Muslim Women Cannot Object To Husbands’ Marriages: Pak CII Chief
New Age Islam News Bureau
22
Oct 2014
Malala Yousafzai puts on her Liberty Medal. She is the seventh winner who's also been named the year's Nobel laureate
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• Rise in
Divorce in Iran Linked To Growing Individualism Among Women
• Three
U.S. Girls Caught In Germany on Way to ISIS
• Saudi
Woman Lecturer Ditches University Job to Join Islamic State
• Saudi
Woman Pleads Cases in Shariah Court
• Number
of Afghan policewomen to reach 10,000 by next year
• Asma
Al-Assad: Rise and Fall of The New Syrian Woman
• Pakistani
Nobel Laureate, Malala Yousafzai, Honoured In Philadelphia
• Lebanon
Diva Under Fire Over Skin-tight Outfit
• 50pc of
Pakistani Female Doctors Never Work After Graduation
• Ultra-Orthodox
Jews Attack Jerusalem Buses over Ad Promoting Female Worship
• Turkish
Girls' Science Awards Spark Debate
• 39% of
Saudi Women Suffer From Osteoporosis
• ‘Only
One in Four Pakistani Schoolchildren Make It To Grade 10’
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
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Muslim Women
Cannot Object To Husbands’ Marriages: Pak CII Chief
Oct 22, 2014
ISLAMABAD:
Chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) Maulana Mohammad Khan
Sheerani has said a Muslim woman cannot object to the second or subsequent
marriages of her husband.
Presiding
over a meeting of the council here on Tuesday, he said a woman could not demand
divorce if her husband married a second, third or fourth time.
He said
Islam had given the women the right to separate from her husband, but another
marriage could not be a valid ground for doing so.
The
council discussed the relevant section of the Muslim Divorce Act, 1939, and
observed that it was against Sharia.
We want
the government to repeal this section, Maulana Sheerani said.
Maulana
Sheerani says Islam gives a woman right to separation, but second marriage of
husband is not a valid ground
A woman
can seek divorce under various circumstances and Clause (F) of Section 2 of the
Act says: “If he has more than one wife, does not treat her equitably in
accordance with the injunctions of the Holy Quran.”
Later
talking to newsmen, the CII chief said the law needed amendment. The woman
could seek separation if she was treated with inequality or cruelty, he said.
Talking
about child marriage, he said Nikah was justified only if it had been
solemnised by the father or the grandfather of the girl in good faith and not
as part of a ritual, but “Rukhsati before attaining the age of 18 years is not
allowed in Islam”.
He said
if a man was jailed for seven years, it could not be a valid reason for
separation because the sentence could be condoned well before that period.
On May
22 this year, the council had ruled that a girl as young as nine years of age
is eligible for marriage if the signs of puberty are visible.
Maulana
Sheerani had said at that time that the concept of minimum age of marriage,
which is 18 years under the law, was not in accordance with Islam.
“As per
the Islamic point of view marriage age is nine years for those girls who have
visible signs of puberty and the same is 12 years for boys, but they both
become eligible for marriage at the age of 15 years,” he had announced five
months ago.
Tuesday’s
CII meeting was the fourth this year to have focused on marriage laws.
The
meeting also reviewed various laws, including the Protection of Pakistan Act,
the National Security Policy, the code of conduct to prevent sectarian
terrorism and sex education in the curriculum.
On March
10 this year, the council noted that the laws regarding second marriage by a
man in the presence of the first wife were against Sharia.
“Sharia
allows men to have more than one wife and we demanded the government to amend
the relevant laws where a person has to seek prior permission from the existing
wife / wives,” the CII chief had said in the meeting.
Maulana
Sheerani, who is also an MNA of JUI-F, had told media after that meeting that
the CII had suggested to the government to amend the marriage laws as Sharia
has clearly defined provisions of up to four marriages by a man and this was
easy to understand and follow.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1139597/muslim-women-cannot-object-to-husbands-marriages-cii-chief
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Rise in
Divorce in Iran Linked To Growing Individualism Among Women
Oct 22, 2014
BEIRUT -
Weddings in Iran have long been an over-the-top affair with families spending
thousands of dollars to celebrate a union. But now some couples are splurging
on an entirely different sort of nuptial celebration: a divorce party.
Local
media outlets and blogs have been abuzz for months about lavish parties,
complete with sarcastic invitations and humorous cakes, for couples splitting
up. The phenomenon has become so widespread in Tehran and other large cities
that one prominent cleric said couples who throw these parties are
"satanic".
Still,
the divorce parties are a sign of an undeniable trend: divorce in Iran is
soaring. Since 2006, the rate of divorce has increased more than one and a half
times to the point where around 20 percent of marriages now end in divorce.
In the
first two months of this Iranian calendar year (late March to late May) alone,
more than 21,000 divorce cases were logged, according to official statistics.
The rise
in the number of couples choosing to split up has angered conservatives in Iran
who see the increase in divorce as an affront to the values of the Islamic
Republic.
Last
month, Mustafa Pour Mohammadi, the current justice minister who is also a
cleric, said that having 14 million divorce cases within the judiciary is
"not befitting of an Islamic system," according to the Iranian
Students News Agency.
Some of
the causes for divorce in Iran, like many other countries, include economic
problems, adultery, drug addiction or physical abuse. But the increase in the
divorce rate points to a more fundamental shift in Iranian society, experts
say.
"There
has been a big growth in individualism in Iran, especially among women. Women
are more educated and have increased financial empowerment," said Hamid
Reza Jalaipour, a sociologist at Tehran University.
"It
used to be that a woman would marry and she would just have to get along. Now
if she's not happy, she'll separate. It's not taboo," he said.
DIVORCE
PARTY
One
41-year-old woman, a chemistry graduate who is now head of public relations at
a Tehran factory and who has a teenage daughter, said she divorced her husband
because he was an abusive drug addict.
It took
four years to deal with the government bureaucracy. "They don't like
divorce to come from the side of women," she told Reuters, asking that her
name not be used. But in the year since the divorce "I've been in
heaven".
While
she was married, an aunt had told her not to wash the dishes at a certain time
in case it gave her husband a headache.
"I
said to hell with the headache, why doesn't he get up and do the dishes
himself?"
She had
never been to one of Tehran's notorious divorce parties, but added: "The
day that I got my divorce finalized I invited some friends over to celebrate
too."
The
marriage law in Iran traditionally favors the husband, who has the right to ask
for a divorce. But in most cases being brought to court now, the husband and
wife have generally come to a mutual agreement to separate, Iranian lawyers
say.
In the
cases where the husband is unwilling to divorce, the wife must legally prove
that the husband is abusive, has psychological problems or is somehow unable to
uphold his marriage responsibilities in order to separate.
GOLD
COINS
Alternately,
the wife could push for the payment of her mehrieh, or dowry, if it was not
paid when the couple married. Dowries in Iran, usually in the form of gold
coins, have skyrocketed in recent years with families sometimes paying tens of
thousands of dollars.
If the
husband is not able to pay the dowry, the wife could waive some or all of it as
part of a separation settlement. In some cases, the husband can go to jail if
he cannot pay the dowry.
"In
the past two years the issue of divorce in Iran has reached unprecedented
levels," said Mohsen Mohammadi, the head of the Yasa law group in Tehran.
"We
didn't even have an interest in family and divorce law. But because of the
large number of requests it made sense for us to get into this. The legal side
of family and divorce has become a big business in Iran."
And it
does not appear that the broader trend partly driving the rise in divorce, the
greater number of women being educated and their larger presence in the work
force, is going to change, experts say. For the current school year, 60 percent
of enrolled university students are female, according to official records cited
by the Islamic Republic News Agency.
When
these women graduate, their first priority may not be to get married because
they can now find jobs. And if they do get married, it will now be easier for
them to leave a troubled marriage or to support themselves financially, experts
say.
This is
not only a trend among the top tier of Iranian society.
"We're
not talking about a middle class anymore or the northern Tehran elite. This is
not the upper crust becomes Western and gets divorced," said Kevan Harris,
a sociologist and associate director at Princeton University's Center for Iran
and Persian Gulf Studies.
"This
is because of internal change in society. We balance the power of women through
the kind of credentials and experience that they have. Because otherwise it
can't be so huge. If this were just happening in the upper crust you wouldn't
see these kinds of numbers."
The rise
in the divorce rate worries government officials in Iran because it comes as
the birth rate is plunging.
Last
year, parliament's social affairs committee proposed that $1.1 billion be
dedicated to facilitating marriages but the motion did not pass in parliament.
"If the representatives and officials are sympathetic to the youth of the
country, it would be better if they approved these kinds of plans," said
the head of the committee, Abdul Reza Azizi, according to Mehr News.
A more
controversial proposal has been to create a Ministry of Marriage and Divorce,
which some officials have criticized on the grounds that a new ministry would
create more bureaucracy rather than address the overall issue of rising
divorce.
Whatever
the government does, it will be hard to change a new tolerance for divorce.
"It's
not because somebody asks 'Please, I want to get divorced' and you convince a
conservative society that divorce is ok. That's not the way it works,"
said Harris. "People have to do it. And the other side can't take it
back."
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Rise-in-divorce-in-Iran-linked-to-growing-individualism-among-women-379470
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Three
U.S. Girls Caught In Germany on Way to ISIS
22
October 2014
Three
American teenage girls from Colorado were stopped in Germany over the weekend
while they were en route to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
(ISIS), U.S. authorities said on Tuesday.
The
girls from suburban Denver in Colorado are two sisters, ages 17 and 15, and
their 16-year-old friend of ethnic Somali origin.
They
were reported missing after they skipped school on Friday, but their families
were unaware of their whereabouts; the Associated Press quoted Glenn Thompson,
bureau chief of the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department, as saying.
FBI
agents reportedly stopped the girls at the Frankfurt airport, Germany and returned
back to Colorado.
“The
juveniles are safe and reunited with their families,” FBI spokesperson Suzie
Payne in a statement, according to 9News Denver.
A U.S.
official told NBC News that the girls were headed to Syria to join Islamic
militants.
Investigators
were checking the girls’ computers for evidence they might have been
radicalized online. But an official who described the case as “concerning” said
available information provides enough evidence to ascertain that the girls were
headed to Syria.
The Arapahoe
County missing person's report provides details of the girls’ movement from
Colorado to Germany.
They
said they stayed in the Frankfurt airport for an entire day before being
detained, questioned and returned to Denver, where they were further questioned
by the FBI and sent home.
They
told authorities they had gone to Germany for "family" but wouldn't
elaborate, according to the Associated Press.
Suspicion
arose when the sisters' father realized his daughters were gone, along with
$2,000 and their passports.
The
16-year-old girl's father became concerned when he got a call from her high
school saying she hadn't reported to class, according to the police reports.
The
families reported no prior problems with the girls.
Deputies
closed the missing person's case Monday after they learned the girls had been
returned.
A man
who answered the door at the sisters' home in the Denver suburb of Aurora
identified himself as a family member but said he had no comment.
The
announcement comes one month after 19-year-old Shannon Conley of Arvada,
Colorado, pleaded guilty to charges that she conspired to help militants in
Syria.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2014/10/22/FBI-U-S-girls-may-have-tried-to-join-jihadis.html
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Saudi
Woman Lecturer Ditches University Job to Join Islamic State
22
October 2014
A
lecturer at Dammam University informed her students recently that she had left
her job to join Islamic State. Eman Mustapha, from Syria, had been lecturing at
the university for many years in Islamic economics and origins of
jurisprudence.
She was
reportedly receiving a substantial salary from the university but left all that
behind to join IS and declare allegiance to its so-called caliph, Abu Bakr
Al-Baghdadi.
Eman was
known for her conservatism in religion. It was reported that she was preaching
about jihad in women-only gatherings in Dammam, Dhahran and Al-Khobar days
before she joined IS.
A
university official said Mustapha resigned from her position at the university
for "personal reasons". Eman holds a PhD in jurisprudence from
Damascus University.
She was
also previously the head of the cultural section at the Commission on
Scientific Signs of Qur'an and Sunnah in Dammam. She held classes at the
university's College of Applied Studies and Community Service.
Mustapha
had been working at the university for many years and there was no complaint
against her. She wrote on her Twitter account that she did not find any
injustice at the university but there was "injustice from tyrants"
against the Islamic world. In another tweet, she praised IS and its leader.
She told
her students on Twitter after they asked about her disappearance that she was
trying to find a cave where she could speak freely.
Her
students said Mustapha always advised them to become good Muslims and stay away
from anything that would harm Islam. They said she disappeared recently and all
attempts to contact her through her Facebook and Twitter accounts failed.
©
Copyright 2014 The Saudi Gazette. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate
Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
https://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/woman-lecturer-ditches-university-job-join-000000349.html
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Saudi
Woman Pleads Cases in Shariah Court
22
October 2014
In an
unprecedented event, a second-year female university student has defended her
clients at the Shariah court in Alkhobar, local media said.
Fatima
Al-Amoudi, who is studying law at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, says she
received support from the teaching staff at the university to practice her
skills through intensive field training.
Fatima,
who lives in the Eastern Province, also appreciated the stance of the Shariah
Court authorities in the region for allowing her to speak on behalf of her
clients while she was still a university student.
She said
she was given two cases to defend and successfully got rulings in favor of the
plaintiffs. Additionally, she received legal inquires from citizens and
residents.
http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/647606
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Number
Of Afghan Policewomen To Reach 10,000 By Next Year
22
October 2014
The
Ministry of Interior (MoI) said that the ministry is looking to expand the
presence of female officers among the Afghan National Police (ANP) forces.
Deputy
Minister of policy and strategy, Masoud Ahmad Azizi said necessary steps will
be taken to ensure better working environment for the women to serve with the
police forces.
Azizi
further added that 2,200 female officers are currently serving with the Afghan
National Police (ANP).
He said
the ministry is looking to increase the number to 5,000 by the end of the
current Afghan year, while another 5,000 will be recruited by the end of next
year.
Azizi
called on the Afghan people, civil society and government to assist the
Ministry of Interior (MoI) and insisted that less time has been left to reach
to the given target.
Female
police officers are currently engaged in various types of activities, including
search operations in the main entry gates of the city.
Several
female police officers are also receiving special military trainings and
participate in sophisticated military operations.
http://www.khaama.com/number-of-policewomen-to-reach-10000-by-next-year-moi-6857
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Asma
Al-Assad: Rise and Fall of The New Syrian Woman
22
October 2014
In 2001,
Syrian first lady Asma al-Assad set out to undertake gender reform. Her
predecessor Anisa Makhlouf never appeared in national ceremonies, nor
accompanied her husband on his diplomatic visits. To many Syrians, Makhlouf
played the role of a muted, dutiful wife who stayed at home to support her
family and husband.
Assad
set out to convince a new generation of a new role for Syrian women, and a new
era for the country. Her British upbringing and education helped the public
forget or tolerate the fact that she was the first Sunni Syrian to marry an
Alawite national figure. Her glamorous public appearances showed the public
that she was becoming an iconic figure.
She set
up NGO projects for Syrian youths, and liaised with British projects and
experts to implement parallel initiatives in Syria. She involved her husband in
some of her NGO projects, out of fear that her public independence could be
seen as marginalizing him.
Winning
advocates
She
pushed for involvement of Syrian women in her youth and NGO projects, and gave
them they influential roles. By doing so, she was winning more advocates to her
gender-reform cause, but as she focused on the Syrian elite, she alienated
women from deprived backgrounds.
However,
there was a gradual rise in the number of Syrian women in the workplace, and
they started to earn as much as men. Cases of sexual harassment or abuse in the
workplace were rare, especially in the public sector. Assad became viewed by
Syrian women as a symbol of gender equality.
However,
her fall started with her Vogue interview of 2011, in which she came across as
the wife of an Arab dictator who might be in trouble. The interview was a
propaganda piece about how free, safe and diverse Syria was. Her naive analysis
and lack of political expertise read as a lack of sympathy for the angry
masses.
Her
silence over the Syrian uprising and international criticism of brutality
toward protestors affected her popularity. She became like Makhlouf, a dutiful
wife supporting her husband. Assad failed the expectations of the Syrian
public, which has grown intolerant toward her because she did not turn her back
on her dictator husband. Her passivity earned her the description of mass
murderer.
However,
as she had no ties to the political scene in Syria apart from being the wife of
the president, the conviction that she could have influenced politics if she
spoke out is not true. The failure of Syrian women, whether supporters or
opponents of the regime, to stop the bloodshed in Syria and bring about a
political solution has proved the futility of the gender reform initiated in
2001.
The
conflict forced Assad to regress into a stay-at-home first lady. She is no
longer a woman of confidence and glamour. The war has turned Syrian women from
agents for change to victims of displacement, loss, hunger and abuse. They are
stuck between the regime and the opposition, and are ready to liaise with both
to suppress their female political opponents.
Dr.
Halla Diyab is an award winning screen-writer, producer, broadcaster, a
published author and an activist. She has a Ph.D. in English and American
Studies from the University of Leicester. She carried out research in New
Orleans, USA while working on her thesis “The Examination of Marginality and
Minorities in the Drama and Film of Tennessee Wil-liams”. She holds an MA in
Gender and Women Studies from the University of Warwick. She has written a
number of scripts for TV dramas countering religious extremism and
international terrorism resulting in her being awarded Best Syrian Drama Script
Award 2010 and the Artists Achievement Award 2011. She is a regular commentator
in the Brit-ish and international media and has recently appeared on Channel 4
News, BBC Newsnight, BBC This Week, CNN, Sky News, Channel 5 News, ITV Central,
Al Jazeera English, and BBC Radio 4, to name a few. She is a public speaker who
spoke at the House of Commons, the Spectator Debate, Uniting for Peace and
London’s Frontline Club. She has worked in Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain,
and Syria and is an expert on the Middle East and Islamic culture. As a highly
successful drama writer, she has been dubbed ‘one of the most influential women
in Syria’ in 2011. She also produces documentary films for UK and international
channels. She is also the Founder & Director of Liberty Media Productions
which focuses on cross-cultural issues between Britain and the Middle East. She
can be found on Twitter: @drhalladiyab
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2014/10/22/Asma-al-Assad-Rise-and-fall-of-the-new-Syrian-woman.html
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Pakistani
Nobel Laureate, Malala Yousafzai, Honoured In Philadelphia
The
Associated Press | Philadelphia
22
October 2014
A
Pakistani teenager awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote
girls’ education brought her passion for learning to Philadelphia, where she
received the Liberty Medal on Tuesday.
In
accepting the honour, Malala Yousafzai implored world leaders to spend money on
supporting learning, not wars, and to solve their differences with words.
“Education
is the best weapon against poverty, ignorance and terrorism,” she said.
Yousafzai,
17, recently became the world’s youngest Nobel laureate.
Organizers
of the Liberty Medal ceremony did not know that would be the case when they
decided months ago to honour her. But the coincidence might have been expected:
She has become the seventh medal recipient to subsequently receive the Nobel
Peace Prize.
The
medal is given annually at the National Constitution Center to someone who
strives to secure freedom for people around the world.
Tuesday’s
ceremony included speeches from women with powerful stories about education,
including Minnijean Brown Trickey, who helped integrate a high school in the
southern U.S. state of Arkansas in 1957, and University of Pennsylvania
president Amy Gutmann, a first-generation college student who rose to lead an
elite Ivy League school.
Gutmann,
also a board member of the Constitution Center, praised Yousafzai for her
“compelling vision and immense courage.”
“An
educated mind is the most powerful force for good on our planet,” Gutmann said.
Yousafzai
began her activism six years ago by using an alias to write for the BBC about
living under Taliban rule. In 2012, a Taliban gunman shot her in the head while
she was returning from school because of her vocal support for gender equality
and education for girls.
She
ended up being treated for her injury in Britain, where she recovered and now
lives with her family. She attends a high school for girls but continues
activism on those issues through speaking engagements, a best-selling book and
a non-profit organization called the Malala Fund (www.malalafund.org).
Yousafzai
said Tuesday that when the Taliban went to Pakistan’s Swat Valley, where she
lived with her family, she had two options: not speak and wait to be killed or
speak and then be killed.
“Why
should I not speak?” she said. “It is our duty.”
She said
the Taliban “made a big mistake” trying to silence her. The day she was shot,
she said, “Weakness, fear and hopelessness died, and strength, power and
courage were born.”
Her
appearance in Philadelphia came less than two weeks after she became the
youngest Nobel laureate, sharing the prize with Kailash Satyarthi, a children’s
rights activist from India.
The
Liberty Medal comes with a $100,000 award, which Yousafzai said she’ll spend in
Pakistan on children who need education and other support.
Previous
recipients of the Liberty Medal who went on to win the Peace Prize include
former South African President Nelson Mandela, former United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
The
National Constitution Center is dedicated to increasing public understanding of
the U.S. Constitution and the ideas and values it represents.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/asia/2014/10/22/Pakistani-Nobel-laureate-honored-in-Philadelphia.html
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Lebanon
Diva under Fire Over Skin-tight Outfit
22
October 2014
Controversy
crept up on Lebanese diva Myriam Fares this week when she posted up photos of
herself in a skin-tight jumpsuit to Instagram, garnering a host of harsh
responses.
The
snaps were taken during the singer’s Dream Park Resort concert in Cairo on
October 5 and have been described by unnamed Arab news websites as “offending”
and “not worthy of an Arab girl, or a married woman for that matter,” according
to excerpts carried by Lebanese daily al-Nahar.
One
social media commenter spewed: “She looks as if she is on a diet but forgot to
lose the fat off her behind,” Egyptian website al-Bawaba reported, before
commenting “Let’s hope our ‘Queen of the Stage’ doesn’t hit another big bum
note.”
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/life-style/entertainment/2014/10/21/Lebanese-diva-Myriam-Fares-under-fire-over-skintight-outfit.html
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50pc Of
Pakistani Female Doctors Never Work After Graduation
22 October
2014
ISLAMABAD:
It is a general perception in Pakistan that uneducated people do not allow
women to work and girls should be provided education to make them an effective
part of society.
But on
Tuesday, the participants of a news conference were informed that about 50 per
cent of women, who graduated from medical colleges, never worked.
Pakistan
Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) president Prof Dr Masood Hameed told the news
conference that female medical students occupied the general merit seats in public
sector medical colleges and got subsidy but after completing their education
they never started their professional career.
Govt
spends Rs2.4m on each medical student who takes admission to a medical college
on general merit seat
Dr
Hameed said at the moment there were 78037 male and 65324 female doctors, 5420
male dental practitioners and 8300 female dental practitioners in Pakistan. Out
of the total medical and dental practitioners, almost 50 per cent are women, he
added.
“Only 50
per cent of the female doctors are working. On the other hand, a number of
doctors (mostly males) have gone out of the country. There are around 50,000 to
60,000 medical practitioners against the demand of 600,000 in the country,” he
said.
“We need
more medical and dental colleges. Pakistan is producing around 14,000 doctors
per year out of whom 70 per cent are women. It is feared that almost 50 per
cent of the medical students would never work,” he said.
Dr
Hameed said in Pakistan only $9.3 were spent on the healthcare of each citizen
per year against the international standard of $60.
“With
such scant resources and number of medical practitioners, Pakistan cannot meet
its needs for healthcare.
Moreover,
migration of doctors and the rapidly increasing population is adding to the
problem.”
He said
so far the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) produced only
32879 specialists out of whom 40 per cent left the country. So there are only
20000 specialists against the requirement of 100,000.
In reply
to a question, Dr Hameed said the gap of specialists in the country could not
be fulfilled.
“The
PMDC is being restricted in its functioning by certain elements. They have
refused to accept the PMDC as a regulator.”
He added
that teachers currently being produced were not up to the standard that was why
the quality of medical education was deteriorating.
Dr
Hameed, while talking to Dawn, added that students who got admission to medical
colleges on general merit seats paid around Rs15,000 to Rs20,000 fee a year, so
they completed their MBBS by spending around Rs100,000.
“On the
other hand, the government spends almost Rs2.5 million on each MBBS student.
Unfortunately, after completion of the course, most of the female medical
graduates never worked. Those who want to work try to leave the country and
settle abroad, especially in the US, Saudi Arabia,” he said.
“The US
prefers to get doctors from other countries because on the production of each
doctor it has to spend $250,000. So the US hires the services of doctors from
other countries and spends that amount in the health sector.”
The PMDC
chief said he was formulating a proposal under which every student who got
admission to a medical college on general seat would be bound to work in the
government or private sector in the country for at least three years after
graduation. Those who want to go abroad would have to pay the amount of subsidy
- Rs 2.4 million - paid by the government for their medical education.
“Moreover,
there is a suggestion that doctors who have studied on general merit seats and
were earning well should pay back the amount of subsidy to the government. A
pool should be made and doctors should be asked to deposit the amount of
subsidy in it. That amount can be spent in the health sector,” he said.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1139557/50pc-of-female-doctors-never-work-after-graduation
----------
Ultra-Orthodox
Jews Attack Jerusalem Buses over Ad Promoting Female Worship
22
October 2014
Israeli
police say dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews have attacked buses with ads promoting
female worship at a Jerusalem holy site Oct. 21.
Police
spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Tuesday that the incident happened the previous
night, when about 50 men slashed tires and pelted the buses with stones in Mea
Shearim, a religious neighbourhood of Jerusalem.
The ads
are from the Women of the Wall group, which promotes gender equality at
Jerusalem's Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray.
They
show women and girls holding Torah scrolls - an act many Orthodox Jews believe
is reserved for men.
In the
incident, the extremists also spray-painted the words "end the obscene
pictures" on a bus.
Religious
extremists have faced criticism for their efforts to separate women and men in
public places.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ultra-orthodox-jews-attack-jerusalem-buses-over-ad-promoting-female-worship.aspx?pageID=238&nID=73271&NewsCatID=352
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Turkish
Girls' Science Awards Spark Debate
22
October 2014
The
recent remarkable success of a young Turkish girl called Ilayda Samilgil who
beat all-comers to win the ‘First Step to the Nobel Prize’ for physics has
thrown open a debate on the country’s commitment to science training and
education, especially for women.
In the
past, the core sciences such as physics and mathematics were regarded as male
domains where women played second fiddle to men. However, there has been a
concerted effort to increase the number of women in science, math, engineering
and technical fields.
Ilayda,
an Istanbul high-school student, beat thousands of submissions from 70
countries earlier this month to scoop the top physics prize in Poland.
Her
project, which focuses on determining the water level in any liquid by using
magnetics, beat nearly 5,000 other physics projects.
Ilayda’s
story echoes that of Elif Bilgin, the Turkish schoolgirl who in 2013 won the
‘Science in Action’ award from Scientific American for using banana peels to
produce ‘bio-plastic’ over petroleum-based materials.
Ilayda's
and Elif's stories are inspirational examples of young women becoming passionate
about engineering, the development of new products and new inventions.
However,
their case is exceptional according to one prominent female expert. Arzu
Eryilmaz is director of Istanbul Technical University Technokent, a huge
research facility which opened in 2002 and houses 150 companies and startups
with 5,000 personnel.
She
says: "Though more and more women are involved in science and new
technological projects with every passing day, the participation of women in
research, science, technology, engineering, and math is still tremendously
limited in Turkey."
As one
of the leading women figures in the Turkish technology sector, Eryilmaz called
for measures to boost female participation: "Women are the key factor for
any change in society or future generations.
"We
should especially back positive discrimination for women entrepreneurs."
Speaking
to The Anadolu Agency, prizewinner Elif said: "I hope my success will
continue to encourage young people to do their best." However, as inventor
Thomas Edison remarked: "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent
perspiration."
As one
of the successors to Elif, Ilayda is a concrete example of Edison's famous
saying. Not only did she find a kindred spirit in Elif, she also worked just as
hard; Elif spent two years developing her bio-plastics invention.
Although
such accounts are inspirational, Eryilmaz sounds a note of caution, saying that
prizewinning talent needs to be sustained and developed.
Describing
both national and international science competitions as a stage where young
people can find a chance to prove themselves, Eryilmaz says: "Many people
get degrees in competitions but their stories generally feel unfinished."
Eryilmaz,
saying that award-winning projects need to be developed, adds: "The
government, universities and the technokents [research centers] have some
duties in this issue."
According
to Eryilmaz, to support budding entrepreneurs and researchers like Ilayda and
Elif, the university opened an 800-meter 'incubation center' in 2011.
"We
select 20 projects every year from among 700 applicants. Following the
admission process, we let them use the university’s laboratory, research
centers and offices equipped with computers, telephones, and Internet for
free," says Eryilmaz. "Also, we have the budget to buy additional
equipment to support startups."
"Education
and competition are joined at the hip. These two must be together, but
education comes first," she adds.
In the
last decade, the Turkish government has heavily supported women's education and
female entrepreneurship.
As part
of the Ninth Development Plan for the 2007-2013 period, the Turkish government
set a goal of achieving a socio-economic balance between men and women in order
to develop growth.
The plan
was to equip citizens, especially women, with the kind of skills needed to
successfully participate in today’s information and technology-driven global
economy.
According
to the official Directorate of Women’s Status, in order to support female
entrepreneurship, schemes such as micro-credits and start-up support credits
were developed by the government.
Nevertheless,
high-profile success stories like Ilayda's and Elif’s projects provide their
own momentum.
"I
had heard about Elif; her project was so impressive," Ilayda tells The
Anadolu Agency. "When I read the stories praising her project, I really
admired her persistence.
“I said
to myself: 'I hope I will be awarded like Elif' and worked a lot."
http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/146708/turkish-girls-science-awards-spark-debate
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39% of
Saudi Women Suffer From Osteoporosis
22
October 2014
More
than 39 percent of Saudi women over fifty suffer from osteoporosis compared to
37.8 percent men of the same age group, local media said quoting an expert of
spine surgery.
Dr.
Walid Awwad, Consultant of Spine Surgery at King Khalid University Hospital,
said the majority of those prone to osteoporosis were not subjected to proper
tests, nor treated with the best heath care.
In a
related development, the Health Directorate in Riyadh Region and the
Osteoporosis Program at the Ministry of Health has jointly organized an
awareness forum on osteoporosis to discuss ways women can protect themselves
from the debilitating disease and how to deal with it.
Organizers
of the forum, held in Wadi District Medical Center and specifically targeted at
women, said the event comes to coincide with World Osteoporosis day which falls
on Oct. 20 and is aimed to enlighten people on the early detection of the
disease to minimize its complications.
Experts
say losses incurred by the government as a result of treatment costs for
osteoporosis is estimated at more than SR20 billion, and is poised to climb to
SR32 billion by 2030.
http://www.arabnews.com/food-health/news/648201
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‘Only
One in Four Pakistani Schoolchildren Make It to Grade 10’
22
October 2014
ISLAMABAD:
Only one in four children, who enrol in school in the first grade make it to
grade 10. In 2002-03, 2,833,726 children enrolled in the first grade. But by
2011-12, only 718,945 remained in school.
In their
latest report, titled Broken Promises: the crisis of Pakistan’s out-of-school
children, education campaigners Alif Ailaan estimate that nearly half of all
children who enrol in school in the first grade have dropped out by the time
they get to the fifth grade.
The
report also looks at the wider issue of out-of-school children (OOSCs) in
Pakistan, and, seeking to dispel confusion around the actual number, looks at
data from various sources in order to come up with a ballpark figure of 25
million.
Alif
Ailaan report highlights ‘dropouts’ as a major stumbling block to promoting
universal education in the country • Most girls drop out because they need to
help out at home; many boys stop going to school due to lack of interest
This
figure is closest to the National Education management Information System’s
estimate and paints a bleak picture of the state of education in the country.
Talking
to Dawn, Rawalpindi Deputy District Education Officer Mohammad Ikhlaq said,
“There are three major reasons for the rising dropout rate: in consistency of
policies, poverty and a shambolic education infrastructure.”
Explaining
the impact inconsistent policies have on education, he recalled that under
military ruler Ziaul Haq, Roshni schools were introduced to educate
out-of-school children and adults, while under the next government, led by the
Pakistan People’s Party, adult education was made a priority and dropouts were
ignored.
The
report also lays out reasons why children drop out of schools. Among girls, the
need for hands to help with housework appears to be the top factor; while most
boys are unwilling to go to school because they are simply not interested. This
may be due to a lack of interest in the curriculum or unpleasant experiences
with corporal punishment at the hands of teachers.
However,
since Alif Ailaan do not conduct any primary research of their own and rely on
secondary data available from official or reliable sources, the report does not
look too deeply into the qualitative side of the matter and does not
extrapolate regarding the motivation behind dropouts in any great detail.
“This is
indeed an alarming situation. We must act swiftly to control the spiralling
dropout rate. A poorly managed system of examinations and teachers’
maltreatment of students are some of the main reasons why children don’t want
to go to school,” said Azmat Israil, a Rawalpindi-based school teacher.
“Expressing
a commitment to universal enrolment has become easy for politicians. No one
denies the problem exists but without knowing the scale of the problem, how can
you solve it,” asked Saman Naz, Alif Ailaan Data and Evidence Manager and a
co-author of the study.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1139565/only-one-in-four-schoolchildren-make-it-to-grade-10
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