Heba Fathima Translates Bhagavad Gita to Urdu, Pens Book on Its 'Similarities' With Quran
New Age Islam News Bureau
23 November 2022
• Qatar's FIFA World Cup Diktats For Women Reflection
Of Its Own Society
• Sri Lanka Probes ‘Auction Of Women’ As Sex Workers
In Oman
• Taliban Publicly Lash Women Accused Of Adultery In
Afghanistan
• US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar Says Republicans Using
'Islamophobia' To Oust Her From Committee
• The Worldwide Women’s Rosary Is Coming To The United
Arab Emirates
• The Role of Women in Oman’s Social and Economic
Progress
• HRH Princess Alia Bint Al Hussein Attends Pakistani
Women’s Cultural Forum
• Self-Immolation Of Football Fan Sahar Khodayari
Threw Light On The Stadium Ban On Women In Iran
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/heba-fathima-bhagavad-gita-urdu/d/128469
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Heba Fathima Translates Bhagavad Gita to Urdu, Pens
Book on Its 'Similarities' With Quran
Hiba Fathima who has
translated Bhagavad Gita slokas into Urdu has entered India Book of Records.
Photo: India Narrative
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By: P Mahender
NOVEMBER 22, 2022
Setting an example to promote religious harmony, a
Muslim woman from Telangana translated Hindu’s one of the most revered holy
scriptures Bhagavad Gita to Urdu. Heba Fathima, a native of Rakasi Pet locality
in Bodhan town of Telangana’s Nizamabad district, also penned a book titled
“Similarities between Bhagavad Gita and Quran” in a simple language. She has
received appreciation from the people from all faiths.
Fathima is pursuing MA (English) student. She
completed her education up to intermediate in Urdu medium and completed her
graduation in English medium. Her father Amed Khan is a small scale trader in
the town.
It was her curiosity to know about other religions that
she decided to study Bhagavad Gita. She translated a total of 700 slokas from
18 chapters in Bhagavad Gita to Urdu within three months.
Speaking to CNN-News18, Fathima has said that it took
her lot of time to find out exact meaning to some words. She said that she
identified as many as 500 slokas in the Bhagavad Gita and 500 verses in Quran
with same meaning. Fathima said that she translated the Bhagavad Gita to Urdu
in a simple language that the readers can understand how to lead a life easily.
She is also running YouTube channel ‘Message For All
by Heba Fathima’ in which she explains Bhagavad Gita in Urdu. She has uploaded
100 videos on the channel so far. Her name entered in World Wide Book of
Records, Notel Book of Records, High range Book of Records, Marvelous Book of
Records, International Book of Records, India Book of Records, Telugu Book of
Records and Magic Book of Records.
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Qatar's FIFA World Cup Diktats For Women Reflection Of
Its Own Society
Women take pictures of the
Qatari capital Doha's skyline ahead of the FIFA 2022 Football World Cup. AFP
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November 23, 2022
New Delhi: Until it kicked off on 20 November, FIFA
World Cup 2022 has been in the news for all the reasons, more so because of the
country where the mega event is being hosted.
Latest in a series of diktats, issued by host-country
Qatar, was a notification asking fans flocking to the country to wear
appropriate clothes, keeping in mind the local culture. Some include rules for
women’s attire: Shoulders and knees must be covered.
These rules and persistent rumours swirling among fans
about what defines appropriate clothing have drawn attention to the country’s
record on equality and how these diktats, especially for women, are a
reflection of Qatari society.
What plagues Qatari society
With Islam encouraging female modesty, most Qatari
women wear headscarves and a loose cloak known as the abaya.
While women have made progress in Qatar, they still
have to follow state-framed male guardianship rules. Facing discrimination in
almost every sphere of their lives, women are required to get permission from
male guardians to marry, pursue higher education and work at certain jobs.
Guardians can also bar women under 25 from traveling abroad.
However, the rules are different for men. Men can
marry up to four women, at a time, without needing permission from a guardian
or even from their current wife or wives.
Laws guarantee the right to equal pay for Qatari women
and men. But women do not always receive it. They also struggle to obtain
high-level posts in private companies and the public sector, even though more
than half of all college graduates are women.
Traditional roles in Qatar are enshrined in laws that
differentiate between women’s and men’s rights and responsibilities. Wives, for
instance, are legally in charge of the household and are required to obey their
husbands. They can lose financial support if they defy their husband’s wishes.
No one to speak up for women
Rothna Begum, a senior researcher at Human Rights
Watch, says, “There are no independent women’s rights organisations and that’s
partly because the authorities have laws that make it difficult for you to set
up associations that are in any way deemed political. You are not allowed.”
“Women find it difficult to express or demand their
rights offline or even online,” she said.
That’s one of the reasons critics are questioning FIFA
for awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
The first World Cup in the Middle East also comes at a
time when a lot is happening in Iran over the treatment meted out women there.
The country has been rocked by anti-hijab protests
following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died while being held by
morality police for allegedly violating the country’s compulsory dress code for
women.
While there is a call by activists to expel Iran from
the World Cup, the host-country Qatar, which has same repressive rules for
women, continues to bask in the glory of the mega event.
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Sri Lanka probes ‘auction of women’ as sex workers in
Oman
18th November 2022
Colombo: Following an alleged incident where a group
of Sri Lankan women who were taken to Oman promising jobs but auctioned off as
sex workers, a Minister on Friday said that a probe was launched to arrest
those behind the racket, including some officials working in the foreign
services and the airport.
Foreign Employment Promotion Minister Manusha
Nanayakkara told Parliament that most of the victims were taken to the Middle
East on tourist or visit visas.
“An extensive investigation has been started to arrest
those involved in the racket including fake agents, government officials at the
Immigration Department and those working at the airport,” Nanayakkara said.
According to the Minister, the Sri Lankan women were
taken Oman via Dubai and sold to various work places where they were forced to undergo
various harassments.
With the increasing complaints, Sri Lanka banned those
going to Oman to work using tourist visas until further notice.
The Foreign Ministry also suspended a Labour Officer
attached to the Sri Lankan Embassy in Oman following a rape complaint lodged by
a woman who had gone to Oman to work as a housemaid.
Earlier, the Sri Lankan police had said that a special
team of detectives who were sent to Oman to investigate the alleged incidents
has found that the victims had undergone various hardships.
Police spokesperson SSP Nihal Thalduwa told that the
victims were lined up according to their age and appearance after which they
were auctioned off and sold as sex workers.
The Foreign Ministry said that more women have come
forwards with their complaints to the Sri Lankan Embassy in Oman over various
forms of harassment.
So far this year, more than 240 victims have been
repatriated to Sri Lanka.
“The Embassy has also sought the assistance of the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) to assist such victims,” the
Ministry said in a statement.
Annually a major part of the island nation’s foreign
remittances is earned by women who work in the oil-rich Middle East and it is
estimated that there are over 1.5 million Sri Lankans working in the Arab
region.
https://www.siasat.com/sri-lanka-probes-auction-of-women-as-sex-workers-in-oman-2460127/
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Taliban publicly lash women accused of adultery in
Afghanistan
JOE WALLEN
| London
23.11.22
The Taliban have publicly lashed women accused of
adultery and trying to flee in the first large-scale use of corporal punishment
since the group returned to power.
The public punishments in northeastern Afghanistan
mark the beginning of the Taliban’s rollout of Islamic law in the country.
Ten men and nine women were each lashed 39 times on
November 11 in the city of Taloqan for allegedly committing adultery or theft,
Abdul Rahim Rashid, a senior Taliban official, has confirmed.
The incident is reminiscent of the public executions,
stonings and floggings the Taliban carried out while they were in power in the
1990s.
Last Thursday, Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s
leader, ordered the country’s judges to again fully enforce the Islamic law
punishments, known as shariat, which loosely follows the principle of
retaliation or an eye for an eye, including the amputation of thieves’ limbs.
The incident in Taloqan, the capital of the
northeastern province of Takhar, suggests Taliban officials in Afghanistan have
already adhered to this demand.
While officials have not released information about
the individuals who were lashed, their alleged crimes were assessed by two
courts before the ruling was made in accordance with sharia.
“The Taliban appear determined to alienate the entire
world as well as their own people with this return to barbaric practices that
have no place in any country whose leaders seek international recognition,”
said Dr Patricia Gossman, associate director for Asia at Human Rights Watch.
“That recognition will elude them so long as they
engage in blatant cruelty in complete disregard for international human rights
law.”
After the Taliban returned to power in August last
year, the group initially pledged tobe more moderate but its leadership has
implemented more conservative policies, including a ban on secondary school
education for girls.
There have been sporadic reports of Taliban officials
applying their own shariat punishments in recent months but the incident in
Taloqanappears to be the first mass punishment, involving the country’s courts.
Other countries have been scrutinising the
Taliban’strack record on human rights and women’s rights since they took over
in August 2021 after a two-decade insurgency. No foreign government has
formally recognised the Taliban’s administration and many have already heavily
criticised its reversal on signals they would open secondary schools nationwide
for girls in March.
Public lashings and executions by stoning took place
under the previous 1996-2001rule of the Taliban.
Such punishments later became rare and were condemned
by the foreign-backed Afghan governments that followed, though the death
penalty remained legal in Afghanistan.
The Daily Telegraph and Reuters
Saudi executions
Geneva: A UN human rights office spokesperson said on
Tuesday that 17 men had been executed in Saudi Arabia since November 10 for
drug and contraband offences, calling the executions “deeply regrettable”.
Those killed were from Syria, Pakistan, Jordan and
Saudi Arabia, spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell told a Geneva press briefing.
That brings the total number of executions this year to 144.
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US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar Says Republicans Using
'Islamophobia' To Oust Her From Committee
22 November 2022
US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has fired back at
Republican House minority leader Kevin McCarthy's threat to remove her from the
House Foreign Affairs Committee, accusing McCarthy and the Republican Party of
consistently attacking her with "Islamophobia and racism".
McCarthy, who is hoping to become the next Speaker of
the House, promised numerous times this past weekend that he would remove Omar
from the Foreign Affairs Committee, accusing the congresswoman of making
"antisemitic comments".
"From the moment I was elected, the Republican
Party has made it their mission to use fear, xenophobia, Islamophobia and
racism to target me on the House Floor and through millions of dollars of
campaign ads," Omar said in a statement on Monday.
"McCarthy's effort to repeatedly single me out
for scorn and hatred - including threatening to strip me from my committee -
does nothing to address the issues our constituents deal with. It does nothing
to address inflation, healthcare, or solve the climate crisis."
If McCarthy ends up becoming speaker, he will begin
the new position after the new majority Republican Congress takes office in
January. However, he would not have unilateral authority to remove Omar from
her committee assignments – that would require a vote in Congress.
On Saturday, during a speech he delivered to the
Republican Jewish Coalition, McCarthy said: "I remember what she said
about Israel. I remember what she said about the relationship. I remember it so
much that I promised you last year that as speaker, she would no longer be on
Foreign Affairs. I'm keeping that promise.'
Since being elected to office in 2018, as one of the
first two Muslim women in Congress, Omar has received strong condemnations from
Republicans and Democrats alike for her criticism of Israel.
At the same time, she has faced Islamophobic attacks
from far-right media outlets and Republican politicians, including former
President Donald Trump.
The congresswoman's supporters argue that Republicans
take her comments out of context to create manufactured outrage, and use
Islamophobic undertones to portray her as an outsider trying to undermine the
US.
She also faced numerous death threats, with a Trump
supporter making a threat to her life in 2019.
Republicans 'openly tolerate' antisemitism
In her statement on Monday, Omar also took to
criticising Republican leadership for attacking her while allowing their own
party members to make antisemitic claims.
"At the same time, they have openly tolerated
antisemitism, anti-Muslim hate and racism in their own party. Newly-elected
Whip Tom Emmer said prominent Jewish Democrats 'essentially bought control of
Congress.' And McCarthy himself accused Jewish Democrats of trying to 'buy
elections'," Omar said.
"Instead of doing anything to address the open
hostility towards religious minorities in his party, McCarthy is now lifting up
people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Emmer and so many others. If he cared about
addressing the rise in hate, he would apologize and make sure others in his party
apologized."
Former President Donald Trump, who has announced plans
to run for president again in 2024, has continued to tell Jewish Americans that
they should vote for him because of policy decisions he has made that were
favourable to the Israeli government.
"US Jews have to get their act together and
appreciate what they have in Israel - Before it is too late!" he said on
his Truth Social platform.
The comments have drawn condemnation from Jewish
groups in the US who say they fall under an antisemitic trope portraying Jewish
Americans as holding more loyalty to Israel than to the US.
A recent poll conducted by J Street in the run-up to
the midterm elections found that three-quarters of Jewish American voters
believe that Trump and his "Make America Great Again" movement are a
"threat to Jews in America".
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The Worldwide Women’s Rosary Is Coming To The United
Arab Emirates
Nov 22, 2022
Women from all over the world will join together Dec.
8 for the public recitation of a rosary to Our Lady. In the United Arab
Emirates, where only 7% of the population professes Christianity, women are
participating in the initiative in a special way.
Martha and Darío are a Colombian married couple living
in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. There they have
developed an active faith life, and on Dec. 8 they will be part of a Catholic
community that will join the Worldwide Women’s Rosary.
It was a job position for Darío that led him and his
wife to move to the United Arab Emirates in 2008 and start their lives over,
8,000 miles from their native Colombia.
In an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s
Spanish-language sister news agency, Darío said that during their first few
years of living there they attended the celebration of the Eucharist in English
at St. Joseph Cathedral in Abu Dhabi. An announcement during Mass led them to
meet a group of Spanish-speaking people who were attending Mass in Spanish.
Some time later, Martha was asked to be in charge of
coordinating the Mass, and with the help of her husband, who had experience in
the life of the Church in Colombia, she undertook the task, joined by one of
her friends.
Darío approached the then pastor of the cathedral to
offer his help. From that moment on, he began working as a coordinator for the Spanish-speaking
community.
Thus “began the activities aimed at the formation of a
community, of a Spanish-speaking Catholic Church, in the midst of a parish that
has countless different languages and cultures congregated in the same place,”
he recalled.
The tasks followed one another: community outreach,
locating rooms for catechesis, preparation of the Mass and soon there were some
220 families from countries such as Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru,
Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Panama, and Spain.
The Catholic faith in the United Arab Emirates
Abu Dhabi belongs to the South Vicariate of the United
Arab Emirates, a country where the official and most widespread religion among
its inhabitants is Islam, at 75% of the population, and approximately 7% professing
Christianity.
“It’s common to think that in a place where the
Catholic faith is not the main recognized faith, different kinds of
difficulties may arise,” Darío acknowledged.
“Here, on the contrary, we constantly receive
‘friendly challenges’ to faithfully demonstrate our faith to others in love, in
charity, in respect, in tolerance,” he said.
The official language of the vicariate is English, but
at St. Joseph Cathedral, Mass is offered in Spanish once a month.
The same is true of the Arab, Filipino, Sri Lankan,
and Indian communities (in their different language groups), as well as small
German-, French-, and Italian-speaking communities.
As for education in the faith, unlike in Latin
America, catechesis is not directed toward sacramental preparation, but during
the 12 years of primary and secondary school, catechesis is given on weekends
as an extracurricular activity.
In the Spanish-speaking community, there is also
catechesis for families whose children will receive the sacraments in their
country of origin. “At the same time, parents receive their faith formation,”
Darío explained.
At Martha’s initiative, since they arrived in Abu
Dhabi, she and her husband began to pray the Pilgrim Holy Rosary in the homes
of different people. Later, it was transferred to the cathedral, where a group
of women met once a week.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the practice had to
be suspended, and it hasn’t been possible to restart it because normal
activities in the country only resumed two weeks ago.
The news about the Worldwide Women’s Rosary came
through Fanny Tagle, a Chilean who participates in coordinating the initiative
and who was a classmate of Darío’s in a professional development course. And so
Tagle conveyed the proposal to him.
Martha and Darío took the idea to the parish, where
the priest decided to support it, proposing to offer the intentions of the
rosaries that are said in the half hour before each Mass from Dec. 5–8 for the
Worldwide Women’s Rosary.
In the entire country, which is about the size of the
state of Maine, there are only nine Catholic parishes, which means that “people
of different cultures and different countries flock to the eucharistic
celebrations.” Darío estimates that every Sunday some 15,000 people attend
Mass.
On liturgical solemnities such as the Immaculate
Conception on Dec. 8, it’s not possible to hold any activity outside of Mass,
and the rosary cannot be prayed in the church.
During the month of October, the Catholic community of
the United Arab Emirates celebrates the devotion to the holy rosary. A heavily
attended rosary service is held to close the month's events, and this year it
brought together close to 1,300 people. It was the first one to be led by the
new bishop of the vicariate, Paolo Martinelli.
To join the global initiative Dec. 8, the couple is
considering meeting in a house and livestreaming it from there on the Facebook
page of the Spanish-speaking community of Abu Dhabi.
Representatives from Argentina, Australia, Bolivia,
Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, and
the United States have already confirmed their participation in the Worldwide
Women’s Rosary.
Also participating will be women from Guatemala,
Honduras, Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, the
Dominican Republic, Uganda, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
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The Role of Women in Oman’s Social and Economic
Progress
Nov 22, 2022
Alainna Liloia
Oman is making gradual progress in the area of women’s
rights. Women in Oman are voting, running for office, and serving in
ministerial positions. Opportunities in higher education are on the rise, with
women making up over 50 percent of university students, and opportunities for
participation in the workforce are growing as well. Women have also seen legal
advances in the last two decades to secure their rights, including the
establishment of universal suffrage in 2003, the ratification of the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in
2006, and a 2008 royal decree granting them the same rights as men regarding
land ownership.
But despite this progress, women in Oman continue to
face barriers to full-fledged participation in public life, as well as
restrictions in the legal, economic, and political domains. Women are
underrepresented in politics, with tribalism and patriarchal structures working
to constrain the success of women candidates. Discriminatory laws still prevent
them from exercising the same economic and social rights as men. And the uneven
impacts of urbanization have resulted in challenges for women in rural areas,
including greater social restrictions and less access to government resources.
Indeed, women’s progress in Oman has stalled in recent
years as the government instead prioritizes economic development. The Omani
government has focused its attention and resources on addressing urgent
economic challenges under the leadership of Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said,
who succeeded Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said following his death in 2020.
In order to ensure that women are fully integrated
into the country’s efforts to boost economic development, the Omani government
should implement policies that facilitate women’s leadership in politics and
that are more inclusive of rural women.
Women’s Progress
Women throughout the Gulf states witnessed rapid
shifts in their societal roles during the 1970s. Modernization projects
targeted both men and women as governments sought to harness the power of human
capital for development. Gulf citizens benefited from workforce nationalization
policies and the establishment of government scholarship programs, as well as
the founding of new schools and universities.
In Oman, the late Sultan Qaboos made women’s issues a
major focus of the country’s development plans. Women gained the right to vote
and run for office as early as 1994, before their counterparts in other Gulf
Arab states. And Oman’s Basic Law, issued in 1996, prohibits gender
discrimination. In addition, the development of a public education system for
girls and boys in the 1970s, alongside the establishment of literacy centers,
allowed women to receive an education for the first time.
Women’s organizations were established across the
Gulf, coming as early as the 1950s in Kuwait, and in 1972 in Oman, when the
country’s first women’s organization was founded. These organizations are
significant for women’s advancement, as they provide a space to discuss
important social issues and play a role in encouraging participation in
development. Many women candidates in Oman’s most recent election, for example,
were members of a women’s organization. However, while Oman has more than 60
women’s organizations, all civil society organizations are closely monitored by
the government and are thus restricted from advocating for women’s rights on
their own terms.
Rates of higher education enrollment and workforce
participation among women in Oman have risen significantly over the past few
decades, as they have in other Gulf Arab states. Women’s illiteracy rates
decreased from 85 percent in 1970 to 5.2 percent in 2020. According to recent
statistics, the rate of women’s enrollment in higher education in Oman was 57
percent as of 2020, which is close to Qatar and the UAE’s respective rates of
59 and 66 percent. However, the rate of women’s labor force participation in
Oman, at 29 percent, is lower than other Gulf Arab states, where women’s
participation ranges between 31 and 57 percent. Regardless, it is still higher
than many countries in the Arab world.
Women comprise 42 percent of the public sector
workforce in Oman, with many working in administrative government positions.
Women outnumber men in service industries like healthcare, education, and
social work. Many work in the retail sector, and they also make up 88 percent
of the country’s craftspeople. Women in Oman are also leading the way in
entrepreneurship, with more women than men now running their own businesses.
Gender Discrimination
Despite notable progress, Omani women still face
barriers to workforce participation that are shared by women across the Gulf.
These include conservative social norms, the pressure to prioritize marriage
and childbearing, and private sector policies that are unfriendly to working
mothers. Patriarchal tribal structures and values also impact women’s level of
mobility, with those from more traditional tribes facing greater restrictions.
Women in rural areas in Oman face additional
constraints on workforce participation, including cultural and economic
barriers to mobility, and more conservative social norms. They also face unique
struggles in starting their own businesses, such as their location and their
limited access to resources and support, including access to information,
funding, technology, and training.
Women in Oman are also restricted by discriminatory
patriarchal laws. For example, although the government ratified the CEDAW in 2006,
it maintained its reservations to certain articles that contradict the
country’s nationality and personal status laws. For example, according to
Oman’s nationality laws, Omani women who are married to non-Omani men cannot
automatically pass their citizenship on to their children. In addition, their
husbands must live in Oman for 15 years before being able to apply for
nationality, compared to 10 years for non-Omani wives of Omani men.
Meanwhile, Oman’s personal status laws discriminate
against women in the areas of marriage, divorce, and inheritance. With the
exception of Saudi Arabia, all of the Gulf Arab states have codified their
personal status laws, which were modeled after a document issued by the Gulf
Cooperation Council in 1997 and based in principles of Islamic law.
Under Oman’s personal status laws, women need the
permission of a male relative or guardian in order to marry. While men can
obtain a divorce without cause, women must prove that there was a case of
abandonment or a failure to provide financial support if they want a divorce.
The other option available to women seeking a divorce is to pay compensation
for the husband’s consent, a process called khula. Women also receive half the
inheritance that men do and have greater difficulty in acquiring legal
guardianship over their children.
Oman’s personal status laws grant women the right not
to be physically or emotionally abused by their husbands. However, marital rape
is not criminalized by Oman’s penal code, and women who report rape can be
charged with having sexual relations outside of marriage if they do not win
their case.
Other Gulf Arab states have similar laws restricting
women’s rights in these diverse areas, including some that enact additional
restrictions. For example, personal status laws in Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait
include provisions allowing men to stop their wives from working under certain
circumstances.
Women’s Political Participation
As the first Gulf Arab nation to grant women the right
to vote and run for office, Oman has a long history of women’s political
participation. Women have also been appointed to ministerial positions, with
Oman’s first woman minister having been appointed in 2004 as the minister of
higher education. However, women in Oman remain severely underrepresented in
political decision-making roles.
Furthermore, women candidates have seen limited
success in the country’s elections. Oman’s Shura Council is the only elected
legislative assembly in the country, and only two women were elected to the 86-member
council in 2019. However, the number of women candidates doubled between the
2015 and 2019 elections, and seven women were elected to the country’s
municipal council in the 2016 municipal elections.
Tribal politics and cultural perceptions constitute
the main barriers to women candidates’ success. Tribes are an influential force
in Omani politics, with tribal blocs informally nominating candidates and with
many Omanis voting along tribal lines. Informal tribal structures also prevent
more women from running for office, because they cannot participate in tribal
forums where political discussions take place. In addition, it is rare for
women to receive tribal support to run for office due to conservative social
norms, making it more difficult for women candidates to organize an effective
campaign.
Negative social perceptions regarding women’s
political participation further impede the success of women candidates. Those
who are elected are often forced to face public scrutiny and a lack of
cooperation from male officials. Women candidates in Kuwait and Qatar have
faced the same issues with similar results. Last year, Qatar’s emir appointed
two women to the country’s Shura Council after no women candidates were elected
in the first legislative election. None of the 29 women candidates running for
office in Kuwait in 2021 were elected, though two were elected in 2022.
Fortunately, Kuwaiti women gained access to traditionally men-only public
forums called diwaniyas during elections in the past few years, with some women
candidates holding forums of their own. And a Kuwaiti activist launched an
online platform to support women candidates, helping them gain greater
exposure.
While Oman’s women candidates could certainly benefit
from similar measures, top-down action has been a more effective means of
getting women into political leadership roles in the Gulf. Across the Gulf, the
merit of introducing political quotas has been debated, with proponents arguing
that society will follow governments’ lead.
Integrating Women into Social and Economic Development
As the Omani government institutes important measures
to boost and diversify the economy, some of the country’s women citizens are
being left behind. Without more women in decision-making roles and without more
inclusive government programs, women’s economic and social progress will remain
at a standstill.
Oman led the way in the region in granting women the
right to vote, and did so by way of decree. The same direct action is now
needed to further advance women’s political participation. The Omani government
should take an active role in getting more women into decision-making roles,
including through appointments and quotas, which will encourage broader
societal change.
Affording greater autonomy to women’s organizations in
Oman could also benefit women’s political awareness and positively impact
social perceptions of their roles in society. The government should also
develop programs and policies that address the unique restrictions women in
rural areas face. Oman has recently taken steps toward this end, including
creating an online platform to promote and sell products made by women
entrepreneurs from rural areas. The government should continue supporting rural
women’s efforts to join the workforce and start their own businesses.
The Omani government should also reform its personal
status and nationality laws to fully conform to the CEDAW so that women no
longer face legal restrictions to their full participation in society. Omani
women should be given the authority to advocate for their rights as they see
fit, and to lead government efforts to better integrate themselves into the
country’s economic and social development. Such changes will only further
Oman’s social and economic progress, which cannot move forward without the
advancement of women’s status in politics and society.
https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/the-role-of-women-in-omans-social-and-economic-progress/
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HRH Princess Alia Bint Al Hussein Attends Pakistani
Women’s Cultural Forum
Nov 22,2022
AMMAN — Deputising for HRH Princess Sarvath El Hassan,
HRH Princess Alia Bint Al Hussein on Monday night attended the Pakistani
Cultural Forum for Women at the Royal Cultural Centre in Amman.
Organised by the Pakistani embassy in Jordan, in
cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, the event featured the participation
of HRH Princess Wijdan Al Hashimi, HRH Princess Sana Asem, HRH Princess Rajwa
Bint Ali, HRH Princess Basma Bint Ali, HRH Princess Najla Bint Asem, HRH
Princess Farah Nayef and Pakistan's Ambassador to Jordan Sajjad Ali Khan,
according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.
Addressing the gathering, Minister of Culture Haifa
Najjar highlighted the forum's role in enhancing relations between Jordanian
and Pakistani women, noting that such events could help in advancing bilateral
relations, especially in the cultural field. The Pakistani envoy, during the
ceremony, which included a Sufi concert, emphasised the "deep-rooted"
nature of Jordanian-Pakistani relations, expressing hope to advance bilateral
cultural relations.
https://jordantimes.com/news/local/princess-alia-attends-pakistani-womens-cultural-forum
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Self-Immolation Of Football Fan Sahar Khodayari Threw Light On The Stadium Ban
On Women In Iran
Annu Kaushik
November 22, 2022
On 9 September 2019, 29-year-old Sahar Khodayari died of
burn injuries a week after she immolated herself outside an Islamic
Revolutionary Court in the Iranian capital of Tehran.
A short while before the self-immolation, the court
told Khodayari that she may be sentenced to six months in prison.
Her crime? She attended her favourite local football
club Esteghlal FC’s match.
Iran bans women from attending men’s football matches.
Disguised as a man, Khodayari had entered the Azadi
Stadium in Tehran to attend the match in March 2019 but she was caught by the
security guards and arrested. Khodayari who became a symbol of protest in her
country was dubbed the ‘blue girl’ after the colours of her Esteghlal FC.
Her self-immolation and subsequent death sparked
outrage both at home and abroad with FIFA mounting pressure on Iran to allow
women to enter stadiums.
“We learnt of some very sad news from Iran and deeply
regret this tragedy. FIFA conveys its condolences to the family and friends of
Sahar. We reiterate our calls on Iranian authorities to ensure the freedom and
safety of any women engaged in the legitimate fight to end the stadium ban,”
FIFA tweeted.
Under pressure from FIFA, Iran allowed over 2,000
female spectators to watch the Iranian national football team defeat Iraq in
the World Cup Qualifiers in Tehran.
However, in March 2022, it was reported that women
were barred from attending the Iran-Lebanon WC qualifiers in Tehran.
To date, Iran has not lifted the stadium ban on women.
The ongoing FIFA World Cup coincides with nationwide
protests in Iran which started after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died following her
arrest by the morality police.
On 22 November in their opening match which was
against England, the Iranian football team refused to sing their country’s
national anthem in an apparent show of support for the protests.
While the gesture won praise globally, not all fans
were impressed. Demonstrators and activists had earlier slammed the football
team for posing with Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi before leaving for the
World Cup.
Many Iranian fans have been divided over whether or
not to support their team.
“The protest movement has overshadowed football. I
want Iran to lose these three games,” AP quoted Kamran, a linguistics professor
as saying.
As for the Iranian players, some of them have been
vocal in favour of the protests on social media.
One of them Sardar Azmoun- a star performer, was on
the bench during the match.
Earlier, Iranian authorities arrested former
Persepolis FC player Hossein Maahini for supporting the demonstrations.
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