Women’s Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai Discusses Forced Marriages, Female Education
New
Age Islam News Bureau
12
October 2021
•
Afghan Women Have A Long History Of Taking Leadership And Fighting For Their
Rights
•
Ministry, UN Women Launch Gender-Responsive Budgeting Seminars
•
UN Chief Guterres Slams ‘Broken’ Taliban Promise Made To Women, Girls
•
China Detains Muslim Women For Using WhatsApp, Labels Them As Pre-Criminals,
Says New Book
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
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Women’s
Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai Discusses Forced Marriages, Female Education
12
October 2021
(Photo courtesy: Al-Arabiya)
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The
Women’s Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai hosted a symposium on Monday that brought
together young female activists from Egypt, Lebanon and Africa to highlight the
impact of challenges such as gender-based violence, forced child marriage and a
lack of access to education.
The
symposium, entitled ‘We can! Girls’ Voices for Girls’ Empowerment’, was
appropriately being held on the United Nations’ International Day of the Girl
Child, which supports more opportunities for females and increases the
awareness of gender inequality. The discussion was hosted by UK-based NGO Save
the Children.
In
her speech, the symposium’s guest speaker, Egyptian TV anchor Mona El Shazly,
emphasized education as a basic right of all children. She encouraged the
expansion of community classes initiated by UNICEF in remote areas where there
are few schools, and creating curricula for specific communities. She also
pointed out the dangers of parents depriving their children of education.
Entrepreneur
and activist Sarah Al Madani said that society needs to change to accept women
as powerful figures. “Instead of hiding behind outdated cultures, customs and
traditions, we must begin seriously to change them,” she said. “Social reform
starts from within the family, and we must focus our efforts on educating the
new generation.”
The
participants were agreed on their opposition to forced child marriage, and
their desire to facilitate the access of education for girls all over the
world, simultaneously creating a safe environment for them.
In
a virtual message, Nouneh Sarkissian, wife of the President of Armenia, UNICEF
advocate for children and an author, stressed the importance of women in
positions of power. Environments conducive to this development should be
encouraged, involving women in the decision-making process at senior levels.
The
Women’s Pavilion at Expo 2020 tackles key issues of concern to women, as a
partner for building a promising future, and highlights the contributions made
by women to the advancement of societies.
Over
182 days, more than 200 participants – including nations, multilateral
organizations, businesses, and educational institutions, as well as millions of
visitors – aim to come together to create the largest and most diverse World
Expo ever.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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Afghan
Women Have A Long History Of Taking Leadership And Fighting For Their Rights
October
11, 2021
Ever
since the Taliban recaptured Afghanistan, the question in much of the Western
media has been, “What will happen to the women of Afghanistan?”
Indeed,
this is an important concern that merits international attention. The Taliban
has already imposed many restrictions on women.
At
the same time, however, much of the Western media coverage appears to be
reinforcing the idea that the U.S. military intervention helped expand the
rights for Afghan women, while erasing the impact of years of resulting
corruption and violence on their lives.
This
framing echoes similar post-9/11 calls to action by many well-meaning Americans
on behalf of Afghan women. Pundits continue to ask, did Biden, the U.S. and its
NATO allies abandon Afghanistan and its women too soon?
As
Afghan American women scholars, we are concerned that this rhetoric presents
Afghan women as victims in need of saving, suggesting all women experience life
in Afghanistan the same way, without accounting for their activism and
political resistance.
We
know through our research, advocacy and experiences that a diverse spectrum of
women-led groups are fighting for human rights, both now and historically.
Do
Muslim women need saving again?
Western
colonial powers have a long history of appropriating women’s rights movements
in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia to serve their own geopolitical
interests.
Indian
scholar Gayatri Spivak was among the first to write about this phenomenon, in
reference to British rule in India. In her 1988 essay, she explains how this
white savior rhetoric was used to justify Western rule in the name of
liberating Muslim, Hindu or pagan women from their “repressive” societies. She
described this savior disposition as “White men saving brown women from brown
men.”
Scholar
Leila Ahmed described this dynamic in her 1992 book “Women and Gender in
Islam,” when she notes instances in which imperial British agents in Egypt used
women’s rights as a rhetorical device to further their colonial rule, while
undermining those rights through the violence of colonial occupation. One
example that Ahmed cites is Lord Cromer, the British consul-general of Egypt,
who supported Egyptian women’s rights but condemned the suffragist movement at
home. He also supported viceroys who were conservative-leaning and espoused
anti-women and anti-gay laws.
Anthropologist
Lila Abu-Lughod in her 2013 book “Do Muslim Women Need Saving?” also cautions
against the savior narrative, which she argued reduces Muslim women to a
monolithic group who are all repressed by a draconian version of Islam, and in
need of some form of militarized intervention, packaged as humanitarianism.
Women’s
movements in Afghanistan
Afghan
women, just like women of any nationality, cannot be generalized into a
singular category. They have a plurality of aspirations, commitments and
visions for the future shaped by their socioeconomic identities, religious
affiliations or lack thereof, location in the country and ethnic identity.
Afghan
women’s rights movements and organizations are also far from monolithic. They
range from communist to secular, and moderately religious to more religiously
conservative.
In
the 1960s and 1970s, Afghanistan underwent a series of liberal reforms started
by the government and social works programs that radically increased the active
participation of women in arts, culture and politics.
The
women’s movements were emboldened by the 1964 ratification of the equal rights
amendment act in the Constitution of Afghanistan. At that time, Afghan women
began to demand more rights. Shortly thereafter, women began protesting against
veiling, which had been socially mandated. The government subsequently worked toward
easing the restrictions.
During
the Soviet-Afghan War and occupation that lasted from 1979 to 1989, many Afghan
women fought and demonstrated against the Soviets, despite being targeted,
beaten or killed for their activism.
Two
of the most prominent women who were killed for their resistance were Nahid-i
Shahid, often known as Nahid the Martyr; and Meena Kamal, the founder of the
Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, an organization founded
in 1977 in opposition to foreign interference in Afghanistan and corruption in
the Afghan government. Shahid was killed by the Soviet-backed puppet regime
after protesting the Soviet occupation in 1980. Kamal is said to have been
assassinated by a Jihadi leader in 1987.
In
recent decades, women professionals used their skills as leverage against
repressive edicts. The Taliban, for example, in 1996, was forced to reinstate
Suhaila Siddiqi, a female heart surgeon, so she could operate on members of the
group.
In
the post-9/11 era, U.S. military intervention was coupled with development aid
designed to revitalize Afghan society, including women’s empowerment. Many
women participated in new educational and professional initiatives, as well as
development projects in the arts, media and athletics.
By
2003, in the first elections following the ousting of the Taliban, a U.S. and
United Nations mandate in the post-9/11 Afghan Constitution required that women
comprise 25% of the Parliament and occupy positions as heads of ministries and
governorships.
US
military
Over
the past two decades, the political clout of the Taliban and other warlords and
extremists in Afghan society has been strengthened, with real consequences for
women.
In
spite of countrywide protests, the U.S.-backed Afghan government invited many
of the same leaders and warlords that the Taliban had displaced back to power.
These warlords wreaked havoc on the population by using their government
positions as fiefdoms to grow their base and to divert international funding to
themselves.
Increasing
corruption reduced the efficacy of the development projects and undermined the
gains made. As media reports pointed out, while the lives of some women in
urban areas, especially Kabul, improved, those of women in other parts of the
country became unbearable. Many women in rural areas were subjected to constant
drone surveillance, night raids and aerial bombings.
The
Taliban, similar to their first ascent to power, promised to rid the country of
the warlordism and kleptocracy in the U.S.-supported government. With their
harsh interpretation of Islam, they also brought back restrictions on women’s
freedoms.
The
path forward
We
argue that it is important to remember the work of many Afghan women reformers
and human rights activists over the last 20 years so as to better support their
aspirations for social transformation.
Many
Afghan women, such as Shaharzad Akbar, chairperson for the Afghanistan
Independent Human Rights Commission, Fatima Gailani, director of the Red
Crescent Afghanistan, Malalai Kakar, the head of Kandahar’s Department of
Crimes against Women, Fawzia Koofi and Malalai Joya, both former members of
Parliament and women’s rights activists, as well as Suraya Pakzad and Habiba
Sarabi, also women’s rights activists, have dedicated their lives to working for
women’s rights.
Afghan
women are not and never have been passive victims who need to be saved. They
have a rich history of resistance and political dissent. It is important for
the global community to listen to their voices so as to support Afghan women’s
aspirations for a better future.
Source:
The Conversation
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Ministry,
UN Women launch gender-responsive budgeting seminars
October
12 2021
Awareness-raising
seminars on gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) for senior managers have started
in the capital Ankara in partnership with U.N. Women and the Family and Social
Services Ministry.
Attended
by more than 100 heads of departments from around 25 line ministries and
central public institutions and organizations, the seminars aim to raise
awareness on gender-responsive planning and budgeting and develop practices
accordingly.
Compiled
under six sessions, the seminars will last until Oct. 15.
Seminars
will provide necessary information to senior managers to ensure that public
institutions’ planning and budgeting processes are carried out through a
gender-responsive perspective.
Gülser
Ustaoğlu, the general director of the status of women at the ministry,
emphasized the importance of the seminars, saying, “We need to continue our
efforts to achieve equality between women and men across society, within
politics, education and the economy. Therefore, we need to adopt an
equality-based approach to meet different needs and priorities of women and men
across public service provision.”
“I
believe our project will empower both women and men in our country,” she added.
Covering
the period of 2020-2023, the project is designed to support women’s and men’s
access to equal rights and opportunities through gender-responsive budgeting. Within
this framework, the seminars target mainstreaming gender-responsive budgeting
across public institutions and organizations.
Emphasizing
the project, Zeliha Ünaldı, U.N. Women Turkey programmes manager, said: “The
seminars will continue to be held in the coming period, increasing in number
and diversifying. We can only reach a society where everyone can enjoy equal
and just rights and opportunities by establishing a sustainable system where
everyone’s needs are met.”
Gender-responsive
budgeting is an application of gender mainstreaming in the budgetary processes.
GRB enables budgeting and planning processes to incorporate a gender
perspective at all levels and meets the different needs and priorities of women
and men.
Source:
Daily News Turkey
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UN
Chief Guterres Slams ‘Broken’ Taliban Promise Made To Women, Girls
11
October ,2021
UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday slammed the Taliban’s “broken”
promises to Afghan women and girls, and urged the world to inject cash into
Afghanistan in order to prevent its economic collapse.
“I
am particularly alarmed to see promises made to Afghan women and girls by the
Taliban being broken,” he told reporters.
“I
strongly appeal to the Taliban to keep their promises to women and girls and
fulfill their obligations under international human rights and humanitarian
law.”
Source:
Al Arabiya
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China
detains Muslim women for using WhatsApp, labels them as pre-criminals, says new
book
October
12, 2021
China
has been detaining women belonging to Muslim ethnic groups for months for cyber
‘pre-crimes’ such as accessing messaging app WhatsApp and a school Gmail
account. The Chinese authorities label such "violators" as
pre-criminals. A new book titled “In The Camps: China's High-Tech Penal Colony”
has made these revelations.
The
book has cited the case of Vera Zhou, student at the University of Washington,
who was recently detained for using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to open her
school Gmail account and submit homework in China's Xinjiang, according to a
report published by Business Insider.
Zhou
was then informed that she was being sent for a 're-education' class. She was
also made to wear a uniform which had neon green stripes on the sleeves and
pants.
Zhou
even spent her Thanksgiving, Christmas, and 2018 New Year in that cell.
Zhou
was released under a set of conditions after spending six months at the camp.
The conditions required her to stay within her local neighbourhood and she had
to report regularly to a "social stability worker".
Even
after being released, Zhou said she felt as if she was still stuck in a digital
prison. One day, while walking beyond her neighbourhood's border, Zhou's face
was immediately identified as a Muslim pre-criminal on a nearby monitor.
More
than 1 million Uyghurs and people from other Muslim groups have been held in
camps in China, according to rights groups. Activists accuse Chinese
authorities of imposing forced labour on those placed in these camps.
The
book, released on Tuesday, noted that along with Zhou, 11 other Muslim women,
were identified by police as extremist "pre-criminals" under China's
internet security law.
According
to the law, internet network operators have to share personal data with Chinese
authorities. Zhou, who is also a permanent US resident, finally returned to
Seattle in 2019.
However,
the surveillance technology also followed her to the US. The book said one
woman was arrested for downloading WhatsApp while another woman was detained
for allowing several customers to use her ID to set up their SIM cards.
According
to author Darren Byler, all three women, including Zhou, were victims of
China's high-tech surveillance system.
Source:
India Today
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