'Can Muslim Girl Marry After Attaining Puberty', Indian Govt Seeks SC's Priority Adjudication
New Age Islam News Bureau
06 Aug 2024
·
'Can Muslim Girl Marry After Attaining
Puberty', Indian Govt Seeks SC's Priority Adjudication
·
Terengganu Bans Female Performers in Temple
·
Indonesian Lawmakers Fear New Contraceptive
Policy May Promote Premarital Sex
·
ImaneKhelif's Olympic Medal Salutes Arab Women
·
Hengaw’s Monthly Report on Women’s Rights
Violations in Iran, July 2024
·
Iran Jails Woman After Protesting Brother's
Death Sentence
·
Inmate Boycotts Court Following Global Outcry
Over Iranian Labour Activist’s Death
·
Competing for Two: Pregnant Olympians Push the
Boundaries of Possibility in Paris
·
‘Women-Led Organizations Are Heroes of the
Humanitarian Work InSudan’ – Interview With Activist Shaza Ahmed
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
'Can
Muslim Girl Marry After Attaining Puberty', Indian GovtSeeks SC's Priority
Adjudication
06
AUGUST 2024
Supreme
Court Photo: IANS
------------
The
Centre on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to adjudicate on priority as to
whether a minor Muslim girl can marry a person of her choice after attaining
puberty.
Solicitor
General (SG) Tushar Mehta, the second highest law officer of the Centre,
mentioned before CJI D.Y. Chandrachud a plea filed by the National Commission
for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) against the Punjab and Haryana High Court
order, which had held that a Muslim girl can marry a person of her choice after
attaining the age of 15.
SG Mehta
submitted that diverse views were being taken by different High Courts across
the country, resulting in the filing of multiple special leave petitions before
the apex court around the same issue. “Please see if this can be listed on
priority,” he said.
At this,
CJI Chandrachud assured SG Mehta that he would direct the listing of the batch
of petitions.
In
January last year, the top court issued notice to the government and others on
NCPCR’s plea to decide upon the question of law, clarifying that its decision
not to stay the impugned order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court may not be
used as precedent. It appointed senior advocate Rajshekhar Rao as amicus curiae
in the matter to assist the court
The SC
pointed out that if the high court judgment -- which held that a Muslim girl
aged 15 years can enter into a legal and valid marriage as per personal law --
was stayed, the girl might be restored to her parents against her wishes.
Before
the apex court, SG Mehta had contended that Muslim girls who were 14, 15, and
16 years old were getting married. "Can there be a defence of personal
law? Can you plead custom or personal law as a defence against a criminal
offence?" he said.
The plea
filed by NCPCR said the Punjab and Haryana HC erred in ignoring the fact that
sexual intercourse with a minor girl below the age of 18 years, is sexual
assault as per the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and
this legal position cannot be changed due to marital status of the child and
that whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law.
It
added, "The high court was justified in upholding that a minor girl, after
attaining puberty after the age of 15, on her own willingness and consent, can
enter into a marriage of her own choice while not considering the validity of a
marriage with a minor all the while glossing over the fact that the impugned
judgment would lead to endorsing child marriage which is illegal in India
because POCSO Act applies to everyone."
The high
court's order came on a habeas corpus petition filed by a 26-year-old man
against the detention of his 16-year-old wife in a children's home in
Panchkula. The high court noted that such a marriage would not be void in terms
of Section 12 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006.
Source: odishatv.in
https://odishatv.in/news/national/can-muslim-girl-marry-after-attaining-puberty-centre-seeks-sc-s-priority-adjudication-240956
--------
Terengganu
Bans Female Performers In Temple
06 Aug
2024
DAP
Chairman Lim Guan Eng lambasts PAS' promises to non-Muslims, saying it was a
'deception'. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin
--------
KUALA
LUMPUR, Aug 6 – DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng has today criticised the Terengganu
government’s ban on female singers at a temple jubilee celebration, citing it
as an infringement on non-Muslims’ constitutional rights.
Lim
highlighted the contradiction between Islamist party PAS’s previous promises
not to interfere in non-Muslim religious practices and its current actions,
describing it as “irrelevant, meaningless, and a deception”.
“What is
in plain view is that non-Muslims are not only discriminated against but also
denied their customary entertainment or traditional practices involving a
religious festival,” said Lim.
He
further emphasised that the ban infringes on Article 11 of the Federal
Constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of religion.
“Malaysians,
especially non-Muslims, are now forewarned that the extremist practices of PAS
can also be imposed on non-Muslims,” he added.
Vernacular
paper China Press had reported the Kuala Terengganu City Council issuing a
notice to the Guan Di temple enforcing the ban on female performers during a
celebration event held from July 29 to August 2.
Wan
Sukairi Wan Abdullah, a state executive councillor, said the restriction was
placed due to the open space nature of the venue, which might allow any Muslim
passer-by to view the performance.
He
stated that the ban was in line with existing regulations prohibiting female
singers from performing in front of a male audience in open spaces.
Lim said
while it did not enforce the notice, PAS has maintained its position which
indicated that the restrictions will remain in place.
He also
argued that PAS’s justification for the notice was invalid as the event
involved only non-Muslims and did not invite Muslim attendees.
He added
that such restrictions have never led to unsavoury incidents in past events
held at the temple, which regularly hosts similar celebrations.
Source: malaymail.com
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2024/08/06/pas-lied-when-vowing-not-to-interfere-in-non-muslims-lives-guan-eng-says-after-terengganu-bans-female-performers-in-temple/146153#google_vignette
--------
Indonesian
Lawmakers Fear New Contraceptive Policy May Promote Premarital Sex
August
5, 2024
Students
attend school assembly in Public High School 69 at Pramuka Island. (JG
Photo/Yudha Baskoro)
-----------
Jakarta.
Indonesian lawmakers Luqman Hakim and Abdul Fikri Faqih have voiced strong
concerns about a new government regulation providing contraceptives to
school-aged children and adolescents. They worry that the regulation, part of
Government Regulation No. 28 of 2024 on Health, might be misinterpreted as
endorsing premarital sex, rather than focusing on comprehensive sexual
education and moral guidance.
"The
implementation of this reproductive health rule for adolescents must not become
a gateway to promote premarital sex among youths," Luqman Hakim, a member
of Commission VIII from the National Awakening Party (PKB), said during a press
conference on Monday.
The
regulation in question, Government Regulation No. 28 of 2024 on Health,
recently signed by President Joko Widodo, includes provisions for reproductive
health services for school-aged children and adolescents. Article 103(4) of the
regulation stipulates that reproductive health services must include the
provision of contraceptives.
The
regulation mandates that reproductive health services, including contraceptive
provision, be delivered through counseling by qualified health professionals.
However, Luqman is concerned that this could lead to a misunderstanding of
adolescent sexuality.
"Direct
access to contraceptives might lead youths to view sexuality as a problem that
can be addressed merely through technical means, ignoring the emotional, moral,
and social aspects," Luqman warned.
He added
that the regulation could promote the notion that sexual activity in youth is
acceptable as long as contraception is used, without sufficiently emphasizing
the long-term risks and consequences of premature sexual behavior.
Luqman
argued that efforts to address reproductive health for adolescents should
prioritize education over the provision of contraceptives. He emphasized the
need for a holistic and comprehensive approach that includes quality sexual
education, counseling, and emotional support, aligned with Indonesia's moral
and cultural values.
Deputy
Chair of Commission X, Abdul Fikri Faqih from the Prosperous Justice Party
(PKS), also criticized the regulation, stating that providing contraceptives to
students contradicts the principles of national education. "This is
inconsistent with the mandate of national education, which is based on high
moral standards and respect for religious norms," Fikri said.
Fikri
further argued that providing contraceptives to students is akin to
legitimizing premarital sex among youths. "Instead of educating about the
risks of premarital sex, the focus seems to be on providing the means. How does
that logic work?" he questioned.
He
stressed that national education should uphold noble values and religious
norms, as taught by the nation's founders, emphasizing the importance of adhering
to religious teachings.
Source: jakartaglobe.id
https://jakartaglobe.id/news/lawmakers-fear-new-contraceptive-policy-may-promote-premarital-sex
--------
ImaneKhelif's
Olympic Medal Salutes Arab Women
05 Aug,
2024
We
should be writing about how ImaneKhelif overcame adversity, beat the odds, and
conquered the gendered pains of a conservative culture.
Hailing
from the arid plains of Tiaret in West Algeria, Imane always had the heart of a
champion. With her mother’s couscous sales and her own scrap metal earnings,
she forged a path out of poverty, one bus ride at a time, towards her boxing
dream.
And now,
having guaranteed Algeria’s first-ever female Olympic boxing medal, ImaneKhelif
stands on the edge of greatness.
But
that’s not what this story is about. In fact, ImaneKhelif’s sporting journey
has been entirely — and purposefully — removed from this discussion.
Instead,
we find ourselves defending Imane's dignity as a woman, as an Arab woman,
against the most egregious, racist, and appalling attacks from the highest
rungs of white supremacy.
It’s not
ImaneKhelif’s fault that Italian boxer Angela Carini lasted 46 seconds in the
ring before she abandoned the fight. Nor should she feel sorry that Carini
broke down in tears, complaining that she felt “too much pain in my nose.”
Clearly, she’d never stepped into the ring with “The Greatest”.
Angela
Carini knew what she was doing in the post-fight interview. She knew that there
had been totally unproven rumours surrounding Khelif’s gender and lapped it up,
becoming dog-whistle-in-chief.
But for
Western media, it was music to their ears. No fact-checking was done, no
context, nothing. It was the angle they’d always dreamed of: “Arab transgender
woman beats up white, European woman in Olympic disgrace.”
Yet none
of that mattered, Angela Carini had fanned the flames of a culture war.
Right-wing Italian Prime Minister GiorgiaMeloni waded in, casting doubt on the
“fairness” of the fight and soon after a whole brigade of famous white, Western
transphobes joined in the witch-hunt, including the author of Harry Potter
books-turned-gender crusader, J.K. Rowling.
The
witch hunt against ImaneKhelif
The
white feminist brigade doesn't care that the International Olympic Committee
released a statement — that very same day — confirming that ImaneKhelif was
born female and has lived as a woman.
Nor do
they care for the pictures shared by ImaneKhelif’s own family: their twisted
minds had been made up and they would exploit ImaneKhelif and Arab womanhood
for their own designs.
Mainstream
feminism — and its melanin-light acolytes — is built on the Western idea of
feminity. That’s why the malicious rumour of Khelif’s gender spread so quickly;
Imane doesn’t have typical, white women features.
Imane
doesn’t have light-coloured skin, she doesn’t have blue eyes or blonde hair. In
the collective feminist psyche, she’s masculine. For racists, she’s too
masculine.
As a
result, this attack on Imane’s personal security is an attack on all women of
colour. Remember, Imane isn’t the first, this has happened to Serena Williams,
one of the most drug-tested athletes in tennis, Caster Semenya, and others.
Western feminism, at its heart, doesn’t
include women of colour, it doesn’t perceive threats on women equally: some
victims of the patriarchy are more privileged than others.
This
innate exclusion is due to the history of colonialism and its continued avatar,
neocolonialism.
Western
colonial countries have successfully managed to implant a strong and embedded
white supremacist culture that still lives on today. From the West Indies to
India, skin bleaching remains an epidemic, with other forms of toxic
beautification rampant, all with the wish to look whiter.
Additionally,
we should remember that Indigenous women and girls have long worked as servants
for white women. The cliched image of white women being served by brown maids
persisted through generations.
ImaneKhelif’s
stunning success is a loud, proud, and convincing upheaval of that racist
dynamic and its beneficiaries.
That’s
why Western media ignores all the hardships that ImaneKhelif has endured —
financial, cultural and patriarchal: overcoming such barriers threatens their
construction of Arab women as submissive pawns.
Western
feminism cannot bear the idea that an Arab, Muslim woman flipped the odds
domestically and then defeated archetypical White, western females on the
international stage.
We soon
saw that spite seethe through. Before her quarter-final matchup with Khelif,
Hungarian female boxer Anna Luca Hamori shared a video on her TikTok saying:
“I’ll have to confront a man in the next match.”
But as
ImaneKhelif declared as she secured her Olympic medal, “I am a woman!” And not
only is ImaneKhelif a woman, but she's also the pride of Algeria, of all women
of colour, and a lasting symbol of a global feminism that is inclusive,
tolerant, and not built on white women always coming first.
Source: newarab.com
https://www.newarab.com/opinion/cry-more-karen-imane-khelifs-olympic-medal-salutes-arab-women
---------
Hengaw’s
Monthly Report on Women’s Rights Violations in Iran, July 2024
05
August 2024
Hengaw:
Monday, August 5, 2024
Based on
the statistics registered in the Statistics and Documents Center of the Hengaw
Organization for Human Rights, During July 2024, at least five women were
executed in the prisons of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Additionally, 22 women
activists were arrested, and five women activists were sentenced to
imprisonment by the judicial system. Furthermore, two women activists were
sentenced to death. Last month, at least 20 cases of femicide were recorded in
different cities of Iran, with 25% of these murders motivated by the pretext of
honor.
The
death sentences carried out for women in Iran:
According
to this report, in July 2024, at least five female prisoners were executed in
the prisons of the Islamic Republic of Iran. One woman was executed on the
charge of premeditated murder, and four women were executed on drug-related
charges.
Three of
these executions took place in Birjand Central Prison, the capital of South
Khorasan Province. The remaining two executions were recorded in Khorram Abad
and Shiraz prisons.
Arrest
of 22 women in July:
According
to Hengaw’s statistics, during July 2024, at least 22 women activists were
arrested in different cities across Iran, accounting for 24% of the total
number of people arrested this month. Their names are as follows:
Rasht:
1. Zahra
Dadres
2.
ZohrehDadres
3.
ForoughSamiyan
4.
AzadehChavoshian
5.
JelohJavaheri
6.
MetinYazdani
Tehran:
7.
MozhganSalmanzadeh
8.
MouludSafai
9.
ParvinMuslimi
10.
Ra'naKorkuri
Lahijan:
11. Sara
Jahani
12.
Shiva SiahSiah
Saqqez:
13.
DlovanSharifi
Bukan:
14.
SolmazHassanzadeh
Piranshahr:
15.
Fatima Paimard
Paveh:
16.
FaridehVeisi
Shushtar:
17. Iran
Sharifi
Golestan:
18. MarziehRigidadres
Fuman:
19.
Nagin Rezaei
Bandar
Anzali:
20.
Yasmin Hashdri
Ferdis:
21.
NahidBehrouzi
Karaj:
22. Zara
Esmaili
Imprisonment
Sentences for Women Activists:
In July
2024, at least five women activists were sentenced to a total of 14 years and 8
months in prison across different cities in Iran. Additionally, PakhshanAzizi
and Sharifeh Mohammadi were sentenced to death by the judiciary of the Islamic
Republic of Iran.
The
names and sentences of the women are as follows:
1.
MotaherahGuney from Tehran: sentenced to one year of suspended
imprisonment.
2.
Sharifeh Mohammadi, a Turkish activist from Rasht: sentenced to death.
3.
NedaFetuhi from Tehran: sentenced to 6 years and 8 months in prison.
4.
DniaGhalibaf from Tehran: sentenced to 2 years in prison.
5.
PakhshanAzizi, a Kurdish activist from Mahabad: sentenced to death and 4
years in prison.
6.
Hora Nikbakht from Tehran: sentenced to 1 year of imprisonment.
In the
Islamic Republic of Iran, arresting and convicting women is a common practice
of discrimination. The pressure on female activists increased during the Women,
Life, Freedom (Jin, Jiyan, Azadi) movement. In its institutionalized form, the
Islamic Republic has consistently worked to limit women's access to social,
political, and human rights arenas. Gender apartheid policies in Iran are
evident in the forms of sexual and gender segregation policies, as well as the criminalization
of sexual and gender minorities' identities, which marginalizes them.
20 cases
of femicide were recorded in July
During
July 2024, at least 20 women were killed in different cities of Iran, with 18
of them murdered by people close to them, including husbands, fathers,
ex-husbands, and sons-in-law.
- By
perpetrators:
- 9 women were killed by their husbands.
- 3 women were killed by their fathers.
- 6 women were killed by their ex-husband,
grandson, sister's husband, cousin, son, and suitor, respectively.
- 2 women were killed by unknown individuals.
-
Motivations:
- Out of 20 femicides, 5 cases (25%) were
motivated by so-called "honor."
- 9 women were killed due to family disputes.
- 2 women were killed with the motive of
theft.
- 1 woman was killed due to financial
disputes.
- 1 woman was killed due to child custody
disputes.
- 1 woman was killed due to the rejection of
a marriage proposal.
- 1 woman was killed for unknown reasons.
Breakdown
of Women's Murders by Province
- Tehran
province: 6 cases
- Razavi
Khorasan province: 3 cases
- East
Azerbaijan province: 2 cases
- West
Azerbaijan (Urmia) province: 2 cases
-
Khuzestan province: 1 case
-
Kermanshah province: 1 case
- Gilan
province: 1 case
- North
Khorasan province: 1 case
- Kurdistan (Sanandaj) province: 1 case
- Ilam province: 1 case
- Alborz province: 1 case
Femicide
is regarded as the most extreme form of misogyny in society. Femicide only
makes up a portion of the murders that are linked to honor killings. Laws,
misogynistic relationships, and patriarchy are the main causes of femicide in
societies. According to Hengaw's dataset, there were 122 recorded femicides in
Iran in the year prior, and a large number of these killings were carried out
by the victims' close relatives. Laws and attitudes that promote misogyny and
hatred towards women normalize the act of killing women, making it easier for
predators to carry out their crimes with fewer repercussions
Source: hengaw.net
https://hengaw.net/en/reports-and-statistics-1/2024/08/article-3
--------
Iran
Jails Woman After Protesting Brother's Death Sentence
AUGUST
5, 2024
A
Revolutionary Court in Iran's central Isfahan has sentenced Maryam Mehrabi, the
sister of a political prisoner on death row, to six years in prison.
According
to the Dadban legal group, the court tried Maryam Mehrabi without prior notice
to her family.
She was
accused of "inciting people to war and killing with the intention of
disrupting public security" and "propaganda against the Islamic
Republic."
The
trial was conducted without allowing Mehrabi the right to defense.
Maryam
Mehrabi was detained on June 18 during a raid where authorities seized all
electronic devices from her home.
Maryam,
a mother of two young children, was arrested for writing about and raising
awareness of her brother's case.
Her
brother Mahmoud Mehrabi, hailing from Mobarakeh city, has been held by the
Revolutionary Guards since February 2023 on charges of "corruption on
Earth" and currently faces execution.
Reports
indicate that the harsh sentence may be linked to his online protest activities
and revelations about official corruption.
In the
lead-up to her arrest, Maryam had publicly protested her brother's death
sentence, vowing to set herself on fire outside a local mosque if the ruling
was not overturned.
She was
likely targeted for her outspoken online activism challenging the judicial
process.
The
arrests come amid the Islamic Republic's intensified crackdown on dissent
following months of anti-government protests sparked by the death of Mahsa
Amini in 2022.
Thousands
were detained, and several protesters received death sentences from
revolutionary courts on charges such as "waging war against God."
Source: iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/news/132523-iran-jails-woman-after-protesting-brothers-death-sentence/
--------
Inmate
boycotts court following global outcry over Iranian labor activist’s death
05-08-24
As 31
international human rights organizations call for the release of Sharifeh
Mohammadi, a labor activist sentenced to death, a Kurdish political prisoner
has boycotted her court proceedings in protest.
They
have condemned the accusations against Mohammadi as unfounded, asserting that
Iran’s security institutions fabricated the case.
In a
joint statement published by the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency
(HRANA), the rights groups urged Iran’s judiciary to drop all charges against
Mohammadi and to cease the systematic harassment of women. “We ask the Iranian
judiciary to immediately and unconditionally revoke all charges against
Sharifeh Mohammadi," the statement read.
On July
4, Mohammadi was sentenced to death by Branch 1 of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary
Court in Rasht, under Judge Ahmad DarvishGoftar. She was convicted on charges
of "armed rebellion" due to her alleged membership in the national
Labor Unions Assistance Coordination Committee (LUACC), which operates legally
in Iran, and the banned Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan.
Both
Mohammadi and her family have consistently denied her involvement with these
organizations.
"The
charges were brought against her because of her activities in defense of workers'
rights, which were not only peaceful but also legal and within the framework of
the country's laws,” the statement added.
It comes
amid major crackdowns on labor protests which intensified after the Women,
Life, Freedom uprising of 2022. Iran's economic crisis has seen calls for
better working conditions and pay for workers across a range of industries.
The
Campaign to Defend Sharifeh Mohammadi, supported by her family, has launched an
online petition calling for the annulment of her death sentence and her
immediate release. The petition has garnered over 5,000 signatures. “Sharifeh
has no membership in any armed organization or political entity,” the petition
asserts.
Other
rights groups, including the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI),
have also called for the immediate overturning of Mohammadi’s death sentence,
expressing concern for other prisoners at risk of execution based on similarly
dubious charges. Among them are PakhshanAzizi and VarishehMoradi, who also face
"armed rebellion" charges.
In
protest against the death sentences of Mohammadi and Azizi, Kurdish political
prisoner VarishehMoradi, currently imprisoned in Evin, refused to attend her
second court session on Sunday.
“I will
not go to court in protest against the death sentences handed down to my
comrades Sharifeh Mohammadi and PakhshanAzizi, and I do not recognize a court
that does not issue fair judgments,” Moradi wrote in her defense letter,
published by Iranian women’s rights group Bidarzani.
Moradi
was scheduled for a second court session on August 4 before Judge Salavati,
notoriously known as the “judge of death,” at Branch 15 of the Islamic
Revolutionary Court.
Following
her refusal to attend, her lawyers, who have been denied access to her case
details, were informed that the session has been postponed to a later date,
according to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
Moradi
was arrested on August 1 last year and spent 13 days in Iran’s intelligence
ministry detention in Sanandaj before being transferred to Ward 209 of Evin
Prison in Tehran.
In her
defense letter, Moradi described the severe mistreatment she endured from the
moment of her arrest, stating she was subjected to “torture and physical
assault.”
She
described being subject to giving forced false confessions at Tehran's Evin
prison, a tactic commonly used by Iranian authorities to justify the issuance
of death sentences or long prison verdicts.
“I was
transferred to Ward 209 of Evin House of Detention, where I spent four and a
half months under intense pressure during interrogations that included torture,
contradictory and deceptive fabricated scenarios, threats of character
assassination, and forced confessions. I suffered severe headaches, constant
nosebleeds, and worsening neck and back pain.”
“These
were the gifts of my days in solitary confinement,” she added.
So far
this year, 300 people have been executed in Iran. It follows record numbers
last year when over 850 were killed.
Source: iranintl.com
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202408051290
--------
Competing
for two: Pregnant Olympians push the boundaries of possibility in Paris
Aug. 5,
2024
PARIS
(AP) — Many Olympic athletes take to Instagram to share news of their exploits,
trials, victories and heartbreaks. After her fencing event ended last week,
Egypt’s Nada Hafez shared a little bit more.
She’d
been fencing for two, the athlete revealed — and in fact had been pregnant for
seven months.
“What
appears to you as two players on the podium, they were actually three!” Hafez
wrote, under an emotional picture of her during the match. “It was me, my
competitor, & my yet-to-come to our world, little baby!” Mom (and baby)
finished the competition ranked 16th, Hafez’s best result in three Olympics.
A day
later, an Azerbaijani archer was also revealed on Instagram to have competed
while six-and-a-half months pregnant. YaylagulRamazanova told Xinhua News she’d
felt her baby kick before she took a shot — and then shot a 10, the maximum
number of points.
There
have been pregnant Olympians and Paralympians before, though the phenomenon is
rare for obvious reasons. Still, most stories have been of athletes competing
far earlier in their pregnancies — or not even far enough along to know they
were expecting.
Like
U.S. beach volleyball star Kerri Walsh Jennings, who won her third gold medal
while unknowingly five weeks pregnant with her third child.
“When I
was throwing my body around fearlessly, and going for gold for our country, I
was pregnant,” she said on “Today” after the London Games in 2012. She and
husband Casey (also a beach volleyball player) had only started trying to
conceive right before the Olympics, she said, figuring it would take time. But
she felt different, and volleyball partner Misty May-Treanor said to her — presciently,
it turned out — “You’re probably pregnant.”
It makes
sense that pregnant athletes are pushing boundaries now, one expert says, as
both attitudes and knowledge develop about what women can do deep into
pregnancy.
“This is
something we’re seeing more and more of,” says Dr. Kathryn Ackerman, a sports
medicine physician and co-chair of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s
women’s health task force, “as women are dispelling the myth that you can’t
exercise at a high level when you’re pregnant.”
Ackerman
notes there’s been little data, and so past decisions on the matter have often
been arbitrary. But, she says, “doctors now recommend that if an athlete is in
good condition going into pregnancy, and there are no complications, then it’s
safe to work out, train, and compete at a very high level.” An exception, she
says, might be something like ski racing, where the risk of a bad fall is
great.
But in
fencing, says the Boston-based Ackerman, there is clearly protective padding
for athletes, and in less physically strenuous sports like archery or shooting,
there’s absolutely no reason a woman can’t compete.
It’s not
just an issue of physical fitness, of course. It is deeply emotional. Deciding
whether and how to compete while trying to also grow a family is a thorny
calculus that male athletes simply don’t have to consider — at least in
anywhere near the same way.
Just ask
Serena Williams, who famously won the Australian Open in 2017 while pregnant
with her first child. When, some five years later, she wanted to try for a
second, she stepped back from tennis — an excruciating decision.
“Believe
me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family,” Williams —
who won four Olympic golds — wrote in a Vogue essay. “I don’t think it’s fair.
If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing
and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family.
Maybe I’d be more of a Tom Brady if I had that opportunity.”
Williams
welcomed Adira River Ohanian in 2023, joining older sister Olympia. And Olympia
was the name that U.S. softball player Michele Granger’s mother reportedly
suggested for the baby Granger was carrying when she pitched the gold-medal
winning game in Atlanta in 1996. Her husband suggested the name Athena. Granger
preferred neither.
“I
didn’t want to make that connection with her name,” said Granger to Gold
Country Media in 2011. The baby was named Kady.
The
choice to combine motherhood and a sports career involves many factors, to be
sure, which vary by sport and by country. Franchina Martinez, 24, who competes
in track for the Dominican Republic, says more female athletes retire early
than male athletes in her country, and one reason is pregnancy.
“When
they get pregnant, they believe they won’t be able to return, unlike in more
developed countries where they might be able to,” said Martinez. “So they quit
the sport, they don’t return to compete, or they aren’t the same.”
For the
sake of her career, she said, she doesn’t plan to have children in the near
future: “As long as I can avoid it for the sake of my sport, I will postpone it
because I am not ready for that yet.”
At the
Paris fencing venue over the weekend, fans were mixed between admiration for
the bravery and determination of Hafez, a 26-year-old former gymnast with a
degree in medicine, and speculation about whether it was risky.
“There
are certainly sports that are less violent,” said Pauline Dutertre, 29, sitting
outside the elegant Grand Palais during a break in action alongside her father,
Christian. Dutertre had competed herself on the international circuit in saber
until 2013. “It is, after all, a combat sport.”
“In any
case,” she noted, “it is courageous. Even without making it to the podium, what
she did was brave.”
MarilyneBarbey,
attending the fencing from Annecy in southeastern France with her family,
wondered about safety too, but added: “You can fall anywhere, at any time. And,
in the end, it is her choice.”
Ramazanova,
who was visibly pregnant when competing, also earned admiration, including from
her peers. She reached the final 32 in her event.
Casey
Kaufhold, an American who earned bronze in the mixed team category, said it was
“really cool” to see her Azerbaijani colleague achieving what she did.
“I think
it’s awesome that we see more expecting mothers shooting in the Olympic Games
and it’s great to have one in the sport of archery,” she said in comments to
The Associated Press. “She shot really well, and I think it’s really cool
because my coach is also a mother and she’s been doing so much to support her
kids even while she’s away.”
Kaufhold
said she hoped Ramazanova’s run would inspire more mothers and expectant
mothers to compete. And she had a more personal thought for the mom-to-be:
“I think
it’s awesome for this archer that one day, she can tell her kid, ‘Hey, I went
to the Olympic Games and you were there, too.’”
Source: wdbj7.com
https://www.wdbj7.com/2024/08/05/competing-two-pregnant-olympians-push-boundaries-possibility-paris/
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‘Women-led
organizations are heroes of the humanitarian work in Sudan’ – Interview with
activist Shaza Ahmed
5 AUGUST
2024
Fighting
between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has internally
displaced 7.9 million people since 15 April 2023 and reversed many gains previously
made towards democracy and stability. Women and girls have been uniquely
hard-hit by the crisis and face a range of gender-specific challenges. After
one year of conflict, more than 7,000 new mothers were at risk of death due to
nutritional and health needs, and more than 6.7 million people were at risk of
gender-based violence.
UN Women
has worked with local women’s rights groups to support women and girls in Sudan
and in exile since the conflict began. UN Women recently spoke with Shaza
Ahmed, the Executive Director of Nada El Azhar, a Sudanese women-led
organization providing assistance to survivors of gender-based violence, mental
health support, and life-saving provisions as part of a famine prevention plan.
Ahmed
recently briefed the UN’s Economic and Social Council on the situation in
Sudan, and then spoke to UN Women about women’s place amid the conflict.
What is
the situation of women and girls in Sudan?
Currently,
women and girls in Sudan are facing gender-based violence, among other protection
violations. They’re facing gender-based violence in their communities, in their
journeys of displacement, and while seeking refuge in other countries.
Nada El
Azhar works with hundreds of women and girls who are living with unwanted
pregnancies and with sexually transmitted diseases. We are providing support to
women and children who are traumatized and who have attempted to end their
lives, due to the severe situation and displacement. Also, we are providing
support to women on the move. Most of them are [...] facing serious violations
during their displacement journey.
At the
same time, women and girls are facing tremendous risks because they lost their
livelihood, their education, and their businesses. […]
Socially,
women and adolescent girls are facing additional challenges as they move from
their places of origin to unfamiliar places, from urban setups to rural areas,
where the social life is completely different from what they were used to.
What
should be done to help women and girls amid the conflict?
We need
to recognize this crisis for what it is: it's a protection and gender-based
violence crisis. At least two actions are urgently needed:
Strengthening
protection and accountability measures, including a focus on the crime of
conflict-related sexual violence; and
We need
to recognize the most vulnerable among us and establish a trust fund to support
children born as a result of the conflict-related sexual violence.
I will
call for a joint effort to address the needs of women and children and to put
them at the centre of the humanitarian work in Sudan.
We need
to address their different needs, different hard times, and different
solutions. We’d like also to make sure that they are well consulted and well
represented. For example, we need to have a focus on women and girls with
disabilities, because their needs and concerns are completely different.
What are
local groups and the international community doing to help Sudanese women and
girls?
Although
the international community is very dedicated to us—they support the protection
response and the health and education needs—still there is a big gap when it
comes to specific needs for women, especially women with disabilities.
UN Women
is playing a very vital role in bringing together and amplifying the voices of
women of Sudan. I’m participating on many platforms where UN Women is
supporting the connection and communication—among women from different areas
and diversities to come together to discuss their risks, their concerns, and to
find solutions.
Working
in the humanitarian field is always a process; we always need capacity building
[...] international expertise, and to make use of experiences from other
countries and similar situations. But at the same time, we believe it's very
important to keep it as local as possible, and as international as necessary.
All that
said, we feel that the local organizations, especially the women-led
organizations, are heroes of the humanitarian work in Sudan.
Source: unwomen.org
https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/interview/2024/08/women-led-organizations-are-heroes-of-the-humanitarian-work-in-sudan-interview-with-activist-shaza-ahmed
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/muslim-girl-marry-attaining-indian-govt/d/132878