“Thin, Tight, Short” Women Clothes Banned In Afghanistan’s Bamiyan
New
Age Islam News Bureau
17
September 2023
• “Thin, Tight, Short” Women Clothes Banned In
Afghanistan’s Bamiyan
• Mitra Hejazipour, Chess Star Who Fled Iran After
Shedding Her Headscarf Hails ‘Courage’ Of Protesters
• Saudi Representative, Aseel Al-Hamad, Joins
Women’s World Car of the Year
•
US Woman Among 18 NGO Staff Detained In Afghanistan
•
Volunteer Teachers In Western Sydney Run Secret Classes For Girls In
Afghanistan
•
In Assam, Muslim Women Cautiously Welcome Move To Outlaw Polygamy
•
Pakistan Gets First-Ever Contender For Miss Universe, But Fundamentalists Say
'It's Shameful'
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/clothes-banned-afghanistan-bamiyan/d/130694
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“Thin,
Tight, Short” Women Clothes Banned In Afghanistan’s Bamiyan
Representative
Image
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16-09-2023
Fresh
restrictions have been put in place in Afghanistan's Bamiyan as shopkeepers
have been instructed to remove thin and tight-fitting women's clothing from
their shops. In a statement, the Department of Vice and Virtue of Bamiyan urged
the province's businessmen to not import thin, form-fitting clothing for women
that is "against Sharia and Afghan culture" into the market,
Afghanistan-based TOLO News reported.
The
department ordered the citizens of the province not to wear "tight, thin,
and short" clothing, calling it an imitation of Western culture. "We
have advised the traders, shopkeepers and crafting people that we are Muslim
and our culture is Islamic. You should import clothes which are in line with
the Afghan culture and tradition. The clothes which are not in accordance with
Islamic culture for example, the short, tight and thin, should not be imported
because we are Muslim and our society is Islamic," said Mahmoodul Hassan
Mansouri, head of the Department of Vice and Virtue, as reported by TOLO News.
A
couple of days ago, the UN special rapporteur for Afghanistan, Richard Bennet,
called on the Taliban to reverse the "draconian, misogynist policies"
against women and allow them to work and run businesses, Tolo News reported.
Speaking to the 54th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council on September 13,
Bennett said 60,000 women have lost their jobs due to recent restrictions of
the interim Afghan government.
However,
some of the cultural activists welcomed the department's decision saying that
women had already been observing hijab in Bamiyan. "We women have always
observed the hijab and that is our Islamic responsibility," said Zainab
Sadaat, a cultural activist.
Meanwhile,
some of the shopkeepers said that they have been ordered to remove thin and
tight-fitting clothes from their shops. "They have instructed us to not
import short, tight and thin clothes. We are happy about this decision because
we are all Muslims," said Ali Riza, a shopkeeper.
According
to the Department of Vice and Virtue in Bamiyan, if anyone violates the law,
they will face the music, TOLO News reported. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has
criticised the imposition of restrictions on Afghan women.
In
a report, HRW said that Afghan women have been denied the right to education,
employment, and social involvement since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
The report released by HRW reads, "Over the past two years, Taliban
authorities have denied women and girls their rights to education, work,
movement, and assembly. The Taliban have imposed extensive censorship on the
media and access to information, and increased detentions of journalists and
other critics," according to TOLO News.
Similarly,
the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in a report in
July said that the Taliban continues to restrict the rights of women and girls,
Afghanistan-based TOLO News reported. The seven-page report that covers the
period from May to June highlighted the restrictions imposed by the Taliban on
women. The report said, "On 3 May 2023, the de facto Ministry of Public
Health announced that only male medical students would be permitted to take the
'Exit Supplementary Exam' in order to pursue further specialized medical
studies," TOLO News reported.
It
further said that the move comes in addition to the earlier bans preventing
women from appearing in the medical school entrance examinations. The report
said that the UNAMA recorded instances when the Taliban took measures to impose
previously announced restrictions on women's freedom of movement and
participation in employment. The Taliban's decision to ban female students
above grade six from school has drawn widespread criticism at the national and
international levels. Further, the Taliban which took over Kabul in August last
year has curtailed women's rights and freedoms, with women largely excluded from
the workforce.
Source:
Www.Devdiscourse.Com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Mitra
Hejazipour, Chess Star Who Fled Iran After Shedding Her Headscarf Hails
‘Courage’ Of Protesters
French-Iranian chess player Mitra Hejazipour watches
Iranian news at home in Paris, France, on September 15, 2023. (JOEL SAGET/AFP)
------
By
Valentin Guelet
16
September 2023
PARIS
(AFP) — Mitra Hejazipour, one of the greatest chess players Iran has ever
produced, knows what courage is after removing her headscarf in defiance of the
Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women at a tournament.
Now
living in exile in France after being expelled from the Iranian team at the
time, she says she is in awe of the bravery of Iranians who poured into the
streets one year ago after the police custody death of Mahsa Amini, who had
been arrested for allegedly violating the dress code.
Hejazipour,
30, who received French citizenship in March, has enjoyed immense success on
the board since arriving in France. This year she won the French chess
championships and helped her team to third place at the world team
championships.
But
she told AFP in an interview that on the first anniversary of Amini’s death she
cannot take her mind off the situation in her home country, caught between hope
that protesters could achieve a breakthrough and fear of repression against
them.
“There
are many reasons for people to push and protest against this regime, even if it
costs them their lives or they are imprisoned,” she said.
“I
see the courage. I see that in fact, they are suffocating. It’s about to
explode. People don’t think too much about the consequences.”
File:
Iranians protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by
the morality police, in Tehran, October 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Middle East Images)
The
first time that Hejazipour publicly appeared without her headscarf was in a
photo taken in Germany, published on her Instagram account in February 2018,
she said.
Inspired
by women who were taking off their obligatory headscarves and putting them on
sticks in Iran, she said she wanted “to have this feeling of freedom when you
can feel the wind blowing through your hair.”
Hejazipour
became the second Iranian player to be expelled from the team for this reason,
two years after Dorsa Derakhshani, who is now competing for the United States.
“It
was chess,” which she started “at six years old with my father,” that “allowed
me this freedom,” said Hejazipour, who was considered a chess prodigy before
she was even in her teens.
File:
Iranian chess players MitraHejazipour (left) and Sara Khademalsharieh play at
the Chess Federation in the capital Tehran, Iran, on October 10, 2016. (ATTA
KENARE/AFP)
From
France, she said she wants to “show Iranian women that they are not alone” by
participating in events and talking about “the situation in Iran,” saying it is
“the least I can do.”
“But
women try to wear the veil less and less. When we look at images and videos
from Iran, we see that there are fewer women wearing the veil. That, I think,
shows that courage has developed. It’s not that the regime is giving up.”
On
what the outcome of the protest movement could be, she added: “From what I saw
last year and what I know about this regime, I have fear, of course, but I have
hope at the same time. Because they can’t kill everyone, they can’t imprison everyone.”
Source:
Www.Times Of Israel.Com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Saudi
Representative, Aseel Al-Hamad, Joins Women’s World Car of the Year
ARAB
NEWS
September
16, 2023
JEDDAH:
The Women’s World Car of the Year has welcomed Aseel Al-Hamad, who serves as
Saudi Arabia’s representative at the FIA Women in Motorsports Commission and is
a board member at the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation, to its global
panel of judges.
The
award distinguishes itself as the sole global car awards program that
highlights the role of women in the car world and chooses the best cars of the
year. It was founded by New Zealand motoring journalist Sandy Myhre in 2019 and
is exclusively comprised of female motoring journalists. With Al-Hamad’s recent
inclusion, the panel now boasts 74 judges from 50 nations.
On
her appointment, Al-Hamad said: “I am incredibly proud of my new role
supporting Women’s World Car of the Year, as we are aligned in our mission to
enhance female empowerment in the automotive and motorsport industry. This has
traditionally been perceived as a male dominant world, and through our work, we
are dedicated to correct the balance.”
I
am incredibly proud of my new role supporting Women’s World Car of the Year, as
we are aligned in our mission to enhance female empowerment in the automotive
and motorsport industry.
As
a prominent figure in the industry, she regularly addresses and guides the
Saudi workforce, and frequently appears in the media to advocate for women’s
empowerment, serving as an inspiring symbol of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 for
leadership and constructive transformation.
Al-Hamad
is a strong supporter of motorsports. She acquired the skill of driving in
Dubai long before women were permitted to drive in Saudi Arabia. Her journey in
racing began as early as 2000 when she tested her abilities in amateur
competitions, establishing herself as a notable female figure in the automotive
world.
Al-Hamad’s
most recent endeavor involves co-founding STEER, a Saudi travel company with a
license that focuses on organizing supercar automotive tours to showcase the
stunning landscapes of Saudi Arabia. Their primary objective is to boost
domestic tourism within the Kingdom by offering immersive automotive
experiences.
In
a significant milestone for the region’s history, in June 2018, Al-Hamad
participated in an event at Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France, as a guest of
Renault. This event celebrated the historic moment when the ban on female
driving in Saudi Arabia was lifted.
Al-Hamad
made history as the first Saudi Arabian woman to import and possess a Ferrari
since 2012, a significant milestone that preceded the granting of driving
rights to women in Saudi Arabia. Her exceptional talent and unwavering
dedication led her to actively participate in numerous amateur tournaments,
ultimately earning her a coveted membership within the International Automobile
Federation.
Her
appointment to the jury of the Women’s World Car of the Year underscores the
evolving roles that women are assuming in Saudi Arabia, particularly within the
realms of sports and entertainment. This shift has been facilitated by the
Vision 2030 initiative, which has created numerous business and investment
opportunities within the country.
Saudi
Arabia has made substantial investments in attracting prestigious sporting and
automotive events in recent years as part of its Vision 2030 agenda. The nation
has successfully hosted major global events for the first time in its history,
including the Dakar Rally, Formula E and Formula One races, among others.
Additionally, a state-of-the-art racing track was constructed to accommodate F1
racing, beginning in 2021.
The
Kingdom has also signed agreements to host the MotoGP, and the World Rally
Championship round. There are plans for developing the racing industry and the
country introduced Formula 4 academies for young drivers, and is constructing a
permanent circuit where the Grand Prix will take place in 2026.
Women’s
World Car of the Year seeks to acknowledge the finest cars of the year while
amplifying the voices of women in the automotive industry. The criteria for
voting are based on the same principles that guide anyone in selecting a car,
without gender bias. Factors such as safety, quality, price, design, ease of
driving, benefits and environmental impact, among others, are all taken into
account when casting votes.
Source:
Arab News.Com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2374846/saudi-arabia
-----
US
woman among 18 NGO staff detained in Afghanistan
September
16, 2023
KABUL:
Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities have arrested at least 18 staff of an
international NGO, including an American woman, accusing them of carrying out
Christian missionary work, the country’s leaders said Saturday.
The
International Assistance Mission (IAM) confirmed its staffers were picked up
from its office in Ghor province, central Afghanistan, and taken to the capital
Kabul.
Security
and intelligence forces had been observing the group for some time, Abdul Wahid
Hamas Ghori, a government spokesman for the province, told AFP.
“Documents
and audios were obtained that showed they were inviting people to join Christianity,”
he said, without providing further details.
IAM
said in a statement earlier that 18 people, including a “foreigner,” were being
held and that it had no information about the nature of the allegations.
The
American woman and two Afghan staff were the first to be detained on September
3, followed by 15 more Afghan employees on Wednesday.
“Should
any charges be lodged against our organization or any individual staff member,
we will independently review any evidence presented,” it added.
IAM’s
website says the organization is founded on Christian values, but that it does
not provide aid according to political or religious belief.
IAM
has operated in Afghanistan since 1966 — through previous royal, communist and
Taliban governments — when it specialized in eye care, later branching out into
other areas of health and education.
However,
two militant groups claimed responsibility, including Taliban leaders who said
the medics were Christian missionaries and accused them of working as military
spies.
Dozens
of foreigners — including several Westerners — have been detained by the
Taliban authorities since the group’s return to power in August 2021.
The
Taliban rulers have imposed sweeping restrictions on the population they say
are in line with their strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law — including
barring women from working for NGOs and the United Nations.
Teenage
girls and women are also banned from schools and universities, and excluded
from many other formers of public social life.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2374726/world
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Volunteer
teachers in Western Sydney run secret classes for girls in Afghanistan
By
Housnia Shams
17-09-2023
In
the cramped room of a building in a secret location in Afghanistan, about 40
teenage girls gather to take part in an English class.
The
curtains are drawn to ensure nobody can peer through the windows, as the
students huddle together around a projector screen for the hour-long online
lesson.
It's
been nearly two years since the Taliban banned girls from attending school
beyond year 6, in what was the first of a series of restrictions on women's
rights after the group seized control of the country in August 2021.
MsDadger,
a high school teacher, is part of a small group of Australian volunteers from a
Blacktown-based charity, the Afghan Community Support Association (ACSA), which
operates the classes.
During
a speech at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva last week, UN
rights chief Volker Turk accused the Taliban of a "shocking level of
oppression" of women and girls, describing their actions as
"immeasurably cruel".
"Afghanistan
has set a devastating precedent as the only country in the world where women
and girls are denied access to secondary and higher education," he said.
"Restrictions
are becoming increasingly severe, quelling women and girls' fundamental
freedoms, effectively confining them to the four walls of their homes — to
invisibility."
His
speech coincided with the release of a report by his office which noted a
"systematic regression of the rule of law and human rights in
Afghanistan".
Human
rights activist group Amnesty International has called for the Taliban's
crackdown on women and girls' rights to be investigated as possible crimes
under international law.
In
a report released in May, the organisation said the restrictions "could
amount to the crime against humanity of gender persecution".
"The
gravity of the crime demands a far more robust international response than has
been seen to date," Amnesty International secretary general Agnes
Callamard said.
The
23-year-old decided to go back to high school and was granted a full
scholarship to attend one of Sydney's top private schools, Barker College.
Source:
Abc.Net.Au
-----
In
Assam, Muslim women cautiously welcome move to outlaw polygamy
17-09-2023
Rokibuz
Zaman
In
the first week of September, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Assam government
announced that it was forming a three-member panel to draft a law to outlaw
polygamy in the state. The development follows the greenlight by an expert
committee constituted by the state government to examine if it had the legal
standing to enact such a law.
Marriages
in India are governed by a slew of laws. Apart from the Special Marriage Act
that regulates interfaith marriages, there are community-specific personal
laws.
The
Hindu Code Bill, which applies to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists,
prohibits polygamy as do the Parsi and Christian personal laws. However, under
Muslim personal law, men are permitted to have up to four wives simultaneously.
Special Constitutional protections accorded to Scheduled Tribes include some
amount of legal sanctity to polygamy.
In
its report, the expert committee had concluded that the Assam legislative
assembly has “the legislative competence to enact a law to end polygamy”,
adjudicating that “polygamy is not an essential religious practice under
Islam”. It, however, struck an ambiguous note on whether the proposed law could
include the state’s tribal communities which account for nearly 13% of Assam’s
population.
Chief
Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who has long advocated a ban on the practice
often framing it as a practice exclusive to the Muslim community, has declared
that Assam will now see the “end of polygamy by December this year”. In the
past, Sarma has said the intended ban on polygamy was to empower Muslim women
in the state.
Scroll
spoke to several activists, scholars, and ordinary women from the community.
While most of them welcomed the move to ban the practice in principle, many
were apprehensive about it being another stick to criminalise the community.
Many of them pointed out how women from the community bore the brunt of a
sweeping statewide crackdown on child marriage, also framed as an altruistic
move meant to benefit them.
The
Assam government’s move to criminalise polygamy is part of a larger push by the
BJP in the last couple of months to replace personal laws with a uniform civil
code. Such a code would mean that matters such as marriage, divorce, and
inheritance, currently governed by personal laws, would be under a common legal
framework applicable to all communities. Polygamy among Muslims, which the
Hindu right incorrectly links to higher fertility rates in the community, is at
the heart of the current push for a common civil code.
This
despite the fact that official data suggest its rather limited – and
consistently declining – prevalence in the community. In Assam, the pattern is
no different.
While
India does not directly record polygyny rates, the National Family Health
Survey asks married women whether their husbands are married to more than one
person. While 6.5% of Muslim women from the state who responded in the 2005-06
edition of the survey said their husbands had multiple wives, the number
dramatically dropped to 3.6% in 2019-21. On the other hand, 2.1% Hindu women
reported polygyny in 2005-06; the number dropped to 1.8% in the subsequent
survey.
Yet,
the focus of the report of the Assam expert committee, which was headed by a
retired Gauhati High Court judge, was almost entirely the Muslim community.
While
the committee notes that “the practice of polygamy is prevalent among Assam’s
tribal communities”, it does not delve deeper into the matter. Nationally, the
prevalence of polygyny is the highest among tribal women, analysis of the NFHS
data shows.
The
omission has left many observers surprised. “Since there are tribal-majority
districts in Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh where the prevalence of polygamy
is among the highest in the country, surely, the experts could have spent a
little more time to understand the practice among our tribal fellow citizens in
Assam instead of dismissing it,” pointed out political scientist SanjibBaruah.
Women
activists from the community said the Muslim-centric approach of the report,
which mirrors the government’s stance on the matter, seemed to suggest bad
faith.
“The
special committee’s observation engaged only with the probable impact of a law
banning polygamy on Muslims while dismissing non-Muslim stakeholders,” said
Parvin Sultana, who teaches political science at a college in Dhubri’sGauripur.
“Such an approach will fall short of addressing the exploitation of women
caught in such marriages and just become another political ploy to further
polarisation.”
Source:
Scroll.In
https://scroll.in/article/1055818/in-assam-muslim-women-cautiously-welcome-move-to-outlaw-polygamy
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Pakistan
gets first-ever contender for Miss Universe, but fundamentalists say 'it's
shameful'
Sep
17, 2023
Karachi-based
Erica Robin earlier this week won the title of "Miss Universe
Pakistan" and now she is all set to represent Pakistan at the international
Miss Universe pageant to be held in El Salvador later this year. Robin is the
first Pakistani to qualify for the coveted crown.
Many
people in Pakistan celebrated Robn's achievement, but it raised a conflict
among the orthodox forces, who questioned how someone could represent Pakistan
in an official capacity without obtaining any official approval from the
authorities.
A
religious scholar, Taqi Usmani, was one of the first to express disapproval of
the pageant and demand that the government take notice and action against those
in charge of the whole process. He further insisted that any perception that
these women were "representing Pakistan" is a myth.
Jamaat-i-Islami
Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan also tweeted on this matter and said that training
and participation in such pageants was "shameful" for Pakistan.
Similarly,
journalist Ansar Abbasi also questioned which government gave permission to a
Pakistani woman to compete in the beauty pageant. Information Minister Murtaza
Solangi responded to his tweet on X (formerly known as Twitter) and said that
the government has formally nominated no one to participate in the pageant.
However,
several people found this level of official inspection of something as small as
a beauty pageant offensive. Many came forward to criticise the government for
making such a fuss about this small thing.
Speaking
to Dawn, a former chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Yusuf
said that after Malala Yusufzai and SharmeenChinoy faced backlash, this young
woman is now facing similar kinds of attacks in the country. “This attitude is
misogynistic and condemnable,” she said.
"Attacking
Pakistani women who become famous on the world stage has become the norm. Why
are women's achievements abroad seen as a blot on the nation's morals?"
she added.
Meanwhile,
after winning the title, Robin said that she is honoured to be the first ever
Miss Universe Pakistan, and she wanted to highlight the beauty of Pakistan.
“I
am honoured and humbled to be the first ever Miss Universe Pakistan, and I want
to highlight the beauty of Pakistan. We have a beautiful culture that the media
is not talking about, Pakistani people are very generous, kind, and hospitable.
On top of that, I would like to invite everyone to visit my country and try the
most sumptuous Pakistani cuisines and explore our enchanting nature, our
snow-capped mountains, our greeneries and our progressive landscapes,” she
said.
Source:
Business Today.In
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/clothes-banned-afghanistan-bamiyan/d/130694