Even in Cartoons Women must wear Hijab, says A Bizarre Fatwa issued by the Supreme Leader of Iran Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei
New
Age Islam News Bureau
22
February 2021
Combination
photo shows the character Rapunzel from the Disney animated film Tangled on the
left, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the right. (AFP)
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• The
case of Amroha’sShabnam, the first woman likely to be hanged since 1947; legal
remedies before her
• Marib
police thwart Houthi attempt to recruit women and children for Yemen attacks
• Saudi
Arabia opens military recruitment to women in latest move for inclusivity
• Why
we did it: the Kenyan women and girls who joined Al-Shabaab
• Number
of Saudi women in civil service jumps 25 times in 10 years
• COVID-19:
Sharjah Economic Department closes a women’s salon and hypermarket
• Gunmen
kill four female aid workers in northwest Pakistan
• UAE:
Emirati woman firefighter sets the bar high for her peers
• Iran's
female alpine ski team is coachless in Italy
• Led
by Turkish mother, 5 women bring smiles to children
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
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Iran’s
Khamenei issues fatwa saying women in cartoons must wear hijab
IsmaeelNaar
22
February ,2021
Iran’s
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei recently issued a new fatwa declaring that women in
cartoons and animated films must wear the hijab, according to a recent report
by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
“Is
observing hijab necessary for characters in animated films (three-dimensional
paintings that come from the artist’s mind)?” Khamenei was asked by an enquirer
on a Telegram channel, according to a translation of the question by the
IranWire news website.
“Although
wearing hijab in such a hypothetical situation is not required per se,
observing hijab in animation is required due to the consequences of not wearing
hijab,” IranWire quoted Khamenei as saying in his reply.
Wearing
a headscarf and covering all parts of the body was made mandatory for women in
Iran soon after the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
Women
who leave part of their hair uncovered in public are regularly targeted by
Iran’s morality police, known as Gasht-e Ershad.
In
recent years, women in Iran have been harassed both by the police and men on
the street for “improperly” wearing the hijab. Last October, a young woman was
arrested in central Iran for “insulting the Islamic hijab” after a video
appeared to show her cycling without a veil, according to the official IRNA
news agency.
In
March of last year, a video showing a man attacking a woman in Iran went viral
and sparked outrage on social media. The woman was attacked for being a “bad
hijab,” according to some social media users.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/22/Iran-supreme-leader-Iran-s-Khamenei-issues-fatwa-saying-women-in-cartoons-must-wear-hijab
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The
case of Amroha’sShabnam, the first woman likely to be hanged since 1947; legal
remedies before her
February
22, 2021
On
February 18, the 12-year-old son of Shabnam, a death row convict from Uttar
Pradesh’s Amroha, appealed to President Ram NathKovind to “forgive” his mother.
The same day, Shabman filed a second mercy petition with the Governor of Uttar
Pradesh and the President of India, both of whom have earlier rejected her
plea.
If
executed, Shabnam will be the first woman in independent India to be hanged for
a crime.
Only
one jail in India –– the one in Mathura –– has the provisions for hanging a
woman convict. Pawan Kumar, the hangman in the December 2012 New Delhi gangrape
case, has recently been quoted as saying by media outlets that he had been to
the Mathura jail to see if the execution room was in working order.
What
Shabnam was convicted of
Shabnam
along with her lover Saleem was convicted of killing seven members of her
family in 2008 –– father Shaukat Ali (55), mother Hashmi (50), elder brother
Anees (35), Anees’s wife Anjum (25), younger brother Rashid (22), cousin Rabia
(14), and Arsh, Anees’s 10-month-old son.
Shabnam,
belonging to the Saifi Muslim community, lived in Bawankhedi, a village in
Hasanpur tehsil of Amroha in western Uttar Pradesh. A post-graduate in two
subjects, English and Geography, she worked as a shikshamitra (government
school teacher). Her family was opposed to her relationship with Saleem, a
Class VI dropout, who worked at a wood sawing unit outside their home and
belonged to the Pathan community.
According
to the prosecution case, on the intervening night of April14-15, Shabnam
sedated six of her family members –– everyone except the baby Arsh. Saleem then
chopped their heads off with an axe, while Shabnam held them by their hair. She
throttled her 10-month-old nephew. With the rest of her family dead, Shabnam
would have been the sole heir to their house and other property.
When
Shabnam and Saleem were arrested five days after the crime, they were both in
their 20s, and Shabnam was seven weeks pregnant. In December of that year, she
gave birth to her son.
In
2010, an Amroha sessions court sentenced them to death, which was upheld by the
Allahabad High Court in 2013 and the Supreme Court in May 2015. Within 10 days,
however, the Apex Court stayed the death warrants.
In
September 2015, then-Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik rejected Shabnam’s plea
for mercy, which she had sought on the ground of her responsibilities towards
her son, Mohammad Taj. In August 2016, then President Pranab Mukherjee rejected
her mercy petition.
In
January 2020, a Supreme Court bench headed by CJI SA Bobde upheld the death
sentence.
What
Shabnam claimed
Shabnam
was the one who had raised the alarm about her family’s murder. She had
initially claimed that unknown assailants had entered her home and killed
everyone.
However,
during the course of their trial, the couple turned against each other. The
2015 Supreme Court judgment says that in her Section 313 statement, Shabnam
said Saleem had entered the house with a knife through the roof and killed all
her family members while she was asleep. Saleem, on the other hand, said he
reached the house “only on the request of Shabnam” and that when he reached
there, she confessed to having killed the others.
Seven
years after the crime, when her son was being sent to foster care, Shabnam had
claimed she feared for his life, as the “people who had killed her family over
a property dispute could harm him too”.
Legal
options still available with Shabnam
Before
she is hanged, Shabnam still has some legal remedies left with her. On February
19, the day after she filed fresh mercy petitions with the Governor and the
President, Shabnam’s lawyer, Advocate Shreya Rastogi, said in a statement,
“Shabnam has very important constitutional remedies that remain to be
exercised. These include the right to challenge the rejection of her mercy
petition before the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court on various
grounds and also the right to file a curative petition in the Supreme Court
against the decision on the review petition.”
The
curative petition can challenge the Supreme Court decision of January 2020,
which upheld her death sentence.
Also,
under the law, if multiple people have been sentenced to death in the same
case, they have to be executed together. So, Shabnam and Saleem can be hanged
only after both of them exhaust all their legal recourses.
Shabnam’s
son
Shabnam’s
son stayed with her in jail for the first few years of his life. In 2015, he
had to be sent to foster care as according to the jail manual, women inmates
can’t keep children above six years of age with them.
Taj
now lives with journalist Usman Saifi, who was Shabnam’s college junior, and
his wife Suhina.
Saifi
had told The Indian Express in 2015: “The Shabnam you hear of, the woman on
death row, is not the Shabnam I know. We went to the same college… She once
paid my college fee when I couldn’t, she would help me with my notes and stand
up for me in college. All this, just like an elder sister would. So when this
happened, I was shocked. I told my wife that I owe a lot to Shabnam and must do
this for her.”
Other
women on death row in India
According
to a 2016 report on the death penalty in India by National Law University, New
Delhi, 12 women are on death row in the country, and all belong to “backward
classes and religious minorities”.
Another
case where the convicts’ mercy petitions has been rejected by the President is
that of RenukaShinde and Seema Mohan Gavit, sisters convicted of kidnapping and
killing several children in Maharashtra towns between 1990 and 1996.
Charged
along with their mother Anjana with the kidnapping of 13 children and the
murder of 10 of them, they were convicted by the Supreme Court in 2006 of five
of those murders, besides the kidnappings. According to the sisters’ defence
counsel, the murders were committed by their mother –– who died two years after
their arrest in 1996 –– and the sisters were framed by KiranShinde, Renuka’s
husband, who turned approver.
The
women would kidnap children to use them either as props or distractions during
pickpocketing and petty thefts. Later, they would kill them.
The
sisters were convicted by a Kolhapur sessions court in June 2001. The Bombay
High Court upheld the death penalty given to them in 2004, and the Supreme Court
in 2006. In 2014, then-President Pranab Mukherjee rejected their mercy
petition.
https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-the-case-of-amrohas-shabnam-the-first-woman-likely-to-hanged-after-independence-7195194/
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Marib
police thwart Houthi attempt to recruit women and children for Yemen attacks
February
22, 2021
DUBAI:
Marib police authorities have uncovered evidence that the Houthi militia are
attempting to recruit women and children for bomb attacks and assassinations in
the government-controlled northern Yemeni city.
Videos
of women confessing to have been recruited by the Houthis, trained on
improvised explosive devices, and sent to Marib to plant such bombs were shown
by Brig. YahyaHomeid, the Director General of Marib Police, a report from Saba
News Agency added.
The
targets include a Sports Hall in Marib, which accommodates hundreds of wounded
army personnel, ambulances, and civilians and members of the military traveling
in vehicles.
Homeid
said the women, who come from poor families, were recruited through blackmail,
with the Houthis implicating them in honor-damaging acts to get them to do what
the militia wants.
Yemeni
authorities previously foiled a similar Houthi attempt to deploy female
assassins after it uncovered a cell of eight women plotting to military and
security officers.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1813501/middle-east
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Saudi
Arabia opens military recruitment to women in latest move for inclusivity
21
February ,2021
Saudi
Arabia’s Ministry of Defense announced that men and women in the Kingdom can
now apply for positions in the military through their unified admission portal.
Women
will be able to sign up to join the Saudi Arabian Army, Royal Saudi Air
Defense, Royal Saudi Navy, Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Force, and Armed
Forces Medical Services.
Saudi
Arabian woman can be recruited as soldiers, lance corporals, corporals,
sergeants, and staff sergeants, according to the ministry.
The
move comes under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 initiative,
introducing reforms that advance Saudi Arabian women in various fields.
To
join the armed forces, a woman must be between the age of 21 and 40 years old,
be 155 centimeters tall or above, and cannot be a government employee.
She
must also pass admission procedures, have a clean criminal record, and be
medically fit for service.
A
Saudi Arabian woman must also hold an independent national identity card, have
at least a high school education, and cannot be married to a non-Saudi Arabian
citizen.
For
male citizens wanting to join the armed forces, they must be between the ages
of 17 and 40 and be a minimum of 160 centimeters tall.
They
must also pass admission procedures, have a clean criminal record, and prove
that they are medically fit for service.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2021/02/21/Saudi-Vision-2030-Saudi-Arabia-opens-military-recruitment-to-women-in-latest-move-for-inclusivity-
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Why
we did it: the Kenyan women and girls who joined Al-Shabaab
FathimaAzmiyaBadurdeen
February
21, 2021
The
direct involvement of women and girls in terrorism has attracted increased
interest as the nature of recruitment tactics has evolved. In Kenya, their
involvement in terrorist networks, such as the Al-Shabaab, is an emerging
trend. The recruitment of female members is most evident in Kenya’s coastal and
North Eastern counties but has also been reported in many other counties.
Women
and girls have been identified as recruiters for the terrorist group, logistics
planners, financial conduits, spies for terrorist activities and in some cases,
masterminds behind terrorist attacks or conveners of terror cells.
The
Al-Shabaab, or “the youth”, emerged in the mid-2000s as an offshoot of a
Jihadist movement that peaked during Somalia’s civil war in the 1990s. Driven
out of Mogadishu in 2006, it continues to pursue its main aim of establishing
an Islamic state in Somalia through violent means. It has carried out repeated
deadly attacks in Somalia but also in Kenya and Uganda. Both contribute troops
to the African Union force in Somalia.
In
one of my previous studies, I found that women may participate willingly
because the extremist ideology resonates with their religiously inclined
cultural values. They may also join due to the financial benefits that come
with belonging to or associating with the group. Also, women may be forced or
coerced to join through deception or intimidation.
In
my most recent study I looked at different ways in which recruitment occurs to
analyse the diverse motivations of women and girls to join Al-Shabaab in the
coastal region of Kenya. In particular, I sought to establish the
“voluntariness” of their decisions – in other words, did they sign up on their
own volition?
I
interviewed 36 women or girls who had returned home from terrorist camps or
defected from the network. I generated 16 case accounts of women and girls who
explained ‘voluntariness’ in Al-Shabaab recruitment.
The
study revealed that the gender-dynamics of submission and subordination within
families and the community contributes to Al-Shabaab recruitment. However,
there were political and ideological motivations too.
Volunteering
to the Al-Shabaab
But
what do we mean by voluntary?
Recruitment
was deemed to be voluntary if a woman or girl – without duress – elected to
join the Al-Shabaab network. Recruitment was viewed as involuntary if it
occurred through deceptive or coercive means.
However,
I must caution that voluntary and involuntary are not always mutually
exclusive. I found that depending on allegiances, social interactions,
ideological resonance, and changing circumstances within and beyond the
Al-Shabaab network, recruits may reverse their original views.
Furthermore,
there is need to examine different aspects of autonomous decision-making. Some
women who join terrorist networks do so to assert themselves within systems of
oppression and patriarchy, and to embrace the lure of emancipation within the
utopian caliphate.
In
my study four main circumstances emerged as the reasons behind decisions to
join Al-Shabaab.
Defending
the faith
Al-Shabaab
thrives on the narrative of Kenya as a Christian state oppressing Muslims in
Somalia and Kenya. This resonates with the global marginalisation of Muslims.
Political and religious motivations came up during our interviews, as well as
the expressed desire to support or defend fellow Muslims.
Two
women explained their motivations to be wives of martyrs and to play their role
to support the Muslim Ummah, or community. Nine interviewees explained how
ideology influenced their decisions to support the Al-Shabaab cause. These
decisions belie Kenyan media accounts of naive girls manipulated through
romantic notions of Jihadi brides or wives.
Aisha,
25 at the time, an Al-Shabaab returnee who defected after two years said:
I
read a lot of materials. I was sad at how Muslims were treated as a second
class group. I didn’t want my people to suffer, I needed to do something. I
wanted to assist them in Somalia.
Reacting
to a personal crisis
Al-Shabaab
recruitment thrives on revenge among individuals who see the state as the
perpetrator of the injustices suffered in their lives. A crisis event in the
life of women and girls – such as the police killing a loved one – was found to
be an important tipping point. Some women join extremist networks to avenge the
death of a husband, fiancé, or son at the hands of government security actors.
There’s
also evidence of recruiters penetrating existing networks of aggrieved women,
including relatives of fallen Al-Shabaab members. Peer influence is used to
influence or coerce women to follow the relative’s cause.
Close
interpersonal relations
Daily
interactions with family, friends and peers also shaped the decision to join
the network in 9 out of the 16 case studies. A woman’s autonomy in marital
relationships may be constrained in ways that push her to follow her husband or
other influential male relatives’ lead.
The
decision to join is autonomous if it is her choice. Nevertheless, her choice
may be coerced within marital and family relationships. This occurs when a
woman exhibits excessive deference to the wishes of her family members.
Ideology
rubbing off in camps
Some
women may have been recruited involuntarily. However, after a prolonged period
of time in the terrorist camp or association with terrorist fighters, three of
the 16 identified for this study accepted the ideology and subsequently
volunteered to join Al-Shabaab.
Mary,
a Muslim convert, was recruited by a friend in the guise of a job in Somalia.
She was 18 years old when she was recruited in 2015. In camp she was subjected
to work and religious indoctrination.
After
a few days, I was worn out. I was also learning the religion…I kind of started
to accept it. I felt it was right to fight for our [Muslim] freedom. It was
like a moral obligation. I wanted to be a part of the Al-Shabaab network.
Conclusion
An
examination of the political and ideological motivations behind women joining
the Al-Shabaab shows that in some cases, they do make autonomous decisions
based on their response to the grievances of the Muslim community.
But
other structural and cultural factors were at play such as the patriarchal
set-up in families and their communities. Some women’s decision making
conformed to subservient attitudes and roles. These women, mainly from the
coastal Muslim communities, revealed that they were subject to traditional
gender roles, suggesting deference to social norms.
But
not all women joining the Al-Shabaab lived lives of subjugation prior joining.
Some returnees had good family lives or were happily settled.
https://theconversation.com/why-we-did-it-the-kenyan-women-and-girls-who-joined-al-shabaab-151592
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Number
of Saudi women in civil service jumps 25 times in 10 years
February
22, 2021
RIYADH
— Saudi Arabia is witnessing a giant leap in women empowerment, with women
joining in almost all sectors of civil service and some sectors of the military
service.
In
the civil service, the number of working women jumped 25 times within the last
10 years, according to a report of the Family Affairs Council.
The
report titled “The role of Saudi women in society and in various business and
government sectors,” showed that the number of women workers in the security
and military sectors reached 9,408 at the end of 2019 while 500 military jobs
for women are under process at the Public Security.
The
number of female employees in the civil service shot up from 21,000 in 2010 to
more than 484,000 in 2019, which is approximately 25 times over the last 10
years.
The
women employees in military and security sectors constitute two percent of the
total female employees of the government sector. These sectors include Ministry
of Interior, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of the National Guard, Presidency of
General Intelligence, Presidency of State Security, Control and Investigation
Authority, General Directorate of Investigation and the Public Prosecution.
Although
the presence of women in the military and security sectors has been restricted
mainly to jobs in administrative or technical support sections, the State has
realized the importance of women’s contribution in this aspect, which opened
the door to accepting women for jobs in military and security forces.
This
is in line with the preparation for creating the appropriate environment to
achieve the initiatives and programs of Vision 2030.
The
Public Security Directorate announced in early 2018 the opening of admission
and registration to fill a number of military and security jobs for women.
Procedures
are also in place at the Public Security to hire 500 women for military jobs
while the Ministry of Interior is expanding the scope for hiring more women in
a number of sectors, including the General Directorate of Passports where the
number of women staff reached more than 1500, as well as in a number of other
sectors.
The
number of female employees in the Ministry of Interior and its various sectors
reached 6,250. There were several women officials of the Ministry of Defense
who have won medals for their outstanding contributions mainly as doctors
serving the armed forces during the operations of the Decisive Storm and
Restoration of Hope.
151
women diplomats
The
number of Saudi women working in the diplomatic sector reached 151, and there
was an increase in the percentage of women joining the diplomatic jobs under
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reaching 25.8 percent in 2019 from 20 percent
in 2017.
The
percentage of women in public jobs covered by the civil service reached more
than 40 percent of the total employees of both sexes in 2019. Saudi women have
also reached important decision-making positions in government institutions and
universities and they occupy leadership and supervisory positions in a number
of ministries and government institutions.
83%
of women staff in education sector
The
education sector accounts for 83 percent of all women working in the government
sector, and the high percentage indicates the state’s keenness to include women
in the education sector as one of the most essential sectors for social
development.
The
number of women working in the public education sector, covering all phases of
schools, is equal to that of men in the same sector, and the percentage of
female faculty members in universities is three percent.
Women
are holding key positions in this sector, such as deputy minister, university
president and various administrative, academic and technical positions.
13%
of working women in health sector
The
health sector comes next to the education sector, as 13 percent of the total
number of female government workers worked in the health sector in 2018.
It
is evident from the statistics that the percentage of female doctors working in
the health sector increased from seven percent in 2014 to 36.3 percent in 2018,
while the percentage of females in the total nursing profession reached 61.8
percent in 2018.
The
percentage of female workers in allied medical groups reached 24.4 percent in
2018, while the percentage of female dentists out of the total employees was
36.4 percent in 2018, and the percentage of females out of the total number of
workers in the pharmacy profession was 37 percent.
The
Public Prosecution Office is currently working to recruit qualified women to
serve as its members. In January 2018, it announced vacancies for women to work
as members on an equal basis with men.
The
report also showed that unemployment rate among women dropped to 28 percent in
2020 from 35 percent in 2012. The number of commercial registrations issued to
women increased by 65 percent in 2019.
Women
represent 50 percent of the Women’s Council of the Human Rights Commission
while women make up 20 percent of the Shoura Council, with 30 members out of
the total 150 members are women.
https://www.saudigazette.com.sa/article/603733/SAUDI-ARABIA/Number-of-Saudi-women-in-civil-service-jumps-25-times-in-10-years
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COVID-19:
Sharjah Economic Department closes a women’s salon and hypermarket
February
21, 2021
Aghaddir
Ali
Sharjah:
The Department of Economic Development in Sharjah on Sunday closed a women’s
salon and one of the hypermarkets in the emirate due to their lack of
implementing the decisions related to preventive and precautionary measures and
controls to avoid the spread of COVID-19.
The
measures were taken during the inspection tours and campaigns carried out by
the control teams of the Department of Supervision and Commercial Protection,
in cooperation with the various competent authorities in the emirate.
'Lack
of commitment'
The
Sharjah Economic Department stated that a number of violations were observed at
the facilities that were closed, which showed their lack of commitment to
implementing the decisions related to preventive measures and precautionary
controls, such as exceeding the capacity specified for the facility, and not
adhering to social distancing protocols.
The
department has also intensified its role during the current period with the aim
of ensuring that all establishments adhere to the instructions and circulars
issued recently by the department and the policies regulating the business
practice and commitment of all economic establishments and their visitors to
precautionary and preventive measures.
https://gulfnews.com/uae/covid-19-sharjah-economic-department-closes-a-womens-salon-and-hypermarket-1.77353749
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Gunmen
kill four female aid workers in northwest Pakistan
February
22, 2021
Peshawar:
Four women aid workers were gunned down Monday in a restive part of
northwestern Pakistan, police said, as a fresh wave of extremist violence
rattles the Afghan borderlands.
The
aid workers were ambushed by two gunmen as they were driving through a village
in North Waziristan district, according to local police chief
ShafiullahGandapur, who said just one passenger survived the assault.
“No
one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far but it was surely an act
of terrorism,” he told AFP.
Gandapur
said the aid workers were affiliated with a programme run by a local institute
to develop household skills for women.
The
incident and death toll was confirmed by Rasul Khan, another local police
official.
The
so-called tribal areas along the Afghan border remain notorious for the
availability of cheap guns, drugs and smuggled goods.
The
region was once home to a wide array of jihadist groups and was a focal point
in the global war on terror.
Massive
operation
Attacks
have decreased in recent years following a series of military offensives
against homegrown and foreign militants.
In
2014, the army launched a massive operation to wipe out militant bases in North
Waziristan aimed at ending a near decade-long insurgency that cost thousands of
lives.
But
militant groups are still able to carry out sporadic, isolated assaults.
A
recent surge in attacks targeting security forces along the Afghan border has
sparked fears that jihadist groups may be regrouping.
https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pakistan/gunmen-kill-four-female-aid-workers-in-northwest-pakistan-1.77371217
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UAE:
Emirati woman firefighter sets the bar high for her peers
Afkar
Abdullah
February
22, 2021
Nouf
Mohammad Al Ali has made sacrifice as the mission statement of her life
An
Emirati woman firefighter, who works for Ajman Police's Civil Defence
department, is breaking the glass ceiling with aplomb.
Nouf
Mohammad Al Ali, who joined the force three years ago as part of the first 15
women firefighters in the UAE, has made a mark with her slogan: “protection,
rescue, sacrifice”.
She
has made sacrifice as her life’s mission statement, as she seeks to protect
human lives and properties with hard work and dedication.
Nouf
told Khaleej Times that it took her tremendous courage and self-belief to
overcome stereotypical notions about a woman’s role in a society. She embodies
women’s empowerment, which has been the mantra of the UAE’s wise and visionary
leadership.
Emirati
women have proven their worth in all walks of life and have stood by their male
counterparts through thick and thin in nation-building.
However,
firefighting is a walk of life that was hitherto barred for women and the
restrictions were lifted three years ago. Nouf was happy to plunge into the
challenge, as she and her colleagues are on standby 24x7 if a fire breaks out
in Ajman. She knows that time is of essence when a fire breaks out. Human lives
and properties can be saved if firefighters rise to the challenge immediately
to douse a raging blaze.
She
profusely thanked her male colleagues for helping her learn the tricks of the
trade such as safety mechanisms in the initial phase of her nascent career.
She
attributed her unbridled passion for the job that helped overcome massive
challenges.
She
recalled the initial days of joining the profession and how it was her
dedication to serve the nation that made a difference to quickly get on with
her job.
In
retrospect, her three-year stint has been a satisfying experience, as she has
managed to save several lives, including women and senior citizens, and
properties.
She
imbibed team spirit in the course of her challenging job, as the self-less
nature of the task has been her biggest incentive to keep going day in and day
out.
She
has emerged as a professional par excellence. Her skills have honed and gotten
better through the years because of her intensive military training along with
fire-fighting abilities.
Emirati
women like Nouf are an asset for a young nation such as the UAE, and others
should emulate her feat.
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/news/uae-emirati-woman-firefighter-sets-the-bar-high-for-her-peers
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Iran's
female alpine ski team is coachless in Italy
20.02.2021
Shabnam
von Hein
The
coach of Iran's national women's alpine ski team was supposed to fly to Italy with
her team on Wednesday morning to compete in the FIS Alpine World Alpine Ski
Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo. But it wasn't until she got to the airport
that Samira Zargari realized that she couldn't to leave Iran. The team had to
fly without Zargari because her husband had forbidden her from leaving the
country — which he is entitled to do under Iranian law.
"It's
not the first time," the Iranian skier ForoughAbbasi told the press after
her first giant slalom run on Thursday. "All the women in Iran, all of us
together, I wish we could change it," Abbasi said. "We are
trying," She added: "I'm sure strong women can change these
rules."
Iran's
laws are based on Shariah, some interpretations of which permit men act as
women's guardians. Under this system, important decisions in a woman's life are
made by men: first by her father or another male relative, then, after she is
married, by her husband. It's her husband, for example, who decides whether she
can apply for a passport. And she is also only allowed to use the passport to
leave the country with her husband's permission. He doesn't have to justify his
decision, nor does his wife even have to be informed.
It
remains unreported why the 37-year-old Zargari's husband has stopped her from
traveling. So far, neither she nor Iran's ski federation has issued a
statement. Media report that, the federation tried "until the very last
minute" to make it possible for Zargari to travel abroad. The announcement
sparked a furore on social media. "The man doesn't even have a name,"
one comment read. "We only know him as Samira Zargari's husband. Now he's
seeing to it that her dream is shattered."
'Any
of us'
Zargari
is not the first Iranian sportswoman whose husband has kept her from traveling
abroad just before an important event. The most high-profile case to date came
in 2015 and involved NiloufarArdalan, the captain of the women's national
soccer team. She was about to fly to the Asian championships in Malaysia when
she was informed, at Tehran Airport, that her husband, a sports editor at
Iranian state television, had refused permission for her to travel. She later
said in an interview that her husband had been trying to blackmail her: He
wanted her to waive her right to alimony payments if they were to divorce — otherwise
he would ban her from traveling abroad. She refused.
Women's
rights activists on social media warn that "this can happen to any of
us." For years, they have tried to educate women about their rights under
existing law. One option, they say, is to make special prenuptial arrangements,
Shiva NazarAhari, a member of Iran's Committee of Human Rights Reporters, told
DW. "This is referred to as 'conditions of the marriage,'" she said.
"It allows women to make their own decisions in life after the marriage ceremony."
NazarAhari
has been arrested repeatedly over the past 17 years and has spent several years
in jail. She has lived in Slovenia since October 2018, after being allowed to
leave Iran because her husband had signed the prenuptial agreement. "The
woman is allowed to demand certain rights of the man as a condition for
marriage: for example, the right to divorce, or the right to travel
freely," she said. "Unfortunately, though, many women in Iran know
nothing about this, even academics or successful sportswomen."
Anyone
who campaigns for women to be informed about their rights in Iran risks losing
their own freedom — as in the case of the sociologist NajmeVahedi and the
lawyer Hoda Amid, who had organized workshops in which they informed women of
their legal rights and options. In October 2019, they were arrested and held
for over two months in Tehran's infamous Evin jail before being released on
bail.
Then,
in December 2020, they were found guilty of "collaborating with the
hostile American government against the Islamic Republic of Iran on women and
family issues." Amid and Vahedi were sentenced to eight and seven years in
prison, respectively. Amid was banned from practicing law for two years, and
both were told that "certain societal rights" would be revoked for
two years. That means that neither can work in the civil service, take jobs in
the media, join a trade union or political party, travel abroad, or be given
custody of a child even after they are released from jail. This verdict was
confirmed by the appeals court on Wednesday, just as the furore on social media
erupted over ski coach Zargari's being banned from traveling.
https://www.dw.com/en/irans-female-alpine-ski-team-is-coachless-in-italy/a-56632448
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Led
by Turkish mother, 5 women bring smiles to children
FEB
21, 2021
With
the slogan "happy children, happy world," five mothers hailing from
Turkey, Switzerland, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina are reaching out to
children in distress across the world.
Upset
about the conditions some children around the world are currently living in,
particularly in refugee camps, the mothers joined forces in Switzerland in
January 2020 to set up the international association For Children Smile to help
children living in different regions of the world, particularly in refugee
camps.
Speaking
to Anadolu Agency (AA), EmineTaş, president of the organization, said their
focus is to reach out to children in need of humanitarian aid, especially those
living in war and conflict zones, occupied areas and disaster-hit regions.
"After
witnessing so many times the pain of thousands of children in countries that
have been affected by war and poverty, I decided to do something for them.
Mothers like me from different cultures came together, and we established the
association," she said.
The
organization aims to ensure that all the rights in the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child are applied without exception for all
children, Taş said.
According
to the organization, it has so far identified 100,000 children in Syria, 13,000
in Yemen, 5,000 in Palestine and 1,500 across Asia and Europe who need
humanitarian aid, educational assistance, housing and access to various
facilities.
TülayGökçimen,
a volunteer at the association, said the association aims to reach out to
children living in different regions of the world, particularly those in
refugee camps.
"Out
of 79.5 million, an estimated 30 million-34 million children under the age of
18 are among forcibly displaced persons worldwide," according to the U.N.
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Gökçimen
said they distributed winter aid, including clothing, toys, blankets, hygiene
products and food packages, in cooperation with Rahma Austria, an aid agency,
in Lebanon last week.
"After
learning about the situation of Palestinian and Syrian refugees in Lebanese
camps, we wanted to organize humanitarian aid in the camps," she added.
During
the COVID-19 crisis, the organization distributed tablets to disadvantaged
children in Turkey who were facing the challenge of falling behind due to a
lack of access to gadgets to pursue online education.
"For
at least 463 million children whose schools were closed due to COVID-19, there
was no such thing as remote learning," said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF's
executive director, last year.
"After
UNICEF warned that millions of Yemeni children are facing the threat of
starvation due to the COVID-19 crisis, we have decided to increase our
activities in Yemen," Taş said.
"This
year, besides our ongoing activities, we are planning to do many humanitarian
aid projects in Yemen. These projects are generally planned as the supply of
food, education and hygienic products," she said.
According
to research jointly carried out by Save the Children and UNICEF, nearly 150
million children are living in multidimensional poverty without access to
education, health care, housing, nutrition, sanitation or water because of the
coronavirus crisis.
https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/led-by-turkish-mother-5-women-bring-smiles-to-children/news
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