Muslim Bride And Hindu Groom? It’s Love, Not Jihad: UP Police Decides - As Consenting Adults They Had The Right To Live Together
New
Age Islam News Bureau
13 December 2020
•
Muslim Bride And Hindu Groom? It’s Love, Not Jihad: Police Decides - As
Consenting Adults They Had The Right To Live Together
•
Muskan Jahan, 22, Held Under India's Love Jihad Laws Had Forced Miscarriage,
Family Claim
•
Spike In Number Of Female Addicts Lifts Veil On Afghanistan’s Drug War
•
Bigger Role For Arab Women Urged In Scientific Research And Innovation
•
Breaking Stereotypes, Mexico’s Women Bikers Steer Their Own Path
•
12 Women Leaders Who Changed The World For Better In 2020
•
Promoting Gender Equality In The Arab World: Caring For The Care-Takers
•
Turkey Supports Women’s Empowerment In South Sudan
Compiled By New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/muslim-bride-hindu-groom-its/d/123743
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Muslim
Bride And Hindu Groom? It’s Love, Not Jihad: Police Decides - As Consenting
Adults They Had The Right To Live Together
Piyush
Srivastava
12.12.20
When
a Muslim woman eloped with a Hindu man in Bareilly last week, the police saw no
love jihad or yuddh, deciding that as consenting adults they had the right to
live together.
But
in several recent instances where the men were Muslim and the women Hindu, the
Uttar Pradesh police arrested the men or their relatives under a new state
ordinance that criminalises religious conversion for marriage and became law on
November 27.
While
the ordinance is not religion-specific in its phrasing, BJP leaders have made
it clear that it’s aimed at checking “love jihad” – an alleged conspiracy by
Muslim men to marry, convert and radicalise Hindu women. Chief minister Yogi
Adityanath had been among the first to allege such a conspiracy.
The
father of a Muslim woman had registered a case at Prem Nagar police station,
Bareilly, on December 5 alleging a young Hindu, Aman Kumar, had lured and
kidnapped his daughter.
“I
registered the case under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion
of Religion Ordinance, 2020. But the police were sceptical from the beginning,”
the father told reporters in Bareilly on Thursday.
“The
police rescued my daughter, who was under the influence of the man with whom
she had eloped, on December 6 and produced her in court, where she said she had
gone with the man willingly.”
The
father said Aman was trying to convert his daughter to Hinduism. “But the
police let her go with him. They didn’t let us meet her — we wanted to convince
her that her future was not safe with the man.”
“It’s
a case of love between adults. There’s no angle of religious conversion in the
case; so they were allowed to go wherever they wanted,” he said.
When
a similar case was registered against a Muslim man on December 7 in the Kanth
area of Moradabad, however, the police arrested the accused and his brother.
They sent his “Hindu” wife to a remand home despite her being an adult and five
months pregnant.
The
22-year-old woman said she had undergone a court marriage with Mohammad Rashid
six months ago in Uttarakhand and converted to Islam at the time, and that the
ordinance was incorrectly being applied retrospectively under prodding from the
Bajrang Dal.
“We
arrested Rashid and his elder brother Mohammad Saleem under the provisions of
the new ordinance and sent the woman to a remand home when she refused to go to
her parents,” Kanth circle officer Balram Katheria said.
“I’m
from (adjoining) Bijnore district. While working at a beauty parlour in Dehradun,
Uttarakhand, I met a barber and we had a court marriage there. I changed my
religion soon after the marriage,” she said.
“But
the Bajrang Dal somehow contacted my mother in Bijnore and persuaded her to
submit a false police complaint (in Moradabad) saying I was being forced to
convert after the new ordinance was issued.”
On
December 5, the police had arrested seven family members of a Muslim youth from
the Tambor area of Sitapur district for allegedly helping him “lure and kidnap”
a Hindu girl on November 23.
“A
relative of the girl lodged a police complaint on November 27 under the new
ordinance. Mohammad Jubrail, the main accused, is absconding. We are trying to
find the girl too,” Sitapur additional superintendent of police Rajiv Dixit
said.
It
criminalises religious conversion for the sake of marriage, and invalidates
such marriages. It says inter-faith lovers must apply to their district
magistrate two months in advance for permission to marry (without conversion).
It prescribes 1 to 10 years’ jail or a fine ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs
25,000, or both for violations.
Days
before the Bareilly police let off Aman Kumar, they had arrested Owais Ahmad on
December 3 on a complaint from a Hindu man from the Devraniya area of the
district accusing the youth of pressuring his daughter to elope and convert.
“A
case was registered under the new ordinance on November 28 and the accused was
arrested after five days,” deputy inspector-general (Bareilly zone) Rajesh
Kumar Pandey said.
He
said Owais had been harassing the woman for the past three years and that she
had confirmed this. He added that Owais had been booked under sexual offence
sections, too.
According
to the woman’s father, she had married another man in June but Owais was
threatening him to bring her back and hand her over to him.
“The
girl’s father met me recently and said he bore us no ill will. I don’t know why
he and his daughter registered the case against Owais after that.”
https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/muslim-bride-and-hindu-groom-its-love-not-jihad/cid/1800265
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Muskan
Jahan, 22, Held Under India's Love Jihad Laws Had Forced Miscarriage, Family
Claim
By:
Joe Wallen
13
Dec, 2020
The
first woman detained under India's controversial new "Love Jihad"
laws has miscarried in custody, her family told The Sunday Telegraph.
Yesterday
a distraught Muskan Jahan, 22, called her mother-in-law from a government
shelter where she is being held in the city of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh,
saying she had bled heavily and then lost her baby.
Jahan
believes her daughter-in-law - who was three months' pregnant - was given an
injection to abort the baby by staff because she converted from Hinduism to
Islam and married a Muslim man.
Muskan
Jahan's husband Rashid, 27, is being held in an unknown prison in Uttar Pradesh
for allegedly coercing Muskan into converting from Hinduism to Islam by
marrying her.
Uttar
Pradesh passed legislation last month designed to prevent marriages arranged to
convert Hindu women into Muslims, a practice known as "Love Jihad".
But
critics say the law is a poorly disguised attempt by the Hindu nationalist
ruling party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break up interfaith unions.
A
further four Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled (BJP) states are expected to pass
similar laws later this month, despite the Indian government admitting in
February it had not been able to find one case of so-called "Love
Jihad" nationwide.
While
the law doesn't specify any religion, police in Uttar Pradesh are targeting
Muslims. At least 10 Muslim men have been arrested so far but no Hindus.
Muskan
and Rashid met when Rashid left his impoverished family home to work as a
hairdresser in the northern Indian city of Dehradun.
"Then,
around five months ago, we got a sudden call from Rashid, he was very excited
and he said that he had married the Hindu girl," his mother told the
Sunday Telegraph.
"I
scolded him that he did a wrong thing and asked him why he didn't consult with
us first. But, then he said he was coming home in July and we treated Pinky
like our own daughter."
Rashid
got a new job in a salon in Moradabad and Pinky - who had taken the decision to
convert to Islam and adopt the name Muskan before her marriage in July - soon
fell pregnant, much to the delight of her mother-in-law.
"Like
every mother, I also had a dream that my son should get married and then the
happiness of all of us increased with the news of Muskan's pregnancy,"
Jahan said.
"There
is no small baby in our house that we could play with on our lap and we had
dreams of making the baby a good person through education."
Hindus
and Muslims have lived side by side in Uttar Pradesh for hundreds of years and,
while interfaith marriages are rare, they constitute 3 per cent of unions.
However,
since Modi was re-elected with a landslide win in 2019, the BJP has implemented
a string of policies protecting Hinduism. He has regularly been accused of
Islamophobia.
The
BJP has argued that Muslim men are engaging in Love Jihad. India's Muslim
community constitutes just 14 per cent of the population.
On
Tuesday, the police arrested Haider Ali, a Muslim from the town of Kushinagar,
tortured him and threatened to "skin him alive". Ali was released the
next day after it was discovered his bride was born a Muslim.
Rashid
was arrested on Sunday after the family visited a lawyer in Moradabad to
register their marriage in Uttar Pradesh, as the couple had married in
neighbouring Uttarakhand.
The
family's route home was blocked by the Bajrang Dal, a hardline Hindu
nationalist group, who threatened them and called the police.
"This
is what Muslims do, first they love, and then they carry out Love Jihad after a
few months. We know Pinky [Muskan] is seeing love right now, but after a few
days she will find it very difficult to live her life," said Gaurav
Bhatnagar, the Bajrang Dal leader from Moradabad.
"Our
workers are active in the street, locality, villages, cities, everywhere. Our
job is to inform the police when Love Jihad cases occur and then it's the
court's job to punish them."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/first-woman-held-under-indias-love-jihad-laws-had-forced-miscarriage-family-claim/RZMGPQ3NBIXY5MOCZYPF5EK4BY/
------------
Spike
In Number Of Female Addicts Lifts Veil On Afghanistan’s Drug War
Sayed
Salahuddin
December
12, 2020
Afghanistan
has seen a spike in narcotic drug use in recent years. (File/AFP)
------
KABUL:
At first, Alina Yaqoobi says she found it “very difficult” to cope with
aggressive drug addicts when she began working at a rehabilitation center in
Afghanistan’s northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif three years ago.
But
with time and due to a “worrying” increase in the number of female addicts
across the country, she could not turn away from the problem.
“I
have seen a 40 percent increase in the number of patients being treated here.
There are people on the waiting list as well,” Yaqoobi, a 28-year-old
psychotherapist at the Social Services for Afghan Women (SSAW) rehabilitation
center told Arab News.
In
recent years, Afghanistan has seen a spike in narcotic drug use, specifically
in the impoverished parts of the war-torn country, where foreign-funded groups
and international mafia have held sway over the lucrative business to fund the
decades-old war in the country.
Government
data places the number of drug users at nearly 2.5 million people — out of a
population of 36 million — although unofficial estimates say the problem is far
worse, affecting almost 4 million.
“Out
of those, 850,000 are female drug users, and 170,000 of them are addicts,”
Abdul Shokor Haidari, Afghanistan’s deputy health minister, told Arab News.
He
cited “war, migration, domestic violence, easy access to drugs, and a lack of
social services and facilities” as the main factors behind women turning to
drugs.
Yaqoobi
says the problem is not limited to the youth alone, with minor girls and women
as old as 70 being treated at the SSAW center.
Since
its inception more than 11 years ago, she says, the SSAW has rehabilitated
female drug users from various parts of the city, such as graveyards, deserted
buildings and construction sites, while some were brought in by their families
for help.
“Starting
the treatment process is very tough because addicts are in a bad state. They
know no one and are very violent, but we try to calm them down,” Yaqoobi said.
“In
the 45 days that they are here, we provide education, sporting and recreational
activities, such as weaving small carpets and tailoring. We find a sense of
glory and happiness when they go home, abandoning the addiction and beginning a
new life,” she added.
In
addition to the SSAW, there are 17 other drug rehabilitation centers for women
across the country, Masooma Jafary, a spokesperson for the Health Ministry,
told Arab News.
And
while addicts are largely treated like outcasts, especially women in
Afghanistan’s patriarchal society, the country continues to retain its spot as
one of the world’s top producers of poppy, which is turned into opiate and
later refined heroin.
“I
married a drug addict in Iran and came to this center two years ago after
arriving home. I feel a lot better now and have also managed to persuade my
husband to give up too. I owe my new life to the center’s efforts,” she added.
“Violence
and discrimination force these people to turn again to drugs. Mistreatment of
family members of former addicts, social stress and lack of economic support,
as well as a shortage of jobs, force some addicts to go back to drugs,” Zarqa
Yaftali, a women’s rights activist, told Arab News.
“Addiction
destroys families and societies. We are trying to save families, helping one
person struggling with drug addiction at a time,” she said.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1776306/world
----------
Bigger
role for Arab women urged in scientific research and innovation
CALINE
MALEK
December
12, 2020
DUBAI:
When the pandemic is finally defeated, the scientists who devised vaccines in
record time will no doubt be hailed as the paladins of coronavirus prevention.
So too will the tech experts who through the lockdowns helped move jobs and
infrastructure into the digital space. There will be no shortage of heroes, but
can the same be said about heroines?
In
spite of recent progress, women remain a minority in the science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM) professions, especially in the Middle East
and North Africa (MENA). Now experts in the region are calling on schools,
governments and employers to do more to fix the imbalance.
Speaking
during a recent L’Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science webinar, in partnership
with the speakers’ platform She Is Arab, experts from across the Gulf stressed
the central role women have to play in research and innovation.
“I
can see the passion in women in science,” said Dr. Maha Al-Mozaini, an
infectious diseases specialist and educator at King Faisal Specialist Hospital
and Research Center in Saudi Arabia. “It’s changing dramatically and quickly,
and I believe they can bring a brighter future.”
According
to 2018 figures from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, just 28.8 percent of
the world’s researchers are women. Female enrolment in engineering,
manufacturing and construction courses stands at just 8 percent worldwide,
while in natural sciences, mathematics and statistics it is 5 percent. For
information and communications technology (ICT), the figure drops to a paltry 3
percent.
“These
numbers are alarming,” said Dr. Anna Paolini, director of the UNESCO Office in
Doha and representative for the Gulf and Yemen. “They call for action to close
the gender gap in science, technology and innovation and equip the future
generation with adequate skills and competencies, and harness the power of
emerging new technology, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual
reality, and augmented reality, just to name a few.”
In
these unprecedented times of disruption, particularly in education where 1.5
billion students have missed out on learning, Paolini says the contributions of
men and women to the sciences, technology, problem-solving and decision-making
cannot be underestimated.
“Research
and innovation are catalysts for achieving our goals to live on a healthier, sustainable
and prosperous planet,” Paolini said. “However, the world urgently needs more
scientists to tackle the global challenges we are facing today. And we cannot
afford to let half of the world’s population, which are women, go unnoticed
behind their remarkable achievements.”
Female
teachers, doctors, nurses and researchers have all been at the forefront of the
battle against COVID-19. In the case of Al-Mozaini’s team in Saudi Arabia, a
remarkable 99 percent of her researchers are women.
“When
I advocate for women’s empowerment in STEM, the challenges that we face as
women are different from country to country,” said Al-Mozaini, who is a winner
of the L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science Middle East Regional Young Talents
Program.
“We
have seen that, in the United States, the numbers of graduate women in science
are there but they tend to decrease in the workforce. In our case, it is very
promising. We only have one man on the team.”
Many
factors have contributed to their success, including career support from their
families, Al-Mozaini said. “So, we have advantages compared to other countries
in the Middle East, and especially in the GCC,” she said.
“They
all come from different backgrounds, from molecular biology and genetics to
virology and immunology. They were working 24/7 during the lockdown, leaving
their families behind. And because little was known about the virus, we all had
to take precautionary measures to protect our families.”
The
work was arduous. Early in the pandemic, the Saudi research center had to
spread its resources across many different aspects of the outbreak. “Our team,
which was (focused on the) immunocompromised, was trying to establish testing,
because the early signs of the virus showed that it was transmitted at very
high levels,” she said. “So, in order to stop the cycle of the virus spreading,
you needed to do testing.”
Their
efforts involved establishing a mode of in-house viral testing as a back-up
diagnostic test. “The test is very sensitive, reliable and fast,” Al-Mozaini said.
“Best of all, in developing and low-income countries that don’t have the
opportunity to get these expensive kits; they can use our protocol and do the
testing.”
Al-Mozaini
is heartened to see a growing number of women in the Gulf entering the
sciences. Women in the Middle East now account for almost half of the total
STEM student population and they will no doubt play a prominent role in the
post-pandemic world.
In
the UAE, 61 percent of university students in the field are women, 71 percent
in Oman and 55 percent in Bahrain. However, women are still underrepresented in
the research community. Although 38 percent of Saudi graduates in the field are
women, only 17 percent of them work in STEM sectors.
Al-Mozaini
says the best way to support women entering careers in science is to provide
them with appropriate mentorship and good role models. “We, as scientists,
should give that to younger generations,” she said.
“I
pursued STEM because I was exposed to it early in my schooling. I had a really
nice professor who was retired and teaching biology at school, and he inspired
us. So that gives you good mentorship and role models and exposure to STEM.”
In
September, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) discussed plans to
step up the provision of STEM education for women and girls at a meeting in
Jeddah. During a virtual workshop, members of the OIC’s general secretariat
looked at ways of improving access to learning for women and girls in member
countries.
In
the host country of the OIC, Saudi Arabia, women’s participation in the
workforce and the wider economy and having more women in leadership positions
is one of the key goals of the Vision 2030 reform strategy. A growing number of
Saudi women are already holding high-ranking positions even as new government
policies aim to increase the employment of women in all fields.
Al-Mozaini
says Saudi Arabia and the GCC countries at large are fortunate, thanks to a
strong support system at various levels of education, including scholarships.
“In
the workforce, we need to create the right environment for them,” she said.
“They are mothers, they have kids, so they need to have the best childcare
system within their working institute to leave their kids and go to work.
“They
need to have the best mentorship program at an early age and most important of
all is providing them with a leadership opportunity, and this is why the Vision
2030 of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is promoting women in leadership.”
For
Paolini, the key to promoting women in science is inspiring girls at school and
in the home. “It really shaped all of us,” Paolini said. “We all have a story
that inspired how we are today and this is why this network and platform are so
important.
“Everywhere
in the world, we need more science and we need more women in science.”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1776456/middle-east
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Breaking
Stereotypes, Mexico’s Women Bikers Steer Their Own Path
By
Leigh Thelmadatter
December
12, 2020
Over
the past decade, bikers Mexicanas have been creating groups and events to get
women beyond just looking at motorcycles and actually riding them.
Their
goal is a daunting one: as of 2019, only 20% of Mexico’s motorcyclists were
women, compared to 35% in the rest of the world. As late as in the 1980s, it
was not acceptable for a woman to ride her own bike. Even 20 years ago it was
difficult for a women rider to join a club or a group ride. Women riders today
are still considered a novelty, says Yoly Chopper, a lawyer from Guadalajara.
Today,
there are still some clubs that forbid women, but now they are rare. And while
women who announce to nonriding families that they want a motorcycle still face
some resistance, this often passes with time. Chopper got her first bike in her
40s, and her family was worried for her safety. Ten years later, not only do
they accept her passion but now “Mamá es cool.” More men support women bikers,
even performing security and logistics for women’s events.
Women
riders in Mexico include professional riders, politicians, businesswomen,
career professionals, housewives and manual laborers. They are daughters,
mothers and even grandmothers. Some have gained a reputation nationally. Astrid
Madrigal is the queen of motocross in Mexico despite her youth. At 70+ years of
age, Barbie Biker of Torreón is a legend for roadsters.
Culturally,
it can be difficult for women riders because of longstanding assumptions that
motorcycling is only for men, with women relegated to the back seat as the
mochila (backpack) or nalgitas (rear end or buns). Of course, this problem is
not limited to Mexico. Objections here are much the same as in other parts of
the world — that it is too dangerous, that women cannot handle the physical
demands of riding or even that the novelty of seeing a women rider might cause
road accidents.
Interestingly,
it is often mothers who try to block the way. Sally Mayer of Querétaro recalls
that when she bought her first bike, her mother said, “Better to buy a pistol
than a bike because it is faster [to get killed].” Some women said they waited until they were
older, and others found ways to have a motorcycle without their mothers
knowing.
At
traditional biker events, which overwhelmingly cater to men, it’s easy for
women bikers to feel excluded. Most of the women there are hangers-on with no
knowledge of riding or maintenance. The T-shirts and other paraphernalia sold
at these events are not offered in either designs or sizes adequate for women.
But
the growth of women’s clubs and events is giving female riders their own
friendlier space. One of the first was the Orquídeas Motorcycle Club in Mexico
City. It began with eight women in 2005. Two of the founders, Liliana and
Lucero Urbina, still coordinate the club. There are also national-level clubs
with chapters in various parts of the country, such as the Amazonas and Mujeres
Bikers International. There is also the Pochianchis, a local club in the small
community of San Francisco del Rincón, Guanajuato, named after a trio of
infamous sisters who ran bars and brothels there.
The
most important all-female biker event is Chicas Biker, held each year in
October. The event consists of meeting in Guadalajara, then riding to a rural
location for a weekend of camping and camaraderie. In 2019, the event welcomed
over 250 women from all over Mexico and even the U.S., Europe and Latin
America. (The 2020 event was limited to only 80 due to Covid-19.) According to
founder Anayancin Y. “Yancy” Fierros Viveros, one of the event’s main successes
is that nonriding women who tag along come back the following year with their
own bike.
This
technical and emotional support is crucial for most female novices to take the
plunge. Women like Arlen García of Mexico City tell stories of liking
motorcycles for a long time but not acting on it until becoming friends with a
rider who offered to mentor.
Women
find their way to motorcycles much the way men do. Mayer says her introduction
was through watching Elvis Presley and Marlon Brando movies as a kid. Many
others get hooked seeing family members or friends ride.
Even
those who buy their first bike for cheap urban transportation, like Mexico City
residents Irma Torres and Ariana Alfaro, find themselves seduced by both the
machines and the camaraderie of other motorcyclists.
Although
they take on the usual trappings of motorcycling — helmets, leather jackets,
boots and insignia, it does not mean that women riders want to be just like the
men. They often add feminine touches to both bikes and to themselves. False
pigtails on helmets are put specifically to announce that the rider is a woman.
Some name their bikes and consider them like children.
Most
are likely to participate in events where families, including nonriders, are
welcome to tag along in cars. Andrea Velásquez of the Orquídeas thinks that
women tend to be more responsible riders because many are mothers, so they
don’t take the risks that men might.
Women
riders still face questions about their ability to ride despite all the
progress, but the support network that exists for today’s chicas biker arguably
sets a more confident tone for women riders, “that we do not always want to be
a man’s sidekick [that], rather, we can ride our own motorcycles,” says
Fierros. “There is no limitation. It is necessary to break paradigms related to
this.”
“I
feel powerful [on my motorcycle] because it is no longer something just for
men; it is for us as well. It is a beautiful sorority that we have among
ourselves.”
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/mexicolife/mexicos-women-bikers/
-----------
12
women leaders who changed the world for better in 2020
BY
SARADA PERI
12
DECEMBER 2020
Over
the past year, the world has been battered by multiple crises, including a
global pandemic that has infected tens of millions, cost more than 1.5 million
lives, and devastated almost every nation’s economy. But according to a study
by the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and the World Economic Forum
(WEF), countries led by women had “systematically and significantly better”
outcomes related to COVID-19, which were the result of “proactive and
coordinated policy responses” such as earlier lockdowns.
That
got us thinking: in this year of challenge, which women have offered models of
creative, thoughtful and decisive leadership? Whether guiding a nation with a
steady hand or rising up against injustice, these leaders offer glimpses of how
to make progress in the most difficult of circumstances.
1.
Jacinda Ardern, prime minister of New Zealand
Widely
lauded for leading one of the world’s most successful coronavirus responses,
Jacinda Ardern and her Labour party won a landslide victory in October’s
election. She wasted no time in selecting the most diverse cabinet in New
Zealand’s history. Out of 20 members, eight are women, five are Māori, three
are Pasifika and three are LGBTQ+. It is a cabinet that, for the first time,
fully represents all New Zealanders.
Ardern’s
choices are more than a box-ticking exercise. While the new cabinet has shifted
the popular understanding of what leadership can look like, it is also a
reminder that people from different backgrounds bring with them unique
perspectives, skills and life experiences, all of which are essential in
tackling our greatest challenges.
2.
Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany
In
September, a fire devastated the overcrowded Moria refugee camp on the Greek
island of Lesbos, leaving thousands of people homeless. Angela Merkel quickly
agreed to accept approximately 2,750 people, including unaccompanied minors.
The move pressured other EU countries to do their part and open their arms,
too.
Merkel’s
decision echoed her 2015 statement that Germany would find a way to handle the
massive influx of refugees who had fled their home countries. Despite domestic
political backlash and a continent splintered over the refugee crisis, Merkel
has approached the issue in the signature manner of a
scientist-turned-stateswoman—with pragmatic empathy, a drive to experiment, and
a belief in the need for collective action.
3.
Damilola Odufuwa and Odunayo Eweniyi, women’s rights advocates, Nigeria
Damilola
Odufuwa and Odunayo Eweniyi
Image
may contain: Face, Human, Person, Female, and Hair
For
years, women activists across Nigeria have used online tools to organise social
change, whether it was to free the Chibok girls kidnapped by the terrorist
group Boko Haram or to raise awareness about gender-based violence. In July,
Damilola Odufuwa and Odunayo Eweniyi formed a group with 11 other women called
the Feminist Coalition with the aim of improving the rights of Nigerian women.
When anger about the unchecked police brutality by the Special Anti-Robbery
Squad (SARS) reached fever pitch in autumn, they launched into action with
their first project— and the #EndSARS movement became a rallying cry around the
world.
The
Feminist Coalition regards itself not as a political organisation, but as a community-building
enterprise and women’s rights advocacy group. Using their sophisticated skills
in technology and social media, they were able to disseminate real-time
information, which raised awareness and funds for the peaceful protests. Rather
than a top-down leadership model, Odufuwa, Eweniyi and their colleagues are
democratising information as a way to empower the Nigerian people to make the
change they seek.
4.
Kamala Harris, US vice president-elect
After
the most consequential presidential election in recent memory, Americans
elected Joe Biden. And his running mate, Kamala Harris, will be the first
woman, the first Black person, and the first Indian-American to be vice
president of the US. Her long career involved breaking many barriers, from being
the first woman to serve as San Francisco’s district attorney to being the
first Indian-American elected to the US senate. In Harris, the US not only has
a brilliant, seasoned public servant as vice president, but a leader who will,
at long last, broaden Americans’ sense of what is possible.
5.
Stacey Abrams, former Georgia state house minority leader, US
When
Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams lost her bid for governor in 2018, some
commentators thought she should run for the senate—some thought she should run
for president. Instead, Abrams stayed committed to her longtime project of
turning her home state from red to blue.
Five
years earlier, Abrams had launched The New Georgia Project, which empowered
low-income Georgians to help get more people signed up for healthcare. Over
time, that initiative became a voter-registration effort. In the process,
Abrams built a broad coalition of people and organisations across the state,
registered huge numbers of Georgians to vote, and changed people’s
understanding of southern politics. Her painstaking organising paid off this
year when Joe Biden won Georgia, helping to seal his victory.
6.
Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at University of Oxford and co-founder
of Vaccitech, UK
Professor
Sarah Gilbert may be as close to a real-life superhero as one gets. The veteran
Oxford scientist developed a coronavirus vaccine that could help save the world
from COVID-19. Early data suggests that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine that her
team worked on affords up to 90 per cent protection against the virus, and is
cheaper and easier to store than promising vaccines announced by Pfizer and
BioNTech, and Moderna. Gilbert’s version could therefore benefit more people
across the world.
With
25 years of experience developing vaccines for the flu, Ebola and Middle East
Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Gilbert and her lab were prepared to spring into
action when coronavirus first appeared in 2019. As for the sleep-deprived
months that followed, Gilbert said, “I’m trained for it. I’m the mother of
triplets.” And lest one questions the safety of the vaccine, all three of
Gilbert’s children, now young adults, participated in the clinical trial.
7.
Klementyna Suchanow, author and political activist, Poland
Klementyna
Suchanow at a pro-choice protest marking the 102nd anniversary of the women’s
voting rights in Warsaw, Poland, on 28 November 2020
When
Poland’s Constitutional Court imposed a near-total ban on abortions in October
2020, the country’s Conservative government could not have predicted the backlash.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets, including in
demonstrations organised by The All-Poland Women’s Strike, led by activist
Klementyna Suchanow.
Suchanow
says that in protesting the draconian abortion laws, people are rising up
against the Catholic Church’s tight grip over the country’s political
decisions. Poles, especially women and young people, are frustrated by the
Church’s power to intrude into their lives and furious at the concurrent
hypocrisy revealed by the child sex-abuse scandal. Whether the protesters
succeed in overturning the law remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: the
movement has energised a new generation of women, unbounded by the past—and
they aren’t going anywhere.
8.
Maria Ressa, CEO of Rappler, Philippines
This
summer, in the middle of the pandemic, Philippine journalist Maria Ressa stood
in a courtroom and was convicted of cyber libel. Ressa and her news site,
Rappler, had long been targeted by Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte for its
critical coverage of his regime, including his response to COVID-19.
But
it was her arrest in 2019 that shifted Ressa’s thinking about her role as a
journalist and persuaded her to speak openly about Duterte’s abuse of power
against the press and the resulting threat to democracy his behaviour poses.
Citing Duterte’s use of misinformation through social media to demonise the
press and spread conspiracy theories, she warns that other countries face
similar threats. Though Ressa still faces the prospect of prison and threats of
violence, she refuses to be silenced. As she says, “Journalism is activism.”
9.
Bilkis Dadi, political activist, India
Bilkis
Dadi takes part in a protest in Delhi, India, February 2020.
At
the end of 2019, India’s ruling party enacted the Citizenship Amendment Act,
which introduced religion as a criterion for citizenship.
But
people wouldn’t let this happen without a fight—least of all an 82-year-old
woman named Bilkis Dadi (birth name Bilkis Bano, dadi means grandmother), who
joined thousands of others in a Muslim neighbourhood in Delhi to protest. Every
day, Bilkis sat at the protest site from morning until night. Throughout the
winter chill, she was undeterred.
Although
Bilkis and her fellow protesters were shut down, she was widely celebrated and
even included on Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of
2020. In the face of powerful opposition, this woman has become an equally
powerful reminder of what is worth fighting for.
10.
Monica Lennon, Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP), and Nicola Sturgeon, first
minister of Scotland
Half
of the world’s population menstruates. And yet, almost no society has come to
grips with the fact that sanitary products such as pads and tampons are as
essential as toilet paper.
That
changed in November when, thanks to Monica Lennon and Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland
became the first nation in the world to make sanitary products free. Lennon has
long been a champion against “period poverty” that leaves too many people
unable to afford the basic products they need to menstruate with dignity.
In
debating the bill, Scottish lawmakers discussed issues such as endometriosis,
illuminating aspects of women’s health that are so often overlooked, but
essential to a woman’s ability to thrive. Advocates hope that the example of
Scotland will help erase the cultural stigma around menstruating and ensure
that more women and girls across the world can achieve their potential.
11.
Sanna Marin, prime minister of Finland
Despite
its reputation for being a progressive oasis, Finland has an oppressive law on
the books— the Trans Act—which requires trans individuals to undergo mental
health screenings and sterilisation if they want to obtain legal gender
recognition. The country’s prime minister, Sanna Marin, intends to change that.
She has spoken in favour of people’s right to self-identify, saying, “It’s not
my job to identify people. It’s everyone’s job to identify themselves.”
This
is the latest feminist act by Marin, whose coalition government is led by all
women. Her support for ending the Trans Act is an assertion of feminism, which
seeks to dismantle outdated notions of gender norms and ensure that everybody
can define who they are and live as they choose.
12.
Nemonte Nenquimo, leader of the Waorani nation, Ecuador
Nemonte
Nenquimo protests against oil drilling on ancient Indigenous land in Quito,
Ecuador, on 15 May 2020.
Image
may contain: Human, Person, Furniture, Chair, Bead, Accessories, Accessory,
Rosary, Prayer Beads, and Worship
While
the face of the environmental movement in the west has frequently been white
and male, the most powerful voice in the fight against global climate change is
a 34-year-old leader of the Waorani nation in Ecuador named Nemonte Nenquimo.
Like so many Indigenous communities around the world, the Waorani have been on
the frontline, defending the land they know best.
Nenquimo
successfully stood up against the Ecuadorian government’s plan to allow oil
companies to drill in an area of the Amazon the Waorani call home and—as fires
ravage the Amazon rainforest and outsiders destroy the forest—she has raised
global awareness about what the climate crisis looks like to her people. As she
wrote in an opinion piece published by The Guardian: “The Earth does not expect
you to save her, she expects you to respect her. And we, as Indigenous peoples,
expect the same.”
https://www.vogue.in/culture-and-living/content/12-women-leaders-who-changed-the-world-for-better-in-2020
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Promoting
gender equality in the Arab world: Caring for the care-takers
Niveen
Wahish
13
Dec 2020
Yasmine
Abdallah, who works in a bank in Cairo, gets up every day at dawn to prepare
lunch and pack food for her toddler and husband before she wakes up her baby
and takes her to daycare. When she gets home around five in the evening, she
finishes off the cooking and does house chores as she feeds her daughter before
putting her to bed.
Abdallah
is thankful she can afford decent daycare, otherwise she would not have been
able to work. She is also not alone: there are many examples of working women
like Abdallah around the Arab world, juggling unpaid care work alongside their
paid jobs, some not only caring for children but also elderly parents while
also being responsible for household chores such as cooking and cleaning.
A
report released earlier this month quantifies this phenomenon. Entitled the
“Progress of Women in the Arab States: the Role of the Care Economy in
Promoting Gender Equality”, the report, which examines Egypt, Jordan, Palestine
and Tunisia, scrutinises the allocation of unpaid care and the state of the
paid-care sectors and care policies and makes recommendations to redistribute
care and guide investment in the care economy.
Although
the value of care as a public good is widely acknowledged, the responsibility
for it is largely confined to the private sphere of the household and falls
primarily on women and girls, the report said.
According
to the report, carried out by UN Women and the Economic Research Forum, a NGO,
married women employed outside the home have by far the highest work burden in
all four countries, underscoring the “double-shift” phenomenon that acts as a
strong deterrent for women to look for paid work outside the home.
According
to a policy brief summarising the findings of the report, the recognition,
reduction, and redistribution of unpaid care work is a pressing issue for
gender equality in the Arab world. The region has the highest female-to-male
ratio of time spent on unpaid care work and the lowest rate of female
participation in the paid economy of any world region, it said.
Women
in the region spend on average between 17 and 34 hours per week on unpaid care
work, whereas men spend between one to five hours, depending on the country.
The
report shows that employed married women engage in almost the same number of
hours of unpaid care work as their non-employed counterparts in Egypt and
Jordan. In Tunisia and Palestine, they do slightly fewer hours.
In
Egypt, married women spend seven times as much time on domestic work as married
men. Unmarried women are not better off, as they spend six times as much time
on domestic work as unmarried men, the report says.
“Egyptian
women spend almost the same amount of time on unpaid care work whether or not
they are employed, which reflects the double burden many face,” a policy paper
on the Egypt chapter of the report said.
According
to the report, the gender gap in labour-force participation in Egypt remains
large, with Egypt ranking 143rd out of 153 countries in 2017. Only 21 per cent
of working-age women in Egypt were in the labour force in 2018, in contrast to
76 per cent of working-age men, it said. Part of this is attributed to the
burden of unpaid care work.
“Gender
inequality in the distribution of unpaid domestic work plays an important role in
this gender gap in labour-force participation in Egypt,” it said.
To
help turn the situation around, the report presents several recommendations,
including increasing the number of childcare institutions. From 2006 to 2017,
the number of children aged under three years old grew at an annual rate of 3.6
per cent to reach over 11 million children, whereas the number of childcare
facilities in the private sector only increased by 1.2 per cent per year.
Besides
calling for increasing investment in care for young children, the report sees a
need for investment in facilities that provide care for the elderly, ill, and
disabled as well.
Women
were found by the report to be not only at the core of unpaid care work, but
they are also central to paid-care services. The report shows that women are
almost four times more likely than men to be employed by the public sector and
private sector in paid-care sectors such as health, education, social work or
domestic work, compared to other sectors of the economy.
While
most paid-care jobs are concentrated in the public sector, the share of the
private sector has been growing. The report sees this as an opportunity for the
greater involvement of women in the work force.
The
report calls on the government not only to incentivise private-sector
investment in care institutions, but also to encourage businesses to establish
nurseries at workplaces through tax deductions or the preferential pricing of
utilities.
In
the meantime, the report stresses that there should be a means to facilitate
access for children from poor families. “Subsidising quality childcare for the
poor is an important area for public interventions to support the outreach of
early childhood care and education services to different vulnerable groups,” it
says.
While
working on introducing new policies, the report also recommends working on
changing attitudes. “Involving men in unpaid care work is essential for its
redistribution,” the policy brief said. To do this, it calls for “intensive
communication and advocacy campaigns to address the stereotypes, barriers, and
attitudes towards gender roles in Egypt and to promote behavioural change.”
The
report was produced within the framework of the UN Women and International
Labour Organisation Joint Programme “Promoting Productive Employment and Decent
Work for Women in Egypt, Jordan and Palestine” funded by the Swedish
International Development Cooperation Agency.
It
was produced as a regional companion to UN Women’s Progress of the World’s
Women report on “Families in a Changing World: Public Action for Women’s
Rights’ Programme” funded by the Swiss Development Cooperation.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/50/1202/396456/AlAhram-Weekly/Economy/Promoting-gender-equality-in-the-Arab-world-Caring.aspx
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Turkey
supports women’s empowerment in South Sudan
Benjamin
Takpiny
13.12.2020
Turkey’s
state-run aid agency on Saturday donated equipment to South Sudan to support
women’s empowerment in the North African country.
Items
donated by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) included 80
liters of Lulu oil, buckets, gloves, and measuring cylinders among others to be
used for making soap.
“Turkish
people are here, Turkish Embassy is here, TIKA is here to help you live a
better life by supporting you in this development project,” Turkey’s Ambassador
to Juba Tugrul Biltekin said at the donation drive.
He
said that they are supporting the soap-making project and they will bring up
another project of making sandals soon so that people could support themselves
financially.
Natasha
Malek, representative of Lulu Care, a women-led national NGO, said that they
are training women on how to make bar and liquid soap, so they can sell their
products in the market to sustain their families and generate income.
Regina
Lullo, director general of gender and children welfare in the Ministry of
Gender, Child and Social Welfare, said that the priorities of the government is
to empower women to achieve gender equality.
“We
have to mobilize women to empower them and we use civil societies and women
groups to empower them economically and politically in the ministry at the
national level.”
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/turkey-supports-women-s-empowerment-in-south-sudan/2075227
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