has passed a landmark bill amending the country's controversial laws governing rape and adultery.  The legislation, which has one more hurdle to clear, would overturn Pakistani laws that require women to produce four male witnesses to prove a rape case. Despite strong opposition from Islamists in parliament, Pakistan's lower house passed the landmark legislation late Wednesday.

• Lower House Passes Landmark Women's Rights Bill. [Voice of America] Hotly debated Women Protection Bill has been approved in the National Assembly on Wednesday with three MMA amendments. It is an historic Bill because it will give rights to women and help end excesses against them," Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told the assembly after the vote. "This law will protect the rights of the women," prime minister said, adding that it conformed with the Holy Quran and Sunnah. The Bill must be approved by the upper house of Parliament before it becomes law.

• Opposition Terms WPB a Bill Against Women Honor. [Online - International News Network, Pakistan] Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal will hold countrywide protest in case of passing of Women Protection Bill. Government itself is confused over the bill as it has attached women rights with rape, whereas the sitting government alleges MMA of politicizing the issue. This was said by opposition members including MMA and PML-N while delivering speeches in the Lower House during the debate over the Women Protection Bill on Wednesday. Opposition leader Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, said, the bill has become very controversial therefore there was no need to pass it in the present situation. In a situation when the leader of ruling party has cited if the Bill will become controversial then he will resign from his office. Then why the government is pressing too hard for passing this bill, he asked. I will only say that, “The West attacked our religion and norms and women rights are being attached to rape.”

• Mullas Vow to Stop Women’s Protection Bill. [Daily Times, Pakistan] Clerics have announced that they will protest today (Friday) against the government’s stated intention to pass the Women’s Protection Bill (WPB), which aims to amend the Hudood Ordinances. The clerics gathered here at an ulema convention, organised by the Wafaqul Madaris Al Arabia (WMAA), on Thursday and decided that they would launch a nationwide protest against the government if it passed the bill. They said the passage of the bill would be considered “a revolt against the Quran and Sunnah”. They said they would highlight the issue during Friday sermons. Lt General (r) Hamid Gul proposed that the ulema convince President General Pervez Musharraf to pass the bill in the form approved by a committee of ulema, and not in the form approved by a select parliamentary committee.

• Hundreds of Pakistani Women Protest Islamic Rape Law Amendments. [International Herald Tribune, France] Hundreds of women supporting Pakistan's largest Islamic group protested Monday against government amendments to controversial rape laws. About 800 women, followers of the Jamaat-e-Islami group, attended the rally in a downtown district of the capital, Islamabad. Last Wednesday, Parliament's lower house passed the Protection of Women Bill to amend clauses in the 1979 Hudood Ordinance covering rape laws. The move enraged hard-line Islamic lawmakers. "Un-Islamic laws are unacceptable in an Islamic country," chanted Monday's protesters, many wearing face veils and black, head-to-toe chadors.

• MMA Women Wing Kicks off Anti Government Movement Against Passage of WPB. [Online - International News Network, Pakistan] MMA women wing kicks of protest movement against the government on Women Protection Bill with organizing protest rally outside the parliament house to adopt a condemnation resolution against the bill what the participants of demonstration described Un-Islamic. The resolution said WPB is repugnant to Quran and Sunnah and all the recommendations made by the Ulema have been ignored in it. Pakistan is an Islamic, ideological state and no legislation contrary to Quran and Sunnah can be enacted in the country. The rulers unfortunately are not ready to accept the supremacy of Quran and Sunnah. The women wing makes it clear that the rulers have employed efforts to alter Islamic teachings, resolution adds. The ideological and historical material has been deleted from curriculum. Rulers are bent upon imposing vision of enlightened moderation in the guise of secular education system. The faithful have been persecuted being labeled as terrorists. Patriotic and talented nuclear scientists have been imprisoned to undermine the nuclear program of the country.

• Government, MMA Brace for Battle in Senate: Women’s Rights Bill. [Pakistan Dawn, Pakistan] The Senate meets on Tuesday to begin a new session called mainly to pass the women's rights bill in what would be a replay of the battle in the National Assembly. But the Protection of Women’s Rights (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, passed by the National Assembly on Nov 15, could be put on hold until Wednesday as the opening sitting is likely to be brief and adjourn to mourn the death for ex-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan. As had happened in the National Assembly earlier this month, even the Fateha for the former president could turn into a row if the opposition pressed for a similar prayer for 83 people killed in the Oct 30 missile strike on a madressah in Bajaur and 42 army recruits killed on Nov 8 in a suicide bombing on a parade ground at Dargai. Although the government has planned to put the Protection of Women’s Rights Bill on the top of its legislative agenda in the Senate, opposition leader Raza Rabbani told Dawn on Monday his side would seek a debate on the Bajaur and Dargai attacks to be held first rather than wait for a separate opposition-called session.

• Palestinian Women Pay Health Toll at Checkpoints. [Women's eNews] In the past six years, at least four pregnant women and 34 newborns have died after the mothers were delayed at Israeli military checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza, Brenda Gazzar reports today. Volunteers and aid groups are working to ease access restrictions. Palestinian women have for decades faced a multitude of health risks shared by the overall population, including restricted access for patients and medical professionals due to the occupation, the deteriorating economic situation, traditional cultural beliefs, and lack of adequate services and facilities. Since the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, in September 2000, those hardships have been aggravated. Between Sept. 28, 2000, and Aug. 20, 2006, for instance, 10 percent of women in the West Bank and Gaza who needed to give birth in medical centers or hospitals were delayed by Israeli forces from two to four hours, according to the Palestinian Health Information Center, an agency of the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Sixty-eight women gave birth at checkpoints during this period, considered a factor in the deaths of 34 newborns and four mothers.

• Female Detainee Talks About Harsh Conditions She Faces in Detention. [International Middle East Media Center, Palestinian Territories] Detainee Amna Mona, has been confined to solitary since October 5, 2006, and is facing very harsh conditions, humiliation and deprived of her internationally guaranteed rights, the Palestinian Prisoner Society reported. Lawyer of the Society Hanan Khateeb, visited Mona on Tuesday listened to her complaints on the bad treatment she faces at the detention facility. Mona said that after she was confined to solitary, soldiers wanted to leave the cell for a short break with several other female detainees, but they insisted that she must be handcuffed and chained. Mona rejected the preconditions, and was confined to solitary for one month. Since she was taken prisoner, Mona was only allowed to leave her cell five times. Mona complained that she is subjected to daily naked body search by female soldiers who touch her in an improper way during the search.

• Report Condemns Violence Against Palestinian Women. [The New York Times] Discriminatory laws, traditional practices and a severe shortage of emergency shelters combine to perpetuate violence against women by their family members and intimate partners in the Palestinian territories, according to a report that was released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch, a watchdog group in New York. The report, "A Question of Security: Violence Against Palestinian Women and Girls," is based on interviews over the last year with victims, police officers, social workers and officials of the Palestinian Authority. It says that while there is "increasing recognition of the problem" by the authorities of violence against women and girls, "little action has been taken to seriously address these abuses." In fact, the report says, "there is some evidence that the level of violence is getting worse while the remedies available to the victims are being further eroded.

• Palestinian Women Victims of Societal Violence, Authorities Fail to Protect Them: Report. [The Associated Press] Large numbers of Palestinian women are victims of violence by men, and not only do authorities fail to protect them — they sometimes add to the abuse by forcing rape victims to marry their rapists, according to a report released Tuesday. The New York-based Human Rights Watch also criticized other practices, such as light sentences for men who kill female relatives suspected of adultery. It said families, tribal leaders and authorities, backed by tradition and discriminatory laws, often sacrifice victims' interests for "family honor."

• Female Suicide Bomber Blows Herself Up in Northern Gaza. [The Associated Press] A female suicide bomber approached Israeli troops operating in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun on Monday and blew herself up, the army and Palestinian residents said. One soldier was lightly injured in the blast, the army said. The blast occurred amid a six-day long Israeli offensive in the town to stop Palestinians from firing homemade rockets into Israel. On Monday afternoon, the woman, who was wearing an explosive device, approached Israeli troops in the town in a suspicious manner, the army said. The soldiers ordered her to stop before she reached them and she blew herself up, the army said.

• Rape: Who Gets Punished and Who Does Not? [Arab News, Saudi Arabia] These two crimes follow the famous rape case known in Saudi Arabia as the “Qatif Girl” incident which was a top news story a few months ago. For those who don’t know, it was the gang rape of a girl in Qatif who called for help and when a man attempted to help her, he was beaten up and raped as well. The sentences, as reported by Arab News, were “Four of the seven men have been sent to jail for periods ranging from one to five years and will be given 80 to 1,000 lashes.” In addition, “The court also sentenced the woman and the man she was meeting to 90 lashes for having met in private. The security source from the Eastern Province said, ‘The judge sentenced the girl and the man to 90 lashes because they were alone with the intention of doing something bad. Because of that, they will be punished.’” Relatives of the woman said that they would appeal the 90-lash-sentence. “The Qatif girl was sentenced to 90 lashes because the court suspected the “intention of doing something bad.”

• Saudi Mulls Allowing Women to Run, Vote in Municipal Polls. [Zee News, India] Saudi Arabia is considering allowing women to run and vote in municipal elections, the Kingdom's Interior Minister said in an interview published on Tuesday in a Kuwaiti newspaper. "We will look into the possibility of women's participation in municipal elections in the coming period," prince Naif told al-Anba daily in an interview in the Saudi capital Riyadh. He said such participation would give women the "ability to discuss their problems and find solutions for them." The oil-rich kingdom adheres to a strict interpretation of Islamic law, and women are not allowed to drive or to vote and run in municipal elections -- the only type of election permitted in the country. Asked if women in Saudi would be allowed to acquire driving licenses, the prince said "driving a car in our desert areas with neighborhoods far apart puts the lives of women in danger and this is something we do not accept as officials responsible for them."

• Prince Quashes Women's Hopes to Drive. [Independent Online, South Africa] Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz has said that the conservative kingdom does not plan to lift a ban on women's driving, in comments published on Tuesday. "It is regrettable that this matter has become an issue, though it does not deserve to be. I am astonished why this issue has been discussed," Nayef told the Kuwaiti Al-Anbaa newspaper. "This is a secondary issue and is not on our priorities (list)... I urge everyone to forget about it... Such an issue is decided in accordance with public interests and women's dignity," he said. The controversy over the decades-old ban raged earlier in 2006 when the appointed consultative council refused to debate a proposal submitted by member Mohammad al-Zalfa calling to lift the ban.

Turkey

• Fewer Turkish Women Wearing Headscarf – Study. [San Diego Union Tribune] Fewer Turkish women are wearing the Muslim headscarf and fewer Turks generally support a state based on Islamic sharia law than a few years ago, according to a study by an independent think-tank published on Tuesday. Turkey, a candidate for European Union membership, is overwhelmingly Muslim but has a secular political system that includes a strict ban on the wearing of the headscarf in universities and public offices.

• Confab on Situation of Women to be Held. [Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran] A Euro-Mediterranean ministerial conference on promotion of situation of women in society will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, on Tuesday and Wednesday. The conference is the first Euromed ministerial meeting on the women status. Participants will include ministers and civil servants from EU states and the Mediterranean region and representatives from non-governmental organizations. The themes of the conference include the issue of women's rights as guarantees of human rights and women's opportunities to education and culture as well as to taking part in society, an EU statement said. The conference is expected to take decisions to improve the situation of women in different aspects of society, as well as need for eliminating discrimination against women.

• Décolleté Warning for Female Orchestra Musicians. [Hürriyet, Turkey] The General Directorate of the State Opera and Ballet has warned female musicians not to wear low-cut clothes. The notice first appeared in the General Directorate building of the orchestra, and was removed the previous evening following reactions from orchestra musicians. "It is not appropriate for a musician's cleavage to draw more attention than the instrument they are playing," said cellist Arzu Sugüne, who posted the notice. "This is a state institution. Women wear dresses that show the cleft in their cleavage, which is unsightly. We have taken down the written notice originally put up, but this warning remains. We are not a conservative institution, we are not against strapless clothes, but we must maintain certain limits."

• Historian Cleared of Hate Charges. [The Associated Press] A court on Wednesday tried and immediately acquitted a 92-year-old archaeologist for claiming in a book that Islamic-style head scarves were first worn more than 5,000 years ago by priestesses initiating young men into sex. In a trial that lasted less than an hour, the court in Istanbul acquitted Muazzez Ilmiye Cig, an expert on the Sumerian civilization of Mesopotomia of around third millennium B.C., and her publisher of charges of insulting religious feelings. The panel of three judges ruled that Cig's actions did not constitute a crime. The diminutive, staunchly pro-secular former academic, who was born in 1914 — the waning years of the Ottoman Empire and the start of World War I — was the latest person to go on trial in Turkey for expressing her views, despite intense European Union pressure on the country to expand freedom of expression. Cig's trial was initiated by an Islamic-oriented lawyer who was offended by claims made in her recently published political work, "My Reactions as a Citizen," in which she says that the earliest examples of head scarves date back to Sumerian times, when veils were worn by priestesses who engaged in sex to distinguish themselves from other priestesses. Cig rejected the charge in court saying: "I am a woman of science. ... I never insulted anyone," private NTV television reported. Twenty-five lawyers crammed into the small courtroom to defend her.

• Tough Fight for Rights Ahead of Arab Women, Warns Egypt's First Lady. [Gulf News, UAE] Arab women need to steel themselves for a fierce battle against forces keen on obscuring their opportunities, Egypt's first lady Suzanne Mubarak warned in Manama. "Arab women have made impressive strides forward, but we are still looking for a faster and more expanded participation in all aspects of life, especially that the world is propelled by a robust momentum and moves at a great speed," Suzanne told the media on the sidelines of the Arab Women's Organization meeting in Bahrain.

• Chipping at Glass Ceiling from Peak of Power. [The New York Times] For Sheika Lubna al Qassimi, the magic typically happens in the shopping malls and public gatherings of this rapidly growing nation, not in the halls of power that she navigates every day. It also happens in little ways that young Emarati women approach her to take their photographs with her, tell her of their dreams or, best of all, ask her for career advice. During those moments, she says, she realizes how much has changed for women here since she started out. But she also sees how much farther they have to go. "I had to prove that stamina and delivering have nothing to do with gender," she told a group of young entrepreneurs recently. "We are the ones who usually discourage ourselves, even before anyone else discourages us." After decades of pushing the barriers in a region where women have been kept out of the public sphere, Qassimi now towers as one of the United Arab Emirates' most influential women. She is the Emirates' first ever woman minister, but more important, she is the minister of economy and planning, a strategically important position in a country where economic development is a lifeblood.

• Dubai Women's College Hosts an Orientation Session. [AME Info] Dubai Women's College organized an orientation session for all students and staff members to encourage them to volunteer for the Special Olympics 5th MENA Regional Games which is to be held in Dubai from 11-15 of November. Approximately 1000 participants from 20 Middle East/North African countries are to compete in 10 sports across different venues in Dubai. The event is hosted by the Special Olympics UAE and will be held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

• Dubai Women's College Students Teach Their Peers. [AME Info] The Information Technology Department at Dubai Women's College (DWC) today has received formal recognition from the College for teaching done by its students to students in the Health Sciences Department.