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if your are interested in knowing what is happening to sri-lanki house worker in Saoudi Arabia, the gays rights in Algeria, teen marriage in Jordan, Women working in Saoudi Arabia, and more… do not hesitate to read the e -brief below:
Gender and Development e -Brief / Issue 100
September 2010
In This Issue
CONFERENCES & OPPORTUNITIES
“Challenges of Change: Religion, Secularism & Rights”
NEWS & ARTICLES
WOMEN’S RIGHTS CAMPAIGN
Libya – CEDAW & Reservations – New Nationality Law
Former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet to head New United Nations Women’s Agency
… And the GEAR Campaign Enthusiastically Welcomes the New Under-Secretary-General, Michelle Bachelet, Former Chilean President
WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVISM
WLUML and SKSW Statement on the Release of Shiva Nazar Ahari
Non-Haredi Women Plan March to Protest Discrimination against Women
National LGBT day in Algeria
Civil Society Denounces Legalization of Violence Against Women in Sudan
Palestinian Woman Breaks Taboo to Cycle Across Gaza Strip
Mothers of Palestinian Prisoners in Israel Mark Eid in Protest
Iraqi Women Want Stable Government & Women’s Impact
Supermarkets Break Taboo with Women Cashiers in KSA
GENDER BASED VIOLENCE
Tackling Sexual Harassment in Egypt
Israeli and West Bank Women Risk Jail for Day at the Beach
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani Denies Torture Claims, Suspicion of Forced Confession
… and A Call for General Assembly Condemnation of Stoning as Crime Against Humanity
Couple Hammered 24 Nails into Sri Lankan Maid In Saudi Arabia
Teen marriage a restless topic in Jordan
GENDER & ISLAM
Closing of Tourist Places in Gaza for Non-Compliance with Islamic Customs
Islamic Fundamentalism’s War Against Women, 1993
Islamic Texts as a Source for Acceptance of Queer Individuals
American & Iranian Women Released from Iran Prison
GENDER & ICT
WLUML Networker Blogs About Culture and Women’s Rights
GENDER & PERSONAL STATUS LAW
Registration of “Temporary Marriages” Voted Down
No Birth Registration/Rights – Children of Conflict in Iraq
BOOKS & REPORTS
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women – General Recommendations
GENDER AND SOCIETIES
MRG Report on Continued Persecution of Minorities
Women and Memory Forum Reader on Gender & Political Science
GENDER & PERSONAL STATUS CODE
Fatherhood In Islam
“Safe Age of Marriage in Yemen”
RESOURCES
Video – FGM Still Widespread in Egypt
Gender and Development e-Brief receives material from various sources for its publication. Should you wish to refer to these sources/ sites directly, the list includes publications from: AVIVA, www.aviva.org, AWID: www.awid.org, Democracy Digest: www.freedomhouse.org, Development Gateway: www.developmentgatway.org, Dignity: www.dignity.org, e-Civicus: www.civicus.org, Eldis: www.eldis.org, ESCWA: www.escwa.org.lb, GDB: www.developmentex.com, Global Knowledge Partnership: www.globalknowledge.org, IGTN: www.IGTN.org, ILO: www.ilo.org One World: www.oneworld.net, Siyanda: www.siyanda.org, The Daily Star: www.dailystar.com.lb, The Drum Beat: www.comminit.com, The Soul Beat: www.comminit.com, The World Bank: www.worldbank.org, UNDP: www.undp.org, Wicejilist: www.wicej.addr.com, WLP: www.learningpartnership.org; WIDE: www.wide-network.org; IRIN News: www.irinnews.org, Women’s UN Report Network: www.wunrn.com, Women Living Under Muslim Laws: www.wluml.org
CONFERENCES & OPPORTUNITIES
“Challenges of Change: Religion, Secularism & Rights”
A one-day event was held on “Challenges of Change: Religion, Secularism & Rights” in Washington, DC on 21 September 2010. The event is organized by the Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP) in cooperation with Cultural Conversations of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University. For more information visit the website http://www.wluml.org/node/6638
NEWS & ARTICLES
WOMEN’S RIGHTS CAMPAIGN
Libya – CEDAW & Reservations – New Nationality Law
Libya’s new nationality law granting women married to foreign spouses the right to pass their own nationality to their children is a significant move forward for women’s rights, Human Rights Watch. But the law still contains some contradictory provisions that could be interpreted to perpetuate discrimination, Human Rights Watch said. For more information please read the full article http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/09/02/libya-step-ahead-women-nationality-rights
Former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet to head New United Nations Women’s Agency
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today (14 September) named former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet to head United Nations Women (UN Women), a newly created entity to oversee all of the world body’s programmes aimed at promoting women’s rights and full participation in global affairs. For more information visit the website http://www.wluml.org/node/6645
… And the GEAR Campaign Enthusiastically Welcomes the New Under-Secretary-General, Michelle Bachelet, Former Chilean President
The Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign is thrilled that the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon has chosen Michelle Bachelet as the new Under-Secretary-General (USG) of UN Women. This appointment is essential to the effectiveness of the new entity and the campaign is pleased that the UN SG has selected a qualified and strong leader for this high level UN position that will envision and work for the future of women’s rights and advocate for women worldwide. For more information please read the full press release form: http://www.gearcampaign.org/news_events/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/September-14-2010-GEAR-Press-Release-USG-Appointment.pdf
WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVISM
WLUML and SKSW Statement on the Release of Shiva Nazar Ahari
The Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) international solidarity network and the Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women (SKSW campaign) welcome the news that Shiva Nazar Ahari was released from prison on Sunday 12 September 2010. Formerly a civil engineering graduate student, Ahari was expelled from university as a result of her student activism. She had endured 266 consecutive days in Evin Prison, 100 of which were spent in solitary confinement, for participating in non-violent actions. For more information visit the website
http://www.wluml.org/node/6643
Non-Haredi Women Plan March to Protest Discrimination against Women
The posters put up in Mea She’arim, a Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) neighborhood of Jerusalem, answered some questions about what to expect during the week-long Sukkot holiday, and especially the mid-holiday Simhat Beit Hasho’eva celebrations. On one hand, contrary to rumors, women will not be forcibly prevented from entering the neighborhood. On the other, women are definitely not invited. For more information please refer to the link
http://www.wluml.org/node/6667
National LGBT day in Algeria
A movement is born … We no longer want to hide, we do not want to hug the walls, we do not want to stand idly by, we will no longer suffer in silence, we do not want more laws 333 and 338 of the Algerian penal code, we will no longer respond . Now we will act. A date is also born, Oct. 10 date is proclaimed National Day of gays lesbians bi and trans Algerian (LGBTQ). For more information please refer to the link
http://www.wluml.org/node/6665
Civil Society Denounces Legalization of Violence Against Women in Sudan
We call upon the Sudan government, UN agencies, the African Union countries, Human Rights organizations, the International community and men and women of faith across the world to join hands and stop the Sudan Parliament whose majority represents the current Sudan ruling party. The parliament continues to legalise acts of violence against women and girls, by enforcing laws that directly escalate the prevalence of violence against women and girls in our society. For more information please refer to the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6630
Palestinian Woman Breaks Taboo to Cycle Across Gaza Strip
In Gaza, an unspoken rule bans women from riding bicycles after they have hit puberty. But last Saturday, one young Palestinian woman decided to defy the taboo, sparking smiles – and a few threats – from fellow Gaza residents. In a spur of the moment decision, 28-year-old Palestinian journalist Asmaa Alghoul decided to join three of her friends, two Italian human rights workers and an American, on a tour of Gaza by bicycle. For more information please refer to the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6620
Mothers of Palestinian Prisoners in Israel Mark Eid in Protest
A committee of mothers of Palestinian prisoners met outside the headquarters of the Red Cross in Gaza City, protesting the continued incarceration of their sons and daughters. The mothers read a letter to assembled protesters saying there was “no celebration of Eid without our loved ones in prison,” for more information:
http://uruknet.com/?p=m69636&hd=&size=1&l=e
Iraqi Women Want Stable Government & Women’s Impact
Manal Omar has worked with Women for Women International, a nonprofit NGO, as regional coordinator for Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sudan. She now resides in Washington, DC, where she is the director of Iraq Programs at the United States Institute of Peace. She is author of the memoir: Barefoot in Baghdad: A Story of Identity-My Own and What It Means to Be a Woman in Chaos. For more information: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/17/opinion/main6782583.shtml
Supermarkets Break Taboo with Women Cashiers in KSA
Saudi Arabia’s leading supermarket chain has broken the country’s strict taboo on women working in public with a pilot programme of women cashiers, a company official said.
Panda hypermarkets has put 16 Saudi women to work at one store in the Red Sea city of Jeddah to test the concept in a country where Islamic conservatives have prevented women from working in gender-mixed environments.
http://www.gulfinthemedia.com/index.php?id=532308&news_type=Top&lang=en
GENDER BASED VIOLENCE
Tackling Sexual Harassment in Egypt
Suzanne Mubarak, first lady of Egypt, is a woman who treats criticisms of her country with a generous dose of skepticism. Take sexual harassment, a phenomenon that has indisputably been on the rise in recent years. It’s an issue in which Suzanne Mubarak, as head of the government’s National Council for Women, might be assumed to take at least a passing interest. “Egyptian men always respect Egyptian women,” she informed a pan-Arab television station, a few weeks after a series of sexual assaults marred a major public holiday. For more information please refer to the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6668
Israeli and West Bank Women Risk Jail for Day at the Beach
The day starts early, at a petrol station alongside a roaring Jerusalem road. The mood among the 15 Israeli women is a little tense, but it’s hardly surprising – they’re about to break the law and with it one of the country’s taboos. They plan to drive into the occupied West Bank, pick up Palestinian women and children and take them on a day trip to Tel Aviv.Today’s is the second such trip – another group of women went public with a similar action last month. For more information please refer to the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6656
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani Denies Torture Claims, Suspicion of Forced Confession
The Iranian woman facing death by stoning after being convicted for adultery appeared on the Islamic republic’s state TV channel last night to say she has not been whipped or tortured. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose stoning sentence was suspended in July, was allegedly given 99 lashes on 2 September after the Times ran a picture of an unveiled woman mistakenly identified as her, her lawyer said at the time. www.wluml.org/node/6650
… and A Call for General Assembly Condemnation of Stoning as Crime Against Humanity
We are writing to ask that the UN general assembly condemn stoning as a crime against humanity and issue an emergency resolution calling for an end to the medieval and barbaric punishment as well as the immediate release of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and others sentenced to death by stoning. . For more information please refer to the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6666
Couple Hammered 24 Nails into Sri Lankan Maid In Saudi Arabia
A Saudi couple tortured their Sri Lankan maid by hammering 24 nails into her hands, legs and forehead, after she complained of a too heavy workload, officials said. Nearly 2 million Sri Lankans sought employment overseas last year and around 1.4 million, mostly maids, were employed in the Middle East. Many have complained of physical abuse or harassment. LT Ariyawathi, a 49-year old mother of three, returned home on Friday after five months in Saudi Arabia. For more information please refer to the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6613
Teen marriage a restless topic in Jordan
Wesal Jamil was 16 when her family arranged her marriage to a man in his thirties. A decade later, the mother of seven regrets her lost youth. “My dream was to become a teacher but my marriage deprived me from education and now I have many duties,” Jamil told AFP. “I regret that. Education would have secured me a job to at least help my husband shoulder financial responsibilities,” she added. http://www.wunrn.com/news/2010/09_10/09_06_10/090610_jordan.htm
GENDER & ISLAM
Closing of Tourist Places in Gaza for Non-Compliance with Islamic Customs
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) is gravely concerned over the unjustified intervention of the Ministry of Interior into public freedoms, closing a number of tourist places in Gaza City, imposing restrictions on their work and arresting one of these places’ owners under the pretext of gender mixture and non-compliance with the Islamic customs. For more information please refer to the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6660
Islamic Fundamentalism’s War Against Women, 1993
As the influence of Islamic fundamentalism spreads, more and more women are fleeing its repressive laws – compelling Western nations to deal with such cruel traditions as forced marriages, honor killings, and female circumcision.In April 1991, a 22-year-old Saudi student arrived at Montreal’s Mirabel Airport and requested asylum on the unprecedented grounds of gender persecution. www.wluml.org/node/6652
Islamic Texts as a Source for Acceptance of Queer Individuals
Queer Muslims face a multitude of challenges, of which one is rejection. This is anchored by the belief that homosexuality is a major sin in Islam and punishable by death under Shariah law. The Inner Circle has documented through engaging with the local Muslim community of Cape Town that most people who react harshly towards queer Muslims do so from a position of fear and ignorance of the challenges facing queer Muslims. For more information please refer to the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6628
American & Iranian Women Released from Iran Prison
The American woman released by Iran on Tuesday after more than a year in prison said she was grateful to Iran’s president for her freedom shortly before she boarded a flight to the Gulf sultanate of Oman where her mother greeted her with a warm embrace. Iran freed Sarah Shourd, 32, after arrangements were made to satisfy Iran’s demand for a $500,000 bail. American officials said neither the U.S. government nor the family put up the money for the bail and they thanked U.S. ally Oman, which they said had played a critical, behind-the-scenes role in securing Shourd’s release. However, the case that has deepened strains between the U.S. and Iran was still far from resolved. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100914/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_us_hikers
GENDER & ICT
WLUML Networker Blogs About Culture and Women’s Rights
Each year the UC Berkeley-based Human Rights Center awards summer fellowships to students from University of California campuses, to enable them to work with human-rights organizations in the U.S. and abroad. Several current Human Rights Fellows, including political-science student Rochelle Terman, have agreed to share their experiences this summer, with regular updates from the field to be published on the NewsCenter:
http://berkeley.edu/news/students/2010/terman/index_post2.shtml
GENDER & PERSONAL STATUS LAW
Registration of “Temporary Marriages” Voted Down
The controversial Family Protection bill was dealt a blow at the Islamic parliament today as one of its articles outlining legal registration of “temporary marriages” was voted down. ILNA reports that Article 21 of the new bill failed to pass through the parliament with only 45 votes in favour of it. The article was one of the points women’s rights activists objected to in the so-called Family Protection bill. For more information please refer to the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6680
No Birth Registration/Rights – Children of Conflict in Iraq
IN BAQUBAH, IRAQ Zahraa is a rambunctious toddler. She still sucks on a pacifier, and her mother dresses her in pink. But according to the government, she does not exist.
The daughter of an al-Qaeda in Iraq militant who forced her mother into marriage and motherhood, then disappeared, Zahraa is one of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children whose births amid the anarchy and insurgent violence of Iraq were never legally recorded.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/20/AR2010092005696.html
BOOKS & REPORTS
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women – General Recommendations
The Committee also makes recommendations on any issue affecting women to which it believes the States parties should devote more attention. For example, at the 1989 session, the Committee discussed the high incidence of violence against women, requesting information on this problem from all countries. In 1992, the Committee adopted on general recommendation 19, which requires national reports to the Committee to include statistical data on the incidence of violence against women… for more information please follow the link
http://www2.ohchr.org:80/english/bodies/cedaw/comments.htm
GENDER AND SOCIETIES
MRG Report on Continued Persecution of Minorities
Although the overall security situation in Iraq has gradually improved, the conditions for minority communities of the country’s diverse population remain extremely distressing. Investigations throughout 2009 by Minority Rights Group International’s (MRG’s) partner in Iraq, Iraqi Minorities Organization (IMO), coupled with secondary research sourced from 2009 and the first half of 2010, lay bare the frequent bombings, torture, arbitrary arrest, intimidation, displacement and marginalization facing Iraq’s cultural and religious minorities. For more information please refer to the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6618
Women and Memory Forum Reader on Gender & Political Science
The Women and Memory Forum has recently published the first book of its new series of Readers on Gender in the Humanities and Social Sciences in the Arabic language. The book is titled Reader on Gender and Political Science, edited by Mervat Hatem and translated by Shohart El-Alem. For more information please refer to the link http://www.wluml.org/node/6605
GENDER & PERSONAL STATUS CODE
Fatherhood In Islam
It is important for Muslims to have a discussion about fatherhood while keeping in mind the ever-fragile state of Muslim families. We need to re-assess the language we use and the ontological assumptions we make when we speak about the role of the father because often, the problem doesn’t just lie with the crisis but the way we deal with it. To read the full essay please click on the link http://www.tariqramadan.com/Fatherhood-in-Islam.html
“Safe Age of Marriage in Yemen”
The Direct Link to the four Page case study:
http://www.esdproj.org/site/DocServer/ESD_Legacy_Child_Marriage.pdf?docID=3663
RESOURCES
Video – FGM Still Widespread in Egypt
A doctor in Egypt is being taken to court for carrying out an illegal operation to circumcise young girls. It follows the death of a 13-year-old, from a village in the Nile Delta, in the north of the country.
An investigation has raised fears that the practice of female genital mutilation, which was banned two years ago, is still widespread in Egypt. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11160935
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