Young Saudi Women Take Charge Of T20’s Digital Demands
New
Age Islam News Bureau
26
October 2020
• Young Saudi Women Take Charge Of T20’s Digital Demands
•
Poles Protest Abortion Ban in Churches and on Streets
•
Qatar ‘Forcibly Examined’ Women Passengers After Premature Baby Found In
Airport Bathroom
•
Egypt, Sexual Assault Fuel 'Feminist Revolution', Victims Are Now Fighting Back
Like Never Before
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/young-saudi-women-take-charge/d/123272
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Young Saudi women take charge of T20’s digital demands
RAWAN
RADWAN
October
26, 2020
From
left: Noura Alhosain, Lama Yaseen and Lina Alhamdan were selected to handle
communications for the T20. (Saad Al-Anzi for Arab News)
-----
RIYADH:
A trio of young Saudi women have taken charge of the digital demands of the
G20’s “ideas bank” by leading its content creation and social media.
Think
20 (T20), which was established in 2012, is considered the G20’s policy
recommendation engagement group that is responsible for connecting and
collaborating with regional and international think tanks.
Saudi
Arabia holds the 2020 G20 presidency, and the T20 has led events and webinars
throughout the year that address pressing issues such as cybersecurity, climate
change and the coronavirus pandemic.
Lama
Yaseen, Linah Alhamdan, and Nourah Alhosain were selected to handle
communications for the T20, and their lack of experience in digital content
creation did not prove to be a problem.
The
researchers, from the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center
(KAPSARC), took charge of the T20 website and social media platforms to create
a link between the people working behind the scenes and the group’s global
audience, as well as gaining knowledge and skills along the way.
Yaseen,
who moved from Jeddah six years ago, is a research associate and software
developer at KAPSARC. She is also a part-time software engineering student.
Alhamdan,
a senior research analyst, works with KAPSARC’s Energy Information Management
team as a data analyst and a web developer. She joined the team in August, at
the height of preparations for the summit, to lend an extra hand. Alhosain joined
KAPSARC in 2017 with a background in computer science. The three women teamed
up to help with the technical parts of communication and social media.
Cian
Mulligan, a senior research associate at the center, was communications lead.
The team provides content for the website and across social media in both
English and Arabic to ensure wider audience reach, a task that proved a little
difficult given none of them were used to working in translation. However, as
time went on, they embraced the challenges and found themselves enjoying the
process. The T20 summit is set to take place between Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. Key
policy recommendations will be presented for the upcoming G20 Leaders’ Summit
next month in Riyadh on Nov. 21-22.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1754076/saudi-arabia
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Poles
Protest Abortion Ban in Churches and on Streets
BY
VANESSA GERA
Oct.
25, 2020
Members
of a far-right organization and police remove women from a church where they
were protesting church support for tightening Poland's already restrictive
abortion law in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020. Poland constitutional
court issued a ruling on Thursday that further restricts abortion rights in
Poland, triggering four straight days of protests across Poland.(AP
Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
-----
WARSAW,
Poland (AP) — Women's rights activists furious over a tightening of Poland's
already restrictive abortion law staged protests outside and inside churches
Sunday, disrupting Masses and finding themselves confronted with accusations of
“barbaric” behavior.
With
the coronavirus surging in Poland, large protests also erupted for a fourth
straight night in cities large and small across the nation, including in
Warsaw, Gdansk and Poznan, where police on horseback guarded a church.
In
the southern city of Katowice, tensions were high as a large presence of riot
police separated protesters and about 30 people with the All-Polish Youth, a
far-right ultranationalist group. Police used tear gas and scuffled with the
women's rights protesters after they began to push the police toward the
anti-abortion group, the RMF FM broadcaster reported.
At
the Holy Cross Church in Warsaw, a group of far-right nationalists blocked
stairs leading to the entrance. When one woman managed to push her way through,
the nationalists grabbed her and forced her down the stairs.
A
video posted from the northern Polish city of Szczecinek showed young women
surrounding a priest and yelling at him to “Go back to the church” and to “F—-
off.”
The
actions on Sunday follow a ruling on Thursday by Poland’s constitutional court
that declared that aborting fetuses with congenital defects is
unconstitutional. Poland already had one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion
laws, and the ruling will result in a near-complete ban on abortion.
TVN24,
a private news station, broadcast images of farmers on tractors driving through
the town of Nowy Dwor Gdanski in support of women's reproductive rights. A sign
on one tractor said, “We want choice, not PiS terror.” PiS is the Polish
acronym for the country’s conservative governing party, Law and Justice.
Scenes
of angry young women entering churches and confronting priests with obscenities
signals a dramatic historical change in Poland, where the Roman Catholic Church
has been venerated for centuries as the highest authority and where such events
would have been unthinkable not so long ago.
The
Catholic Church earned respect during the communist era for supporting
pro-democracy dissidents in their struggle for freedom, and the late Polish
pope St. John Paul II is held up as a national hero.
But
today, its authority is being challenged as it supports the country's
right-wing government and struggles to manage a string of clerical abuse
scandals.
Sunday's
events marked a further escalation of a culture war in Poland as women's and
LGBT rights activists have increasingly turned to more radical protest methods
after feeling that years of lobbying for greater rights have not brought the
desired results.
An
LGBT rights group, Grupa Stonewall, posted a video showing people protesting in
a church in the western Polish city of Poznan, chanting “We've had enough!”
Churchgoers replied by chanting “Barbarians!”
People
also spray-painted churches with slogans and the phone number to an
organization aiding women seeking abortions abroad or abortion pills.
“The
position of the Catholic Church on the right to life is unchanged; obscenities,
violence and disrupting services as well as profanation are not the right
method of action,” Gadecki said in a statement. “I ask everyone to express
their views in a socially acceptable way.”
Women's
Strike, the organizer of the protests, argues that forcing women to give birth
to fetuses with severe defects will result in unnecessary physical and mental
suffering.
The
organization vowed more protests in the coming week, including blockades of
cities on Monday, a nationwide strike by women on Wednesday and street protests
on Friday.
The
actions are planned at a time when the Polish government is struggling to
contain escalating coronavirus cases and anger over restrictions causing
economic pain.
Health
Ministry figures show that 1,110 legal abortions were carried out in Poland in
2019, mostly because of fetal defects. The only other legal cases remaining for
abortion are rape or incest or if the pregnancy threatens the woman's life or
health.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-10-25/polish-women-protest-new-abortion-restriction-in-churches
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Qatar
‘forcibly examined’ women passengers after premature baby found in airport
bathroom
Agence
France-Presse
26
Oct, 2020
Female
passengers flying from Qatar were subjected to invasive searches after a
premature baby was found abandoned in an airport bathroom, in procedures the
Australian government on Monday described as “grossly disturbing” and
“offensive”.
A
number of women - including from Australia - were removed from their flight and
examined for signs of childbirth after the baby was found in a bathroom at
Hamad International in the Qatari capital.
Australia’s
government on Monday condemned the October 2 incident, which only came to light
after Australian passengers spoke out, and said concerns had been lodged with
Qatar.
“This
is a grossly, grossly disturbing, offensive, concerning set of events. It is
not something that I have ever heard of occurring in my life,” Foreign Minister
Marise Payne said.
“We
have made our concerns very clear to the Qatari authorities at this point,” she
said, adding that the matter had also been referred to Australian Federal
Police.
A
source in Doha briefed on the incident said that officials “were forcing women
to undergo invasive body searches - basically forced Pap smears,” an internal
examination of the cervix.
Passenger
Wolfgang Babeck said women returned to his flight from Doha to Sydney in a
“shell-shocked” state, having been told to remove clothing from the lower half
of their bodies for an examination by a female doctor.
“All
of them were upset, some were angry, one was crying, but basically nobody could
believe what happened,” the commercial lawyer said, adding he thought the
incident could be “a violation of international law”.
That
flight, Qatar Airways’ QR908 to Sydney, was four hours late departing Doha as a
result, according to air traffic website Flightradar24. It is not clear how
many flights were involved.
In
an official statement, Doha’s Hamad International airport confirmed a broad
outline of events, without providing details of the procedures, or the number
of women and flights involved.
“Medical
professionals expressed concern to officials about the health and welfare of a
mother who had just given birth and requested she be located prior to
departing,” the statement said.
“Individuals
who had access to the specific area of the airport where the newborn infant was
found were asked to assist in the query”.
Newborn
baby girl abandoned next to garbage bin in China because her parents wanted a
boy Newborn baby girl abandoned next to garbage bin in China because her
parents wanted a boy
Some
of the group received assistance and mental health support while spending the
last two weeks in quarantine, under rules put in place by Australian
authorities to contain the spread of coronavirus.
A
report from the Qatari authorities about the incident was “imminent” according
to Payne, who admitted Australian officials were made aware of the situation by
passengers “at the time of the flight”.
The
incident could damage Qatar’s reputation as it prepares to host tens of
thousands of foreign visitors for the 2022 soccer world cup.
Qatar
practices a strict form of Islamic law, with stiff penalties applied to women
who fall pregnant or bear children outside marriage.
Doha
airport on Sunday launched an appeal for the child’s mother to come forward,
suggesting that the checks undertaken at the time were inconclusive.
The
newborn infant remains unidentified, but is safe under the professional care of
medical and social workers,” it said in its statement, and requested that
anyone with information come forward.
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3107041/qatar-forcibly-examined-women-search-mother-newborn-dumped
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Egypt,
Sexual Assault Fuel 'Feminist Revolution', Victims Are Now Fighting Back Like
Never Before
Salma
El-Wardany
26-10-2020
It
has become part of everyday life in a country where for women picking an outfit
is less about style, and more about protection.
Over
the years, a culture of patriarchy, religion and conservatism has meant women
often stay silent when sexual abuse happens because victim-blaming is all too
common.
Now
though, women and girls are finally breaking decades of silence, taking to
social media to share their stories of assault, empower one another and call
for justice.
Nadeen
Ashraf, a 22-year-old fellow student, set up the Instagram account Assault Police
to share these allegations and received an outpouring of messages from women
claiming that Ahmed Bassam Zaki had blackmailed, assaulted, harassed and raped
them.
Within
days he was arrested and is on trial charged with "sexually assaulting
three girls under the age of 18 and threatening them, along with blackmailing a
fourth girl". He denies the charges.
Nadeen
was overwhelmed with the reaction and speed of progress. She said "within
weeks there was a new law that was introduced in parliament to protect women's
identities when they're in crimes of a sexual nature".
The
sexual assault of one particular activist, Sabah Khodir, was so harrowing that
it drove her to leave the country and move to the US last year.
Still,
Sabah has been instrumental in helping women coming forward, putting them in
touch with lawyers and therapists, and is now seeing her efforts rewarded.
Earlier
this year the highest religious authority in the land, Al-Azhar Mosque,
released a statement in support of women, declaring that a woman's clothing is
never a justification for assault.
"And
during the first Friday prayers after the [Assault Police] movement, most
mosques were asked to speak about being anti-sexual harassment," Sabah
says.
"I
got so angry and frustrated with what was going on, it had reached a ludicrous
level, I don't think it will ever be made right until men take accountability
for their actions and put others on the spot."
Women's
rights defenders in the country have been pushing for a better legal system for
sexual crimes for years, with very little success.
There
are few prosecutions for rape, and sexual harassment was only made illegal in
2014 thanks to lobbying from feminists like prominent women's rights campaigner
Mozn Hassan.
Rothna
Begum, women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, says that although the
government seems to be on the side of women, there is pushback against women in
the public sphere, including online.
"The
authorities have gone out of their way to arrest women who are social media influencers
posting on TikTok... calling them out for inciting debauchery."
In
addition, there are concerns surrounding a shocking case at a luxury Cairo
hotel in 2014, which surfaced as a result of this movement.
The
incident involved nine men from powerful families in Egyptian society who
allegedly raped a young woman, filmed the assault then circulated the video
among friends.
While
the Public Prosecution ordered the arrests of the accused men, they also
arrested witnesses and people associated with the case, subjecting them to
medical examinations and seizing their phones and laptops to extract personal
information.
According
to Rothna Begum, the government is "leaving women with the message that if
you come forward to report rape or to act as a witness, you could find yourself
at risk of arrest".
Despite
a legal system that does not fully protect them, the shaming they may receive
from families and the fact that so-called "honour killings" still
happen, the women and girls of Egypt are speaking out more than ever.
Egyptian
American feminist Mona Eltahawy says she is "tenaciously optimistic… that
a feminist revolution is beginning", despite evidence that authorities are
trying to silence and oppress women across the country by arresting witnesses
and TikTok girls.
"I
look now at these young women and girls and queer people torpedoing through
shame, and I am thrilled," she says.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-54643463
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