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Islam, Women and Feminism ( 29 Jan 2022, NewAgeIslam.Com)

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Hijab-Wearing Female Football Players Protest Hijab Ban In France

New Age Islam News Bureau

29 January 2022

• French Region Cancels Its Subsidy To Art Festival Over Mural Of Woman Wearing Hijab

• Syrian Women Open Laurel Soap Making Workshop In Idlib

• First Professional Fashion Society Launched In Saudi Arabia

• The Afghan Women Making Athens Their New Home Access To The Comments

• German Woman Allegedly Took 6Years Old Daughter to Watch ISIS Stoning in Syria

• CHR Slams Bangsamoro Body For Move Vs Anti-Child Marriage Law

• Video Of Women’s Surgeries By OT Attendant In Sialkot Sparks Outrage

Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau

URL:  https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/hijab-female-football-france/d/126265

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Hijab-Wearing Female Football Players Protest Hijab Ban In France

  

A group of hijab-wearing football players gathered in Paris's Luxembourg Garden to protest a recent decision which bans them from wearing their scarves in sports competitions.

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January 29, 2022

A group of hijab-wearing football players gathered in Paris's Luxembourg Garden on Wednesday to protest a recent decision which bans them from wearing their scarves in sports competitions.

"The purpose of this non-violent action, organised by the Alliance Citoyenne (Citizen Alliance) group, is to protest against the amendment that was voted by 160 senators, which aims to prohibit the wearing of religious symbols within sports federations, therefore during official competitions," said Founé Diawara, co-president of the collective Les Hijabeuses, an offshoot of the Citizen Alliance group.

"What bothers us is that some women are being left out, including thousands of women today who wear the veil and who practice soccer. And once again, they exclude us, whereas the fundamental values of football and sport are to unite and to come together," Diawara added.

Last week, French senators voted to ban the wearing of religious symbols during events and competitions organised by sports federations.

"We don't see why we should remove it. There is no reason, there is nothing in the law that says that the veil is not in cohesion with the values of sport and with sport. So I don't see why we would be forced to remove it, there is really nothing that would justify that," she went on.

The French Football Federation claims it's defending the principle of laicity in sport and has received the support of the French Senate.

"This is something personal and intimate and there is no right, there is nobody who can ask us to remove it."

Source: ABNA24

https://en.abna24.com/news//female-football-players-protest-hijab-ban-in-france_1223618.html

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French Region Cancels Its Subsidy To Art Festival Over Mural Of Woman Wearing Hijab

 

France has long been criticised for discriminatory policies against Muslims, with the spotlight on women wearing hijabs. (Reuters)

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Yusuf Özcan 

29.01.2022

PARIS

The French region of Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes suspended subsidies for a street-art festival in Grenoble because of a mural of a woman wearing a hijab.

The region said in a statement that the mural was "provocative" and "unacceptable."

It argued that it only benefits extremists, fueling violence and hatred and said subsidies planned for the "Street art fest Grenoble Alpes" was canceled.

Media reports said the mural was drawn eight months ago and a decision was made to cancel the subsidy although the mural had nothing to do with the festival.

Festival director Jerome Catz said the reason for the cancelation of €10,000 ($11,149) in financial support for the festival is political and it happened before the presidential election that will be held in April.

Catz said that the artist who drew the mural wanted to draw attention to the fact that some people are discriminated against because of their religion.

After the suspension, it was learned that the mural was defaced with black paint.

On the right side of the mural where there was a yellow star with "Muslim" written on the woman’s chest, is now black.

Source: Anadolu Agency

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/french-region-cancels-its-subsidy-to-art-festival-over-mural-of-woman-wearing-hijab/2488585

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Syrian women open laurel soap making workshop in Idlib

Khaled al-Khateb

January 2, 2022

ALEPPO — The Syrian war, which has been going on for almost 10 years, forced a large number of Syrian women to lead their families after the detention or death of their husbands. The absence of the traditional family provider prompted many women to learn jobs that were previously limited to men.

Idlib governorate, which is under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in northwestern Syria, has turned into a destination for those opposing the Syrian regime, especially women, whose number rose due the displacement waves caused by the regime.

The new and harsh life forced women in Idlib to enter the labor market. While some found work in kindergartens and humanitarian organizations, those who did not hold any academic degrees were forced to work in agriculture for a daily wage. Others learned a profession to make ends meet.

In Maarat Misrin, a town just north of Idlib city, family breadwinners among women came up with the idea of opening a soap-making workshop in early 2021. The idea turned into an important project that involved 20 women and that bears the name of Olfar Soap making company.

Mariam Daeef, who lives in Maaret Misrin in Idlib countryside, is one of the women working in the soap factory. She is a widowed mother to five children. She told Al-Monitor, “None of us in the soap-making company have academic degrees that would enable us to get jobs in education or any other sector. We needed a project that suits our skills and allows us to cover the costs of living.”

The project in Idlib seemed feasible, given that the main raw material is olive oil. The Idlib governorate is known for producing this type of oil and the making of soap. A large segment of the workers have extensive experience, which they inherited from their ancestors.

Locally made laurel soap is a basic commodity in every house in northwestern Syria. It is used primarily for body and hair wash, and is a natural product that does not harm the hair nor the skin. The women have successfully marketed the product in the opposition areas in Idlib and the northern Aleppo countryside.

Fatima Chahine, director of the soap-making company who resides in Maarrat Misrin, told Al-Monitor, “Soap-making is considered a heritage, and anyone can do this job and learn it quickly, once they have the necessary equipment.”

She added, “We turned a rented house into a workshop where we make soap. It is a handcraft that does not require great effort. As women, it was necessary for us to choose a job that suits our physical capabilities as well as the customs and traditions of the local community.”

Soap is made in three stages, she explained. First, oil, water and sodium hydroxide are cooked for an hour and a half. Next, laurel oil, water and salt are added to the mixture and cooked again for an hour and a half in order to get rid of the sodium hydroxide after it fulfills its role. Finally, there is the cooling, cutting, packaging and selling.

The 20 women in the factory are mostly survivors from other governorates who were released years ago from the prisons of the Syrian regime, she said. The women are divided into two groups, each working a three-hour shift.

The business hopes to expand, Chahine said, because "the current income is barely enough to cover the living expenses of their families due to the high prices and the difficulties in securing raw materials.” However, she did not  reveal how much they are paid per month.

Hoda Rayya, one of the workers, lives in Maarrat Misrin and is a former detainee in the regime’s prisons. Her husband is dead and she provides for her family. She told Al-Monitor, “Soap making is the profession that I chose and I started to love. It all started when the opportunity presented itself. I received the training for twenty days, and once the decision to open the factory was made, I agreed and expressed readiness to join.”

Women's initiatives are on the rise in the local community in northwestern Syria. A group of women announced in April the opening of a mobile phone maintenance center in Idlib, after a group of women received two months of training.

Source: Al Monitor

https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/01/syrian-women-open-laurel-soap-making-workshop-idlib

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First professional fashion society launched in Saudi Arabia

HEBSHI AL-SHAMMARI

January 29, 2022

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s first fashion professional society was launched on Thursday.

Loai Naseem, founder of the Lomar chain, is the chairman of the board of directors of the society.

The society is among the professional associations founded under the Ministry of Culture’s nonprofit sector strategy, adopted in March 2021. The strategy aims to build a diverse system of nonprofit organizations in the Kingdom’s cultural sectors, including the formation of 16 professional societies in 13 cultural sectors globally.

Naseem told Arab News that the society aspires to lead the fashion sector in terms of creativity, excellence and sustainability while also strengthening its development role in the Saudi economy and reflecting the country’s cultural identity locally and globally.

The society’s goals include developing professional practice, improving the future of employees through training, strengthening networks among practitioners and supporting talent.

“The most important thing, in my opinion, is to raise awareness of the cultural importance and value of the sector,” Naseem said

Naseem, who was named Saudi Arabia’s most influential entrepreneur by American Endeavor in 2012, said that the society is looking forward to a variety of activities, including “training, mentoring and empowering professionals and designers with the goal of putting them on track.”

Among the society’s anticipated positive impacts are an increased knowledge of fashion in terms of quality, value, sustainability and significance, and economic growth, including the possibility for the Kingdom to export “Made in Saudi Arabia” products.  

Source: Arab News

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2014116/fashion

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The Afghan women making Athens their new home Access to the comments

By Julian GOMEZ 

28/01/2022

I've never been to Afghanistan, nor do I speak Dari or Pashto, the country's two official languages. So when I actually find myself on a rainy January morning in Athens at a centre for women Afghan refugees and migrants, the question I ask myself, even if just for a moment, is: what am I doing here?

I had pitched the story a few weeks before. I had read an article about how the Greek capital had unexpectedly become a hub for Afghan women and their families forced to flee Afghanistan following the Taliban's sudden return to power in August 2021.

Most of the women were reported to be judges, lawyers, journalists or civil right activists. Different aid programmes had helped with their evacuation and continue to cover their housing and basic needs in Athens.

Together with our fixer Eleni Korovila, I contacted the Melissa Network, one of several local centres that help Afghan women and their families. In addition to being a place for the women to meet, Melissa - meaning "Beehive" in Greek - also offers a range of support services, including legal advice, tuition, councelling and community networking.

As soon as I arrive, I'm taken into a living room with some pastry and mandarines on a huge table. Different women are eager to share with me their stories of loss. Loss of family and friends. Loss of jobs, wages, independence and self-esteem. All were forced into hiding. All still remain in shock. I spend the day listening to them.

Hasina, a former judge, tells me about how the Taliban released the same criminals she had sentenced and put in jail.

She explains to me that they were now looking for revenge. "I could not go outdoors", she tells me. "They could kill me, or my children, or kidnap them."

Homa Ahmadi, a former member of parliament, was forced into hiding for five weeks. She says no country should recognise the Taliban until "they form an inclusive government and guarantee children's rights, the freedom of women and their right to work."

Nilofar, 26, fled Afghanistan with her two children - the youngest is just 8-months-old. She has a bachelor degree in law and political science and worked as a journalist in Afghanistan.

"At first we had to fight with our fathers and brothers for the right to decide on how we dress, for example veils and scarves. Over the last 20 years we succeeded.

"Then, with the return of the Taliban, we lost everything. I had dreams for my children and for the people. All that vanished in one night."

Fariba - not her real name - was a judge, but she avoids discussing the past; for her it is far too painful. She prefers to show me one of the few belongings she brought with her from Afghanistan: a traditional dress.

"This dress is representative of all Afghan women. Every country has its own symbols. In Afghanistan, after the language and the flag, the only thing that represents Afghan women to the rest of the world is this [traditional] dress." she says.

Plans for the future

For most of the women, Greece is just a transit country. Some have already received asylum offers from Canada and Spain. Others would like to go to Germany.

Nadina Christopoulou, the director and co-founder of the Melissa Network tells me: "The idea behind this was to be able to provide a safe space [in Greece] for them to pick up the thread of the work they have been doing for so long in Afghanistan, and to start thinking again about the potential of what they can do. To also avoid the fragmentation that the diaspora entails."

I point out that many of these woman are former politicians, journalists and judges and that many people might consider them to be an elite compared to most women living in Afghanistan.

But Nadina says: "I would not see it as an elite. The way we selected these women is because of their roles and their active social and political engagements and activism that created eventually the high-risk situations in which they were caught. Even now, they try to find ways to be of help and support and to remain actively engaged," she says.

I ask her for some examples.

Replying, she says: "Almost a week after they arrived, they were speaking at the Athens Democracy Forum, talking about how intense it was for them to speak about the collapse of democracy in Afghanistan that they themselves had helped and worked so hard to build - in the country that gave birth to the idea of democracy."

Asylum struggle

Around 100 of the women have applied to stay in Greece. Their claims are currently under investigation and processed. I cannot avoid thinking, however, about the hundreds of other Afghan asylum seekers scattered in camps around Greece who wont get the same chances.

In recent months the country has stepped up security and surveillance along its maritime and land borders with Turkey, the main entry route into Greece for most Afghan refugee and migrants.

The Greek government has a dual approach, the country's General Secretary for Migration Policy tells me. I meet him inside the courtyard of the headquarters of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum.

"In the past two, two and a half years, Greece has followed a strict but, in our view, fair migration policy. In the sense that we may have tightened the rules within the framework of the EU directives and regulations, but this does not mean that as a country, Greece, has forgotten its humanitarian approach."

All Afghan women I met in Athens tell me it is now time for them to move on.

I meet Khatera Saeedi and her two children in one of the public gardens in the centre of Athens. Khatera shows them the animals of a small zoo and then the three stop in a nearby pond where ducks and swans wait to be fed.

A civil-society activist and journalist, in Afghanistan Khatera worked for an international organisation. She fled with her two children and also with her mum, herself a human-rights activist who was persecuted by the Taliban.

Discussing her plans for the future, Khatera says: "I will go to Canada, I will strengthen my education, my experience, my knowledge, and I will go back to Afghanistan stronger than before. And I will work for the people."

Source: Euro News

https://www.euronews.com/2022/01/28/the-afghan-women-making-athens-their-new-home

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German Woman Allegedly Took 6Years Old Daughter to Watch ISIS Stoning in Syria

28 January, 2022

A German who allegedly took her young daughter to watch a woman being stoned while in ISIS-held territory in Syria has been charged with membership in the extremist group and other offenses, federal prosecutors said Friday.

The woman, identified only as Romiena S. in keeping with German privacy laws, was arrested at Frankfurt airport when she arrived on Oct. 7 among a group of women and children repatriated from a camp in northeastern Syria where suspected ISIS members were held.

She was charged at a court in the northern town of Celle with membership in a foreign terrorist organization, recruiting members for the group, a crime against humanity, the abduction of a minor, violating her duties of care and education, and approving of crimes, prosecutors said in a statement, The Associated Press reported.

The suspect traveled to Syria in late 2014 along with a 16-year-old girl she had persuaded to join her, prosecutors said. They said she took her 4-year-old daughter, against the wishes of the child’s father.

In Syria, she married several ISIS members, according to prosecutors. She brought up her daughter and two sons born in Syria in line with ISIS ideology, taking the girl — then age 6 — to the stoning of a woman and showing her execution videos, they said.

She also is accused of exploiting a Yazidi woman enslaved by the extremist group for a few days in 2016, ordering her to do household duties at the home of a slave trader in Raqqa and guarding her as she went into town.

The suspect also posted messages on Twitter supporting extremist attacks in Nice, France, and Wuerzburg, Germany, in 2016, prosecutors said.

Source: Aawsat

https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3441951/german-woman-allegedly-took-6yo-daughter-watch-isis-stoning-syria

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CHR slams Bangsamoro body for move vs anti-child marriage law

January 29, 2022

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Friday said it was “very disappointed and deeply concerned” about reports that members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) have passed a resolution urging President Rodrigo Duterte to veto a recently passed law banning child marriages.

In a statement, the commission said it was “alarmed that these members have unilaterally claimed that the Bangsamoro community does not support the law and that some members have claimed that child marriage is embedded in the Muslim culture.

The CHR, which is also the country’s gender ombudsman, was referring to the landmark Republic Act No. 11596, which finally bans marrying off any individual before he or she is 18 years old, a practice often seen in indigenous and Muslim communities in the country. The law was signed by President Duterte on Dec. 10, 2021, and released by Malacañang on Jan. 6.

Both local and international groups see its passage as long overdue and a major milestone in protecting the welfare and rights of children, especially since the Philippines is a state party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

‘Very hard to change’

But a day after a copy of RA 11596 was released earlier this month, the BTA, the interim governing body of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), had passed a resolution appealing to the President to stop the implementation of the law.

BARMM Labor and Employment Minister Romeo Sema earlier maintained that getting married at an early age among Filipino Muslim men and women was part of their culture that “is very hard to change.”

Another Muslim leader in Maguindanao province, Anwar Emblawa, also said that Islam allows women to get married after they reached the stage of puberty.

The commission urged the BTA members to “listen to their women and girls” and to “adopt a view of Sharia that is not opposed to the protection of women and girls’ rights.”

It also asked the BTA to reach out to women’s organizations and leaders to thresh out their concerns and to ensure “continuing dialogue so that the gains of this law will be fully realized.”

‘Further from the truth’

The CHR also reminded the body that the law went through rigorous deliberations and consultations with religious leaders and communities, especially with women and girls in Muslim and indigenous communities. Many representatives from their communities have already attested to the urgency of the law, it added.

“The claim then that this law lacks support from the Bangsamoro community couldn’t be further from the truth. They can only come from individuals who refuse to acknowledge and discount the critical participation of women and girls and who continue to cling to harmful practices even as they violate basic human rights,” the commission said.

Source: News Info

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1546734/chr-slams-bangsamoro-body-for-move-vs-antichild-marriage-law

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Video of women’s surgeries by OT attendant in Sialkot sparks outrage

January 29, 2022

NAROWAL: A video of an operating theatre (OT) attendant performing surgeries on women in the absence of any surgeon at a major health facility in Sialkot has gone viral.

The abysmal state of healthcare at Daska’s Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) hospital drew condemnation on the social media, with calls for stern action against the officials concerned.

District Health Authority, Sialkot, Chief Executive Officer Dr Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam said operating theatre attendant Muhammad Asim and two nurses had been suspended from service and a report sought from THQ hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Adnan.

The operating theatre attendant, Asim, can be seen in the video administering anaesthesia and operating upon the women for appendix and C-section on his own. Complete procedures have been recorded and Asim seems to be violating the SOPs. Nurses and paramedical staff roam around in the operating theatre.

Health authorities suspend three, seek report

People expressed their disgust at the negligence of the authorities concerned jeopardising the lives of women.

This correspondent tried to contact Medical Superintendent Dr Adnan but he did not reply to the calls. Deputy Commissioner Imran Qureshi told Dawn that he was saddened by the incident and had sought a detailed report from the CEO Health. Strict departmental action would be taken against those responsible for negligence, said the DC, who also holds the charge of District Health Authority chairman.

Citizens have demanded Chief Minister Usman Buzdar to take notice and bring the culprits to book.

Source: Dawn

https://www.dawn.com/news/1672020/video-of-womens-surgeries-by-ot-attendant-in-sialkot-sparks-outrage

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