Pakistani politician Maulana Salahuddin Ayyubi, who is in his late fifties, marries 14-year-old girl
New
Age Islam News Bureau
23
February 2021
Maulana
Salahuddin Ayubi (left) and (bride picture used for representational purpose)
Photograph:( Twitter )
---------
• Turkish
women scientists’ ratio surpasses EU average, data shows
• The
AuratAzadi March explains why we need feminism
• Philippine
security forces arrest nine women with extremist ties
• Did
you know MalalaYousufzai can speak four languages?
• Police
hunt man who allegedly turned Muslim woman apostate
• It's
not Woman's Hour, it's White Woman's Hour
• End
of religious headwear rule says athletes are more than their uniforms
• Quarter
of investors in Saudi Stock Market are women
• Saudi
Arabia: More women joining civil service sector
• German
beach volleyball duo boycott Qatar over bikini ban
• The
Sultanate Participates in 8th Arab Woman Conference
• Jirga
system and women rights
• They
Built Libraries to Honor Loved Ones, Women Felled by Bombings
• Ten
French women who joined IS go on hunger strike in Syria camp
• Yemen:
Women captives recall ordeal in Houthi prisons
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
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Pakistani
politician MaulanaSalahuddinAyubi, who is in his late fifties, marries
14-year-old girl
Feb
23, 2021
Maulana
Salahuddin Ayubi (left) and (bride picture used for representational purpose)
Photograph:( Twitter )
---------
A
Pakistani politician who is a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since
August 2018, MaulanaSalahuddinAyubi has got married to a 14-year-old Chitrali
girl, sources said.
As
per the details, the local Police said that they were investigating the matter
at the request of an NGO working for the welfare of women in Chitral. Police
said that Nikah of the girl was solemnized out of Chitral and the matter was
under investigation.
According
to a report by Dawn, the girl was a student of Government Girls High School,
Jughoor, where her date of birth had been recorded as of October 28, 2006,
which showed that she had not attained the age of marriage.
MaulanaSalahuddinAyubi,
the Member of the National Assembly is in his late 50s, according to Pakistan
media.
Chitral
police station SHO Inspector Sajjad Ahmed was quoted as saying that a few days
ago on the complaint of the organisation, the police had reached the girl’s
home, but her father had denied the girl’s marriage and had even given an
affidavit to this effect.
The
marriage of the teenage girl with the Pakistan MP, who is four times her age,
comes despite the country’s law, which does not allow marriages of girls below
the age of 16 and also recommends punishment for parents if they wilfully do
it.
According
to Pak Observer, the lawmaker has only solemnized Nikkah with the girl while a
proper marriage ceremony is yet to be held.
Meanwhile,
the Lower Chitral DPO has said that the girl`s father has assured the
authorities that he will not send his daughter until she is 16-years-old.
https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/pakistani-politician-maulana-salahuddin-ayubi-who-is-in-his-late-fifties-marries-14-year-old-girl-365627
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Turkish
women scientists’ ratio surpasses EU average, data shows
February
23 2021
The
proportion of women scientists and engineers in Turkey surpassed the EU average
in 2019, according to the Eurostat report.
The
report said there were around 15.4 million scientists and engineers in the EU
in 2019, adding that 59 percent of them were men, while 41 percent were women.
The
country with the highest rate of women scientists and engineers in the European
continent was Norway with 55 percent, and the lowest rates were recorded in
Finland and Luxembourg with 30 and 27 percent, respectively.
The
ratio of Turkish women scientists and engineers is higher than in some
developed countries of the EU like Germany, France, Netherlands and Italy.
While
there are a total of 579,868 engineers in Turkey, only 133,044 of them, a part
corresponding to 23 percent, are women, according to the figures of the Union
of Chambers of Engineers and Architects in Turkey.
However,
there is no data on individuals who are not engineers although they work in the
field of science and technology.
The
most preferred engineering fields by women were listed as construction,
agriculture and food.
Evaluating
the findings to daily Milliyet, SelmiyeAlkanGürsel, an academic from Istanbul’s
Sabancı University, stated that the number of female students studying in the
fields of science, engineering, technology, and mathematics (STEM) at their
universities increased by 40 percent in the last five years.
Gürsel
also said that the interest of female students in STEM fields at Sabancı
University was constantly increasing at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
She
emphasized that the number of female students in their faculties has increased
by 35 percent in the undergraduate field and 45 percent in the graduate field
since 2016.
ElifNurFıratKaralar,
the first Turkish scientist to have received the European Molecular Biology
Organization (EMBO) Young Investigator Award, which is given to young
scientists, also proudly explained the progress of women in the field of
science.
“As
successful women talk about the difficulties they face on the way they walk,
the number of young women who take them as examples increases, and they become
encouraged,” Karalar said, stressing that women are now demolishing “glass
ceilings.”
HasanMandal,
the chairman of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey
(TÜBİTAK), also pointed out that the rate of women among those supported within
the scope of TÜBİTAK’s programs for scientists was 58 percent last year.
“The
fact that 793 of 1500 undergraduate students supported within the scope of the
Intern Research Fellowship Program are women is another proof that girls aspire
to pursue professions in the field of science and technology,” Mandal said.
“We
will continue to increase our support to direct and encourage more girls to the
field of science and technology,” he added.
https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-women-scientists-ratio-surpasses-eu-average-data-shows-162600
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The
AuratAzadi March explains why we need feminism
Feb
23, 2021
Whenever
March 8 comes around, people start popping up from all over questioning why we
need feminism and what good it does.
Unlike
the dirty word people have made it to be, Feminism isn't a man-hating movement
that seeks to destroy the world as we know it. Instead, it is a movement that
advocates for equality and women having the same rights as everyone else (and
no, this does not mean less rights for anyone else.)
This
year, the AuratAzadi March Islamabad has a clear answer for people asking what
feminism is. A video on its Twitter account explains why women in Pakistan need
the movement, and it's spot on.
Even
though 52% of Pakistan's population is made up of women, they are still thought
of as second class citizens, says a volunteer at the Azaadi March, RababZehra.
Women have to fight for their right to education, health and safety, she
explains.
"Many
Pakistani women have to face domestic violence, sexual harassment, forced
marriages and mental pressure."
She
also explains that women aren't always safe in public spaces. On public
transport, or anywhere where there are men, women are in danger of being stared
at, having things said to them and being groped, she says.
"Women
have to fight a war in which they are told they are less than men," Zehra
explains.
"This
is why we need an alternative ideology, which believes in the principle of
equality and justice. We need an ideology which can guarantee political,
social, economic, and individual rights of men, women and people of all
genders. That ideology is called feminism."
The
AuratAzadi March is, as always, on Women's Day, March 8 across Pakistan (and
the rest of the world) and we hope we'll see you there.
https://images.dawn.com/news/1186610/the-aurat-azadi-march-explains-why-we-need-feminism
--------
Philippine
security forces arrest nine women with extremist ties
February
23, 2021
MANILA:
Philippine forces have arrested nine women who were related to Abu Sayyaf
commanders and militants in the south and could have been “potential suicide
bombers,” the military said Tuesday.
The
women were captured Friday in raids on houses in three towns in the
predominantly Muslim province of Sulu, said Lt. Gen. CorletoVinluan, Jr., who
heads the military’s Western Mindanao Command.
The
southern province is the stronghold of Abu Sayyaf, which is known for ransom
kidnappings, beheadings and bombings.
Troops
also seized bomb parts, including batteries, detonating cords, suspected
explosive powder and oil, an iron pipe and nails, along with a grenade,
cellphones, backpacks and a sketch of a suspected targeted bombing area, the
military said in a statement.
“We
are always ready to welcome those who wish to return to the folds of the law
but if you will refuse to do so, we will surely hunt you down and prevent you
from inflicting havoc in the communities,” said Maj. Gen. William Gonzales, who
heads government forces in Sulu.
“May
this serve as a clear message to the supporters and remaining members of the
Abu Sayyaf,” Gonzales said.
The
suspects would face criminal charges for illegal possession of explosives,
military officials said, adding that intelligence and surveillance helped
troops track down the suspects. It was not immediately possible to reach the
arrested suspects to get their comments.
Among
those arrested were three daughters and a sister of HatibHajjanSawadjaan, the
Abu Sayyaf leader who was wounded in a gunbattle with troops in July last year
and died a few days later in the mountainous hinterlands off Sulu’s Patikul
town.
A
few weeks after Sawadjaan’s death, two widows of Abu Sayyaf militants
separately detonated bombs in suicide attacks that killed 14 people, including
soldiers, and wounded 75 others in Jolo town in Sulu. The military said then
that the bombings, the worst extremist attacks in the country last year, may
have been staged by the Abu Sayyaf to avenge the death of Sawadjaan, who was
believed to have been designated by the Daesh group as its leader in the
southern Philippines.
The
United States and the Philippines have separately blacklisted the Abu Sayyaf,
which has been considerably weakened by years of battle setbacks, military
offensives and surrenders but remains a national security threat.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1814266/world
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Did
you know MalalaYousufzai can speak four languages?
Feb
23, 2021
The
youngest laureate to receive a Nobel Prize for her impressive achievements in
education, MalalaYousufzai is celebrating International Mother Language Day, a
worldwide annual observance to promote multilingualism and spread awareness
about cultural diversity.
In
a recent video posted on Twitter, the Oxford graduate introduced herself as a
23-year-old from Swat, Pakistan whose mother tongue is Pashto.
"My
mother tongue is Pashto and at home, we all speak in the Pashto language,"
she introduced. Yousufzai continued to speak in not one, but four different
languages, shocking viewers with the revelation that she is quadrilingual.
"I
also speak Urdu, which is the national language of Pakistan," she added.
"Most of the films, dramas and songs I see are in Urdu."
Naturally,
the young activist also said she was well-versed in English, which she said improved
once she went to the United Kingdom for her undergraduate education. "Most
of my readings are in the English language."
Like
that wasn't enough, Malala informed her audience that she was currently in the
process of learning Swahili — a language originating from the coast of East
Africa, and spoken by millions of people in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.
"I
like it," she exclaimed.
The
video was uploaded through TikTok, an app Yousufzai first joined in December
2020 as she urged women to donate to the Malala fund for Giving Tuesday.
https://images.dawn.com/news/1186600/did-you-know-malala-yousufzai-can-speak-four-languages
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Police
hunt man who allegedly turned Muslim woman apostate
February
21, 2021
PETALING
JAYA: Johor police raided a house at the DatoOnn housing area in Johor Bharu
yesterday, after a video of a man who allegedly turned a Muslim woman apostate
went viral on social media.
The
raid was carried out at 9.50pm. Johor police chiefAyob Khan MydinPitchay said
the suspect, around 29 years old, was already identified, but not found at the
premises.
“Police
checks found that only the father and his sister were staying there.” He said
no one was arrested and no items confiscated during the raid.
The
viral video, which was 3-1/2 minutes long, showed the non-Muslim man admitting
that he had converted a Muslim woman.
In
a statement, Ayob Khan said the case was being investigated by the federal
Classified Criminal Investigation Unit.
“The
Johor police urges the public to send any information directly to the police,
and to refrain from taking any action personally, which may cause disharmony
and threaten public order,” he said.
Further
investigations were being carried out under the Sedition Act, Penal Code, and
Communications and Multimedia Act.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/02/21/police-hunt-man-who-allegedly-turned-muslim-woman-apostate/
--------
It's
not Woman's Hour, it's White Woman's Hour
RuqayaIzzidien
23
February, 2021
When
29-year-old Zara Mohammed was invited on to BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, she
probably expected to discuss her recent election as the first female Secretary
General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB). Instead, presenter Emma Barnett
hounded her with antagonistic questioning, interruptions, and derailment, which
typify the harassment and dehumanisation that Muslim women face every day.
The
programme achieved none of its purported aims - "to inform, challenge and
inspire," instead acting as a mouthpiece for toxic white feminism. It's
not a challenge when you question an interviewee on a topic that doesn't relate
to their expertise. All this achieved was a derailment of the conversation away
from Mohammed's appointment, vision, and even away from how she might help
combat sexism in her capacity as MCB Secretary General.
It's
not informative when you invite guests onto a radio show for the sole purpose
to hector them for clout, or when you're religiously illiterate and too
privileged to think you need to research your topic properly.
As
an open letter to the BBC, which was signed by more than 100 figures including
writers, politicians, and academics, pointed out, Barnett's interview
"mirrored the style and tone of an accountability interview with a
politician, rather than authentically recognising and engaging in what this
represented for British Muslim women."
Barnett
was so deeply out of her depth that she was oblivious to her own ignorance.
It's a false equivalence to compare priests and rabbis - which Barnett
excitedly pointed out do permit women - to imams. An imam is any person who
leads a prayer, even in their own home, and not necessarily a measure of
scholarly or religious authority. There are surely hundreds of female imams in
the UK every single day.
Up
and down the UK, there are Muslim women in positions of religious authority as
chaplains, reciters, scholars, campaigners, theologians, and activists. Many of
them work to fight against the dehumanisation that was exemplified on Woman's
Hour.
What's
ironic, is that although some Muslim women are restricted or oppressed by
Muslim men, I'd wager that many more are routinely subjugated by the
Islamophobia that Barnett subjected Mohammed to. In fact, it's a subject on
which I've been quizzed by people in positions of authority as a test of my palatability.
Ask any Muslim woman. We know this devil's advocate setup well, and it's never
designed to "inspire" or to understand us.
Read
more: Feminism means equal rights for all women, not just white women
It's
a trap. That's what made Barnett's mock curiosity so despicable. She dressed up
a gotcha question in niceties in an attempt to make her disdain pass for
interest: "I'm genuinely intrigued to know," she said. Right, Emma,
you're "genuinely intrigued to know," but not willing to, you know,
Google what an imam is.
This
interview should be on an intersectionality curriculum. It's a classic example
of toxic white feminism, which claims to support all women, including, very
vocally, Muslim women, but actually seeks to punish us when we're empowered
outside the margins of what they deem acceptable.
True
allyship shouldn't railroad Muslim voices in favour of what it considers to be
the worthy battles. And what struggles, goals and campaigns get trampled when we're
continuously talked over? Right now, Muslim women in the UK are working for
equal representation, employment discrimination, the safety of women and
children, racial justice for Black people, among many other causes. None of
these informing, inspiring, and challenging topics were amplified, because all
Woman's Hour could focus on was an imaginary insult.
In
a statement, BBC head Tom Davie reiterated the programme team's response, which
said, "we believe it was legitimate for the programme to seek to explore
some of the issues facing Muslims in the UK."
That
the BBC lacks representative involvement at production level is what leads them
to think that this, of all things, is the issue of the day that Muslims face,
not, for example, being held accountable for the actions of others.
And
the fact that they edited and shared the such a hostile interview on social
media highlights how Muslim women's subjugation is something they celebrate,
even in the same breath are condemning it.
Embarrassingly,
if Barnett had bothered to spend 30 seconds on the Muslim Council of Britain's
website she'd see that they don't need her to smugly question female
representation in mosques - the MCB runs a flagship development campaign for
women leaders in mosques. In the past four years, the majority of their
projects have been headed by women, and two years ago they held a conference of
entirely female speakers.
But
that doesn't fit the antagonistic narrative that Barnett set out to achieve.
It's a lesson that women of colour should have learned when actor and fitness
studio owner KelechiOkafor pulled out of her interview in January after being
cursed at off-air by Barnett. Genuine dialogue requires a respectful space, and
if you're not white, you won't find it on Barnett's Woman's Hour.
Zara
Mohammed's appearance on Woman's Hour exemplifies toxic white feminism. These
women do not care about your liberation or fight, they care about coopting you
into their own battles, about mutilating you into their cautionary tale, and
about reasserting their own humanity against the savagery of you.
RuqayaIzzidien
is a British-Iraqi freelance writer specialising in social and cultural
affairs. Her work has been published in The New York Times, the Guardian, the
BBC and Al Jazeera English. She runs a blog, Muslim Impossible, and is the
author of the novel The Watermelon Boys.
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2021/2/22/its-not-womans-hour-its-white-womans-hour
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End
of religious headwear rule says athletes are more than their uniforms
February
22, 2021
By
Dilshad Ali
(RNS)
— When she was not allowed to play in her second volleyball game of the season,
14-year-old NajahAqeel never thought her pushback would knock down nearly every
obstacle in her way, like a bowling ball knocking over pin after pin.
Last
September, the ninth-grader at Valor College Prep in Nashville, Tennessee, was
pulled from the court after an official pointed out that her coach had not
provided a waiver for her to play while wearing her hijab, or religious headscarf.
When she was told she couldn’t play, Najah started crying. She received support
from her family and teammates but still felt hurt. Then she began to push back.
Until
this year, most schools, states and national high school athletic associations
had typically forbidden religious headwear, citing safety concerns, unless a
student or coach had applied for a waiver. No waiver, no play.
But
Najah argued that her hijab wasn’t a safety concern, as she wore it as a
closely wrapped bun. “It wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone,” she told me in an
interview last fall.
She
and her family decided that the waiver rule had to get changed, not only in her
own school district, but across the state.
Because
she (with the support of her team) stood up against the rule, the National
Federation of State High School Associations, one of the main associations
overseeing high school sports, eliminated the waiver requirement for religious
headwear, including hijabs, turbans and yarmulkes, for the fall sports of field
hockey, soccer and volleyball once their seasons concluded.
The
magnitude of this step is not lost on me. In my two decades of covering Muslims
in America, I’ve reported on a multitude of hijab bans, after having to obtain
permission as a young girl to wear sweats in gym class and when I briefly
played basketball and ran track, due to Islamic modest dress guidelines, and
for my daughter to do the same decades later.
I’ve
had to provide a letter to wear my own hijab in my driver’s license and
passport photos as an adult. It’s something many Muslim girls and women are
used to doing.
Pressure
for change has been building. Last year, high school cross-country runner Noor
Alexandria Abukaram was disqualified by the Ohio High School Athletic
Association as she was running a 5K (and beating her personal record), because
her coach hadn’t gotten a waiver for her to run in her Nike hijab, which is
designed specifically for competitive running.
Noor
launched the “Let Noor Run” initiative to address “discrimination Muslim women
face in sport and advocating for policy changes that promote inclusivity,” as
reported in this Religion News Service story last year.
Bilqis
Abdul Qaadir, a top-ranked high school and college basketball player, was
denied from playing in the International Basketball Federation, or FIBA, which
at the time didn’t allow headwear. That rule changed in 2017 because of
persistent advocating by Qaadir and several other athletes and religious
groups, including DarshPreet Singh, the first turbaned basketball player in the
NCAA.
It
should be a no-brainer. Why should a high school or college athlete need to
seek permission to wear a hijab, a turban or whatever is her religious
observance?
My
employer, the fashion company Haute Hijab, launched a “Can’t Ban Us” campaign last
fall as Najah’s story broke to work with athletes and athletic associations to
educate about the religious significance and mechanics of hijab and why it
shouldn’t deter anyone from participating in team or individual sports.
In
December, Haute Hijab met with Lindsey Atkinson, director of sports at the
National Federation of State High School Associations and liaison to the
volleyball rules committee, to present information about hijab, hijab
accessories (pins), how it is worn, fabrics used, the construction of sports
hijab and how risk factors regarding hijab have been overblown.
In
the weeks since we met, the federation’s volleyball rules committee voted
unanimously to change its rules regarding religious head coverings. Soon after,
field hockey and soccer followed suit. Hopefully the federation’s winter and
spring sports rules committees will continue the trajectory.
I
asked TheresiaWynns, director of sports and officials with the federation, why
the tide is shifting now, after so many years. “I think the momentum has come
out of a result of more athletes who are religious and wanting to show their
religious belief in wearing whatever … they need to wear for that.
“Bottom
line, (the message is) ‘I have a right to play, and I have a right to honor and
respect my religion,’” Wynns said.
The
fierce young women who have pushed for their right to play wearing hijab are to
whom these long-fought-for victories belong. Bilqis’ reprieve from FIBA came
three years too late, but she is determined not to let what happened to her
happen to other Muslims.
And
Najah? At her recent news conference, she said she hoped her experience would
be one of “many steppingstones to stop discrimination.”
It
sometimes feels as if the only time we discuss Muslim women is when we are
talking about objections to hijab, when that is just one part of multiple
narratives. In the athletic world, this is what activist and journalist Shireen
Ahmed called, in a 2016 article for The Daily Beast, reducing “an athlete to
her outfit.” Hijab-wearing women are just stand-in, however, for women who
suffer discrimination for Muslim dress.
“I’d
like to send a message out there to all the women that our voices matter,”
Najah said. “We need to stand up for our beliefs and values.”
(Dilshad
D. Ali is a journalist and blog editor for the website Haute Hijab. The views
expressed in this commentary do not necessarily represent those of Religion
News Service.)
https://religionnews.com/2021/02/22/end-of-religious-headwear-rule-says-athletes-are-more-than-their-uniforms/
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Quarter
of investors in Saudi Stock Market are women
February
23, 2021
Samir
Salama
Abu
Dhabi: A raft of surveys indicate that women do more market research, are
better at matching their investments to their goals, trade less and remain
calmer during market upheavals.
The
Saudi stock market recorded the entry of about 381,000 new women investors
during the last two years; 37,000 last year, and 244,000 in 2019.
That
brings the number of female investors’ portfolios to 1.4 million at the end of
last December, compared to 1.3 million at the end of December 2019 and about
one million female investors by the end of 2018.
According
to the Capital Market Authority, the number of individuals investing in the
stock market reached a record level of 5.6 million by the end of 2020,
including 1.4 million women (24.8 per cent), and 4.2 million men.
On
a quarterly basis, the number of women who have investment portfolios in the
stock market increased by 14,000 in Q4 2020.
The
number of individual investors in the Saudi stock market increased to about 5.5
million investors Q2 2020 compared to 4.7 million investors in the same quarter
of 2019, an increase of 17 per cent, a steady increase for the fourth
consecutive quarter. The increase came after a jump in the number of female
investors to 1.7 million, an increase of about 64 per cent compared to the same
quarter of 2019.
The
number of male investors increased to 4.2 million investors in Q2 2020 compared
to 3.7 million investors during the same quarter of 2019, an increase of 12 per
cent.
The
number of individual investors increased 0.3 per cent compared to 5.5 million
investors in Q1 2020.
On
the other hand, the number of males in the Saudi stock market increased to 4.2
million, an increase of 73,000 investors, compared to the previous year, where
their number was 4.124 million, and their number increased by about 27,000
investors compared to the Q3 2020, which was 4.17 million.
Annual
growth
During
the last 4 years, the number of female investor portfolios grew from 989,708
women in 2017 to about 1,008,054 in the following year, up to 1,352,000 by the
end of 2019 and then 1,389,000 female investors in 2020, a growth rate of 2.7
per cent over 2019.
https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/quarter-of-investors-in-saudi-stock-market-are-women-1.77383221
--------
Saudi
Arabia: More women joining civil service sector
February
22, 2021
TawfiqNasrallah
Dubai:
The number of women working in the civil service sector has increased 25 times
within the last 10 years, according to a report issued by 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.
Women
in the military
According
to Al Watan Newspaper, the women employees in military and security sectors
constitute two per cent 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 Kingdom 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.
Earlier
in 2018, the Public Security Directorate announced 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 1,500, 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
female 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 per cent in 2019 from 20 per
cent in 2017.
The
percentage of women in public jobs covered by the civil service reached more
than 40 per cent 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.
Education
sector
The
education sector accounts for 83 per cent 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.
Health
sector
The
health sector comes next to the education sector, as 13 per cent 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 per cent in 2014 to 36.3 per cent in
2018, while the percentage of females in the total nursing profession reached
61.8 per cent in 2018.
The
percentage of female workers in allied medical groups reached 24.4 per cent in
2018, while the percentage of female dentists out of the total employees was
36.4 per cent in 2018, and the percentage of females out of the total number of
workers in the pharmacy profession was 37 per cent.
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 per cent in
2020 from 35 per cent in 2012. The number of commercial registrations issued to
women increased by 65 per cent in 2019.
Women
represent 50 per cent of the Women’s Council of the Human Rights Commission
while women make up 20 per cent of the Shoura Council, with 30 members out of
the total 150 members are women.
https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/saudi-arabia-more-women-joining-civil-service-sector-1.77373883
--------
German
beach volleyball duo boycott Qatar over bikini ban
FEB
22, 2021
Germany's
beach volleyball stars Karla Borger and Julia Sude have said they will boycott
a tournament in Qatar next month because it was "the only country"
where players were forbidden from wearing bikinis on court.
"We
are there to do our job, but are being prevented from wearing our work
clothes," Borger told radio station Deutschlandfunk on Sunday.
"This
is really the only country and the only tournament where a government tells us
how to do our job -- we are criticising that."
Qatar
is hosting the upcoming FIVB World Tour event but strict rules about on-court
clothing have led to world championships silver medallist Borger and her
doubles partner Sude shunning the event.
The
tournament in March is the first time that Doha has hosted a women's World Tour
event, though the city has been a regular fixture on the men's tour for seven
years.
Yet
female players have been asked to wear shirts and long trousers rather than the
usual bikinis, a rule which the world beach volleyball federation FIVB claims
is "out of respect for the culture and traditions of the host
country".
In
a decision supported by the German volleyball federation DVV, Borger and Sude
told Spiegel magazine during the weekend they "would not go along
with" the rules imposed by the Qatari authorities.
Borger
said that they would normally be happy to "adapt to any country", but
that the extreme heat in Doha meant that bikinis were necessary.
Her
team mate Sude pointed out that Qatar had previously made exceptions for female
track and field athletes competing at the World Athletics Championships in Doha
in 2019.
The
country also allowed female beach volleyball players to compete in bikinis at
the ANOC World Beach Games in 2019.
Though
not as hot as the scorching summer months, temperatures in the Gulf state can
reach as high as 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) in March.
Speaking
to Deutschlandfunk on Sunday, Borger questioned whether Qatar was a suitable
host nation.
"We
are asking whether it's necessary to hold a tournament there at all," she
said.
Qatar
has hosted an increasing number of major sporting events in recent decades,
though its human rights record, lack of sporting history and brutally hot
weather make it a controversial venue.
Heat
and humidity were major issues during the road races at last year's World
Athletics Championships held in Doha.
Discriminatory
labour practices and alleged human rights abuses in Qatar have been the subject
of intense scrutiny ahead of next year's football World Cup.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/sports/german-beach-volleyball-duo-boycott-qatar-over-bikini-ban-101614013132563.html
--------
The
Sultanate Participates in 8th Arab Woman Conference
23-02-2021
Muscat,
23 Feb (ONA) --- The Sultanate, represented by the Ministry of Social
Development, today took part in the 8th conference of the Arab Women
Organization themed "Arab Woman and Cultural Challenges". The opening
ceremony of the conference was held under the patronage of President Michel
Aoun of the Lebanese Republic.
The
Sultanate was represented in the conference by Laila Ahmed al-Najjar, Minister
of Social Development.
Held
via video conferencing in Lebanon, the three-day conference addresses a range
of topics pertaining to status of Arab women between heritage and modernity:
between confrontation and reconciliation, Arab women in the midst of literary
and artistic production, the mechanisms of socialization and the economic role
of women in sustainable development and the elimination of poverty and
marginalization.
The
conference also discusses the Arab women between citizenship, government
policies and civil struggles, and the dissemination of a gender culture:
diverse and intersecting Arab tracks, as well as the contribution of women to
strengthening and steadfastness of society and the land.
https://omannews.gov.om/NewsDescription/ArtMID/392/ArticleID/28031/The-Sultanate-Participates-in-8th-Arab-Woman-Conference
--------
Jirga
system and women rights
By
Sheikh Abdul Rasheed
February
22, 2021
On
August, 30, 2018, while hearing a case related to forced marriage of minor
girls to settle murder and tribal disputes, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had
declared jirga and panchayat (tribal councils) unconstitutional and illegal as
they were against fundamental human rights. Regrettably, in the blatant
violation of the apex court’s orders, the tribal councils continued to occur in
several regions of the country infringing human rights with apparent impunity.
On
February 06, a jirga of tribal elders at Wara region of Mamond tehsil of Bajaur
district banned women from calling the local FM radio station and visiting
Sada-e-AmanCenter, a place where cash grant is given to women after they give
birth under the government policy. The jirga announced that if any tribesman
allowed his female to telephone the radio station or to visit the said center,
he would be fined Rs.10,000.
Similarly,
on the behest of jirga, a couple hailing from Kohistan who had married of their
own free-will in Karachi in September, 2020, were allegedly killed after two
months in November. In another incident, a 15-year-old girl and a boy 17 were
reportedly electrocuted by their families in compliance with the orders of a
jirga in September last year in Karachi. These are the latest episode in the
ongoing saga of such heinous decrees of the unconstitutional parallel judicial
system across the country.
Amidst
many other factors, the substantial factor responsible for the continued
existence of the jirgas and panchayats is that many of the bodies are
represented by feudal lords, Sardars and Maliks who have been powerful and
dominant parliamentarians in successive governments and controlling
decision-making and policy formulation processes in Pakistan’s parliament.
Moreover,
vani, a tradition of giving girls in marriage by force to compensate for a
crime committed by their male relatives, is the most ubiquitous tradition in
rural Pakistan. In 2012, 13 girls between the ages of 4 and 16 were ordered to
be married off to resolve a murder dispute between two clans in Balochistan.
The
shocking fact is that members of jirgas and panchayats are authorized to use
unrestricted powers to award death and other stringent sentences, and they are
not accountable and answerable to anyone. The matter of great concern is that
the members have no or little knowledge of laws concerning the criminal and
civil matters. Despite this fact, the bodies have yet been existing and
functioning effectively. Amidst many other factors, the substantial factor
responsible for the continued existence of the jirgas and panchayats is that
many of the bodies are represented by feudal lords, Sardars and Maliks who have
been powerful and dominant parliamentarians in successive governments and
controlling decision-making and policy formulation processes in Pakistan’s
parliament.
Although
many of the matters referred to the jirgas and panchayats, the tribal judicial
system, are related to women and girls, yet the tribal councils are fully
represented by men and women have no say in them. Complete absence of women
representation is one of the principal reasons that decrees issued by this
patriarchal structure badly affect and tyrannize females. These illegal
non-state justice institutions are wholly and evidently opponents of the
fundamental rights of women to free-will life, education and health. They
prevent girls from achieving schooling, restrained women within their houses
and develop the destructive traditions of child marriage and honour killing.
Not only this, but women have been made victims of many other oppressive,
barbaric and criminal acts. It shows that abhorrence for women’s liberty and
the misogynist attitude in Pakistan’s patriarchal society are deep-seated and
entrenched. These are the significant reasons that, according to the Global
Gender Gap 2017 report, Pakistan was placed at second worst country for women
with the rank of 143 out of 144 countries.
Some
believe that jirgas and panchayats making speedy decrees offer a swift
settlement of disputes, while courts of law take too long to give out justice.
The fact is that rapidly made rulings by the bodies do not bring about remedies
for injustice, violence and exploitation. Instead, the verdicts persecute women,
minorities and the economically feebler people.
The
faulty and wrong rulings of jirgas have resulted in initiating and resurfacing
of the fatal tribal conflicts in Sindh. Started on insignificant issues, the
tribal disputes ultimately culminate in the deadly wars which result in
killings of a gigantic number of lives and huge financial losses. A colossal
number of such tribal clashes have taken place in the province so far. Many of
the bloody disputes continued for long years, some of them lasted for two
decades. Traditionally, the jirgas compensate murder with murder and remaining
amount of money goes into pockets of chieftains of the disputing tribes.
The
fatality and prolonged continuity of the clashes finally badly affect women of
the conflicting tribes. In tribal feuds, mostly men are killed. And during the
fighting taking place between tribes, no male member of the disputing clan can
look-after his crops or continue his job in any other village, town or city
because of the terror of being killed by the rivals. In these both situations,
their women have to shoulder lifelong responsibility to support families
working in the fields or begging for money.
Although
women are entitled the fundamental rights to life, liberty, security and
dignity by the constitution of Pakistan and the international laws, yet jirgas
and panchayats have been a massive source of serious violations of these women
rights. The government of Pakistan should shoulder the responsibility to
protect women rights, and to this end the government has to obliterate jirga
and panchayat systems.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/02/22/jirga-system-and-women-rights/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=0c8f4306f9c798b03340eff397b00cfaa3695414-1614080806-0-AQeygfg9YU5vENcBOCOJsgIChlwQ96BXeDrOfSp-nOpJKofuMyaeGniGjjX5IdP9SpayA8Vvi-5If8M-t0ZV4NSP2KT_t-slIUYyWfkCFiwimzeKE4l7P6oev7t-AR3ptQ6qThRfM3HIOrx29yRCfuv-hmza5tZnKfFis9Gd_863kYG0rNUSGelX70BdTE8VKbjcSZaHpTdVMto7UnMMCoYNOmpfDXOXoah_mo5luxbHRuzjyfb1IuGWKg2pojqsMKzNOldl8MRXTlSGrmqqDul9vbBN004C9hMCAgrVjH5Z6ULleDN6hWvniAatHparYl5fwRkVfKBi83O4uv_s-j4hdTsoIjDjLiieE5RQPJHj
--------
They
Built Libraries to Honor Loved Ones, Women Felled by Bombings
By
Fatima Faizi and Rod Nordland
Feb.
21, 2021
KABUL,
Afghanistan — When his soon-to-be fiancée, NajibaHussaini, was killed in a
Taliban suicide bombing in Kabul, HussainRezai didn’t know how to grieve for
her.
“I
had lost my love, but I wasn’t allowed to mourn,” said Mr.Rezai, a 33-year-old
government employee. Though they had traveled to Daikundi Province to seek her
parents’ approval to marry, they weren’t officially engaged, and he felt
pressure to simply move on after her death.
It
was July 2017 when a Taliban bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives,
killing at least 24 people, including Ms.Hussaini, who was 28.
Thirteen
months later, on the other side of the city, 40 students were killed when an
Islamic State bomber detonated himself at a university entrance exam
preparation center. Among those killed was RahilaMonji, 17, the youngest of
nine siblings.
These
women didn’t know each other, but their lives were snuffed out by the same
uncompromising violence that has killed thousands and left gaping holes in the
lives of countless Afghans.
Yet
Ms.Hussaini and Ms.Monji’s loved ones were inspired to fulfill the same dream:
to build public libraries memorializing the women they had lost.
Today,
those libraries — one in Kabul, the capital, and the other in Daikundi Province
— stand as symbols of the progress made toward gender equality and access to
education in Afghanistan, where as many as 3.5 million girls are enrolled in
school, according to a recent U.S. watchdog report, and where, as of 2018,
one-third of the nation’s teachers were women.
But
those gains have also been overshadowed by violent resistance. Education
centers are routinely the targets of terrorist attacks and more than 1,000
schools have shut in recent years, according to UNICEF.
Now,
as negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban slowly move
forward in Qatar, many worry that a peace deal could mean that the progress
Afghan women have made the last two decades will be lost. And the Taliban’s
potential return to power is a grim reminder to the families of Ms.Hussaini and
Ms.Monji that the legacy they created could soon unravel.
“I
never want the Taliban ideology to govern my people again,” said Hamid Omer,
Ms.Monji’s brother. “Where I was born, my village had to burn all the school
textbooks available in our school. I am afraid we will face the same situation
again.”
As
a student, Ms.Hussaini was so determined to succeed that she walked an hour and
a half each way to and from her high school while also teaching part time, said
her sister Maryam.
She
did extraordinarily well, an impressive accomplishment for a person from
Afghanistan’s poorest province, Daikundi, in the central highlands — especially
in a country where women and girls are marginalized by an education system
often closed off to them by their families and Afghanistan’s patriarchal
society.
They
also face a constant threat from the Taliban, who in past years have burned
down girls’ schools, threatened to kill female students and splashed acid in
their faces.
After
getting her bachelor’s degree in computer applications in India, Ms.Hussaini
completed a master’s degree in Japan. She then quickly landed a prestigious job
in the government’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, where she was commuting in
a minibus with several of her colleagues the morning they were hit by the
suicide bombing.
For
years, Mr.Rezai said, he cried whenever he thought of Ms.Hussaini. “It took me
three years to change the shape of my grief into a positive thing,” he said.
Ms.Hussaini
had always said that Daikundi Province should have a library — a bold ambition
in a country of roughly 38 million people and only 100 public libraries,
according to a spokesman for the Ministry of Education.
In
July 2019, he opened the NajibaHussaini Memorial Library in Nili, Daikundi’s
capital.
At
first, the entire collection comprised only Ms.Hussaini’s 400 textbooks. But
today it has more than 12,500 books, magazines and research reports — most of
which were donated.
The
library is popular with young people, many of them students who are chronically
short of educational resources, especially books.
“Najiba
is not dead, she breathes with all the girls and boys who come to her library
and study,” Mr.Rezai said.
Taliban
negotiators in Qatar have said they support women’s rights, but only under
their interpretation of Islamic law, and any specific conditions of a
power-sharing agreement have so far not addressed the rights of Afghan women in
any detail.
A
growing narrative has emerged that the country can “either have women’s rights
at the cost of peace, or peace at the cost of women’s rights,” according to the
watchdog report.
But
some activists see a permanent cease-fire as a catalyst for furthering women’s
rights.
“Women
have been change makers not only for inclusivity of the peace process, but also
for paving ways for reconciliation at the local level,” said MetraMehran, an
organizer of the Feminine Perspectives Campaign, a social media initiative
advocating for women’s rights in Afghanistan.
She
added, “A cease-fire will give them the space to fight for their representation
in the process and ensure their perspectives are reflected on policies and
decisions.”
In
Kabul, Ms.Monji had similar ambitions to Ms.Hussaini. A voracious reader,
especially of novels in Persian and English, Ms.Monji had always been full of
strange ideas and strong ambitions.
When
she told her brother, Mr. Omer, that she had placed fifth in her class in a
practice run of annual exams, he offered her $1,000 if she placed first, half
seriously saying they would use that money to open a free library in their
community. Then she surprised him with her results: She was at the top of her
class and insisted he keep their bargain.
The
next day, in August 2018, the Mawoud Academy, where she was studying to prepare
for college, was destroyed by an Islamic State suicide bomber. She was among
the dozens killed.
Learning
of the bombing, Mr. Omer and her other siblings began the frantic search known
so well to families whose loved ones cannot be located after a deadly attack.
In
the forensic department of the Kabul Police Department, Mr. Omer found a badly
burned body wearing a watch like the one Ms.Monji owned. Another sister
recognized the tattered dress — it was their youngest sister.
Back
at home, Ms.Monji’s books were lined up on her desk, and Mr. Omer found the one
she most recently had been reading: “And the Mountains Echoed” by the Afghan
novelist Khaled Hosseini.
Then
he found her diary. “It was just full of her simple wishes for peace and a
better future,” Mr. Omer said.
Normally
for an Afghan funeral, a family slaughters several sheep and stages a feast for
everyone they know, but as the siblings grieved together, Mr. Omer had a
different idea.
“At
that moment I decided I would not feed people,” he said. “I would provide the
money for a memorial library. It is what Rahila would have wanted.”
Ms.Monji’s
family soon found a room on the upper floor of a mosque in their neighborhood
in Kabul. As they built the library’s social media following, book donations
poured in. The family went on to establish the Rahila Foundation, which gives
scholarships to needy children and organizes personal development and skills
training programs.
“Now
my sister saves the lives of hundreds of others,” Mr. Omer said. “Her soul is
inside each of them.”
After
she was killed, Mr. Omer was so furious that he wanted to take up arms and kill
some of the extremists himself. “But when I calmed down, I thought, if I take
up a gun like that, what is the difference between me and the terrorists?”
He
added, “Establishing a library was a strong slap in the face to all the
terrorist groups in Afghanistan.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/21/world/asia/afghanistan-libraries-women-taliban.html
--------
Ten
French women who joined IS go on hunger strike in Syria camp
By
Anna Pujol-Mazzini
22
February 2021
Ten
French women who joined the Islamic State have started a hunger strike in their
detention camp in Syria in a bid to pressure France to bring them and their
children back.
The
women have been held alongside over 64,000 people, mainly women and children
believed to be relatives of jihadists, in squalid camps managed by Syrian
Kurdish forces in the north since Islamic State fighters were defeated in Syria
in 2019.
They
started the hunger strike "to protest against the stubborn refusal of
French authorities to organise their and their children's repatriation,"
according to a statement released by two French lawyers representing the group
on Sunday.
"Faced
with this endless and pointless arbitrary detention, these women have chosen to
stop feeding themselves. They are only demanding one thing: to be judged for
what they have done," it added.
Earlier
this month, human rights experts from the United Nations urged 57 countries,
including Britain, France and the United States, to repatriate the wives and
children of jihadists stuck in the squalid camps of Roj and Al Hol, in northern
Syria.
"An
unknown number of people have already died because of their conditions of
detention," the UN said.
Dozens
of French mothers and around 200 French children of suspected armed extremists
live in the muddy camps, where malnutrition, disease and violence are rife.
The
issue of how to treat the wives and children of fighters has given way to much
debate in France, a country with a high number of citizens who have joined the
Islamic State, and where terror attacks claimed by Islamist militants have
killed hundreds.
France
has repatriated 35 children so far, many of them orphans, but authorities have
insisted they will only take back children on a case-by-case basis, leaving
mothers behind to face local justice along with their husbands.
Opinion
polls have shown a majority of French people are against the repatriations.
Last
week, two lawmakers wrote an open letter to President Macron urging the
government to repatriate the hundreds of "innocent" French children
stuck in Syria.
Russia,
Germany and the United States have brought some of their citizens home, and
Kurdish officials have been pressing countries to repatriate their citizens for
years.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/02/22/ten-french-women-joined-go-hunger-strike-syria-camp/
--------
Yemen:
Women captives recall ordeal in Houthi prisons
Mohammed
Alragawi
23.02.2021
Three
Yemen-based human rights organizations have accused Iran-backed Houthi rebels
of committing civil rights violations, amounting to war crimes.
A
joint report issued by these groups has documented 1,181 violations against
women that included murder, torture, enforced disappearance, sexual violence.
Speaking
to Anadolu Agency, WesamBasindowah, director of the 8th March Yemeni Union
Women, one of the authors of the report said women and children have in
particular suffered and have been first targets of war in Yemen.
“The
report aims to shed light on the types of violations that Houthi militias
committed against women in Yemen, during the period from 2017-2020.
The
report has documented 274 cases of enforced disappearance listed 538 female
detainees and 71 incidences of rape and four suicide cases.
Quoting
testimonies of released prisoners like Nasma Muhammad, the report claimed that
she was kidnapped on March 24, 2019, by Zainabiyat -- a women's military group
established by Houthis. She is currently receiving treatment in Cairo.
“During
interrogations, I was accused of providing coordinates to the Arab coalition
and being an agent of America and Israel and working in a prostitution network.
They tortured, beaten, electrocuted, and sexually harassed and raped me,” she
told human rights groups.
Her
parents had to pay a ransom of 3 million Yemeni riyals ($6,000) for her
release.
Asma
al-Omaisi, 22, a mother of two children, is on death row on charges of spying.
She
was arrested in October 2016. After 15 months, a Houthi court in the capital
Sanaa pronounced the death sentence. Her request to appeal despite
international requests has been turned down.
Sharing
her experience, Noora al-Jrowi, president of the Coalition of Women for Peace
in Yemen told Anadolu Agency that she was among 77 women arrested by Houthis
after they organize a protest on Dec. 6, 2017, in capital Sana'a against
Houthis.
“The
intervention of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights succeeded in
releasing us. At that moment, I decided to defend women's rights in Yemen. As
protests continued, the arbitrary arrests also continued. The year 2018 was the
worst year ever in the history of women's rights in Yemen,” she added.
Shocking
facts about sufferings
“Violations
of women's rights in Yemen, especially the rights of female prisoners in Houthi-controlled
prisons is unspeakable. There are shocking facts about the sufferings of
detainees,” said Basindowah.
Quoting
the report, she said Houthi prisons are like graves for women.
After
the killing of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former president on Dec. 2, 2017, Houthi
violations against women have become more systematic, said the report.
Women
have been paying the price of the six-year war in Yemen. Reports suggest that
there are 293 female detainees under the age of 18, in addition to dozens of
mothers in Houthi prisons.
A
panel of experts in its report to the UN Security Council president in January
2020 has also confirmed violations committed by Zainabiyat.
Basindowah
also noted that Zinabiyat was carrying out illegal tasks like raiding houses
and kidnapping.
“These
women militias are accused of brutal acts against women such as arbitrary
arrest, looting, sexual assault, beating, torture, and facilitating rape in
secret detention centers,” she said.
The
report also noted that till now 321 female detainees have been released.
Stigma
doesn’t allow women to speak
In
a conservative society like Yemen, al-Jrowi believes that “society is the
biggest obstacle in exposing Houthi crimes against women because announcing
these crimes is considered as a bigger crime”.
To
add salt to the injury and further alienate detained women from their families
and society, they are accused of working with prostitution networks, so they
remain in detention for long periods up to 2-3 years.
“Some
women were killed in their homes while opposing arrests,” she added.
Besides
8th March Yemeni Union Women’, other groups who have compiled the report
included the Coalition of Women for Peace in Yemen, the Anti-Human Trafficking
Organization, and the Yemeni Coalition for Independent Women.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/yemen-women-captives-recall-ordeal-in-houthi-prisons/2153806
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