‘History Made’ At Bracknell Forest Council, Says Naheed Ejaz, First Woman Mayor
New Age
Islam News Bureau
26 May 2023
• ‘History Made’ At Bracknell Forest Council, Says
Naheed Ejaz, First Woman Mayor
• Tameside's Tafheen Sharif, First Muslim Mayor Hopes to
Use Role to 'Open Doors for Many'
• Independent Candidate Jayeda Khatun Wins Gazipur City
Polls Defeating Her Awami League Rival
• Visa Launches Initiative to Support Women
Entrepreneurs In Saudi Arabia
• Duchess of Edinburgh Visits Iraq to Show Support for
Women
• Afghan Women Being Repressed Under the Ruling
Regime:Amnesty International
• Muslim Women’s Group Asks UN to Review Anti-Islamic
CEDAW Articles
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/bracknell-naheed-ejaz-mayor/d/129860
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‘History Made’ At Bracknell Forest Council, Says Naheed Ejaz, First Woman Mayor
Newly-elected
mayor Naheed Ejaz said women were "smashing the glass ceilings" at
the authority
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26-05-23
It was a night
of firsts at Bracknell Forest Council on Wednesday (May 24) as it met following
earthquake local elections earlier this month.
Councillors elected
their first ever Asian woman mayor, their first woman leader and their first
woman deputy leader in its 50-year existence. And it is the first Labour-run
administration at the council since 1997.
After being
elected mayor, Naheed Ejaz, Labour councillor for Great Hollands ward, read a
passage from the first chapter of the Quran, which she said was called “the
opener – the key.”
“That’s what we
are doing today,” she added. “We are opening a new chapter in Bracknell Forest
Council’s history.
“You will witness
history being made in this chamber. It is with great honour and absolute
pleasure that I take upon myself the service and duty of being your first
Pakistani Muslim mayor.”
She added:
“This is not the only great moment of tonight. It gets even better. Mary
Temperton is the first female leader of this council in its 50 year history. In
another first, Kathryn Neil is the first female deputy leader of this council.
“Smashing the
glass ceilings, we will leave a legacy for all those girls and women who want
to reach for the skies and walk on the galaxies.”
After being
formally elected as council leader, Mary Temperton, Labour councillor for Great
Hollands ward, said she wanted to “take the council to the residents, with
market stalls and open days, so residents know all that the council does and
how it can support and help them.”
The meeting
also heard from the leaders of the other political groups on the council. The
speech from Green Party group co-leader Adrian Haffegee was also full of
firsts. “The Green group is something new we have in this council,” he said.
“We’re the first ones here.”
Indicating the other Green councillor, Sheila
Collings, he said “We’re co-leaders. I believe this is the first time we’ve had
co-leaders on Bracknell Forest Council.”
Liberal
Democrat group leader Mike Forster called on councillors of all parties to work
together. He said: “The 4 May was a seismic change at this council and we all
competed against each other. It’s now time to put those differences behind us.
Campaigning is done.”
And the
Conservative group’s new leader, Gareth Barnard, said his party accepted “The
verdict of the electors on 4 May that put us into opposition.”
He
congratulated the Labour group and promised to hold the council to account.
“The Conservative group on Bracknell Forest Council is up for this,” he said.
“For many years
I’ve had the honour and privilege of being the executive member for children,
young people and learning, and I had to answer questions.
“I’m really
looking forward to the opportunity, and so my colleagues are, of asking them.”
Source: bracknellnews.co.uk
https://www.bracknellnews.co.uk/news/23547913.history-made-bracknell-forest-council-says-new-mayor/
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Tameside's
Tafheen Sharif, First Muslim Mayor Hopes to Use Role to 'Open Doors for Many'
Tafheen
Sharif
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26-05-23
A councillor
who has become a borough's first Muslim mayor has said she hopes she will
"open doors for many".
Tafheen Sharif,
who has also become the first person from an ethnic minority group to be mayor,
was handed Tameside's chains of office on Tuesday.
The
Labourcouncillor said her appointment showed the area was "a welcoming and
diverse place".
Councillor
Jacqueline North, who nominated Ms Sharif, said it was a "proud
moment" for the borough.
The Local
Democracy Reporting Service said the new mayor told councillors it was "a
real honour and privilege for me to be representing so many people in so many
ways as the first citizen of Tameside, a home I have come to love".
She said her
appointment was "symbolic of Tameside being a welcoming and diverse place
where people are judged on their qualities" and she wanted to use her time
as mayor to "open doors for many and bring our flourishing communities
closer together".
'Fantastic role
model'
Ms North told
the meeting it was a "proud moment in the history of the borough",
adding: "A commitment to civic duty has long been a part of Taf's life,
breaking down many barriers along the way."
She said Ms
Sharif had previously fought off "inappropriate" planning
applications, helped resolve education and housing issues, lobbied for better
bus services and was an "inspiration to women".
Councillor
Eleanor Wills, who seconded the nomination, said she was a "fantastic role
model", who represented "not only women, but women within the Muslim
community [and] women within ethnic minorities".
Ms Sharif, who
represents Mossley ward, became an elected councillor in 2011 in Luton and then
deputy police and crime commissioner for Bedfordshire, before moving to
Tameside when she got married.
She was elected
as a councillor in Mossley in 2016 and also serves as a justice of the peace
and a school governor.
Her husband Dr
Faisal Parvez will be her consort for the coming mayoral year.
Source: bbc.com
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-65710180
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Independent
Candidate Jayeda Khatun Wins Gazipur City Polls Defeating Her Awami League
Rival
26 May 2023
GAZIPUR, May
26, 2023 (BSS) - Independent candidate Jayeda Khatun has won the Gazipur City
Corporation (GCC) polls defeating her nearest rival Awami League-nominated
candidate Azmat Ullah Khan.
Returning
Officer of the GCC poll MdFaridul Islam declared the election results
unofficially after counting votes of all 480 polling stations at 1.30am on
Friday.
Jayeda bagged
2,38,934 votes with the election symbol 'Table Clock' while her nearest
candidate ruling Awami League (AL) backed Advocate Azmat Ullah Khan secured
2,22,737 votes with the election symbol 'Boat'.
Earlier, the
voting started using the electronic voting machines (EVMs) at 8am and continued
till 4pm without any break.
The voting was
held in a peaceful manner as no untoward incident was reported during the
balloting.
The GCC,
constituted with a total of 57 wards, has some 11, 794, 76 voters. Of them, 5, 92,762
are male voters, 5, 86,696 are female voters and the rest 18 are third gender
people.
About 48.75
percent of the total voters exercised their franchises to elect the mayor for
the next five year term.
Sufficient
number members of the law enforcement agencies were deployed at all the polling
centers.
A total of 30
teams led by the members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), 13 platoons of Border
Guard Bangladesh (BGB), 19 striking police force teams and fifty-seven mobile
teams were deployed at the GCC areas.
Source: bssnews.net
https://www.bssnews.net/news-flash/127448
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Visa launches
initiative to support women entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia
May 25, 2023
RIYADH: In a
bid to support women-owned small businesses in Saudi Arabia, Visa has launched
the second edition of its She’s Next initiative in collaboration with the
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Small and Medium
Enterprises General Authority, also known as Monsha’at, and Arab National Bank.
The global
advocacy program is part of Visa’s efforts to support the digitalization of
women-owned businesses. It also features the launch of its first digitalization
index for women-owned small and medium-sized businesses, which measures digital
maturity using five key indicators: online presence, digital payments
acceptance, payment security awareness, customer engagement, and customer
retention, said a press release.
“We’re proud to
bring the second edition of our successful global She’s Next program back to
Saudi Arabia. We are grateful to our partners for their support in bringing
this important initiative to women-owned businesses in the Kingdom,” said Ali
Bailoun, Visa’s regional general manager for KSA, Bahrain, and Oman.
Since 2020,
Visa has invested around $3 million in over 250 grants and coaching for women
entrepreneurs through the program globally including in the US, Canada, India,
Ireland, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Morocco.
“Women
entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia require additional funding and support in today’s
business landscape. The Women SMB Digitalization Index is a central theme of
this year’s She’s Next initiative, reinforcing the critical importance of this
shift, and showcasing the progress made by local women-owned businesses in
joining the digital economy,” Bailoun added.
According to a
survey conducted by the digital payments company, seven in 10 female business
owners relied on their savings to start their businesses.
“If additional
funds were available, they would invest in staff expansion, new technologies,
and increased security measures,” it found.
Commenting on
the launch of the program, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
said: “We believe in the significant role of training and enablement for small
businesses, particularly those owned by women. By providing resources and
support for their growth, we can empower these entrepreneurs to not only
succeed but to thrive in our economy. Visa’s commitment to this mission aligns
with our own, and we are excited to work together towards a brighter future for
small businesses in the region.”
The press
release stated that women entrepreneurs from all industries and sectors in Saudi
Arabia can apply to participate in the program until June 23. One winner will
receive a grant of $50,000, a tailored program, and access to She’s Next Club
resources such as a workshop library and community of entrepreneurs, it added.
Mohammed
Alamro, general manager of entrepreneurship planning at Monsha’at, said:
“Initiatives of this sort are propelling the next wave of innovative female
entrepreneurs.”
Khalid
Al-Rashed, head of retail at ANB, said that by collaborating with Visa the bank
“acknowledges the critical role that small and medium-sized businesses play in
driving the economic growth of the Kingdom.”
Source: arabnews.com
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2310416/business-economy
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Duchess of
Edinburgh visits Iraq to show support for women
May 25, 2023
BAGHDAD: The
Duchess of Edinburgh traveled to Iraq this week, meeting politicians and
feminist activists in a rare visit by a British royal to the war-scarred
country, Iraq’s presidency said.
The last time a
British royal visited Iraq was in 2006 when the late Prince Philip visited a
base for British troops deployed to Iraq as part of the US-led invasion three
years earlier.
The Duchess
Sophie spent two days in Baghdad where she met President Abdul Latif Rashid and
his wife Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed, the Iraqi presidency said in a statement.
During the
unannounced visit by the wife of King Charles’ youngest brother Edward, she met
with Iraqi women in different posts and visited centers that took care of women
and children health. Duchess Sophie’s secret trip, due to security reason,
ended on Tuesday.
The Iraqi
presidency said the Duchess delivered a written message from King Charles III —
who had himself visited Iraq in 2004.
She also met
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani.
The duchess
delivered a speech at the annual conference of funded Women’s Voices First –
for change makers and women’s rights organizations in Iraq. During the dinner
she met representatives of women’s rights groups in the country as well as
women officers from Iraqi armed forces to hear about the work being done to
integrate women, peace and security into the Iraqi military and share the UK
experience in that field.
The Duchess
also met with businesswomen and discussed with them the challenges that they
faced and how they overcame them.
Iraq remains
traumatized from the years of war, occupation and bloody sectarian turmoil that
followed the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Source: arabnews.com
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2310036/middle-east
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Afghan Women
Being Repressed Under the Ruling Regime:Amnesty International
May 26, 2023
Amnesty
International in its latest report has highlighted that the mistreatment of
Afghan women by the Taliban can be considered a “gender apartheid and a crime
against humanity”.
Amnesty
International on Friday called on world governments to try and punish the
Taliban members involved in violating women’s rights through their
international judicial powers.
The
organization also asked the International Criminal Court (ICI) prosecutors to
investigate the mistreatment of Afghan women by the Taliban group.
In the 62-page
report prepared in collaboration with the International Commission of Jurists,
numerous cases of serious violations of women’s rights have been documented.
Cases such as imprisonment, torture, disappearance and misbehavior of the
Taliban members with women are mentioned.
“The campaign
of gender-based harassment of Afghan women is widespread, severe and
systematic, refereeing to the discrimination and elimination of women and girls
from the public life throughout the country,” Santiago Canton, the
Secretary-General of ICJ said, reported by the International Amnesty.
He further
added the organization’s findings indicate that these persecutions by the
ruling regime meet the five necessary criteria to be classified as a crime
against humanity.
Agnes
Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International pointing to the Taliban
policies said, “This is a war against Afghan women and the group wants to turn
women into second-class citizens”.
Furthermore,
the report highlights on the repressive policies of the Taliban regime against
protesting women who took to the streets and demanded their rights and the
removal of gender-based discrimination.
The
organization also states the protesting women were subjected to torture and
mistreatment during their detention and were forced to sign confessions to
avoid protesting against the ruling regime in the future.
Source: khaama.com
https://www.khaama.com/afghan-women-being-repressed-under-the-ruling-regime-ai/
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Muslim Women’s
Group Asks UN to Review Anti-Islamic CEDAW Articles
May 26, 2023
A group of
Muslim women in Nigeria, Pure Heart Islamic Foundation of Nigeria (PHF), Oyo
State chapter, has called on the United Nations (UN) to review some articles of
the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) based on their contravention of fundamental Islamic principles.
The Director of
Education, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Hajiya Aminah Abdus-Sattar, made
this call on Sunday at the sixth Pure Heart Annual Sisters’ Summit (PASS 2023)
organised by the Oyo State PHF.
Speaking on the
theme of the summit, ‘The Pristine’, Hajiya Abdus-Sattar observed that the UN
needs to consider the global religious diversity in the clauses of the CEDAW.
This, according
to her, will accelerate global acceptability of the women-oriented convention
by the comity of nations.
Commenting on
the Islamic position on respect for women within the ambit of the Islamic law,
Hajiya Abdus-Sattar highlighted the flaws of CEDAW to include naming children
after their mothers, advocating same sex marriage, right to abortion among
girls, conflict between society-defined gender roles and equal right among
genders, and lack of respect for variation of gender roles in different
societies.
The top civil
servant encouraged young female Muslims to exude the light of the message of
Islam by applying them to their daily lives.
She said
adhering to Prophet Muhammad’s model on the right of women will confer honour
and respect on women and girls and establish sanctity in the society.
A don in the
Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Dr J.T.
Lasisi, urged female Muslims to tackle challenges affecting them in the
contemporary society.
“You need to be
more resilient and resist any force meant to suppress your voices,” Dr Lasisi
said.
The spiritual
mother of the day, AlhajaSururohOyero, said “there is salvation in upholding
the tenets of Islam” in all endeavours.
AlhajaOyero
urged Muslim women and girls to be good ambassadors of Islam wherever they find
themselves.
In a remark at
the event, PHF Assistant Coordinator III, Alhaja Zaynab Oladipupo, said PASS had
come to stay.
She appreciated
the guests and the over 800 female Muslims who attended the summit.
Source: tribuneonlineng.com
https://tribuneonlineng.com/muslim-womens-group-asks-un-to-review-anti-islamic-cedaw-articles/
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/bracknell-naheed-ejaz-mayor/d/129860