Muslim Domestic Workers in India Change Names Out Of Fear: A Study
New Age Islam News Bureau
12 September 2022
• Mehbooba's Daughter Iltija Mufti Advocates Dialogue
with Pakistan, Hurriyat
• FIFA Demands Explanation from Iran over Barring Of
Women from Soccer Match
• Faith in Fabric: Can Birmingham-Based Artist Farwa
Moledina’s Art Change Perceptions Of Muslim Women?
• 63-Year-Old Saudi Citizen, Abu Abdullah, Married 53
Women Looking For "Stability"!
• Hend Sabry Among 6 Arab Women Filmmakers Honoured By
RSFF in Venice
• Saudi Arabia: Divorced Women Can Travel With Sons If
They Have Custody Deed
• UAE Aims For Greater Political Empowerment of
Emirati Women
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/muslim-domestic-workers/d/127932
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Muslim Domestic Workers in India Change Names Out Of
Fear: A Study
Seema, previously known as
Shahana Parveen, outside her friend’s home in New Delhi [Romita Saluja/Al
Jazeera]
----
September 12, 2022
The 2020 study by the Initiative for What Works to
Advance Women and Girls in the Economy (IWWAGE) and the Institute of Social
Studies Trust (ISST) found out that more Muslim women are engaged in the
informal sector than women from any other religion in India.
India’s Muslim domestic workers face rampant caste-based
discrimination and even violence. Employers often restrict workers’ access to
kitchens, washrooms, elevators, and even their places of worship. There are
separate utensils for the workers to eat with. Muslim workers face
marginalisation due to their religious identity, said Anita Kapoor, activist
and general secretary at the Shehri Mahila Kamgar Union (Urban Domestic
Workers’ Union) in New Delhi.
“Many workers have to hide their name and identity in
order to get a job and avoid discrimination,” she told.
“And it’s not only the worker who has to change her
name but also her kids who often accompany their mothers to work, and their
husbands who sometimes take up jobs like driving in the same households. So,
their entire family has to go through this struggle.”
“Of all my clients, only one has hired a Muslim
domestic worker,” says Shashi Chaudhary, who runs a placement agency in New
Delhi.
“So many Muslim girls and boys call me for work. But
what do I do? Nobody wants to hire them. I feel so helpless. Sometimes I feel
like crying over their circumstances.” Says Chaudhary.
Source: The Hindustan Gazette
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Mehbooba's Daughter Iltija Mufti Advocates Dialogue
With Pakistan, Hurriyat
Iltija Mufti. (Photo |
Twitter, @Iltija_Mufti)
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12th September 2022
JAMMU: PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti's daughter Iltija
Mufti on Sunday advocated dialogue with Pakistan and the Hurriyat Conference
for the permanent resolution of the Kashmir issue.
She also suggested the opening of Jammu and Kashmir
borders and implementing of self-rule to make the region an economic hub and a
gateway between central Asia and India.
"People of J&K are very much politically
aware. The J&K problem needs to be resolved by taking all the stakeholders
on board," she said, advocating holding of talks with Pakistan and
Hurriyat Conference.
She alleged that the central government wants PDP and
National Conference to replace Hurriyat and incubate mainstream parties of
their own liking, turning Jammu and Kashmir into a test laboratory as they want
"opposition mukt bharat."
Mufti said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is
pro-human and desirous of a solution to the problems of the people.
"J&K is strategically located and has many things in common with
central Asia. Government should use the opportunity and make the borders
irrelevant, facilitate self-rule, trade and movement of people for economic
integration," she said.
Referring to the forthcoming Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan's Samarkand on September 15 and 16, she
said Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is attending the summit should have
organized it in Kashmir.
"Open J&K and let it become an economic hub
and gateway between central Asia and India," Mufti said, speaking at a
conclave here. She said the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD)— an
amalgam of five mainstream parties including the National Conference and PDP
fighting for the restoration of Article 370- is crucial because the people have
pinned their hopes on it.
"PAGD has to be more active, more alert and need
to work out unity in real sense by leaving aside party interests. You have to
look at the large picture. Our special status and identity are under attack and
we have to protect it," she said.
Mufti did not agree that PAGD is on a ventilator and
said "pull out 10 lakh forces from J&K, you will see who is on the
ventilator." She also claimed that arm-twisting tactics are being used
against her family to force them into submission.
"When there is a meeting of PAGD, my mother or my
grandmother, who is 75 years old, is getting a summon (to present before any
agency). My grandmother was also denied a passport for the past two
years," she said.
She accused the BJP of launching a disinformation
campaign in the country by projecting Article 370 as a hurdle in the
development and giving rights to women and marginalized sections.
Quoting a survey in 2017, she said J&K human index
was 0.68 which was higher than Gujarat and "we were number one in life
expectancy, female literacy and health infrastructure. Today, our unemployment
rate is 56 per cent, there is a scam in the recruitment process and corruption
has become rampant."
She said the claim that the revocation of Article 370
was done for the betterment of the people is baseless. "They have no good
intentions as they view Kashmir as military, law order and a religious problem.
Since they see the issue through the religious prism, the solution they are
trying to implement is to change the demography and disempower the people
economically," she alleged.
Mufti claimed that the BJP government is trying to
suppress the people, ignoring the reality that Kashmir is a humanitarian and
political issue and there is a strong sentiment which needs to be addressed.
Source: New Indian Express
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FIFA Demands Explanation From Iran Over Barring Of
Women From Soccer Match
September 09, 2022
The disciplinary committee of world soccer's governing
body, FIFA, has sent a letter to the Iranian Football Federation demanding an
explanation about why women were prevented from entering the stadium to watch a
match earlier this year between the Iranian and Lebanese national teams in the
northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad.
Iranian authorities had made around 2,000 tickets
available to women to attend the World Cup qualifying match against Lebanon on
March 29.
But when the ticketed female supporters arrived at the
Imam Reza stadium in Mashhad, police blocked their entrance and pepper sprayed
them when they began to protest.
FIFA said at the time it was aware of the situation,
and on September 6 sent a letter to Iranian soccer officials giving them six
days to supply further information ahead of a disciplinary committee scheduled
for September 22.
Women have been barred from attending soccer matches
in Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Iran's clerical establishment has long opposed the
practice of allowing women into stadiums along with male fans. But under
pressure from FIFA, Iranian authorities have allowed some women to attend
matches in recent years.
In September 2019, FIFA ordered Iran to allow women
access to stadiums without restriction and in numbers to be determined
according to demand for tickets.
The FIFA directive, which threatened to ban Iran from
international competitions, came after the death of Sahar Khodayari, a soccer
fan who died after setting herself on fire over fears that she would be jailed
for trying to attend a soccer match while wearing a disguise.
On August 25, for the first time since 1979, a limited
number of women were allowed to watch a club match at Azadi Stadium.
Women attending soccer matches are seated in specially
designated areas away from male spectators.
Source: Rferl
https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-soccer-fifa-women-barred/32025412.html
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Faith
in Fabric: Can Birmingham-Based Artist Farwa Moledina’s Art Change Perceptions
Of Muslim Women?
Kadish
Morris
Mon
12 Sep 2022
Since
moving to the UK from Dubai in 2010, Birmingham-based artist Farwa Moledina has
set about reclaiming the narrative around Muslim women. “I think there’s an
erasure of Muslim women in contemporary art. There’s a singular narrative that
you find in museum and gallery spaces. There’s never an alternative presented.”
Moledina,
who has exhibited work at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the Midlands Art
Centre and also as part of the Lahore Biennale, creates strong, intricate works
that incorporate patterns, textiles and symbols. She is inspired by the work of
the Moroccan photographer Lalla Essaydi, who is best known for her depiction of
Arabic female identity, and also by the writer Edward Said’s critique of
orientalism.
Her
forthcoming exhibition, Women of Paradise at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, is
inspired by the four women named by the prophet Muhammad as the Women of
Paradise: Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, Fātima bint Muhammad, Maryam bint Imran, and
Asiya bint Muzahim. “There’s something about each of their stories that are
examples to us as Muslims. Their strengths, their bravery, their faith and their
independence. They are role models.”
Moledina
believes Khadijah’s story is particularly symbolic. She was the wife of
Muhammad and was instrumental in spreading Islam. “She was a merchant. Prophet
Muhammad was actually employed by one of her agents to go and do the selling.
And on noticing his honesty and integrity, she proposed marriage to him,”
Moledina says. “She supported him both emotionally and financially. This is a
story of independence and endeavour that is inspiring for Muslim women. A lot
of the time, the story you get is that Muslim women sit at home. They don’t
work. They’re oppressed.”
Moledina’s
work always starts with a pattern. She then creates intricately detailed, often
colourful and decorated artworks that are inspired by the distinctive
characteristics of Islamic design: floral motifs, geometric designs and
calligraphy.
At
Ikon, there will be four wooden frames shaped in the form of a mihrab, an
arched nook that indicates the direction of prayer towards Mecca. They are
typically ornately decorated, and form the focal point of a mosque. In
Moledina’s work, a mihrab will frame a silhouette of each of the four women,
who wear a burqa or a chador. The surrounding patterns and embroidery will tell
the story and identity of the women. “It takes a long time to design. I make 30
interactions of each pattern before I’m finally happy with it. A lot of it is
small changes that most people wouldn’t notice,” says Moledina, “but the act of
designing these patterns is almost meditative to me.”
Still,
Moledina worries that by looking at the exotification of Muslim women, she
could also end up tokenising them, too. “It’s quite a fine line that I need to
navigate, to make sure that I’m making work about my lived experience, without
orientalising myself,” she says. “With this work, I did feel a bit of
responsibility. I have a daughter now. I want to take her to museums and
galleries and I want her to see herself.”
Women
of Paradise by Farwa Moledina is at the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, to 13
November.
On
a role: four works from Women of Paradise
Maryam
“This
piece alludes to Maryam mother of Isa, otherwise known as Mary, mother of
Jesus. It is rare to find depictions of Mary in museum or gallery spaces outside
the Christian imagination; she is always Mary, never Maryam. This work
interrogates that assumption of neutrality by providing a different perspective
on this figure. The silhouette takes inspiration from the typical composition
of Mary and Jesus found within Christian religious paintings.”
Not
Your Harem Girl
“Inspired
by the interiors in 19th-century orientalist paintings, Not Your Harem Girl
aims to deconstruct the exotic and erotic orientalist tropes surrounding Muslim
and eastern women. It particularly seeks to reclaim the orientalist concept of
the harem. The pattern includes elements of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’s La
Grande Odalisque, embroidered text with the phrase “Not Your Harem Girl” and a
henna design of the same phrase.”
No
One Is Neutral Here
“This
piece is a digital print on polyester, and the fabric printed on fabric results
in a pale and imprecise reproduction of the original photograph. It creates
notions of figuratively pale reproductions of Muslim women within orientalist
paintings and articulates my concern with the cultural construction and visual
mediation of the “orient” by western male painters.”
Khadijah
“The
wife of the prophet Muhammad, Khadijah was a merchant woman – she is a shining
example of strength, faith and independence for Muslims. This piece features
her tomb in Saudi Arabia before it was destroyed, verses from the Qur’an
relating to her, and camels to symbolise her work as a merchant.”
Source:
The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/sep/12/farwa-moledina-art-islamic-design-muslim-women
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63-Year-Old
Saudi Citizen, Abu Abdullah, Married 53 Women Looking For
"Stability"!
11
Sep 2022
A
63-year-old Saudi man has married 53 women, not looking for personal pleasure,
but "stability, happiness and psychological comfort".
In
an interview with MBC, Abu Abdullah confirmed that he was not looking for
personal pleasure in his multiple marriages, stressing that he now has one wife
and no intention of polygamy again.
"It
was my first marriage when I was 20 years old, and my wife was six years older
than me," Mr Abdullah told the 'MBC in a Week' programme.
He
explained that it was his belief that stability comes from marrying an older
woman, and not a younger one.
“At
the beginning, after my first marriage, I did not think about taking the
decision to polygamy because I was comfortable and had children. My first wife
does this,” Saudi website Sabq reported.
He
said that it was only after a problem occurred between his first and second
wife that he decided to marry his third and fourth wives, divorcing the first
two after some time.
He
later divorced his third wife after a dispute arose between her and his fourth
wife.
Mr
Abdullah continued to remarry after he divorced his fourth wife, indicating
that he always tried to be fair to his wives.
He
revealed that although he had mostly married Saudi women, he had to marry
foreigners while he was traveling outside the kingdom for work, where he would
stay for a period of three to four months.
Source:
GDN Online
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Hend
Sabry among 6 Arab women filmmakers honoured by RSFF in Venice
10
Sep 2022
The
gala, which was co-organised by the RSFF and Vanity Fair, was held at the
Palazzo Rocca in Venice.
The
RSFF honours "six remarkable women working at the heart of the Arab film
industry," read a press release.
The
other women filmakers who were honoured during the gala were: Saudi director
Haifaa al-Mansour - known for Wadjda, Perfect Candidate, Mary Shelley; award winning Saudi actress and filmmaker Ahd
Kamel (Collateral, Honour, Wadjda), Saudi actress Sumaya Rida (Rupture,
Rashash); Oscar nominated Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania (The Man Who
Sold His Skin, Beauty and the Dogs); and British-Lebanese actress Razane Jammal
(The Sandman, Kira & El Gina, Paranormal, Carlos).
The
second edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival will run in Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia between 1-10 December.
The
79th Venice International Film Festival opened on 31 August and continues until
10 September.
Sabry,
42, is an internationally acclaimed film and TV actor who started her career in
1994 at the age of 14 with a stellar performance in the Tunisian production
Samt Al-Qosoor (Silence of the Palaces) by director Moufida Tlatli.
Her
first appearance in Egyptian cinema, however, came in the 2002 production
Muzakirat Murahiqua (A Teenager’s Diary), a role that cemented her stardom
among Egyptian audiences.
Her
later appearances include starring in films such as Mowaten wi Mokhber wi
Haramy (A Citizen, a Detective, and a Thief) in 2002, Banat West El-Balad
(Downtown Girls) in 2005, and Ibrahim El-Abyad in 2009.
She
also starred in Oumaret Yacoubian (The Yacoubian Building) in 2006 opposite
Egyptian star Adel Emam and an extensive cast of other heavywights.
Her
portrayal of an HIV positive woman in the 2011 production Asmaa also earned her
several awards.
Sabry’s
more recent roles include films such as 2016 short film The Parrot (Al
Babagha).
They
also include the feature films Beautiful Life (Haya Gameela, 2017) and The
Treasure (Al-Kenz, 2017), Noura’s Dream (Hilm Noura, 2019) and The Blue
Elephant 2 (Al-Feel Al-Azraq 2, 2019).
Multiple
awards, civic work
Sabry
has received many awards and recognitions for outstanding work throughout her
career..
In
2017, she received the Faten Hamama Excellence Award during the 39th Cairo
International Film Festival.
In
2019, won the Starlight Cinema Award of
the Venice International Film Festival, becoming the first Arab woman to ever
receive this recognition.
Sabry
is also active in social and humanitarian work.
She
has been Good Will Ambassador for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to raise
awareness about hunger since 2010.
In
2021, Sabry was awarded France’s Order of Arts and Letters in the grade of
Officier (Officer) as a promotion to the Chevalier award she received in 2014.
Source:
Ahram
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Saudi
Arabia: Divorced women can travel with sons if they have custody deed
September
11, 2022
Tawfiq
Nasrallah
Dubai:
Saudi Arabia has announced that divorced women can travel with their sons if
they have a custody deed.
According
to the General Directorate of Passports (Jawazat), custody deeds include the
new ones, in addition to the old deeds that prohibit the mother from travelling
with her son. The old deeds had been issued before the new amendments to the
regulation.
Jawazat
added that if there was a custody deed, then the custodian could book an appointment
and visit the Jawazat department to issue or renew the custody passport and
issue an electronic travel permit.
Jawazat
stated that children between 18 to 21 years old can travel with one of their
parents, or with the approval of one of them. The legal age for travel without
the need to issue a travel permit is 21 years (in Hijri year).
All
measures and requirements to issue a travel permit for boys under the age of 21
can be checked via the Absher platform, and through the Jawazat’s departments.
The
Jawazat clarified the methods of renewing or issuing a passport for a child
whose custody is in the name of one of the parents. It stated that it can be
done via both parents’ accounts on the Absher platform, the father or the
mother.
Source:
Gulf News
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UAE
aims for greater political empowerment of Emirati women
September
12, 2022
Abu
Dhabi: The Ministry of State for Federal National Council Affairs (MFNCA) has
organised a dialogue session to promote political participation among Emirati
women.
Organised
in cooperation with the General Secretariat of the Federal National Council
(FNC) and the General Women’s Union (GWU), the session was held at the FNC
headquarters in Abu Dhabi, and highlighted the Emirati women’s parliamentary
achievements over the past 50 years.
Tariq
Hilal Lootah, undersecretary of the MFNCA, said that Emirati women are
strategic partners in nation-building and are surging ahead in the march
towards the UAE’s next 50 years towards development and prosperity.
“Today,
women are key figures in decision-making and law-making, and this comes as a
result of the work of our wise leadership’s support for them since the
formation of the UAE. The UAE believes in the power of its women and has full
confidence in their ability to lead and manage high-impact projects on a
national and global level,” he said.
Lootah
also pointed out that Emirati women have been proactively participating in all
fields.
Positions
of power
“They
are making an outstanding contribution to parliamentary work, winning seats on
the FNC and holding positions of power. They are also on the forefront to
discuss issues and make key decisions in the service of the nation and its
citizens. This trend has been greatly helped by the historic decision to raise
the percentage of Emirati women’s representation in the FNC to 50 per cent, in
line with the directives of the FNC. The UAE government aims to empower women
and encourage them to contribute to all developmental processes, and to shape
the future of the UAE,” he added.
He
highlighted the importance of the participation of members of the FNC
committees, which are the main arms that help in the execution of its
constitutional powers, such as discussions about draft laws and overseeing the
representatives in monitoring the work of the government.
The
members of the Social Affairs, Labour, Population and Human Resources
Committee, the FNC’s most important committees, also participated in the
dialogue session. These committees are tasked with the study of draft laws,
general topics, international agreements and treaties related to various
aspects of the citizens’ lives, including social development, human resource
development, family, women and childhood affairs, charitable and social
institutions, juvenile care, employment, rehabilitation and training and work
policies and planning, population policies, and settlement plans. Members
accordingly discussed the committees’ legislative and oversight accomplishments
achieved during the 17th legislative chapter.
Noura
Al Suwaidi, GWU secretary general, said: “Emirati women enjoy their full
rights, which the UAE’s wise leadership enshrined in fair legislation and
policies that pave the way for many of the UAE’s achievements – particularly in
terms of gender balance, where the UAE leads the Arab and the wider region.
Emirati women make up 50 per cent of the FNC and 27.5 per cent of the members
of the Council of Ministers, where nine of 33 Ministers are women. This is one
of the highest rates in the world and reaffirms the fact that the UAE considers
women to be an active and influential partner in driving comprehensive and
sustainable development in the country, and especially political development.”
Source:
Gulf News
https://gulfnews.com/uae/uae-aims-for-greater-political-empowerment-of-emirati-women-1.90374846
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