Open Letter by Afghan Women to the Taliban
New Age Islam News Bureau
13
Aug 2020
• Arab Women
Writers Struggle to Get the Readers They Deserve
• Ilhan Omar
Continues to Make Political Waves in the US
• Bella Hadid
Donates to Lebanese Charities Following Deadly Blast
• Women’s Group
in Dubai Raises Covid-19 Aid from Recipe Book
• Afghan
District Attempts to Abolish Forced Marriages
• Sneakers Gain
Footing with Women in The Arab World
• Saudi youth
report draws flak over marriage finding
• Female
Pakistani Journalists Call Out Online Abuse By Govt-Sponsored Trolls On Social
Media
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/open-letter-afghan-women-taliban/d/122615
--------
Open Letter by
Afghan Women to the Taliban
August 13, 2020
A woman shouts slogan during
a demonstration in support of female victims of abuse and violence in Kabul,
July 11, 2012. AHMAD JAMSHID / AP
------
For the past two
years, Afghan women have been observing the ongoing negotiation process in
Afghanistan carefully and, like millions of our fellow citizens, we deeply hope
that the process can bring the nearly 40 years of conflict in our beloved
Afghanistan to an end. We, women, have borne the brunt of the four decades of
conflict. As wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters we have suffered terribly,
we have been subjected to the brutality and violence of war; we have borne
witness to the endless suffering of our families and our people. We, perhaps
more than anyone, seek an end to this senseless war. Yet, we, like the vast
majority of Afghan women and men, worry that the price of peace may be too
heavy if we lose the vitality of more than half of our population and the
essential gains achieved in the last two decades.
Your willingness
to enter peace talks has given us hope but your public statements and behavior
on the ground have continued to trouble us. We have heard from some in your
leadership that you have changed and recognize that Afghanistan is not the same
country that you reigned over in 1996-2001, and recognize women’s rights to
education and work according to “Shari’a and Afghan traditions''. At the same
time, you have resisted explaining your interpretations of Shari’a and the
Afghan traditions of which you speak. Respectfully, your interpretation is one
of many. There are many customary practices that are in clear contradictions to
Islamic values. Some of the more egregious are prohibiting and limiting girls’
education, women’s economic freedom, right to inheritance, the treatment of
women and girls as commodities, resolving disputes by giving little girls and
women as Baad, preventing and limiting women’s employment and their
participation in public life, to name just a few.
In Afghanistan,
women continue to be the largest illiterate. In addition, 80% of our girls are
forced into marriage at a very young age, a tradition more common in areas
under your influence. While in other Muslim nations women are thriving as
successful leaders, politicians and policy makers, actively improving the lives
of their fellow citizens, in Afghanistan we are still fighting to be recongized
and respected as equal and capable citizens. Muslim women across the Muslim
world - in Tunisia, Morocco, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Jordan, Turkey,
Bangladesh, Senegal, Mauritius, even Pakistan and in many others are enjoying
freedom of movement, access to education, employment and access to services,
but we are still fighting for our survival. Despite the significant challenges
and continued threat to our lives, we will pursue our desire to serve our country.
Afghanistan belongs to all of us, women and men. We do not view the roles
differently when it comes to the protection and development of our beloved
Afghanistan. In doing so, you have often addressed our push to serve our
country and our fellow citizens as merely western influence.
You have also
dismissed those of us who have been on the frontlines of working on women’s and
human rights, accusing us of bringing in western values . We, as women 1
represent every part of Afghanistan, rural and urban. We represent the full
diversity of Afghanistan including geographical, sectarian and ethnic. The
rights that we espouse and work towards are fundamental human rights enshrined
in the holy religion of Islam and other faiths practiced in Afghanistan. As
more than half of the population, we have put our lives and those of our
families on the line to defend and protect the most vulnerable and those
abused. It is the obligation of every citizen, regardless of their gender or
ethnicity, to engage in improving their lives and the lives of their families,
friends and fellow citizens. You have often projected our obligation to our
country and people as a western influence and propaganda but there is nothing
western in Afghan women demanding respect for their dignity and protection of
their equal rights. As proud and responsible citizens, we do not view putting
our skills to work to improve our country’s future towards prosperity as
western. In the last two decades, we have played a vital role in rebuilding our
destroyed country. We have done so as scientists, doctors, technologists,
entrepreneurs, judges, religious scholars, engineers, lawyers, teachers,
university professors, security officials, journalists, artists, and rights
activists across the country.
We will not allow
our place and contribution towards rebuilding our country to be erased or
reversed. More than ever we recognize our capacity to contribute to the
wellbeing of our society. We will not allow the potential, talent, the rights
and dignity of our daughters and sons to be stripped once again for political
gains and posturing.
1 This letter is
written by a group of women with incredibly diverse backgrounds. We are a group
of nearly 400 women from across the country working for and demanding peace.
Among us, we have the current generation of Afghanistan, those in their early
20s who do not remember what it was like to live under your regime and older
women who remember very well what it was like to live under your rules. The
views expressed in this letter voice aspirations and fears shared by millions
from across the country. As we have repeatedly offered, we are prepared to sit
down with the Taliban and have a genuine discussion about the needs and
challenges of our population and our country. We have done so with members of
the Afghan government and believe it is equally important to engage with you.
We believe this is important because you are a party to the conflict and to the
negotiations. For the last two decades, your leadership and command have been
living outside of Afghanistan and you have not been exposed to the flourishing
progress in our country.
We believe that
by sitting together we may overcome the polarized views that you have expressed
about Afghan women and the future of our country.
It is the dream
of every responsible Afghan, including your children who live outside
Afghanistan, to live in a country in which the role of every Afghan will be
vital to rebuilding our country and ensuring that we become a sovereign,
independent, sustainable and peaceful country in the region and international
community.
https://tolonews.com/opinion/open-letter-afghan-women-taliban-0
--------
Arab Women
Writers Struggle to Get the Readers They Deserve
13 AUGUST 2020
The Palestinian writer Sahar
Khalifeh saw an English translation of her 1990 classic Bab al-Saha (Passage to
the Plaza) published just this year. Above, Khalifeh announces the 2017 winner
of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, Mohammed Hasan Alwan’s A Small
Death (Photo: Kamran Jebreili/AP).
------
When Jokha
Alharthi’s Celestial Bodies won the 2019 International Booker Prize, in Marilyn
Booth’s vibrant translation, many saw this as a turning point for Arabic
literature in English translation. In particular, translators hoped women’s
writing in Arabic would get more serious attention.
“I think that
was wishful thinking,” Elisabeth Jaquette, executive director of the American Literary
Translators Association, said over the phone. “Which is a shame.”
But while things
did not instantly change for Arab women’s writing in English translation,
Alharthi’s and Booth’s success is still being celebrated this Women in
Translation Month, which is marked every August.
The month-long
celebration was founded by the book blogger Meytal Radzinski in 2014, and it
sits at the intersection of two different efforts. The first, spearheaded by
the Three Percent blog, highlights how few literary works in the United States
are translations. The second, started by VIDA: Women in Literary Arts, tracks
women writers’ representation in English-language magazines, newspapers, and
journals.
The majority of
literary translators are women. But as Women in Translation Month highlights,
the books being translated are largely by men. Around 30 percent of new
translations to English from across world languages are works written by women,
while 70 percent are by men, Radzinski found.
Translations
from Arabic to English follow a similar pattern. Of the 14 works submitted to
the 2020 Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, ten were by male
writers and four by women. In 2019, it was three books by women, 13 by men.
Women’s books
that are translated from Arabic to English also face an additional set of
obstacles. As Amal Amireh, a scholar of literature and postcolonial studies,
wrote back in 1996, Arab women’s novels are often presented “as sociological
and anthropological texts that ‘reflect’ the reality of Islam and the Arab
world and ‘lift the veil’ from what one reviewer called the ‘unimaginable world
of Arab women.’”
Publishers and
reviewers have treated much of Arab women’s writing not as literature, but as
an exotic daytrip. Many book jackets of literary works in translation feature
Arab and Muslim women fully covered, with only their eyes peeking out.
“It’s not that I
don’t enjoy the writing of male authors, but I seem to gravitate more towards
and connect with writing by women authors.”
There have been
several English-language best-sellers in the genre that Lila Abu-Lughod, a
scholar of ethnography at Columbia University, has called “saving Muslim women”
stories. Yet, across languages, there has largely not been an interest in
translating Arabic literature by women. Maria Isabel González Martínez, the
blogger behind Separata Árabe, said over email that “of the 110 Arabophone
authors translated into Spanish: 76 are men and 34 are women.”
The scholar
Nadia Ghanem tracks translations of Algerian writing. She noted that, while
there are a few more Algerian women translated into French than into English,
“regardless, there are a zillion more men translated in comparison.” When a
Chinese Ph.D. student, Sha Min, put together a list of Arabic literature
translated into Chinese in 2016, there was only one book by a woman writer.
Jaquette said
she thought English-language publishers had been expressing more interest in
finding new works by Arab women writers. But she added that this had yet to
result in more women’s books in translation.
For her part,
the translator Sawad Hussain said she felt the focus on male writers “stems
from the Arabic publishing houses themselves, which have been putting forth
their male authors for prizes and media opportunities.”
In the last
several years, both Hussain and Jaquette have spent more time exploring and
translating work by Arab women writers.
“The first year
that the Women in Translation movement came onto my radar, I thought that
probably I had translated many women,” Jaquette said. “But I looked back
through my publications and found that to be very untrue, that I had translated
more men than women. In part, this was due to being commissioned to translate
male writers. That was a moment of reckoning for me.”
But, Jaquette
added, her preference for women writers is “not only a matter of principle,
it’s also a matter of taste. There’s a lot in women’s writing that resonates
with me.”
Hussain said the
same. “It’s not that I don’t enjoy the writing of male authors, but I seem to
gravitate more towards and connect with writing by women authors.”
Hussain recently
published a translation of Sahar Khalifeh’s classic Bab al-Saha (Passage to the
Plaza) and has translations forthcoming of a novel by the South Sudanese writer
Stella Gaitano and a short-story collection by the Libyan writer Najwa
Binshatwan.
“It’s true that
what affects the translation is either being a bestseller or a prize winner,
and then yes, more men have bestsellers than women.”
If there has
been a positive change, Jaquette said, it’s that Arab women’s writing is
finding “more of a place in a literary context, vs. an ethnographic one. Part
of it is the numbers. The more books by women that are published from Arabic,
even if the overall numbers are not large, then that does create more room for
a greater diversity of stories.”
Several of the
major, serious literary works appearing in 2020 are translations of books by
Arab women. Two that will surely contend for 2021 awards are Adania Shibli’s
Minor Detail, translated by Jaquette, and Hoda Barakat’s The Night Mail,
translated by Booth. In 2019, The Night Mail became the first book by a woman
to be the sole winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction. It is set
to appear as Voices of the Lost in September 2020.
Translations make
up a larger percentage of literature published in Arabic than they do of
literature in English. But the question of gender balance does not seem to have
factored into many publishers’ decisions.
“I haven’t
encountered the question of ‘Women in Translation’ in Algeria,” Ghanem said,
“at least not posed that way. I feel examining gender in literature is a luxury
that can be afforded or investigated only when there’s enough socio-political
space, and economic stability, for it. It needs breathing and thinking space.”
Gender balance
differed by genre. The U.A.E.-based Kalimat Group’s Rewayat Books imprint has
focused on acclaimed and classic novels since its launch in 2017. The imprint
lists translations of works by 37 men 15 women on its website, with many of the
classics being by men.
Egypt’s Al Arabi
Publishing is another major publisher of translated literature. Its publisher,
Sherif Bakr, said over email that he doesn’t consider gender when he selects
titles.
Al Arabi’s list
includes more than 200 books from 50-plus countries, and its fiction list is
close to evenly divided, with 59 percent works by men and 41 percent by women.
On the other hand, its nonfiction list shows more disparity: 86 percent books
by men and 14 percent by women, perhaps reflecting who is considered a global
expert.
Bakr said he
didn’t think most Arab publishers consciously looked at gender when selecting
books. “It’s true that what affects the translation is either being a
bestseller or a prize winner, and then yes, more men have bestsellers than
women,” Bakr said. “For prizes, I see a growth in the number of women who are
nominated and winning.”
Other noteworthy
translations to look for this year include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s
Americanah, translated to Arabic by Bothina Alibrahim, and Shahla Ujayli’s
Summer With the Enemy, shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic
Fiction in 2019 and now translated to English by Michelle Hartman.
https://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2020/08/arab-women-writers-struggle-to-get-the-readers-they-deserve/
--------
Ilhan Omar
Continues to Make Political Waves in the US
13 AUGUST 2020
Ilhan Omar
------
Ilhan Omar
continues to make political waves in the US as she wins Minnesota Democrat
primary.
One of the two
Muslim women elected to Congress back in 2018, she has continued to build a
strong political stand, which has resonated with voters and saw her beat her a
well-funded opponent, Antone Melton-Meaux.
“We earned a
mandate for change,” Omar, who is seeking her second term in November, tweeted.
“Despite outside efforts to defeat us, we once again broke turnout records.
Despite the attacks, our support has only grown.”
Melton-Meaux
tried to argue that Omar was out of touch with heavily Democratic Minneapolis-area
fifth district, which hasn’t elected a Republican to Congress since 1960.
A refugee from
Somalia, Omar was elected to the Minnesota Legislature in 2016 and has been a
passionate voice on liberal issues and has been endorsed by Senators Bernie
Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
In a statement
following her win, Omar said: “This election isn’t about me. It’s about an
agenda rooted in people’s everyday struggles—and the corporations and rightwing
donors who are threatened by it. It’s about standing up to a President who
promised to ban an entire group of people from this country based solely on
their Muslim identity. It’s about standing up for the basic human rights around
the world—and fighting a military-industrial complex that opposes the
recognition of people’s humanity and dignity.”
She is part of a
new generation of politicians, also known as the “squad”, which includes,
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley
of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
https://emirateswoman.com/amazing-news-for-muslim-women-as-ilhan-omar-wins-minnesota-democrat-primary/
--------
Bella Hadid
donates to Lebanese charities following deadly blast
August 08, 2020
DUBAI:
Part-Palestinian model Bella Hadid, whose father, real estate developer Mohamed
Hadid, lived in Beirut with his family before immigrating to the US, wrote that
her “eyes and heart are crying for Lebanon” following the deadly blast on Aug.
4, which broke though the capital city and killed at least 137 people and
injured thousands.
“I am sorry you
have to endure this kind of disaster my brothers and sisters,” she said in a
lengthy, heartfelt Instagram post, sharing that she will be sending donations
to the Lebanese Red Cross, in addition to local organizations situated in
Beirut. “We NEED to support the people of Lebanon. Helping from within, through
these smaller organizations can help pinpoint what necessities are most needed
and where they can be sent, exactly,” she wrote.
Over the weekend,
American actor George Clooney and his wife, Lebanese-British human rights
lawyer Amal Clooney, announced that they are donating $100,000 to Lebanese
charities helping those left homeless by the deadly explosion in Beirut.
According to
Variety, the couple said: “We’re both deeply concerned for the people of Beirut
and the devastation they’ve faced in the last few days.”
“Three
charitable organizations we’ve found are providing essential relief on the
ground: the Lebanese Red Cross, Impact Lebanon, and Baytna Baytak. We will be
donating to these three $100,000 and hope that others will help in any way they
can,” they added.
Also showing
support for Lebanon was pop star Ariana Grande.“My heart, strength and
condolences are with Lebanon and everyone affected by this tragedy,” she
tweeted. Please support / donate if you're able to, I will be doing so too.”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1716431/lifestyle
--------
Women’s group in
Dubai raises Covid-19 aid from recipe book
August 12, 2020
The group also printed
a special message on the illustrated online book.
As the world
struggled to pass their time constructively during the Covid-19 related
#StayHome period, a group of women from Dubai made the most productive use of
their time as they believed that 'every dark cloud has a silver lining'.
The volunteer
group known as Friends of Emirates Red Crescent, that works under the umbrella
of the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) and comprises of 12 women of different
nationalities, religions and background, managed to raise Dh17,000 by simply
launching a unique online recipe book and donating all the proceeds to the ERC
to help those affected by the virus.
Kamu Bhavnani,
co-chair of the volunteer group, said: "We were looking for ways to use
our time constructively and to help those in need, especially after seeing many
suffer in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. This is when the group's
chairperson Zenny Hirji came up with the idea of a unique online recipe book
that would see us all (12 members) pen down our tried and tested recipes which
were considered "family favourites" and were probably passed down to
us from generations."
Each member of
the group - in the age group 35-75 years - contributed five of their
"family or culture special" recipes that they had been making for a
number of years for the book that they titled "From Our Home to Yours -
Tried and Tested Recipes".
Bhavnani said:
"These are not just any run-of-the-mill recipes but I would call them
heirloom recipes that have been passed down the generations. They are easy to
make and not the usual, regular recipes one would find online. These are those
'ageless' recipes that are probably famous in someone's culture or household
and that have been tried and tested over a number of years. We used the
#StayHome time to once again practise and prepare all the five recipes each of
us contributed. We then photographed our dishes so that we could show people
the real pictures of how the dishes looked."
The group then
distributed the e-book for Dh100 and upwards (whatever people deemed fit to pay
for the cause) within their circle of friends and asked them to forward it and
spread the word about the good cause behind its launch - to help those affected
by Covid-19.
Lebanese
national and group member Lara Tabet, a TV presenter and luxury brand
ambassador, said: "The tragic events around Covid-19 made us all realise
that one's greatness is not what he or she has but what he or she can give. We
have witnessed so many people who were impacted and so many courageous people
willing to serve on the frontlines. We have also seen the great efforts
extended by the leaders of the UAE and this fired us all up to want to do our
part."
The group also
printed a special message on the illustrated online book, where they stated the
purpose behind the book launch which, Bhavnani said was "to create an
unbroken chain of giving".
Friends of
Emirates Red Crescent, which has been granted a special licence by the ERC to
raise funds for Covid-related causes, said the money raised is being used by the
charity for providing food packages to people who lost their jobs and require
financial help; offering medical assistance to those who were suffering with
the disease. The charity also used the money to provide shelter to a number of
people who were evicted from their houses due to Covid-19 circumstances.
The group has
been fundraising in Dubai in different avatars for the last 20 years.
Previously, registered as The Children's Hope Foundation (CHF) they are well
known in the community for their work supporting children in the areas of
health, education and general welfare.
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/coronavirus-pandemic/-Women%E2%80%99s-group-in-Dubai-raises-Covid-19-aid-from-recipe-book-1-
--------
Afghan District
Attempts To Abolish Forced Marriages
August 12, 2020
BAMYAN,
Afghanistan -- Hamida, a young Afghan girl from the Yakawlang district of the
central Afghan province of Bamyan, had pictured a bright future for herself.
But at age 14, her dreams of finishing school and attending university met with
the harsh reality facing so many girls in Afghanistan when her father married
her off to an older cousin.
Hamida’s
childhood was taken away from her in the name of exploitative customs that are
widespread in rural and remote areas of the country. Once she was married, she
was expected to cook, clean, and look after her husband and in-laws, but after
six years, she has had enough.
“When I was in
seventh grade, my father forced me to marry a man I did not love. My husband's
family did not let me continue my education,” said Hamida, now age 20. “I
finally divorced my husband, but my life is now a cycle of never-ending
problems.”
“I have returned
to my father's house, but my ex-husband has taken my [2-year-old] daughter away
from me,” she said. “I am worried for my daughter's future. I don't want her to
face a destiny similar to mine.”
In a show of
unity against the practice and in a pioneering move the first of its kind in
Afghanistan, civil rights activists, religious clerics, and women in Bamyan’s Yakawlang
district agreed to ban forced marriages. A number of the clerics suggested this
type of union is unacceptable and actually forbidden in Islam.
Rauf Salehi, a
leader of Yakawlang’s clerics, tells Radio Free Afghanistan that after the
decision to prohibit forced marriages was made a few months ago, the number of
forced marriages in the district dropped by 50 percent.
“When people
come to religious imams or clerics, it is necessary for them to investigate the
situation and ensure it is not a forced or underage marriage,” Salehi says.
“Either way,
forced and underage marriages go against Islamic law, and girls who are in this
type of situation cannot participate in decision-making for themselves.
Therefore, a marriage of this fashion is invalid through the lens of Islam,” he
added.
The official
legal marriage age in Afghanistan is 16 for girls and 18 for boys. Most
marriages in Afghanistan’s segregated society are arranged by parents and
family elders between consenting adults. But traditions involving bride price,
dowries, and using marriages to settle disputes results have turned many
arranged marriages into forced unions. Every year thousands of young girls like
Hamida have their fate signed away by others, giving them little to no
opportunity to have a say for themselves.
Some Afghans,
mostly those who are poverty-stricken or uneducated, view marriage as
transactional and therefore decide to wed their children for economic reasons,
according to a UNICEF study, leaving them vulnerable to health risks and
potential abuse.
Salehi says it
is necessary to end the exploitative social customs that permit these types of
marriages to take place in the first place. He has asked the government to take
a strong stand on this issue.
Zakia Razia,
head of Bamyan’s women’s rights commission, commends the decision made by the
religious leaders. She says she will continue to work with elders and religious
figures in order to forbid forced child marriages throughout all districts of
Bamyan.
“Forced and
underage marriages are a crime against women; therefore, we will make sure to
get all of the religious leaders on our side, to rid the province of this
undesirable practice,” Razia said.
In many cases,
women who marry under the legal age or against their will experience
psychological traumas that can negatively impact their mental health in the
long run, even if they are able to secure a divorce.
https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghan-district-attempts-to-abolish-forced-marriages/30780274.html
--------
Sneakers gain
footing with women in the Arab world
August 13, 2020
DUBAI: “Formal +
strictly sneakers” — that was the dress code on Tamila Kochkarova’s wedding
invitation last year. “I wore a pair of Nike Air Max 98 that were completely
white,” the Uzbek photographer and sneaker collector, who has lied in Dubai for
the past 16 years, tells Arab News. “My number one priority on my wedding day
was my comfort.”
Once considered
niche and alternative in the region, sneaker style has now entered the
mainstream, and is increasingly popular among women in the Middle East — a
demographic that stereotypically splurges on fancy clothing with ornate
embellishments, paired with shoes a little more “ladylike” than sneakers.
But while
glamour has traditionally been the driving force behind fashion, comfort is now
heavily influencing style movements, particularly two of the most popular in
this region: modest fashion and sneaker culture. Both have helped shape
Kochkarova’s personal style.
“I got into
sneaker culture when I was young, around 12 or 13,” she says. “I just started
hanging out weekly in Dubai Festival City at the skate park out there, and my
friends were all skateboarders who were really into sneakers.”
Today, skaters
aren’t the only ones buying into the trend of clunky, colorful sneakers. Female
‘sneakerheads’ have become influencers on social media, and a number of them
happen to dress in skin-covering attire, too. Instagram is now abuzz with
modest fashion bloggers — early images of these women were on the more
traditionally feminine side — elegant gowns and flowy maxi dresses and skirts,
with fabrics fluttering over sling-back heels, strappy stilettos and,
occasionally, ballerina flats. But a new wave of sneakerhead hijabis is
shedding light on an alternative type of modest fashion.
Striking
architectural backgrounds, edgy angles, avant-garde poses, and a clear focus on
bold — and often rare — sneakers, including limited-edition Nike Air Max,
Jordan and Air Force One styles, are features of trending images in the
modest-fashion blogosphere. Su’aad Hassan, who was born and raised in Dubai and
now lives in Canada, has over 18,000 followers on Instagram. Her outfits
include bright tracksuits, plaid blazers, denim vests, bucket hats, silk
scarves, retro sunglasses, and a range of sporty footwear. “I think modest
fashion and sneaker culture go hand in hand, because, as a whole, modest
fashion is a push against the societal standard,” she explains.
Modesty is
dominating runways right now, and sneakers are also in vogue, being produced by
brands like Gucci, Balenciaga and even Christian Dior, the quintessential
“ladylike” French fashion house that recently collaborated with Nike on an
exclusive pair of Dior logo-stamped Air Jordans. But both subcultures had been
ostracized from mainstream fashion for years. Even in the Middle East, where
modest fashion is more prevalent, covering up was not always seen as trendy for
young women, Hassan explains.
“Whether
observing the hijab or not, dressing modestly in the Middle East, especially
over the last few years, isn't the cultural norm everyone thinks it is,” she
says. “Being able to dress as you wish and to express yourself at your most
authentic — choosing yourself and your
comfort over anyone’s expectations of you — requires a level of comfort with
your identity, and this ties into general comfort in clothing and appearance.
Sneakers make this so easy.”
Femininity has
long been synonymous with high-heeled shoes. Louboutin — rather than Reebok or
Adidas — has been the brand of choice for glamour-loving women, especially in
the Middle East. But Athleisure and sports-luxe trends in mainstream fashion
have helped popularize streetwear and sporty shoes, and today, women in the
region are pairing clunky sneakers with their abayas, floaty maxi dresses and
stylish tracksuits — an eclectic mix of sartorial standards, with room for an
array of personal styles that may not necessarily conform to tradition.
“Women,
especially nowadays in the Arab world, have completely renovated the term ‘femininity’.
It’s by our own rules – we can wear a dress with a pair of sneakers and feel
very, very feminine. We don’t have to wear six-inch heels to feel like a
woman,” says Kochkarova, who is working on launching a website —
noboysallowed.ae — dedicated to female sneakerheads from the Arab World. The
site, she says, will highlight muses living in the Middle East, or from the
Middle East and living abroad, through creative photoshoots and insightful
interviews, forming an online community celebrating women and their coveted
sneakers.
Joshua Cox,
co-founder of Sole DXB — the Middle East’s largest sneaker, streetwear and
lifestyle fair — says that sneaker culture would be “incomplete” without women,
and that labels are now paying extra attention to this demographic.
“Our attendance
has always been pretty consistent, with women making up half of our audience,
but it's only in the last three years that we've seen the brands in the region
increase and improve their offering for women,” he says.
Brands are now
also working with creatives who identify with both modest fashion and sneaker
culture. Reebok, for instance, ahead of Sole DXB 2019, recruited Sharjah-based
Sudanese graphic designer Rihab Nubi for its digital campaign promoting pieces
from the Reebok by Pyer Moss Collection 3. Nubi wore a top-and-trousers set
with a dramatic, pleated, silhouette paired with chunky black, yellow and
salmon-toned shoes from the collection, and an off-white headscarf.
While religion
is certainly a motivator for women who dress modestly in the region, it isn’t
the sole reason why women are gravitating towards conservative cuts. Many,
inspired by the appeal of covering your body, rather than being pressured to
flaunt it, have begun dressing more modestly without even realizing that their
attire could be labeled as “modest fashion.”
“It wasn’t that
I was dressing to try and be modest, they’re just the type of clothes I happen
to be comfortable in. I never really liked to reveal too much,” says Kochkarova
of her trademark loose skirts and oversized shirts. She adds that her favorite
element of modest fashion is creative and experimental layering: “I’m heavily
influenced by fashion in Japan, especially after visiting twice last year, and
that’s something that they do on a regular basis.” She also finds inspiration
in the up-and-coming sneaker culture in Saudi Arabia. “These kids in Saudi are
insanely creative — they’re so underrated,” she says, citing Jawaher of
@fashionizmything and Riyadh-based photographer Hayat Osamah as examples.
The ambitions
and aesthetics driving the personal styles of these women are unique and
diverse, but it’s clear that comfort and practicality are reigning in the
modest fashion and sneaker style subcultures, painting a new picture of what an
enlightened and empowered woman can look like.
“What we can see
as observers…are that women choose to use sneaker culture for self-expression.
They aren’t playing to stereotypes on femininity,” says Cox. “By bringing
modest fashion and sneaker culture together, they're making it their own, and
are contributing to the culture as much as they're taking from it.”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1718811/lifestyle
--------
Saudi youth
report draws flak over marriage finding
August 13, 2020
RIYADH: A
General Authority for Statistics (GaSat) report published this week has stirred
debate over a long-running issue in Saudi Arabia — the age of marriage.
The “Saudi Youth
in Numbers” report on marriage and work patterns in the Kingdom’s 15-34 age
group drew comment on social media, with some suggesting it painted an
inaccurate picture and portrayed marriage before the age of 18 as commonplace.
Its findings
were also criticized by a Saudi statistics expert, who said that relying on a
wide age range “could leave room for speculation and uncertainty.”
The report
indicated that the percentage of married females in the 15-34 age group was
34.3 percent, while the percentage of employed Saudi youth in the same age
bracket was 47 percent.
GaSat spokesman
Mohammed Al-Dukhainy told Arab News that the 15-34 age group was selected in
line with international studies.
Use of this age
group made international comparisons easier, he added.
However, Dr.
Melfi Al-Rasheedi, a board member of the Saudi Professional Association for
Statisticians and Data Scientists, said that “unbalanced” age groups could
leave room for speculation and uncertainty, and lead to unclear results. “The
way the report was presented was not correct. Suffice it to say that the report
did not indicate the statistical method used and whether it took the level of
education as a variable in the study,” he said.
“The age group
15-34 is a wide one. We want to know the number of participants who started
working or got married between 15 and 18. This is not indicated in the study
and we cannot tell.”
Last year, the
Ministry of Justice instructed official registrars not to register any marriage
if the prospective spouse was below 18 years of age and to report the case to
the relevant court, which would decide if there was any risk to the person
involved.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1718716/saudi-arabia
--------
Female Pakistani
journalists call out online abuse by govt-sponsored trolls on social media
Aug 13, 2020
More than thirty
female journalists in Pakistan have written a strongly-worded statement
condemning the terrible circumstances under which these scribes are forced to
work in their country.
The statement
titled- Joint Statement: Attacks on women in media in Pakistan said,
"vicious attacks through social media are being directed at women
journalists and commentators in Pakistan, making it incredibly difficult for us
to carry out our professional duties".
The statement
also pointed out the systematic abuse that these journalists are subjected to
owing to the pressure put on by government officials, further amplified by
Twitter accounts affiliated to the ruling party.
In a
well-planned, and coordinated campaign, the personal details of these women
journalists and analysts have been made public. Moreover, to discredit them,
the ruling party often refers to these journalists as peddler of "fake
news", "enemy of the people". The statement further points out
that they have also been accused of 'taking bribes'.
The journalists
further alleged how posts critical of the government are inundated with sexual
slurs and baseless allegations.
There have also
been multiple reports of pictures and other personal information of female
journalists being accessed and spread online, endangering their safety. The
group of journalists also retreated that they are being prevented from
exercising their right to free speech and participate in public discourse. When
they self-censor, others are prevented from receiving information to form their
views, which is a violation of their rights under article 19 A of the
constitution of Pakistan.
The journalists
ended their statement by making two demands from the Imran Khan-led Pakistan
government. Firstly, they asked Imran Khan to send a clear message to all party
members, supporters, and followers, to refrain from launching these attacks,
whether directly or indirectly.
Lastly, they
demanded that the Standing Committees on Human Rights of the upper and lower
house of parliament to take notice and to hold the government accountable by
ensuring the acknowledge, apologise, and list the actions they will now take to
end such a toxic environment.
Soon after the
journalists released the statement, #AttacksWontSilenceUs was trending on
Twitter. Various sections of the society showed their solidarity towards these
journalists.
“Pakisan needs
more independent, strong, determined & successful women in journalism.
#AttacksWontSilenceUs seems a very powerful slogan to start with.Let grow such
men & women doing exceptionally good work & sitting on the
fence while performing their duty in this profession," said senior
journalist from Pakistan Zahid Gishkori on Twitter
Aima Khosh, one
of the signatories of the statement tweeted, "the statement by women
journalists is trending, human rights defenders are speaking up and the HR
minister has expressed concern. At the same time, someone is trying hard to
break into my account. To whoever this is, I have only one thing to say:
#AttacksWontSilenceUs".
https://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-female-pakistani-journalists-call-out-online-abuse-by-govt-sponsored-trolls-on-social-media-2837395
--------
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/open-letter-afghan-women-taliban/d/122615