Divorce Celebrations a New Phenomenon in Saudi Society
New Age Islam News Bureau
21
Sept 2014
Malaysian women are making steady advances in the workforce– The Malaysian Insider file pic, September 20, 2014
• Female
Guards at Saudi Girl’s Schools Spark Intense Debate
• Bangladesh
Child Rights Bodies Urge Govt to Keep Girls Marriage Age At 18
• Checking
Underage Marriages: The Long Road Ahead
• London
Council Removes Haredi Sign Segregating Women from Men
• Malaysian
Women Making Gains at Workplace
• White
House Launches 'It's On Us' Campaign to Fight College Sexual Assault
• Angelina
Jolie Surgery Sparks Surge in Female Cancer Tests-Study
• Some 60%
of Israelis Fear They Won’t Be Able To Support Their Children
• ‘Exercise
for All’ Walking Initiative Launched In Al-Ahsa by a Woman
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/divorce-celebrations-new-phenomenon-saudi/d/99183
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Divorce
Celebrations a New Phenomenon in Saudi Society
Congratulations,
you are a divorcee!
21 Sep,
2014
Divorce
has been traditionally viewed as a negative outcome in Saudi society. However,
for an increasing number of women, divorce is an event that puts an end to a
life of misery and offers hope for a brighter future. From being a nightmare
and occasion of shame for women, divorce is now one of the happiest occasions
in a woman’s life, which instead of being received with tears and heartbreak,
is celebrated with full fanfare, Al-Sharq daily reports.
Um
Faisal said divorce parties are not mere myths and a real phenomenon in which
guests congratulate and gift the newly-divorced single woman. Um Faisal knows
this because she had one when she got divorced. “It was a small gathering for
close family and friends. If I had the money, I would’ve made sure it was
bigger than the wedding,” she said.
Um
Faisal said that she had prayed and wished for divorce hundreds of times. She
described her marriage as living in prison with a sadistic husband who enjoyed
torturing her. In that respect, she feels that it was only a natural reaction
for her to celebrate the day she got a divorce and her life back.
Salma
Almutairi criticized divorce parties because she believes it deceives the
divorcee into thinking that she is not sad about her divorce in order to avoid
people’s pitiful and condescending glares. In disagreement was Reem Almahmoudi,
who said by getting a divorce from her now ex-husband, she felt free again and
found it appropriate to celebrate.
Psychologist
Dr. Tariq Alhabib said the way someone receives a divorce depends on the person
and the circumstances that led to the divorce. “Whether one would like to be
depressed or happy about it, is really a personal choice that others have no
business in influencing or interfering with. However, it is notable that
divorce celebrations are a new phenomenon in our society,” he said.
“Divorcees
with children should not forget how divorce will affect them. If a child feels
apprehensive about a divorce party, then the parents should be considerate
enough to respect the child’s feelings and act accordingly. Otherwise, no one
has the right to disrupt the party. Some celebrate to compensate for their
misery and some celebrate to show off in front of the other ex-spouse that they
are better off without him or her. Whatever the reason, it is a very personal
choice,” he added.
Dr.
Mohammad Alsaidi, Shariah professor and researcher at Umm Al-Qura University,
said divorce, even though sanctioned by religion, is not something to be
celebrated.
“A
divorce is a social atrocity that is inappropriate to celebrate even if it was
a happy occasion for the divorcee. Divorces are a negative occasion in life and
misery will catch up after the celebration. Women should be more aware and
knowledgeable about this,” he said while urging women to decline divorce
parties invitations if they care about their religion and culture.
Dr. Saud
Alfinisan, Dean of Shariah College at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic
University, agreed with Alsaidi in the inappropriateness of celebrating a
divorce. “Divorces do not usually happen peacefully. Therefore, celebrating a
failed marriage is not appropriate. It is only the wife’s way of showing off to
her husband that she is indeed happier without him. If there are children
involved, the occasion could be dangerous,” he said.
Dr. Zain
Alabdeen, member of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), said the real
reason behind divorce parties is the fact that getting a divorce is a hard
thing to do for women in the Kingdom. It is, therefore, only natural for the
divorcee to feel an urge to express and share her newly-granted social status.
“Something
quite drastic has to happen for a woman to celebrate with such fervor. A
divorced mother’s children will celebrate with her as they have seen their own
mother cry and suffer while married to their father,” Dr. Zain Alabdeen said.
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20140920218717
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Female
Guards at Saudi Girl’s Schools Spark Intense Debate
21 Sep,
2014
Intense
public debate continues around the employment of female security guards at
girls’ schools, with some arguing that teachers and supervisors should take up
this role.
Some
parents have argued that these guards are vital to tackle conflict between girl
students, bullying and inappropriate behaviour toward teachers.
Alfirdaus
Samira Alharkan, a school director, supports having female guards, especially
at entrances and inside the premises of intermediate and high schools, to tackle
improper behavior such as smoking and bullying.
Abdulaziz
Al-Atisham, a Shoura Council member, supports the idea and argues it can help
solve many problems at schools. He said the government has taken several
decisions recently to ensure women can become part of the work force.
“The
challenges are mainly bureaucratic in nature. Many people are challenging the
employment of women as cashiers, but the reality is that they are more punctual
in terms of reporting to work and sticking to working hours.
“Female
guards currently stand outside school buildings, and have no involvement in
what goes on inside. Why are no female guards employed to remain inside and
monitor issues among students?”
Psychiatric
consultant Faiqah Badr said women should not only be employed at schools as a
means of job creation. It should also be seen as a way to train women to help
deal with students who are at a very sensitive stage of their lives.
Writer
Suzan Al-Shadi said she was concerned that female guards would overstep their
mandate to ensure control of students. She also doubted whether the Department
of Education would train them properly so that they were aware of their rights
and obligations.
Writer
Mohammed Al-Sahimy rejected the idea of employing female guards inside girls’
schools. “Teachers and supervisors should be capable of taking on this role so
students do not feel they are being monitored.”
He said
teachers have recently moved away from their role as mentors and focus only on
teaching. He urged the education department to place emphasis on training
teachers to be both educators and mentors capable of addressing any issue at a
school.
http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/632786
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Bangladesh
Child Rights Bodies Urge Govt to Keep Girls Marriage Age At 18
21 Sep,
2014
Plan
International Bangladesh and Save the Children on behalf of the Child Rights
Advocacy Coalition in Bangladesh urged the government to retain the minimum age
of marriage for girls at 18 years in a press statement issued.
The
statement said the minimum age for marriage of 18 years for girls fell under
the government’s commitments to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and
to relevant national legislation including the National Child Policy 2011 and
the Children Act 2014.
The
organisations said any attempt to lower the age of marriage for girls would be
untenable in the context of international conventions and national laws related
to children’s rights and protection.
However,
the organisations, through the statement, applauded the government for
approving the draft Child Marriage Prevention Bill 2014 in principle. It said
the provisions in the draft act for raising punishment for those who perform or
facilitate child marriage up to two years of jail and a penalty of Tk50,000 was
commendable.
They
believed that stringent punishment would act as a deterrent and reinforce the
efforts to prevent child marriage in Bangladesh.
Plan
International, Save the Children and the Child Rights Advocacy Coalition
believed that strengthening penalties for conducting and facilitating marriage
involving children was only part of the solution.
It was
also critical to increase public knowledge about the health, education and
social impacts of child marriage. to eliminate the practice of requiring the
family of the bride to pay highly expensive dowries, especially where the dowry
increases with the age of the bride.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/law-rights/2014/sep/20/child-rights-bodies-urge-govt-keep-girls-marriage-age-18#sthash.vdzGR59z.dpuf
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Checking
Underage Marriages: The Long Road Ahead
21 Sep,
2014
A year
has passed since a 17-year-old Muslim girl inmate of an orphanage was abandoned
by a UAE national barely two weeks after marrying her, in the northern Kerala
district of Kozhikode.
A series
of media reports and a subsequent arrest made in connection with the case had
triggered another debate on Arabi Kalyanams (Arab weddings) where minor girls
from economically weaker families are forcibly married off to suitors from the
Gulf countries. The debate has largely been centred on underage marriages
reported in northern Kerala and was followed up by announcement of more
stringent checks on the practice but recent observations made by a Unicef
official that the state was witnessing a rise in rates of child marriage
suggest that there is room for more corrective action.
Reports
have quoted Dora Giusti, UNICEF’s Child Protection Specialist in India, as
saying that “of late”, the state had seen a rise in child marriage rates. The
observations have come in the backdrop of findings in the latest (2007-08)
District Level Household and Facility Survey (DLHS) initiated by the Union
ministry of health and family welfare. According to the survey, 6.8 per cent of
women in the state were getting married before they reached 18 years of age.
The corresponding figure for men getting married before they reached 21 stood
at 1.2 per cent.
The
DLHS-3 also reveals that 15.5 per cent of women aged between 20 and 24 years
during the survey period had married before they were 18 years old. The study
is based on data collected from more than 7.2 Lakh households in 28 states and
six Union Territories. The numbers are not strikingly dismal when viewed
against the percentage of underage girl marriages in the country (22.1 per cent).
But women’s rights activists point out that for a state that prides itself in
its high literacy rates and a history of progressive people’s movements,
there’s enough in these statistics that warrant concerted action. Further,
there’s the issue of under-reporting of cases that dampens the efforts to check
underage marriages.
Denial
mode
V P
Zuhara, president of Kozhikode-based Nisa Progressive Women’s Forum, said
recent cases of Arab weddings in Kerala revealed that forced underage marriages
were being practised in substantial numbers when the general contention was
that they were a thing of the past. “We had been on a denial mode on these
forced marriages. The number of unreported cases only adds to the problem,” she
said.
The
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) that tracks reported cases across varied
criminal sections has also documented the rise in number of violations of the
Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006, in Kerala. Activists who have been
fighting a long, hard battle against marriage of minors in the state,
especially in the northern districts, maintain that the story lies unexplored
in the large number of unreported cases. Of the 220 cases reported in the
country last year, 11 were from Kerala. The NCRB records show that the state
has seen a jump in the rate – from 0.06 in 2012 to 0.12 in 2013 – of reported
cases involving violation of the Act. The rate is calculated as incidence per
lakh of population.
The
national rate of incidence of crimes in connection with the Act in 2013 is
0.05.In terms of percentage contribution to the total number of crimes recorded
in the segment across the country, the jump in Kerala is more pronounced; from
3.55 in 2012 to 4.95 in 2013. According to the NCRB’s 2013 figures, Tamil Nadu
has the highest rate of incidence at 0.28. It also contributes 25.23 per cent
of the total number of cases related to the Act registered across the country.
Apart
from Tamil Nadu, only three states – Karnataka (0.13), West Bengal (0.15) and
Haryana (0.19) – have a rate of incidence that’s higher than Kerala. Women’s
rights activists in the northern districts have also highlighted the practice
of Mysore kalyanams where Muslim men from Mysore marry girls in Wayanad and
Malappuram districts and abandon them after spending the money taken as dowry.
The
Department of Social Justice and the Kerala Women’s Commission (KWC) have
pegged their action plan to check child marriages to grass-root activism where
anganwadi workers double as Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPOs). Late
last year, the government hosted an orientation programme for more than 250
CMPOs in the state; the officers have also managed to prevent many underage
marriages but the way forward is in ensuring stronger government-NGO
partnerships and social awareness campaigns, according to officials in the
department.
K C
Rosakutty, chairperson of KWC, said though the Act had provisions to protect
CMPOs who report violations and register cases, legal strictures were still
falling short in tackling what was essentially a social issue. “The officers
are working closely with sections vulnerable to the practice but there are many
challenges because they have to step in before the weddings happen. Any
intervention after that only leads to more suffering for the girls involved,”
she said.
Women’s
rights activists feel that the marginal increase in the number of child
marriages reflected in recent study reports also shows that there’s greater
awareness on the issue among the public and more people are coming out to
report such cases. Rosakutty said more Muslim youth organisations in the
Malabar region had started to oppose practitioners of underage marriages and
there was greater focus on education for the girl child in the community.
“There
has been a tendency to limit scope of studies on underage marriages to a
community or region but it’s a skewed approach. The commission itself has come
across cases where 15-year-old girls from other communities were married to men
aged above 40,” she said.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/431710/checking-underage-marriages-long-road.html
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London
Council Removes Haredi Sign Segregating Women from Men
21 Sep,
2014
Controversial
posters put up by ultra-Orthodox Jews, which called for women to keep to one
side of the road in a London neighbourhood, were taken down late last week at
the order of the local council, British media reported over the weekend.
The
posters, reading in Yiddish and English "Women should please walk along
this side of the road only," popped up in the streets of Stamford Hill in
the middle of last week.
"Walked
past around 10 of them on lamp posts, garden walls and green cable boxes,"
tweeted local resident Sean Clare on Wednesday.
A group
of Haredi Jewish volunteers called the Shomrim took responsibility for the
posters, according to the London Evening Standard, which noted that over 20,000
ultra-Orthodox Jews live in the area.
Residents
complained to the Hackney Council, the Standard reported, which on Friday
ordered the posters removed. Their defence was that members of the sect are not
allowed to touch someone of the opposite sex save for their marriage partners
and close relatives, but the council did not buy the argument.
"It's
quite unacceptable to try to restrict women's movements in a public
place," Rosemary Sales, a Stamford Hill West council member, told the
Standard.
"If
I saw one of those, I'd walk on the other side out of sheer cussedness,"
one interviewee told the Standard.
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.616928
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Malaysian
Women Making Gains at Workplace
21 Sep,
2014
Malaysian
women have it better than their Singaporean sisters when it comes to
representation at the workplace, according to the Gender Diversity Benchmark
for Asia 2014 (GDBA 2014).
Malaysia
ranked fourth among six Asian markets, GDBA 2014 said.
The lead
sponsor of the report is Bank of America Merrill Lynch, as part of its efforts
to promote diversity and inclusion.
The
study benchmarks gender diversity in more than 30 multinational companies
across six markets, including Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, India and
Japan.
It was
conducted by Community Business, a leading not-for-profit organisation
specialising in corporate responsibility and a thought leader on diversity and
inclusion in Asia.
Community
Business chief executive officer, Fern Ngai, said overall, the organisation was
pleased to see some signs of real progress in this latest study.
"Of
course, more needs to be done and performance varies across the region. Women
continue to be under-represented at senior levels in organisations and we need
to continue to address this," she said.
Ngai
commended Malaysia on its strong and improved performance.
"The
mandatory measures introduced by the Malaysian government have been a key
driver. The country performs well on all data points despite the less
favourable environment for women’s advancement in Malaysia.
"These
findings show that the existence of policies and programmes does not
necessarily correlate to strong performance, and bringing about change requires
multifaceted efforts from different sectors and on different aspects," she
said.
Malaysia
presents an encouraging picture with a consistent upward trend in performance
compared with 2011.
When it
comes to the average representation of women in the total workforce (58.1%), at
junior levels (63%) and middle levels (50.3%), companies in Malaysia are
achieving or exceeding gender parity.
Like
Singapore, the biggest leak in Malaysia’s talent pool takes place between
middle and senior levels with an average 32.4% drop.
When it
comes to the average representation of women at senior levels, performance
continues to be relatively strong at 34%.
Malaysia
ranks second at this level, just behind China only, and has the highest
percentage of companies (35.3%) attaining or surpassing gender parity.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysian-women-making-gains-at-workplace-bernama#sthash.Ly2L1VLA.dpuf
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White
House launches 'It's On Us' campaign to fight college sexual assault
21 Sep,
2014
The
White House on Friday launched an awareness campaign to help put an end to
sexual assault on college campuses in America.
According
to the White House website, President Barack Obama joined Vice President Joe
Biden in launching the campaign.
"It's On Us asks everyone -- men and women across America -- to
make a personal commitment to step off the sidelines and be part of the
solution to campus sexual assault," read the website.
"As
far as we’ve come, the fact is that from sports leagues to pop culture to
politics, our society still does not sufficiently value women," Obama
said.
"We
still don’t condemn sexual assault as loudly as we should. We make excuses. We
look the other way. The message that sends can have a chilling effect on young
men and women" he continued.
The
White House website also reported in a factsheet that since the beginning of
Obama's administration, the President and Vice President have made it a
priority to root out sexual violence wherever it exists," especially in
our nation’s schools".
In April
2011, Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan introduced comprehensive
guidance to help colleges and universities nationwide better understand their
obligations under federal civil rights laws to prevent and respond to sexual
assault on campus.
Friday's
initiative went viral on Twitter, with the hash tag #ItsOnUs calling for more
people to take the pledge and end sexual assaults.
Well
known figures such as Kerry Washington Jon Hamm, Rose Byrne, Quest love and
others joined Obama and Biden in support of the campaign in a YouTube video.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/111218/World/International/White-House-launches-Its-On-Us-campaign-to-fight-c.aspx
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Angelina
Jolie surgery sparks surge in female cancer tests-study
21 Sep,
2014
(Thomson
Reuters Foundation) - Hollywood star Angelina Jolie's decision to make public
her double mastectomy more than doubled the number of women in Britain seeking
to have genetic breast cancer tests, according to a study released.
Jolie,
39, who has become a high-profile human rights campaign, announced her surgery
in May last year, saying she acted after testing positive for a mutation of the
BRCA1 gene that significantly increases the risk of breast cancer.
She said
she was going public with news of her surgery as she hoped her story would
inspire other women to fight the life-threatening disease.
Researchers
studied 21 clinics and regional genetic centres and found there were 4,847
referrals for testing in June and July last year compared to 1,981 in the same
period of 2012
The
study of the so-called "Angelina effect", published in the journal
Breast Cancer Research, credited Jolie's glamorous appearance and relationship
with Hollywood actor Brad Pitt for helping to lessen women's fears about
surgery.
"Angelina
Jolie ... is likely to have had a bigger impact than other celebrity
announcements, possibly due to her image as glamorous and strong woman,"
researcher Gareth Evans of the charity Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention said in
a statement.
"This
may have lessened patients' fears about a loss of sexual identity
post-preventative surgery and encouraged those who had not previously engaged
with health services to consider genetic testing."
Breast
cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. The World Health
Organisation estimated that more than 521,000 women died of breast cancer in
2012.
Oscar-winning
Jolie has in recent years drawn nearly as much attention for her globe-trotting
work on behalf of refugees and victims of sexual violence in conflicts as for
her acting.
Jolie
was named a Goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR in 2001 and promoted to be
Special Envoy to High Commissioner Antonio Guterres in 2012. Since 2012 she has
also led a campaign against sexual violence in conflict zones. (Reporting by
Laura Onita, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)
http://www.trust.org/item/20140919110105-mr7h0/?source=jtOtherNews3
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Some 60%
of Israelis fear they won’t be able to support their children
21 Sep,
2014
Around
59% of Israelis 20 and older believe they won’t be able to support their
children in the future, according to a survey conducted by the Central Bureau
of Statistics last year. This works out to around 3 million people.
Some 76%
of Arabs, 56% of Jews and 47% of ultra-Orthodox Jews said they would not be
able to support their children.
In the
survey, 65% of respondents said they feared they would not be able to save
money for the future. Around 79% of Arabs said they were worried, compared with
62% of Jews and 51% of ultra-Orthodox Jews.
In
households with per capita income up to 2,000 shekels ($549) a month, 77% of
respondents said they feared they wouldn’t be able to save. The figure was 56%
for households with per capita income up to 4,000 shekels a month.
Around
55% of Israelis – 2.8 million people – are concerned they won’t be able to live
in dignity in old age. The figure is 66% for Arabs, 53% for Jews and 37% for
ultra-Orthodox Jews.
A full
52% fear they will be financially dependent on others. That figure is 56% for
women and 48% for men.
Divorcees
are more concerned about their financial future than married people, the
statistics bureau found. Younger Israelis tend to be more worried.
Some 39%
of respondents said they expected their financial situation to improve over the
next few years, while 35% predicted that it would remain unchanged and 17% said
it would worsen. The percentage of those who believed that their financial
status would worsen increased with age, especially near retirement.
In 2002
and 2004, surveys found low optimism regarding Israelis’ financial future.
Outlooks improved between 2004 and 2010, but since then people have become more
pessimistic.
In 2013,
some 13% of respondents 20 and up were very concerned that they would lose
their job. Around 40% said that if they lost their job they were unlikely to
find another one at the same salary.
Arab
respondents were more concerned about job security than Jews — 21% versus 12%.
Men were more concerned than women, and people with low salaries were more
concerned than high earners.
http://www.haaretz.com/business/.premium-1.616854
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‘Exercise
for All’ Walking Initiative Launched In Al-Ahsa by a Woman
21 Sep,
2014
AL-AHSA
— Saudi citizen Mona Al-Halimi launched a unique campaign aimed at achieving
two goals — first, is to set up a walkway in the centre of the district and
convince people to walk and, second, to improve and develop the current
walkways and encourage people to use them.
Launched
under the motto “exercise for all,” the campaign will be marketed on social
media through the WhatsApp instant messaging application. Many residents of the
district have responded positively to the campaign, which started from Al-Zahra
Mosque in Al-Nuzha district, Al-Ahsa, Al-Yaum daily reported.
Through
the campaign, Al-Halimi stressed the importance of not waiting for the
municipality to set up a walkway near their residences or for a driver to take
women to officially-designed walkways.
“We are
giving up laziness and excuses and we are setting up a walkway for ourselves.
Walking is one of the best exercises that helps burn fat, promote better blood
circulation, regulate the heartbeat and increase muscles and fluids in the
body. Walking makes a person more active. It also contributes to curtailing
psychological pressures, which have started increasing in Saudi society,” she
said.
“Walking
helps prevent diseases of the age, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol
and hardening of the arteries,” she added.
She
called on all including Al-Ahsa Municipality, religious scholars, doctors,
athletes and the media to support her campaign.
Al-Halimi
said she was inspired to launch the campaign when she was visiting a hospital
located in a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country.
“The
hospital had a park whose area was just 500 square meters. I was impressed by
the model walkway the park had despite its small area. The park also had simple
signboards that showed how many meters a person has walked, for example. The
trees, flowers and aquariums were well arranged. There were seats for resting,”
she said.
Al-Halimi
took pictures of all the signboards and is now using similar ones in her
campaign in Al-Ahsa, which she wants to eventually expand and promote in other
regions of the Kingdom.
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20140921218865
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/divorce-celebrations-new-phenomenon-saudi/d/99183