Saudi Street Style Book ‘Under the Abaya’ Celebrates Women’s Empowerment
New Age Islam News Bureau
30
Jun 2020
The shocking attack which was caught on camera saw the woman kicked in the chest by the man
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•
A Woman Was Violently Kicked by A Man While Dancing at An Event in Pakistan
•
First Female Lifeguards of Istanbul Start Job
•
Afghan Women Leaders Seek Technical Assistance from Pakistan
•
Safe Spaces for Women: Yet Another Sexual Harassment Scandal in The Educational
Institutes of Lahore
•
Woman Gets Notice for Asking Mosque to Lower Volume
•
Malaysian Singer Fynn Jamal: Women Ignite Men’s Lust Posing Provocatively;
Victim-Blaming And #Metoo Just ‘Western Concepts’
•
A New Docuseries Looks at How Women of Colour Rewrote the Political Playbook In
2018
•
France’s ‘Hip’ Female Rabbi Draws Muslims, Christians And Jews In A Time of
Crisis
•
Female Trump Appointee Has Said Women Shouldn’t Hold Public Office, Denounced
Liberal Democracy
•
Women’s Voices Key ToCOVID-19 Recovery Plans
•
Nissan Saudi Arabia Celebrates Women’s Accomplishments With #Shedrives Campaign
•
Woman in Dubai Drives Car into Sea After Receiving Bad News on Phone
•
Activists Press for Tougher Penalties Against Female Genital Mutilation inEgypt
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/saudi-street-style-book-under/d/122253
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Saudi
Street Style Book ‘Under the Abaya’ Celebrates Women’s Empowerment
June
27, 2020
DUBAI:
Saudi Arabia’s first-ever street style book launched by Saudi entrepreneur and
industry leader MarriamMossalli, “Under the Abaya: Street Style from Saudi
Arabia,” is groundbreaking in its exposure of the Kingdom’s unique fashion
scene, still little-known outside the country. While the first edition offered
an introduction to progressive Saudi women, the second sheds light on their
challenges and aspirations through the lens of fashion.
The
book launched June 24, the same day Saudi Arabia lifted the ban on women
driving one year prior.
“What
better day to launch our book than on the anniversary of this historic move
toward gender equality,” said Mossalli. “It is a celebration of female
empowerment in its purest form, as it allows the women of Saudi Arabia the
opportunity to narrate their own stories through authentic representations of
themselves.”
Since
founding Niche Arabia in 2011, a luxury consultancy firm based in Saudi Arabia,
Mossalli has become one of the Kingdom’s most recognized female voices in
fashion and luxury.
“What
I love most about ‘Under the Abaya’ is that it is the definition of women
supporting women,” Mossalli said. “A hundred percent of the proceeds will go
toward granting scholarships so that young women can pursue their dreams of
higher education.”
LUX,
one of Unilever’s largest beauty and personal care brands, is the exclusive
sponsor of the book.
“LUX
is honored to partner with ‘Under the Abaya’ to shine a spotlight on inspiring
Saudi women,” said SeverineVauleon, global brand vice president, LUX. “We
believe in the undying spirit of women everywhere who take pride and pleasure
in their beauty and never let judgments hold them back; a woman’s beauty is
also an expression of her spirit, of who she is, of what she thinks, does and
accomplishes.”
Saudia
Arabia’s first female Ambassador to the United States, Princess Reema bint
Bandar Al-Saud, authored the forward of the book. Princess Reema has long been
dedicated to women’s empowerment in the Kingdom.
In
2013, she founded Alf Khair, a social enterprise dedicated to providing access
to opportunities for Saudi women by offering them professional guidance. She
also co-founded the Zahra Breast Cancer Awareness Association.
“‘Under
the Abaya’ encapsulates a desire to tell stories, and access or create
opportunities,” writes Princess Reema in the foreword. “The project’s
principles are an example of women supporting women.”
The
role of women has become a key feature of Saudi Vision 2030. The plan aims to
have women play a greater role in society and seeks to raise female
participation in the workforce from 22 percent to 30 percent.
“Young
women are under a lot of pressure due to social media and expectations,” said
HayaSawan, a Saudi fitness trainer and healthy lifestyle enthusiast who is
profiled in the book. “We as women should ensure that we raise our daughters in
a way so as to encourage their inner beauty and cultivate their skills. We need
to embrace the younger generations and accept them for who they are and not for
what is required or expected of them. Be strong and beautiful.”
Saudi
actress, director and writer Fatima Al-Banawi, who also features in the
"Under the Abaya," spoke about the judgments placed on women: "I
believe we need to talk about these things and be aware of them because these
experiences shape us, whether we are the ones judging or receiving judgement.
Judgments come from incomplete stories and as humans, we love making
stories."
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1696216/lifestyle
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A
Woman Was Violently Kicked by A Man While Dancing at An Event in Pakistan
29
June 2020
A
woman was violently kicked by a man while dancing at an event in Pakistan.
The
shocking attack which was caught on camera saw the woman kicked in the chest by
the man who had reportedly taken issue with the way she was dancing.
The
disturbing clip has since been shared widely online.
Footage
shows the woman dancing to music as guests sit and watch her.
Suddenly
the perpetrator appears from the sidelines holding a Fanta bottle and raises
his leg to kick her forcefully in the chest.
The
victim falls backwards out of view.
In
the aftermath of the incident, another man at the event is seen approaching the
perpetrator.
According
to a Pakistani media report, the man justified his actions by saying: 'It is
not permissible for a girl to dance in front of others in this disgraceful
way!'
It
is unclear whether the man faced repercussions.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8469981/Shocking-moment-dancer-brutally-kicked-Pakistan.html
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First Female Lifeguards of Istanbul Start Job
June
29 2020
The
first female lifeguards employed in Turkey’s biggest metropolis have started
working, Istanbul Mayor Ekremİmamoğlu has announced.
“More
women will be in every workplace of the municipality,” İmamoğlu wrote on his
Twitter account, wishing the first three female lifeguards success.
The
lifeguards, DoğaYağcı, EkinÖztürk and KübraÇakır, will be on guard in the
public beaches of Çatalca and Riva, two resorts on the Black Sea shore of
Istanbul.
Yağcı
said she felt happy to have been given the chance to work as a lifeguard.
“The
number of female lifeguards in Turkey is very low. But there must be no
discrimination between men and women at work, because a woman can do anything,”
she said.
“I
love my job. We save people. We save lives.”
https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/first-female-lifeguards-of-istanbul-start-job-156123
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Afghan
Women Leaders Seek Technical Assistance from Pakistan
Myra
Imran
June
16, 2020
Islamabad:Recent
developments such as the appointment of former Ambassador Mohammad Sadiq as
Pakistan’s special envoy to Kabul and close alignment of both countries on the
peace process shows that Pak-Afghan relationships are moving in the direction.
This
was stated by Mehnaz Akbar Aziz, Member of the Parliament, Pakistan, while
speaking to distinguished Pak-Afghan delegates, in a virtual cross-border
women’s dialogue on ‘Socio-Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Women in Pakistan and
Afghanistan’.
The
dialogue was organized by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS),
as part of its Pakistan-Afghanistan Track 1.5/II diplomacy – Beyond Boundaries.
ShinkaiKarokhail, senior Afghan politician and rights activist, stated that
COVID-19’s impact has doubled or tripled women’s responsibilities in
Afghanistan and it will slow down the access of girls to education even more.
It is feared that because of the economic impact of COVID-19, families will
further prioritize educating boys rather than girls, while the number of out of
school children is feared to increase – especially the number of girls.
Earlier,
ImtiazGul, Executive Director CRSS, stated that adding the women component in
Beyond Boundaries is good way of building on what CRSS has been doing since
2015.
MuzammilShinwari,
who heads the organization for Economic Studies and Peace (OESP) - counterpart
of CRSS in Afghanistan, enunciated that Pakistan has a good experience in
distant learning such as Virtual University and Allama Iqbal Open University of
Pakistan.
Later
on, after a comprehensive discussion on the socio-economic impact of COVID-19
on women in both countries, AmmaraDurrani, who was moderating the session,
along with CRSS team, penned the following joint policy recommendations, which
were proposed by the delegates on both sides.
Formulation
of a Pak-Afghan Bilateral Women Commission in which women leaders from all
sectors come together to address and resolve current challenges faced by women
in both countries through collaborative measures via this platform. Considering
the current COVID-19 situation, personal and household hygiene awareness needs
to be raised by government agencies, media, civil society platforms and donor organizations.
In addition, personal hygiene kits can be provided to those in need.
Furthermore,
participants recommended that, as during the pandemic domestic abuse has been
on the rise in both countries, females in Afghanistan can also avail the
e-medical and psychotherapy services provided by Pakistan to get help and
awareness on how to deal in this difficult time. Also, Afghanistan can also
adopt the same model on their online platforms.
Representatives
of Islamabad Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry (IWCCI) extended their
offer to Afghanistan Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry (AWCCI) to
provide e-commerce training services, particularly on how to digitalize
businesses using online platforms to Afghan businesswomen in order to enhance
their skill development and help expand their businesses.
Inclusion
of women leaders/activists in the peace process for their first-hand
representation as they constitute 46% of the Afghan population and can best
voice their issues on their behalf. Currently, there is limited women
representation in the peace process but the participants urged to increase the
numbers as well as engage women activists from all sectors of the Afghan
society. Furthermore, participants urged there should be women representation
from the Taliban side as well in the intra-Afghan talks to include their
voices.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/673207-afghan-women-leaders-seek-technical-assistance-from-pakistan
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Safe
Spaces for Women: Yet Another Sexual Harassment Scandal in The Educational
Institutes of Lahore
By
Ayesha Bibi
Jun
30, 2020
LAHORE:
Two days ago, yet another sexual harassment scandal in the educational
institutes of Lahore surfaced on social media.
This
time, students from a private school, renown for catering to the elites of the
city, broke their silence about the various forms of harassment, especially
sexual, by three faculty members as well as intimidation and cover-up by the
school administration itself.
The
girls, including both current and former students of LGS 1/A-1 publically,
narrated how incident after the incident took place over the course of years
while the principal continued to shove things under the carpet by gaslighting
the victims.
This
was not an isolated instance. A few days ago, female students of the Lahore
University of Management Sciences (LUMS), another elite private sector
educational institution hailed as the ‘Harvard’ of Pakistan came forward in a
private Facebook group with similar complaints of systemic predatory behaviour
within the student body.
To
the naked eye, both these incidents can be seen as one of the many little waves
of the #Metoo movement in Pakistan, however, look closely and the systematic
abuse of authority, use of victim shaming as an intimidation tool and
incompetency of administrations lead to only one overwhelming truth:
educational institutions in Pakistan have never been safe spaces for women.
Talking
to Pakistan Today, a student from FC College, Ayesha Ali, opined why harassment
continues to take place on campuses. “These incidents happen because men have
enjoyed the fruits of oppression of women for so long that they know little to
no harm will befall them if they prey on women or even young girls in any
space, educational institutes included”.
“The
power dynamics between male-female relationships have always been skewed in
favour of the male. Be it a faculty member or a fellow student, it is a known
fact that the management of educational institutions will either try to bin the
claims altogether or make efforts for a cover-up to avoid accountability at a
personal and collective level,” she went on to state.
The
debate of whether the private sector in Pakistan is providing a high-quality
service which the public sector has never been capable of or is it operated on
a strictly money-making model is a long and old one which has established that
any threat to the reputation of a private educational institute harms potential
income generation.
Anmol
Zahra, a former student of LGS 1/A-1 testified that the school administration
did, in fact, have a toxic attitude towards any complaint that could highlight
their incompetency and complacency.
“I
personally did not experience any sexual harassment in school, however, the
absolute authority and lack of accountability which is enjoyed by the
management of the A-levels section ruined my batch’s high school experience.
The blatant misuse of authority, slut-shaming of students as well as the
coordinator’s mindset of how young girls should act is what normalised the
conditions in which these harassers felt emboldened,” she told Pakistan Today.
“LGS
1/A-1‘s school psychologist would ask girls, “do you have a boyfriend?” if they
ever tried to talk to her,” said one user on Twitter.
What
is interesting about the most recent LGS scandal is that the students
repeatedly approached the school admin with complaints as well as evidence
being sexually violated at the hands of three male faculty members.
These
ignored complaints, made over the course of years, became so normalised that
some parents warned their girls to be careful while the students began mocking
the incidents in annual farewells.
So,
why wasn’t any action ever taken?
Alina,
a former student from FC College, who did not want to share her full name,
explained, “it is important to realise that in the case of LGS 1/A-1, a system
which was already in place i.e. the school management, failed its students”.
She
stressed that it is important to make a collaborative effort and come up with
solutions which correct the loopholes in our system.
“It
is important to equip women with tools to combat harassment, but it is also
equally important to make conscious steps towards providing necessary training
to sensitise the faculty besides creating a strong system which deals with such
issues in all educational spaces,” she concluded.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/06/29/safe-spaces-for-women-a-myth-in-pakistan/
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Woman
Gets Notice for Asking Mosque to Lower Volume
Vijay
Kumar Yadav
Jun
30, 2020
The
city police have sent a warning notice to KarishmaBhosale, a Mankhurd resident,
who recently visited a local mosque to request them to lower the volume of
Azaan played at the mosque.
After
her video went viral on social media last week, it led to controversy over
Bhosale’s action. Later, she claimed she was being bullied by locals.
Inspector
Kishore Kharat, in-charge of Mankhurd police station, has sent a notice under
section 149 (cognisable offences) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC)
addressed to her mother VarshaBhosale on June 24, the day of the incident.
The
notice, a copy of which is with HT, stated it was inappropriate for her to
visit the mosque and that she should have approached the police first with any
grievance that she may have had. It also added that her going to the mosque and
requesting them to lower the volume could have led to a law and order
situation.
The
mother-daughter duo has been asked to abide by the rules, failing which they
could be booked for going against the notice and face charges under section 188
(disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal
Code.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/woman-gets-notice-for-asking-mosque-to-lower-volume/story-ij7TsBytEUfk5WMLr4mrJN.html
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Malaysian
Singer Fynn Jamal: Women Ignite Men’s Lust Posing Provocatively; Victim-Blaming
And #Metoo Just ‘Western Concepts’
29
Jun 2020
By
Melanie Chalil
PETALING
JAYA, June 29 —Social media users have lashed out at YouTube vlogger and singer
Fynn Jamal for suggesting that women who used face filter apps provoked men to
commit sexual assault.
When
discussing the subject of rape on Instagram Stories, Fynn drew the public’s
wrath after claiming that women were to blame for posting selfies or photos
enhanced by face filters because it “ignited men’s lust”.
“It
doesn’t necessarily mean you will be raped but a woman near him may be a victim
of his lust,” she wrote recently.
Fynn,
who was responding to an Instagram user’s comments on educating followers on
the issue of rape, also said in her reply that victim-blaming was a Western
concept along with the #MeToo movement, the global campaign against sexual
harassment and sexual violence.
In
another Instagram Story post, Fynn opined that a woman may be dressed modestly
but how they posed for pictures on social media had an impact on other women
who could be a potential target for rape.
“That’s
because there are women who wear tudung but take pictures as if they’re cats in
heat,” she wrote.
“So
others who wear tudung become victims.”
She
went on to criticise women who uploaded “cute pictures”, saying they should
stop pretending that such poses were innocent but were taken with the intention
of attracting the opposite sex.
ZahirahHusna
who shared Fynn’s response on Twitter received over 21,000 retweets and
hundreds of comments.
“So
men are allowed to rape because it’s all women’s fault?” wrote @zulaikhaaina.
Fynn’s
controversial views also prompted rapper Caprice to seek an explanation from
her – the two exchanged views on the matter via Instagram Live on Saturday night.
In
the session, Fynn defended her views that using TikTok, facial filters and face
enhancement apps contributed to sex crimes.
“Do
you believe that all women get made up for men? My mum puts makeup on not for
my dad but to look and feel good.
“But
when you make the connection that using face filters leads to rape, I’m
confused,” Caprice said.
Although
the two did not reach an agreement, Caprice told followers there was no
animosity between them and that he only wanted to understand where she was coming
from.
“I
cannot accept the link between rape cases being committed due to the usage of
filters on Instagram.
“I’m
sorry if you disagree, a crime is a crime no matter how you look at it,”
Caprice said.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/showbiz/2020/06/29/malaysian-singer-fynn-jamal-women-ignite-mens-lust-through-face-filters-pos/1879857
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A
New Docuseries Looks at How Women of Colour Rewrote the Political Playbook In
2018
By
Vanessa Williams
June
29, 2020
About
US is an initiative by The Washington Post to explore issues of identity in the
United States. Sign up for the newsletter.
This
November’s presidential election, in which the two major candidates are
70-plus-year-old white men, stands in stark contrast to the political field two
years ago, when women representing black, Latino, Asian American and Muslim
communities were the stars of the 2018 midterm elections.
Women
of color, relying mostly on grass-roots support and their own grit, defied the
odds and broke barriers, winning a record number of seats in Congress and
increasing participation among voters who often feel uninspired by electoral
politics.
A
new documentary set to premiere Monday night on PBS looks back at the efforts
of a half-dozen female candidates of color, including Georgia Democrat Stacey
Abrams, who became the first black woman to win a major-party nomination for
governor. She fell 55,000 votes short of becoming the nation’s first black
female governor.
The
film, “And She Could Be Next,” comes out at a time when activists are pushing
presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to pick a woman of color
to be his running mate.
“We’re
thrilled this moment is happening,” said MarjanSafinia, one of the filmmakers.
“We had women of color run to be the top of the ticket. Maybe we will get one
as vice president.”
But
more important, she said, is the organizing that the women in the film, and
others like them, are doing around the country to prepare voters of color to
wield the political power that they could gain as a result of continuing
demographic changes.
“The
idea of people of color being on the precipice of becoming the majority, and at
the same time these candidates who share their lived experiences running for
office to shape policies that will reflect the needs of their communities, is
igniting the power of the vote and the power of civic engagement,” Safinia
said.
Ava
DuVernay is executive producer of the two-part series, which airs Monday and
Tuesday nights. In addition to Abrams, the documentary chronicles the campaigns
of three women who were elected to the House in 2018: Veronica Escobar
(D-Tex.), Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) and RashidaTlaib (D-Mich.). It also follows Maria
Elena Durazo, a union organizer who won a seat in the California State Senate,
and BushraAmiwala, a 19-year-old college student who ran a spirited but
unsuccessful campaign for the Cook County Board of Commissioners in Skokie,
Ill.
Only
one of the women featured in the film is not running for office: NseUfot,
executive director of the New Georgia Project. But her efforts to register
voters and help them navigate the process of casting a ballot are depicted as
equally important. The New Georgia Project was founded in 2014 by Abrams, when
she was Democratic leader of the Georgia House of Representatives.
Abrams
is no longer affiliated with the group, but has created a new organization to
protect voting rights and increase participation by communities in the census.
Grace
Lee, who partnered with Safinia on the project, said a central theme of the
documentary is that “there is an organizer in all of us. That comes across when
you watch the film and get to see, literally, organizers knocking on doors to
get people to the polls” to vote for candidates who would hopefully better
represent their needs and interests. “You don’t have to run for office, just
get involved in whatever issue is important to you and your community, whether
it’s defunding the police or schools. People are inspired by seeing regular
people out there taking action.”
The
film explores the backstory of McBath, whose 17-year-old son, Jordan, was
fatally shot in 2012 by a man who argued with a group of teens over loud music
coming from their car. She left her job at Delta Air Lines to become a national
spokeswoman for Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action. McBath decided
to run for Congress after the 2018 mass shooting that killed 17 students and teachers
at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
Political
handicappers gave McBath, an African American Democrat, little chance of
winning Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, a seat that had been held by
Republicans for nearly four decades, including at one time by former House
speaker Newt Gingrich. But McBath’s compelling case for protecting children
from gun violence helped her connect with suburban white mothers, and her
willingness to reach out to long-ignored voters of color enabled her to eke out
a win over Republican Karen Handel in 2018. McBath is running for reelection
this year and will again face Handel in the general election.
Viewers
in Georgia will have to wait until after November to see the documentary on TV.
Georgia Public Broadcasting and Atlanta Public Broadcasting, citing the FCC’s
equal time rule, said it would be unfair to McBath’s opponent to show the
program. It is available for streaming at pbs.org.
Before
becoming, along with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), one of the first two Muslim
women to serve in Congress, Tlaib had been a fixture at demonstrations in
Detroit. She was arrested at a rally calling for higher wages for airport
workers just a month before her historic election. Escobar, who represents El
Paso, had been a longtime immigration reform activist. She and Rep. Sylvia
Garcia, a Democrat representing Houston, became the first two Latinas elected
to Congress from Texas in 2018.
The
first two Native American women — ShariceDavids (D-Kan.) and Deb Haaland (D-N.M.)
— also were elected to Congress in 2018, along with several other young liberal
women of color who challenged the conventions and politics of the institution.
Among the more outspoken were Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ayanna
Pressley (D-Mass.), who along with Tlaib and Omar were referred to as “the
Squad” for clashing with both their party leaders and the Trump administration
on such issues as health care, the environment and impeachment.
Women
of color, who are about 20 percent of the U.S. population, remain
underrepresented in elected office, accounting for 8.8 percent of Congress,
said Kelly Dittmar, an associate professor of political science at Rutgers
University and senior scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at
the school’s Eagleton Institute of Politics. Overall, women are 50.8 percent of
the U.S. population and make up almost a quarter of the 535 members of
Congress.
Dittmar
said there is “value in seeing women who have taken on candidacy and how they
do it, both the challenges and the successes, to hopefully inspire other women
to throw their hats in the ring.”
“But
then I think the documentary goes beyond that in tying candidacy and activism,”
Dittmar continued. “What I like about it is it highlights the work of women
activists as candidates and how activism and advocacy can translate into
candidacy, and that’s the translation we need to happen in order to expand the
pool of women candidates and women of color candidates and officeholders.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/29/new-docuseries-looks-how-women-color-rewrote-political-playbook-2018/
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France’s
‘hip’ female rabbi draws Muslims, Christians and Jews in a time of crisis
June
29, 2020
Julia
Lieblich
(RNS)
— On Tuesday nights at 8:30 p.m., tens of thousands of people throughout France
— believers and non-believers, Jews, Muslims and Christians — log on to
Facebook to hear the nation’s foremost female rabbi discuss the intersection of
racism and anti-Semitism and help them make sense of a modern plague.
“We
are in a moment of extreme vulnerability when life and death hold hands,” said
Rabbi DelphineHorvilleur, known for her original interpretations of Biblical
texts, psychoanalytic thought, art and poetry. “Some people will use this
moment to create a bubble of protection, to close borders and embrace
ideologies of contamination that demonize people. But what is the meaning of my
life if confinement makes me blind to the other?”
Horvilleur,
45, who has been called a rock star in a leather jacket, is a former model who
has appeared on the cover of French Elle. The wild curls framing her face have
been compared to the sidelocks of Hasidic Jews. She finds the descriptions
amusing insofar as they counter stereotypes and help her reach audiences across
cultures.
“I’m
trying to create bridges between worlds that have stopped talking to each
other,” she said. “I’m trying to create links between words and worlds.”
Horvilleur
is also known as the rare public intellectual who has brought faith into the
conversation in a country committed to laicité, or secularism. And though she
is also one of the few progressive rabbis in France’s overwhelmingly Orthodox
Jewish community, she has become a leader of a growing movement of Jews from
all denominations. Less an activist who urges congregants to take to the
streets to protest injustice, she is a purveyor of ideas and a presenter of
possibilities in the tradition of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre.
Horvilleur
calls herself a storyteller, one who believes that “God has a good sense of
humor." What could be more absurd than the pregnancy of 89-year-old Sarah,
she asked, or the Hebrews walking for 40 years to reach a nearby destination?
The underlying point to her humor, however, seems to be to encourage resiliency
over despair.
The
granddaughter of Czechoslovakian Holocaust survivors, she went to Israel at 17
to study medicine and wrestle with the tension between distinctly Jewish and
universal ideas. She began to study Talmud and fell in love with “the sacred
exercise of interpretation.” Later, she moved to New York to study for the
rabbinate at the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College.
Today,
she is a leader of the largest liberal congregation in France, with more than
2,500 families. For more than a decade, she has published Tenou’a — Hebrew for
movement — a magazine of art and Jewish thought that covers such issues as
immigration and LGBTQ rights.
The
role of religion in a time of crisis, she said, is to help people understand
the past, interpret the present and think about the future. She rejects what
she calls a religion of nostalgia that idealizes the past and seeks to recreate
a world we once knew.
The
Hebrew Bible, she said, is full of stories of leaders like Abraham, who were
called to leave their birthplace to journey to an unknown region. “We are who
we are because we were willing to go on another path. Judaism is a religion of
becoming.”
She
understands God the way the Jewish mystics do: as infinite and impossible to
describe in words and she is less concerned about what people believe than how
they act.
One
of only four female rabbis in France, she said that women have been shut out of
the questioning that is a pillar of Judaism. The presence of women enables both
men and women to read text differently, hear the voices of secondary characters
and sometimes abandon old ideas. “You need to be unfaithful enough to our
tradition to be truly faithful,” she said. “It’s an absolute paradox in our
religion.”
As
protests over police killings of African Americans have spread to the streets
of France, Horvilleur reminded her listeners that racism goes back to biblical
days. When Moses married an unnamed Black wife, his older sister, Miriam,
gossiped about the woman’s race, and God struck her with leprosy. This story,
Horvilleur said, shows how difficult it is to banish the ghosts that continue
to haunt us. “What do these ghosts have to teach us and why are we so reluctant
to let them go?”
“(Sigmund)
Freud said the only way you know you have changed is when you react to the same
situation differently,” noted Horvilleur, whose most recent book, "The
Rabbi and the Psychoanalyst," about religious and psychoanalytic
interpretation, will appear in France in September.
Her
popularity may be explained, in part, by an irresistible hopefulness in dark
days. As people emerge from lockdown in France, she envisions a “messianic
moment” — not the end times, she said, “but when something happens in our life
that is totally unexpected and creates the opportunity to reinterpret our daily
experience.”
She
hopes that moment will encourage dialogue between Muslims and Jews, which she
has fostered through interfaith talks and a book she co-authored with
French-Moroccan political scientist RachidBenzine, "A Thousand Ways to Be
Jewish or Muslim."
“The
virus travels very fast,” she said. “We need to find ways to connect our
narratives and experience to travel even faster."
The
only line Horvilleur is wary of crossing, it seems, is that between religion
and politics, given that the French expect a clear separation between church
and state. When she objected publicly to Jerusalem being used as a political
pawn after the United States moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the
small, right-wing extremist group, the French Jewish Defense League, accused
her of ”stabbing Israel in the back” despite her deep attachment to the nation.
But
she is beginning to receive surprising acceptance from more conservative Jews
in France and was recently invited to participate in a ZOOM conversation with
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, a prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbi who lives in an Israeli
settlement.
“He
looks more like a rabbi than I do with his long, long white beard,” she said,
smiling.
Although
they disagree about whether women should be allowed to be rabbis, they talked
civilly, even warmly, about such topics as how to balance communal and
individual selves, convincing Rabbi Horvilleur of the possibility of building
bridges even during a pandemic.
“We
have a shared heritage that allows us to listen to one another with humility,”
she said. “Such dialogue is what we dearly need in this time of brokenness.”
https://religionnews.com/2020/06/29/frances-hip-female-rabbi-draws-muslims-christians-and-jews-in-a-time-of-crisis/
--------
Female
Trump Appointee Has Said Women Shouldn’t Hold Public Office, Denounced Liberal
Democracy
Jun
30, 2020
TOPLINE
Merritt Corrigan, who was recently appointed by President Trump as the White
House’s deputy liaison to the U.S. Agency for International Development, has a
history of offensive comments about women, Muslims and the LGBTQ community, and
has denounced liberal democracy while praising Hungarian strongman Viktor
Orban, according to several reports.
KEY
FACTS
In
online posts, Corrigan praised Orban, the far-right, anti-Muslim authoritarian
prime minister of Hungary, as a “shining champion of Western Civilization,”
when she worked at the U.S. embassy in Hungary, according to a ProPublica
report.
“Liberal
democracy is little more than a front for the war being waged against us by
those who fundamentally despise not only our way of life, but life itself,”
Corrigan wrote in another post.
Corrigan
also slammed Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) for supporting same-sex marriage,
calling it a “sick statement,” and arguing it’s “exactly why women shouldn’t be
in office. They always advocate for themselves at the expense of men,”
according to a report from CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski and Nathan McDermott.
Kaczynski
and McDermott also uncovered tweets in which Corrigan expressed support for
far-right European political parties like France’s National Front and Germany’s
AfD, called for “mass deportations” of Muslim refugees, and slammed the
Republican party for its “tacit endorsement of the gay agenda.”
Corrigan
has also espoused hardline anti-feminist views, calling for the establishment
of a “Christian Patriarchy” and arguing that it’s wrong to “empower” women and
tell them they are equal to men.
Corrigan’s
extreme views, and those of Bethany Kozma and Mark Lloyd, have reportedly
evoked outcry from her USAID colleagues, causing an internal revolt within the
agency, but Acting USAID Administrator John Barsa put out a statement defending
the appointees and slamming articles about them as “unwarranted and malicious
attacks.”
CHIEF
CRITIC
USAID
spokesperson PoojaJhunjhunwala, in a statement in response to the ProPublica
report, said the agency had a "zero-tolerance policy of any form of
discrimination or harassment based on gender, race, sexual orientation,
religion or any other possible distinguishing characteristic that can define
any of us."
TANGENT
As
of now, Corrigan’s Twitter account is set to private, and she has removed
phrases like “conservative nationalist” and “Make Europe Great Again” from her
bio, leaving only “[retweets] ≠ endorsements”
NEWS
PEG
The
revelations about Corrigan come at an inflection point over race in America.
Trump has been repeatedly slammed for his handling of the protests and civil
unrest in response to the death of George Floyd. Polls taken earlier this month
have found that as few as 33% of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of the
death and the protests, which have been dragging down his overall poll numbers.
Trump’s weakness on these increasingly critical issues may come back to bite
him in November.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/06/29/female-trump-appointee-has-said-women-shouldnt-hold-public-office-denounced-liberal-democracy/#661aa3161a65
--------
Women’s
Voices Key To COVID-19 Recovery Plans
KERRY
BOYD ANDERSON
June
29, 2020
While
the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is causing suffering around the
world, some groups of people are more vulnerable to its impact. Although men
clearly have a higher mortality rate from COVID-19 than women, women and girls
are still bearing the brunt of the impact in many ways. As an April UN report
noted, “even the limited gains made” in increased rights and opportunities for
women “in the past decades are at risk of being rolled back.”
The
pandemic is posing particular challenges for women and girls in terms of health
and safety, the increased care burden, and the economic impact.
Women
are often more likely than men to be front-line workers in the pandemic,
increasing their potential exposure. Women make up 70 percent of health care
workers globally, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Unfortunately, they are often not well protected in these critical jobs. The UN
has noted that personal protective equipment is often designed for men and may
not adequately fit women. In Spain and Italy, at least earlier in the pandemic,
a majority of health care workers who contracted COVID-19 were women.
Another
negative effect for women is that, when health care systems become overwhelmed
by COVID-19 cases or shift resources to focus on the pandemic, it often leads
to a decrease in resources for other health needs, particularly reproductive
and maternal health. For example, a study published in May in The Lancet
journal estimated that pandemic-related disruptions to health care and food
supplies in low and middle-income countries would lead to “an 8.3 to 38.6
percent increase in maternal deaths per month, across 118 countries” — and even
higher increases in child deaths.
Domestic
violence has also increased significantly during the pandemic. Times of crisis
that drive anxiety frequently lead to abusers taking out their frustrations on
the women and children around them, and stay-at-home orders sometimes forced
women and children to stay with abusive men. The UN has said that gender-based
violence is increasing “exponentially” during the pandemic. France has seen a
30 percent increase in domestic violence incidents since March, while Argentina
has seen a 25 percent increase, and many other countries around the world are
experiencing increasing numbers of cases.
The
pandemic and related school and business closures have also vastly increased
women’s care burden. The UN estimates that women did three times the amount of
unpaid care and domestic work as men before the pandemic. With schools and
other child care facilities closed, many women found themselves with an
impossible workload that combined their usual jobs and household work with
caring for and even educating children constantly at home. Women also provide
much of society’s elder care — a task that became even more critical and more
difficult as COVID-19 sickened many older people and many of their caregivers.
Women also provide the majority of the world’s unpaid health care, caring for
the sick of many ages, and the pandemic has increased this workload, both by
making more people sick — sometimes with long-term health effects after
recovery — and by pushing other unwell people out of the formal health care
system and into the care of women in their families and communities.
Women
have disproportionately suffered from the economic impacts of the pandemic. In
many less developed countries, women often work in the informal sector, which
was hit particularly hard by quarantine measures and lacks job protections and
benefits such as sick leave. Even in the formal sector, women earn less than
their male counterparts. The World Economic Forum notes that women earn just 79
cents for every dollar men earn. In many countries, women are over-represented
in the services sectors that were often the first to experience
pandemic-related layoffs. Overall, women are less likely than men to have
savings and more likely to live close to the poverty line, and therefore women
are less able to cope with economic shocks. Furthermore, ongoing school and
child care closures will force many women out of jobs as the pandemic
continues.
Governments
and communities that are forming plans for recovery from the pandemic and the
resulting economic crisis must consider the impact on women if they want to
succeed. Women play crucial paid and unpaid roles in economies and broader
social roles, and their voices must be included in recovery plans.
Unfortunately, women are under-represented in many countries’ recovery
planning. For example, women make up just 7 percent of the White House Coronavirus
Task Force in the US and 32 percent of the WHO’s Emergency Committee on
COVID-19.
Recovery
plans that take into account the impact on women are more likely to succeed and
lead to more sustainable future economic and employment growth. In tangible ways,
societies should recognize the economic value of the care work that women
provide. Governments and communities should work to address inequalities in pay
and access to the formal economy. Women’s health should be seen as essential to
the entire society’s well-being, and societies should act to address domestic
violence.
Women
play a crucial role in determining how societies and economies will come out of
this historic challenge. Economic recoveries will depend on women returning to
work. Societies’ futures will depend on mothers and female family members who
care for children and try to fill in gaps in education during school closures.
The extent to which the pandemic sets back progress or facilitates a strong
recovery will depend, in many ways, on addressing the impact on women and their
families.
Kerry
Boyd Anderson is a writer and political risk consultant with more than 16
years’ experience as a professional analyst of international security issues
and Middle East political and business risk. Her previous positions include
deputy director for advisory with Oxford Analytica and managing editor of Arms
Control Today. Twitter: @KBAresearch
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1697276
--------
Nissan
Saudi Arabia celebrates women’s accomplishments with #SheDrives Campaign
June
25, 2020
JEDDAH
— Nissan Saudi Arabia has launched an initiative under their “#SheDrives”
campaign to empower women in Saudi Arabia. This initiative is an extension of
Nissan’s original campaign, “SheDrives” that was launched when the driving ban
was lifted two years ago on the June 24, 2018. The campaign highlights the
milestones and achievements of women since this decision came into effect, as
well as Nissan KSA’s contributions and continuous efforts to empower females in
Saudi Arabia.
“Women
are leaders and key players in every aspect of our community. In recognition of
their unlimited potential and capabilities, we at Nissan Saudi Arabia celebrate
their achievements in the SheDrives campaign. Empowering women is a key element
of what we do at Nissan KSA, from our female employees and partnerships as well
as discovering female Saudi talent and enabling them to excel in every aspect
of the Saudi automotive industry,” said Bader El Houssami, managing director of
Nissan Saudi Arabia.
Nissan
KSA’s General Manager of Corporate Communication HatoonBushnaq also commented
on her experience in the company, saying: “The momentous decision of lifting
the driving ban widened the opportunities available to women in KSA. Driving
enabled women to take further charge of their lives and pursue opportunities
that were not readily available or accessible prior to this decision, and that
were made possible with the support of the Saudi government.
“Nissan
Saudi Arabia continues to support women by providing them with opportunities,
even in leadership positions, in order to add a female perspective to the
automotive sector and focus on the diversification of offerings and the
empowerment of females at all levels of the business.”
Nissan
Saudi Arabia has consistently supported women over the years, with the
SheDrives campaign featuring prominently after the driving ban was lifted. This
branched out to further initiatives that Nissan KSA has specially curated for
women in Saudi Arabia, such as the Nissan Sanadek application. The Nissan
Sanadek application is an RSA application that was designed with the needs of
female drivers in mind to give them peace of mind on the road.
Nissan’s
innovative NIM technology also provides female drivers with the safety features
and security that they need on the road, as studies have shown that safety
features are a top consideration for female drivers in Saudi Arabia.
Prioritizing female drivers also extends to Nissan’s authorized dealers in the
Kingdom, as Petromin Nissan provides special offers and aftersales services
that are customized for female drivers.
The
SheDrives campaign celebrates the determination and relentlessness of the Saudi
female spirit, with female motorsport driver Reem Al Aboud and chef
KhuloodOlaqi featured as the faces of the campaign. Their stories echo the
sentiment that with passion, hard work and perseverance, Saudi women can
accomplish their dreams and make them a reality. Their inspirational message is
a testament to the capabilities of females in Saudi Arabia, especially their
huge potential in the KSA automotive industry and beyond. — SG
https://www.saudigazette.com.sa/article/594722/BUSINESS/Nissan-Saudi-Arabia-celebrates-womens-accomplishments-with-SheDrives-Campaign
--------
Woman
in Dubai Drives Car into Sea After Receiving Bad News on Phone
June
15, 2020
She
was rescued by the Dubai Police.
A
car was pulled out by the rescue teams of Dubai Police after it was
accidentally driven into the sea in Al Mamzar Creek.
According
to Ajman News, the woman motorist was in the parking lot when she received some
bad piece of news over her phone, and pushed on the accelerator by mistake. She
forgot to use the hand brake.
Lieutenant-Colonel
Ali Abdullah Al Qassib Al Naqbi, director of Maritime Rescue Division at Dubai
Police, said that the 41-year-old Arab woman didn't sustain any injury, as she
escaped from the car before it slid into the sea water. He added that she was
parking her vehicle near the beach, and the incident happened due to lack of attention.
On
Friday, the Dubai Police received a report at 4.30pm about the incident, and
rescue teams swung into action. They dragged out the vehicle after it went 30
meters inside the sea.
Al
Naqbi called on all motorists to drive with caution and pay attention while
driving for their own safety and that of others.
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/dubai/woman-in-dubai-drives-car-into-sea-after-receiving-bad-news-on-phone-
--------
Activists
Press for Tougher Penalties Against Female Genital Mutilation in Egypt
Marwa
Al-A’sar
Jun
29, 2020
CAIRO
— Amendments to a number of articles in the Egyptian law incriminating female
genital mutilation (FGM) have recently been finalized, toughening penalties
against the perpetrator of this atrocious act.
On
June 14, on the National Day for Elimination of FGM, head of Egypt’s National
Council for Women Maya Morsy told reporters during an online press conference
that the proposed amendments include widening the criminalization scope and
redefining the act of FGM as a form of deformity.
Morsy
said that they also included a solution for incriminating medical professionals
undertaking the procedure, giving no further details.
The
finalized proposal was submitted by representatives of the National Council for
Women, the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, Al-Azhar institution
and the three churches as well as a number of prosecutors.
The
suggested adjustments came less than two weeks after a father had tricked his
three young daughters in undergoing the procedure in southern Egypt.
A
statement released June 3 by the public prosecution’s office said that the man
brought a doctor to the house and told his daughters that he came to vaccinate
them against the coronavirus. Instead, he circumcised the girls, in a case that
sent shockwaves across Egypt.
The
prosecution investigated the matter and it turned out that the three sisters
were injected with a drug that knocked them out before they had the invasive
operation done to them. “They woke up with their legs tied while suffering from
severe pain in their genitals,” the statement read.
The
girls informed their mother, who is divorced from their father, who reported
the incident to child protection.
A
forensic report revealed later "the excision of [their] … reproductive
organs."
Both
the doctor and the father were referred to an urgent trial before a criminal
court within 48 hours of the investigations. No specific date has been set for
the trial yet.
At
the end of January, a 12-year old girl named Nada lost her life while undergoing
circumcision at a private clinic in the south of Egypt. Her death preceded the
International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM on Feb. 6.
Nada’s
parents and the doctor who performed the procedure were referred to a criminal
court pending trial. They have not stood trial yet.
Such
incidents led advocates of children’s rights to question the efforts and
campaigns launched over the past years against the practice.
“As
a lawyer I believe the main problem doesn’t have to do with legislation, as it
may seem to some. Rather, the organizations — which hold meetings and
conferences to discuss the subject and suggest recommendations — need to
simplify the issue and address people in their own language,” children’s rights
advocate Mahmoud el-Badawy told Al-Monitor.
“The
dilemma here has to do with turning all those laws and recommendations into
reality positively reflected on the target groups. FGM is carried out
everywhere and every day in Egypt, while only a small number of cases are
reported,” he said.
A
2016 survey by UNICEF indicated that 87% of women and girls ages 15-49 in Egypt
have undergone the procedure.
FGM,
also known as genital cutting or female circumcision, is a tradition dating
back to Pharaonic times. It mostly exists in Africa and some Middle Eastern
countries.
Even
though the practice has been illegal in Egypt since 2008, it remains rife in
this populous Arab country where some doctors, nurses and midwives undertake it
in secret, especially in rural areas and in the south.
The
Egyptian churches and the highest Islamic institutions in the country have
recurrently rejected the procedure, saying it is prohibited by Islam and
Christianity for causing irreversible harm to women.
However,
many parents still believe that female genital cutting preserves a girl’s
chastity by curbing her libido and put their daughters through the ordeal.
“For
a large segment of society, female circumcision is a deeply rooted tradition,
mistakenly linked to religion. It is related to people’s collective
unconscious,” psychologist HananMarzouk told Al-Monitor.
“Throughout
my experience as a researcher in this domain, I came across men who even refuse
to marry uncircumcised women, believing their wives have no right to enjoy
intimacy, or because they have a sense of insecurity that they will be unable
to satisfy women’s physical needs,” Marzouk said. “I’m talking about
communities where there is limited or no sex education available and the whole
issue is considered a taboo.”
Other
than the physical harm, the practice has a negative impact on women’s
psychological well-being.
“Women
who underwent female circumcision are denied a normal sex life. They are
ashamed of their bodies, and many of them find sex repulsive,” Adel Midany,
professor of psychiatry at Al-Azhar University, told Al-Monitor.
“Following
the act they usually experience anxiety and reactive depression, mistrusting
their parents who subjected them to this violation at the time when they were
supposed to protect them against the world’s evils. Over time they may also develop
post-traumatic stress disorder,” he said.
“Depending
on the grade of circumcision, women who went through this experience suffer
from orgasmic dysfunction, if not frigidity,” Midany said, adding that very few
couples seek professional help and are trained on specific techniques to help
them enjoy intimacy.
A
28-year old woman told Al-Monitor about her traumatic experience with FGM that
started at the age of nine.
“My
mother brought a midwife to the house. I felt there was something not right. I
can still feel the pain and fear I was undergoing as the old woman ruthlessly
cut part of my body with a razor, while I was tied by my mother and her
neighbors,” she said on condition of anonymity, adding that she rejects the
idea of marriage for fear of failure.
“The
only person who was supposed to be the source of safety and comfort acted
otherwise, which made me lose faith in her as a protector ever since,” she
said.
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/06/egypt-amend-law-fgm-women-death-trial.html
--------
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