Prof. Lilac Alsafadi Is First Woman to Head a Saudi Co-Ed University
New Age Islam News Bureau
4
Jul 2020
• Nudrat E Piracha First Pakistani Woman to Earn
Doctorate of Juridical Science
• Egyptian Singer Malak El-Husseiny Discusses Her
Desire to Stay Vulnerable
• Turkey’s Bizarre Museum Collects, Showcases Hair
Samples of Women
• Saudi Citizen Arrested for Insulting Working Saudi
Women
• Female ISIS Terrorist Jailed for Life for London Bomb
Plot
• Sexist Attacks Against Women in Turkish Politics
Reveal Resistance to Social Change
• Mobile App to Boost Role of Women in Peace Processes
Launched by Political Settlements Research Programme
• KPMG Announced as Top-Tier
Partner of Women 20 Engagement Group
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/prof-lilac-alsafadi-first-woman/d/122287
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Prof. Lilac AlSafadi is first woman to head a Saudi
co-ed university
July 3, 2020
Prof Lilac Al Safadi
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JEDDAH — The Minister of Education Dr.Hamad Al-Sheikh,
announced Thursday the appointment of Dr. Lilac AlSafadi as president of the
Electronic University — the first woman president of a Saudi university that
includes both male and female students.
Al-Sheikh announced the issuance of royal approval to
appoint five university presidents, including Prince Dr.Mamdouh Bin Thunayyan
Al Saud as president of the Islamic University, Dr. Muhammad Al-Shayea as
president of Al-Jouf University, Dr. Yusuf Asiri as president of Taif
University, and Dr. Muhammad Safhi as president of Bisha University.
Dr.AlSafadi is considered a distinguished intellectual
and executive. She has worked as Chief Executive Officer for over 20 years in
business development, business consulting and strategic leadership, in addition
to her accumulated experience in project management.
Dr.AlSafadi possesses a steady record of success in
identifying business opportunities, strategic partners, markets and channels,
with the greatest potential.
She has also worked in developing successful
implementation plans for developing strategies and evaluating initiatives as
part of the Saudi National Transformation Program (NTP), and she is a member of
a number of steering and advisory councils (boards?).
Dr.AlSafadi has contributed over 50 research papers in
conferences, and articles to the print media in research areas of interest such
as e-commerce, and artificial and commercial intelligence.
She worked as vice president and national technology
officer at Microsoft in January 2020, and is a member of the faculty of King
Saud University, and director of The Women’s Technology Incubator, in-charge
for developing the center for entrepreneurship in the women's and medical
sciences departments.
She also worked as an adviser to the Governor of the
General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (Monshaat), and consultant
for the university vice presidency for planning, quality and development at the
Saudi Electronic University.
Dr.AlSafadi is a graduate of the University of
Wollongong with a Ph.D. in Computer Science 1998-2002 and M.Sc. in Computer
Science from 1993–1995 and a major in Software Engineering.
The University of Wollongong is an Australian public
research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales.
It has a branch in the UAE.
https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/595062/SAUDI-ARABIA/Prof-Lilac-AlSafadi-is-first-woman-to-head-a-Saudi-co-ed-university
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Nudrat E Piracha first Pakistani woman to earn
Doctorate of Juridical Science
MadihaWaris Qureshi
July 4, 2020
Dr Nudrat E. Piracha has become the first female
lawyer from Pakistan to earn a Doctorate of Juridical Science .
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Dr Nudrat E. Piracha has become the first female
lawyer from Pakistan to earn a Doctorate of Juridical Science .
Abbreviated as SJD and equivalent to a research
doctorate, the qualification is considered the most advanced degree in law. It
is awarded primarily in the United States to candidates with exceptional
academic and professional credentials.
Dr Piracha is one of few women across the globe to
have earned the qualification. She is also the first Pakistani woman to be
appointed as a member of an Ad Hoc Committee of the International Centre for
Settlement of Investment Disputes, and the first Pakistani lawyer to become a
Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in the UK.
For 17 years, Piracha has practiced in the largely
male-dominated field of international commercial arbitration and construction
and investment disputes, representing the Government of Pakistan and many
prominent international corporations.
An alumna of the London School of Economics and
Political Science, Piracha comes from a family of civil servants in Pakistan —
two of her sisters and her father have all served in various government
agencies. Expected to join civil services like her sisters, Piracha decided to
go into law instead, partly because it was among the limited careers permitted
by her family.
“I was also inspired by the role played by lawyers in
the development of countries,” Piracha recalled. “When I started studying law,
I came to appreciate its interconnectivity with development issues and immense
power to touch the lives of others.”
She began her career in Islamabad, where she rose to
partnership at a leading law firm, Samdani and Qureshi, before receiving a
Fulbright scholarship for George Washington University School of Law.
The interplay of law and policymaking mesmerised
Piracha, who sees immense potential for social and political change in Pakistan
through legal reforms. But when she started her career as an intern, she
quickly realised that the Pakistani court was largely a man’s world.
“I saw few opportunities for female lawyers’
progress,” she said. “Women were often relegated to prototype cases they were
thought more capable of handling.”
Her work at Samdani and Qureshi gave her a firsthand
opportunity to experience Pakistan’s archaic procedural rules, which have
created a legal system plagued by inefficiencies.
This led to her decision to go into Alternative
Dispute Resolution (ADR), which she sees as a promising solution to the delays
inherent in the Pakistani legal system.
ADR refers to processes for the resolution of legal
disputes outside formal adjudication. It involves the participation of a
neutral third party to help parties resolve a dispute without the court’s
direct involvement.
“There is a dearth of awareness and experience in ADR
in Pakistan,” Piracha said. “It’s an area that if properly implemented, could
overcome some of the hurdles in the way of dispensing timely justice, and help
relieve the courts’ burden.”
In her impressive career, Piracha has represented
clients before the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes,
the International Chamber of Commerce, and Ad Hoc tribunals. She was designated
by the Government of Pakistan on the panel of arbitrators of ICSID for a term
of 8 years, and two years ago, obtained the prestigious Weinstein JAMS
International Fellowship.
Now, as she prepares for her return home after five
years, she wants to put that experience to use.
“I plan to set up a niche ADR practice and organise
trainings across the country to introduce more professionals to the field,”
Piracha said. Having qualified in three international jurisdictions (Pakistan,
US, and UK), she hopes to help revolutionise Pakistan’s justice system by
introducing court-annexed ADR solutions suited to its needs.
She is also passionate about promoting young female
lawyers in a field historically dominated by men.
“I particularly want to help promote more women get
into ADR,” she said.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/681514-dr-nudrat-e-piracha-becomes-first-female-pakistani-lawyer-to-earn-sjd
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Egyptian Singer Malak El-Husseiny Discusses Her Desire
to Stay Vulnerable
July 02, 2020
She featured on season four of MBC’s “The X-Factor.”
(Supplied)
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CAIRO: “I was very lost and disconnected from my
environment and from myself,” says Egyptian singer-songwriter Malak El-Husseiny
(who goes by the artist name Malak). “I didn’t know if I wanted to do music
that much.”
Malak is talking about the time that preceded the
writing of “Can’t Catch An Emotion,” her latest single, released late last
month. The song contemplates a painful state of inbetweenness (“The sun
frustrates me and the moon don't look as good”) and examines the young artist’s
crippling inability to connect with herself.
The five-minute video follows Malak as she walks
through different manifestations of nature, navigating her confusion and trying
to re-establish that connection.
The 26-year old artist tells Arab News she suffered
from a prolonged mental block — weighed down by indifference and an
inexplicable heaviness of heart — that she couldn’t seem to shake.
“It’s not that I couldn’t make music. I just had no
feelings to connect to and express in music,” she says. “Eventually I knew that
writing about this was going to help me move forward and reconnect to my art,
to myself and to my truth. It took a lot in me to be able to finish (this song)
and I’m happy I did.”
Malak dropped her debut EP, “Alters,” in 2014 and
immediately grabbed attention with her dark English-language electro-pop that
drew comparisons to Lana Del Ray, among others. She featured on season four of
MBC’s “The X-Factor,” and received critical acclaim for a couple of singles
around the same time, particularly “Wild Summer Hearts.” But she has been out
of the headlines for quite some time before the release of “Can’t Catch An
Emotion.”
Not that she hasn’t been busy in that time; she
launched her own music production company in 2016, which focuses mainly on
commercial work — ads and radio jingles, for instance — and has been writing
for other artists too, exploring her love of other genres, including hip-hop
and trap.
Her wide-ranging musical taste is something that stems
from growing up in a family with an extensive and eclectic record collection.
“Their hobby was to collect vinyl records, so I grew up listening to Fairouz,
Umm Kulthum, Guns & Roses, Dire Straits, Scorpions, and Bon Jovi,” she
says. “My dad would spread out his collection and we’d play music all the time.
My mom also played the guitar. So there was always music around the house.”
Around the age of 12, Malak realized that she wanted
to do more than simply listen to music — she wanted to perform. She started off
by trying to recreate beats (“just tapping along”) and practicing on her
karaoke machine.
“That’s basically how I got into loving music,” she
says. “I guess it just came naturally to me.”
Having performed cover songs at numerous events, Malak
was spotted by Subspace Records, and signed a contract with the label when she
was just 18. That was when she began writing her own material.
Initially, she says, her writing was more of an
attempt to copy her favorite artists. "I had no guidelines,” she says. “I
was a kid and I hadn’t written anything before, except for poems and short
texts. But I had never written a full four-minute song. Melodies were the most
difficult part, because they required a knowledge of music and (melody)
matching.”
The label set Malak the task of writing a song a day
for three months. “It didn’t have to be a finished song,” she says. “It didn’t
even have to be good. But they assigned this exercise so I could learn how to
express myself and find my (own) voice.”
The exercise also taught her not to become too
attached to the outcome. “It was true expression and that’s what mattered,” she
says.
After months of trial and error, Malak began to settle
into a songwriting process that she was comfortable with, one that allowed her
to tell her own story.
“I was singing because I knew this was what I wanted
to do. I wanted to take a shot at it, to do what I actually believe in and live
my truth,” she says. “As I grew up, I wanted to do it in a more authentic way.
I didn’t want to have to make music that I didn’t believe in just to be more
popular.”
Her approach, she adds, is “more about authenticity
and releasing emotion.”
The press release for “Can’t Catch An Emotion”
stresses Malak’s commitment to authenticity, claiming that she “sings of the
vulnerabilities of being a modern Arab woman” and “explores her journey through
love in its different forms and all the euphoric revelations that come with
embracing it.”
Those themes will apparently continue throughout her
upcoming debut album, which she says explores various manifestations of love,
from “the romantic, to spirituality and one’s relationship with God, (all the
way to) one’s relationship to oneself.”
It is an act of questioning that is both subtle and
versatile — one in which Malak posits her own inquiries as a modern Arab woman
who is curious to understand why things are the way they are; inquiries that
Arab women may shy away from because they’re “wired to be scared to rock the
boat.”
The album also challenges expectations about how Arab
women should perform in society — including having to fit a certain mold “for
families to accept you as the wife of someone.”
The album was originally set for release this summer,
but the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed it. However, Malak hopes to be able to
release — and tour — the record soon.
As for the future, the young star says she’s open to
exploring more musical options whilst “staying true to my roots and where I
come from.” The key, she asserts, is to stay vulnerable.
“I’ve listened to artists who have changed my whole
life just because of one song,” Malak says. “I’ve always wanted to be that type
of artist — to write something that is so personal to me, put it out to the
world and be so completely vulnerable that people feel it.”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1698766/lifestyle
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Turkey’s Bizarre Museum Collects, Showcases Hair
Samples of Women
JUL 03, 2020
A general view from the Hair Museum, in Cappadocia,
central Nevşehir, July 2, 2020. (AA Photo)
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The Hair Museum located in Cappadocia in central
Anatolia's Nevşehir province is attracting many visitors as one of the most
unique museums in the world.
The journey of the museum started when GalipKörükçü, a
pottery master in Nevşehir’sAvanos district, cut a lock of hair from a French
female tourist visiting his workshop in 1979 and hung it on the wall. The Hair
Museum has grown over time as other female tourists who came to the workshop
also left a lock of their own hair.
The hair samples from tens of thousands of women at
the museum, which was included in the "Guinness Book of World
Records" in 1998, have attracted the interest of guests visiting the area.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Körükçü said when he
hung a lock of hair on the wall of the workshop decades ago, he could never
have imagined it would have developed into something so impressive.
According to Körükçü, he has the names and contact
information for the individuals whose hair is on display in the museum. Over
the years, he has done a drawing of 10 names from among those who left their
hair and gifted the winners a weeklong Cappadocia holiday every year.
Indicating that the museum entrance fee is TL 3,
Körükçü noted: “I met a French girl in 1979 and I wanted a lock of her hair
when she was on the way back to her country because her hair was so beautiful.
After writing her name and address on a piece of paper, she hung the hair on
the wall of the workshop. Then this hair caught the attention of another female
tourist and she left a lock of her hair, too. Then we started getting hair from
other female tourists who came here, and that is what happened.”
Mentioning the museum’s inclusion in the
"Guinness Book of World Records," Körükçü said: “I took it because
her hair was so beautiful, but I never thought it would turn into a museum like
this. When the collection of hair started growing here, I started to draw lots.
I picked a lock of hair at random, contacted the people whose name and contact
details were written on it and invited them to Cappadocia for a week, covering
all their expenses. Tourists who come to the area love it when they visit it.
We do not allow photography because the hair in the museum has personal
information near it.”
FatmaFatolanezhad, an Iranian tourist who also left a
lock of her hair while visiting the museum, stressed that the museum is
interesting, adding: “When I saw this place on the internet, I wanted to see
it. And I left my hair here. Maybe my kids will come here 10 years later and
see my hair here. It is a great feeling.”
https://www.dailysabah.com/arts/turkeys-bizarre-museum-collects-showcases-hair-samples-of-women/news
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Saudi Citizen Arrested for Insulting Working Saudi
Women
July 3, 2020
MAKKAH — Makkah Police have arrested a male citizen
who insulted Saudi women, describing them with terms and expressions
contradicting the values and public morals, for being empowered and going out
to work in various fields.
The male citizen’s objection to women going out to
work, and his criticism of support and empowerment for women in society was
portrayed in offensive references and tweets and the media content went viral
on the social media platforms.
With reference to what was monitored through one of
the social media on a person who posted offensive tweets against Saudi women,
the security follow-up resulted in the identification of the account owner. He
is a Saudi citizen in his sixties and has been arrested and taken into custody.
Apart from taking regulatory measures against him he
has now been referred to the Public Prosecution, the media spokesman for Makkah
Region Police Maj. Muhammad Al-Ghamdi confirmed.
In the same connection, an official source at the
Prosecution Monitoring Center in the Public Prosecution stated: “It has been
documented that a citizen produced media content on a social media platform,
showing direct insult to Saudi women as he talked about them with insulting
words, infringing on their dignity.
“Therefore, based on Articles 15 and 17 of the Penal
Procedures Regulation, and due to the public interest, the Public Prosecution
has issued an order to arrest the offending citizen, following search and investigation
procedures, to confirm that he is the actual person concerned with the
procedures.
“He was then referred to the competent authority in
the Public Prosecution to complete the regulatory requirements against him.”
The source asserted that the Public Prosecution is
following with concern all that might prejudice women’s rights, which are
guaranteed by the law, including infringing on their dignity and legitimate
freedom, whatever the pretexts for such an act.
The source stressed that every necessary measure will
be taken in this regard, in line with the Public Prosecution’s powers.
https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/595068/SAUDI-ARABIA/Citizen-arrested-for-insulting-working-Saudi-women
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Female ISIS Terrorist Jailed For Life For London Bomb
Plot
03 JULY 2020
By Aditi Khanna
London, Jul 3 (PTI) A female Islamic State (ISIS)
supporter was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment after pleading guilty to
terrorism charges, including a plot to bomb London''s famous St. Paul''s
Cathedral.
Safiyya Amira Shaikh, a 37-year-old Muslim convert who
was born Michelle Ramsden, was arrested in October last year following an
undercover operation by counter-terrorism officers.
At a hearing at the Old Bailey court in London, she
admitted to terrorism offences earlier this year and was sentenced this week to
life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 14 years behind bars before being
considered for parole.
"Safiyya Shaikh chose to live her life as a
violent extremist with a murderous hatred of those who did not share her
twisted version of Islam," said Jenny Hopkins, Head of the Special Crime
and Counter Terrorism Division at the UK''s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
"She hoped to inspire others by sharing terrorist
images on social media but wanted to go much further. The damning evidence
presented by the CPS of her planned suicide mission to St. Paul''s Cathedral
left her with no room to talk her way out of the charges,” said Hopkins.
Shaikh planned to collect two bags containing bombs
from someone she had been talking to online and who she thought shared her
support for ISIS but was in fact an undercover officer.
The court heard that her plan was to detonate one bomb
at the London cathedral in order to kill herself and visitors and planned to
use the second device at the hotel where she would have stayed ahead of the act
in attacks planned for Easter in April this year.
Police passed evidence to the CPS of Shaikh going into
St. Paul''s Cathedral last September and sending photos and videos from inside
the building to the undercover contact. She also described the security at the
cathedral.
She was secretly filmed handing over two bags to a
woman at a park in west London. The plan was for the bags to be returned to her
at a later date with working bombs inside.
The police raided her flat and arrested her in October
2019.
Richard Smith, Head of the Metropolitan Police Counter
Terrorism Command, said: "This case is a stark reminder that the threat
from terrorism remains as real as ever.
"Shaikh was dedicated to her extremist beliefs.
In addition to wanting to carry out her own sickening attack on UK soil, she
hoped to inspire others to implement attack plans even after she had died.
Thanks to the hard work of officers from both the Met Police and MI5, she is
instead in jail.”
Shaikh, from Hayes in west London, pleaded guilty to
sharing terrorist material with others via the Telegram messenger application
with the intention of encouraging others to commit terrorist acts.
This included images of a bomb exploding on Tower
Bridge and of a Tube platform with a message to Muslims to fight non-believers.
Shaikh was prosecuted by the Counter Terrorism
Division of the CPS, which presented evidence of Shaikh’s contact with the
undercover officers from August last year.
On that day she told them: “…I rather die young and
get Jannah [paradise] quickest way possible… we love death they love life… I
always knows [sic] I wanted do something big… killing one kafir [unbeliever] is
not enough for me.”
On Telegram, at the same time, she praised ISIS,
encouraged the killing of civilians throughout the world, and provided
suggestions on different ways to carry out an attack.
Using evidence gathered by the police, the CPS was
able to prove that Shaikh personally created, or instructed others to create
violent images, and then circulated them.
During police interviews, Shaikh claimed that she
“reverted” to Islam in 2007 after being impressed by the kindness of a Muslim
family, but became disillusioned by what she saw as the moderate version of
Islam she found at local mosques. She began to read, follow and talk to
extremists online.
By around 2015, she had come to accept their extremist
beliefs. PTI AK IND
https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/female-isis-terrorist-jailed-for-life-for-london-bomb-plot/1885168
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Sexist Attacks Against Women in Turkish Politics
Reveal Resistance to Social Change
JUL 03, 2020
Women in Turkish politics along with the wives and
daughters of politicians have become targets of sexist attacks on social media
over the past couple of weeks. Although women in politics tend to receive
backlash based on their gender rather than their actions, especially on social
media, the recent intensity of such incidents with repeated attacks on women
from different political movements has raised concerns in the country regarding
toxic masculinity – to the point of regulations being placed on social media to
curb the onslaught. According to experts, the constant targeting of women in
politics is actually a sign that Turkish society prefers to cling to
traditional values and gender roles rather than accepting change, with constant
resistance from men against women’s involvement in politics.
“Women are a cultural soft spot for Turkish society,”
said MelekArslanbenzer, a psychologist, referring to an old saying on the
values of a Turkish person: “horse, women, weapon.”
According to Arslanbenzer, as this saying suggests,
since women are seen as “sensitive” belongings of men and society in general,
when one wants to hurt someone, the target's womanhood and/or women in their
lives are usually the easiest and most efficient targets.
The latest series of attacks on women in politics
started with BaşakDemirtaş, the wife of former co-chairman of the Peoples'
Democratic Party (HDP), SelahattinDemirtaş, who is currently imprisoned on
terrorism charges. A sexist insult made by a fake Twitter user against Demirtaş
a couple of weeks ago caused a domino effect in Turkish politics. Although
there have been a series of condemnations from all sides of the spectrum,
including from the justice minister himself, the attacks against the women in
politics continued. The head of the Good Party (IP), MeralAkşener, and the
ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) group deputy chair,
ÖzlemZengin, were among the next targets insulted based on their gender. The
last stroke was, however, against President RecepTayyipErdoğan’s daughter
EsraAlbayrak, who was subjected to a sexist attack just after giving birth to
her fourth child. The attacks against all these women included sexual
innuendos, insults targeting their femininity and comments on physical
appearances, even to the point of objectifying how they sound, as well as
attempting to insult their family by insulting them.
Revealing how far people can go when it comes to
targeting female politicians and the wives and daughters of politicians, these
attacks drew Turkish society’s attention to the issue. Apart from their main
common characteristic of being women, all of these aforementioned victims come
from different backgrounds, ideologies, societal groups and political
movements, showing that rather than one group or another, society, in general,
has a problem with women in politics.
Society resists women's empowerment
“Women are seen as an ‘easy target,’” said
OğuzhanBilgin, a sociology and politics academic, adding that in his opinion,
Turkish society fails to accept the fact that women are now a societal actor.
In Bilgin’s opinion, even though Turkey is now mostly
an urban-based society, women still tend to be defined through their husbands,
fathers and sons.
“Urban society means a societal structure in which
women are active within society and able to earn their own livelihood by not
depending on men. As women gain their economic and social strength, they,
naturally, also demand political power. However, this demand is mostly being
resisted by men,” he underlined.
In 1934, Turkish women were among the first in Europe
to gain the right to vote and run for elected office through a constitutional
amendment. In 1930, Turkish women were granted suffrage in local elections held
that year. Since then, women have been active in national politics and founded
the National Women's Party of Turkey in 1972 and the Women's Party in 2014.
There has been an increase in the number of women
elected to Parliament in recent decades. While in 1935 only 4.5% of lawmakers
were women, this share increased to nearly one in five legislators in 2019,
even with the number of lawmakers rising from 401 to 600. Today, there are 102
women lawmakers in the Turkish Grand National Assembly, just about 17% of
lawmakers. Although women have a relatively larger presence in Parliament, only
four out of 81 provincial mayors are women.
In a nutshell, though there have been improvements in
women’s representation, politics is still a man’s game in Turkey, which
reflects society’s perspective on female politicians as well.
Joni Lovenduski, a politics professor, says in her
2014 article titled "The Institutionalisation of Sexism in Politics"
that: "Female marginalization is hardwired into the traditional
institutions within which politics takes place." Similar to Lovenduski's
remarks, although more women are entering politics in Turkey, the fact that
they still carry the burden of gender roles determined by a patriarchal society
and in addition to those roles, try to survive in an environment like politics
built by men in accordance with male priorities, creates obstacles for women to
be a part of the decision-making processes. This masculine structure of the
politics and the obstacles it creates for women lead to the devaluation of
women in politics and eventually fuel toxic masculinity.
“In Turkey, female politicians still have a lot to
face as challenges. They are mostly seen as numbers to meet a gender quota.
This is valid for all the political parties,” Bilgin said, adding that the
insignificance imposed on female politicians also makes them an easy target in
the eyes of the public.
“Men in politics cannot be attacked this easily,” he
underlined.
Although the political realm seems to be collectively
condemning the insults targeting women, regardless of political affiliations,
one thing that came to the forefront during this period was women’s support for
each other.
Following each incident, most victims of the attacks
called each other for support, as well as other women in politics. For
instance, Albayrak received a call from SelviKılıçdaroğlu, the wife of main
opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, while
receiving support from Demirtaş as well.
"You will find all women side by side in the face
of attacks targeting women," CHP's Istanbul head CananKaftancıoğlu also
said on the attacks, while Akşener expressed: "It is shameful and immoral
to turn spouses, children and grandchildren into subjects of politics. Politics
cannot be done like this. It has nothing to do with humanity."
Women with headscarf under fire
Speaking on the attack on Albayrak, Zengin told
Turkish news channel A Haber that she does differentiate between people when it
comes to such attacks and tries to support whoever is at the receiving end.
"I have been attacked for a week now. A week
before, there was an incident about BaşakDemirtaş. We do not differentiate
between people regarding their political affiliations when it comes to such
attacks," she underlined. However, Zengin, who wears a headscarf (hijab),
also added that in her opinion, she did not receive enough support for the
insults she faces, unlike other women.
Many studies show that although the number of women in
politics continues to increase in many corners of the world, when it comes to
their publicity, mostly there appearances are a topic of discussion rather than
their policies. For instance, back in 2016, The Washington Post received major
criticism for mentioning Hillary Clinton's – who was a senator at that time –
neckline as sitting “low on her chest and had a subtle V-shape,” rather than
referring to her education policies. Similarly, The New York Times also made
headlines for criticizing the U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for aiming
to achieve reasonable price points for senior citizens while “looking
preternaturally fresh, with a wardrobe that, while still subdued and
over-reliant on suits, has seldom spruced the halls of Congress.”
Turkey's women in politics have also been objectified
according to their appearance rather than their policies. However, in contrast
to the U.S., many arguments on women's appearance in public spaces in Turkey
revolve around the long-debated headscarf.
"I believe such incidents (insults against women)
do not make the headlines at the same level for every woman. For instance, in
my opinion, conservative female politicians receive more backlash than others.
There are hundreds of victims such as ÖzlemZengin and EsraAlbayrak,"
Bilgin expressed, pointing at the different levels of publicity and backlash
that headscarf-wearing women and other women face in Turkey.
Bilgin expressed that since many people still have the
opinion that successful headscarf-wearing women do not deserve to be in the
positions they currently hold, they feel like they have the right to attack
them and consider this offensive behavior normal.
The issue of the headscarf ban held an important place
in public and political debates in Turkey throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
The headscarf ban in Turkey was first implemented
widely in the 1980s but became stricter after 1997 when the military forced the
conservative government to resign in an incident later dubbed the Feb. 28
"postmodern coup."
It was gradually lifted for students in universities
after 2010, while the ban for public employees was lifted in 2013.
The AK Party government led by then-Prime Minister
RecepTayyipErdoğan was a pioneer in terms of resolving the country's headscarf
dispute, which forced millions of Muslim women to choose between their faith
and their education or career.
Conservative men fail conservative women
However, the recent debates on insults targeting women
in politics also showed that, unlike the common assumption that opposition or
secular segments of society are the ones who leave women with headscarves
unsupported, conservative men, especially their fellow male politicians, were
also hesitant to back the women. The issue led to widespread disappointment and
reactions among conservative women, most of whom were among the circles close
to the AK Party.
FatmanurAltun, head of the Turkish Youth and Education
Service Foundation (TÜRGEV), accused conservative men of being the "first
ones to leave" when it comes to defending conservative women, while many
others stated that most conservative men who rightfully supported Demirtaş
against the attackers failed to do the same when it came to conservative women.
"This is not something new," Bilgin said.
"It has been the same since Feb.28, 1997. At that time, when women were
not allowed to go to universities, men from the same circles did not hesitate
to receive their education. This problem still persists in conservative
political groups," he said, emphasizing that women with headscarves still
tend to be seen as second class citizens, even by conservative men.
Pointing out that, according to statistics, the AK
Party receives more votes from women than men, Bilgin expressed that the lack
of support for women from their own circle is worrying for the party's future
since women would eventually resent that.
"Still, I believe that Erdoğan is aware of this
situation and would take measures to prevent it," he indicated. He also
criticized the opposition circles for having a "colonialist" attitude
toward headscarf-wearing women since they position themselves as the
"Westerners," which results in hate crimes.
People harsher on social media
This series of incidents has also become one of the
underlying factors behind the AK Party's newly released social media
regulation. The regulation, which was announced by Erdoğan Wednesday, suggests
social accounts based on real personalities, avoiding the use of fake accounts
while urging social media companies to open offices in Turkey. The regulation
aims to hold social media attackers accountable for their crimes with more
efficiency in taking action against them.
"People are more comfortable on social media.
This is a fact," Arslanbenzer said.
"It is not a public space. You do not have a
physical appearance. Besides, there is a difference between real accounts and
fake accounts," she continued.
In Arslanbenzer's opinion, there is a major difference
between having a face-to-face relationship and having a social media
interaction.
"Since there is no real encounter on social
media, people feel free to express whatever goes through their minds. This
makes ideological differences much more apparent in social media," she
continued, highlighting that most people would not express their thoughts in
such a harsh manner in real life. Besides, since there is no face-to-face
interaction there are no emotional expressions available to ease a possible
debate, instead, disagreements are fueled through harsher words. There are also
almost no repercussions for any assault on social media, which makes attackers
more confident.
When social media first emerged as a concrete
platform, mainly through Facebook, many pundits believed it could be better for
democracy since it connects people. However, today's social media proves that
online political debates are far from civil discussions, with views expressed
in more extreme ways.
Social psychologist Mark Leary introduced the concept
of "sociometer" to define anxiety related to how we are perceived by
others and claimed that rather than self-esteem, people are looking to become
more "desirable" by receiving peers' approval. When in everyday life,
this approval can come from a few people around us; on social media, there are
millions to dole it out. Many studies show that, though small circles in real
life will label a person "undesirable" for his or her inappropriate
behavior, as the number of people increases, the possibility of gaining
approval for your inappropriate behavior also increases. A 2017 study by Pew
research center shows that posts with more radical disagreements receive twice
as much engagement from social media users, urging many to act in an extreme
manner on social media platforms for the sake of gaining the approval of
others.
https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/news-analysis/sexist-attacks-against-women-in-turkish-politics-reveal-resistance-to-social-change
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Mobile App To Boost Role Of Women In Peace Processes
Launched By Political Settlements Research Programme
3 July 2020
The Political Settlements Research Programme (PSRP)
has launched a new mobile app to help embed women’s rights in peace
negotiations in the Arab world and beyond.
PSRP researchers joined with those from the Monash
University in Australia and Inclusive Peace in Geneva to develop the data and
technology to provide vital information on gender issues for those mediating
peace processes.
The PeaceFem app brings together data on women and
peacemaking in one app in English and Arabic.
UN Women – the body within the United Nations that
globally champions gender equality – supported the team on the development of
the app and the idea that all parts of an affected society should be included
in its peace process.
The project contributes to the United Nations Security
Council’s call for greater awareness of gender issues in peace negotiations.
Experts say that including an explicit reference to
women’s rights in peace agreements recognises the importance of women for
social cohesion and ensures that the process of rebuilding a society is fully
representative.
Using data from the PA-X database, the app provides
information on 30 peace processes where gender inclusion was a key feature of
the peace settlement. Users can search by region, country, and peace agreement.
It also contains a fully searchable library of case
studies that showcase the strategies used to include women in peace provision,
the enabling or limiting factors and the agreements that resulted.
Rachel Dore-Weeks, head of UN Women Lebanon, said:
“COVID-19 has served as a reminder to us of the importance of adapting and
finding new ways of connecting, and of sharing and accessing information. This
app is an important contribution to redefining how we work on peacemaking in
the Arab region, and for taking down barriers that have restricted access to
information in the Arab World and beyond.”
Professor Christine Bell, director of the Global
Justice Academy, said: “When the Second World War ended, the soldier given the
task of drafting the surrender agreement with Germany immediately turned to
past peace documents to help him in his drafting.
“Our experience is that in ending conflict today,
parties often find looking at similar documents helpful. This app aims to
support women in mediation processes to have access to this information very
quickly.
“We hope it will provide wider inspiration to those
seeking imaginative solutions to the conflicts they face, to see the role that
women have played. We are also very proud to have collaborated with
researchers, practitioners, policy-makers, and tech-experts to develop the
app.”
https://www.scottishlegal.com/article/psrp-launches-mobile-app-to-boost-role-of-women-in-peace-processes
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KPMG announced as top-tier partner of Women 20
Engagement Group
July 3, 2020
RIYADH — Women 20 (W20), an official G20 engagement
group established during the 2015 Turkish presidency and KPMG, leading provider
of audit, tax, and advisory services in Saudi Arabia, are delighted to announce
their partnership as part of the G20 Saudi Presidency year.
In the lead up to the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Riyadh in
November 2020, W20 will formulate concrete actionable policy recommendations to
advance gender equality in G20 negotiations, to be unanimously agreed upon by
international delegates from all G20 member states. These will form the basis
of a communiqué to G20 Leaders to foster gender equality and women’s economic
empowerment.
They will also host a number of expert meetings,
roundtables and dialogues virtually in Saudi Arabia, which KPMG will support and
sponsor, most notably the Women 20 Summit in October 2020. These events include
a W20-Alnahda Majlis, which took place on June 24 at which Ms.KholoudMousa,
partner & head of diversity & inclusion at KPMG in Saudi Arabia,
participated as a panelist.
The partnership will also allow both parties to work
together to promote the efforts and core focus areas of W20: Digital inclusion,
financial inclusion, labor inclusion and inclusive decision-making, with
women’s entrepreneurship as a cross cutting topic. This is particularly
pertinent for KPMG, Saudi, as pioneers in hiring women globally, and whose
percentage of female representation has steadily increased over the last five
years.
Women 20 Sherpa Salma Al Rashid announced the
partnership: “Women 20 is delighted that KPMG Saudi are joining as a top tier
partner for our important work this year. KPMG has a clear commitment to
improving the rights for and mobility of women through women’s participation in
the workforce. This is a positive time for women’s empowerment in Saudi Arabia,
and the region. We want to continue that momentum throughout the G20
Presidency.”
Commenting on the partnership with W20,
Ms.KholoudMousa expanded: “This strategic partnership comes in the context of
KPMG’s continuous endeavor to enable national cadres, Saudi women in
particular, to contribute to enhancing the developmental role and benefit from
the national expertise and capabilities. These dialogue sessions of W20 aim to
address different fields that may contribute to integrating and enabling Saudi
women in different fields.”
“Our participation in and support of these sessions
reflect our consolidated commitment to supporting the events that enhance the
efforts in contributing practically to the promotion of the status of women
with regard to the economy and investment are at the heart of the agenda of G20
this year,” Kholoud added. — SG
https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/595072/BUSINESS/KPMG-announced-as-top-tier-partner-of-Women-20-Engagement-Group
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