First Saudi Female Racer, Reema Juffali Appointed Ambassador For F1 GP
New Age Islam News Bureau
29 November 2021
• Pakistan Holds First Women In Law Awards, Asma Hamid
Bags Advocate Of The Year Title
• Iran’s Women Say New Family Law Puts Their Health At
Risk
• Iraq: Court Hearing Resumes On Marriage Of
12-Year-Old Girl
• Saba Saqib, Alkhidmat Trust Lahore Urges Muslim
Women To Become Role Model For All Women
• Israel To Host Miss Universe Contest As Planned
Despite COVID-19 Fears: Minister
• Egypt Attaches Great Attention To Promoting Women’s
Rights: Shoukry
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/saudi-female-racer-juffali-f1-gp/d/125863
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First Saudi Female Racer, Reema Juffali Appointed Ambassador For F1 GP
Reema Juffali. (Twitter
Photo)
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Nov 29, 2021
Saudi Arabia's first female racing driver Reema
Juffali has been appointed an ambassador for the country's inaugural Formula
One Grand Prix in Jeddah this week, organisers said on Monday.
The 29-year-old, who competed in the British Formula
Three championship this year, will be one of the first to drive a lap of the
street circuit along the shores of the Red Sea.
She will also take part in a track shakedown of a 1979
Williams Formula One car, which carried sponsorship for national airline
Saudia.
I’m incredibly honoured to be chosen as an ambassador
for the @SaudiArabianGP.Check out my website for more detai…
https://t.co/b8GqqQssE2
— Reema Juffali - ريما الجفالي
(@reemajuffali) 1638177785000
"I'm really looking forward to taking part in the
activities over the race weekend and I hope that my story and journey can
provide some inspiration to anyone thinking of following their dream," she
said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia lifted a ban on women driving in 2018 and
Juffali became the first Saudi female license holder to compete in a series
that same year.
Sunday's Formula One race will be the third of four in
the Middle East this season and could also be a title decider.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen leads Mercedes' seven times
world champion Lewis Hamilton by eight points ahead of the penultimate round.
Source: Times of India
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Pakistan Holds First Women In Law Awards, Asma Hamid Bags
Advocate Of The Year Title
Asma Hamid
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November 25, 2021
Pakistan's 1st Women in Law Awards 2020-21 and
symposium on diversity and inclusion took place on Wednesday, November 24, 2021
in Islamabad.
The Women in Law Initiative Pakistan is a leading and
pioneer collective working for equality of opportunity and networking of female
lawyers in Pakistan. It was established in the year 2016 and has consistently
worked to highlight and mainstream gender equality in the legal profession
through various initiatives.
This collaborative project was curated by Women in Law
Initiative Pakistan under patronage of Federal Ministry of Law and Justice with
Support from Australian High Commission and British High Commission and Group
Development Pakistan (GDP) featured 71 nominees in 18 categories. Advocate Asma
Hamid was declared winner in the category ‘Advocate of the Year’ while Maliha
Zia Lari won the award for ‘Outstanding Comeback of the Year’ and as Gender and
Diversity Champion (Sindh). The awards also honoured law students, rising stars
and gender and diversity champions. In the entity categories, Axis law Chambers
won the award for most inclusive law firm amongst others.
The complete list of winners is as follows:
Advocate of the Year: Asma Hamid
Rising Star of the Year: Winner — Barrister Jugnoo
Kazmi, 1st Runner Up — Khushbakht Shah Jillani, 2nd Runner Up — Hira Saleem
Gender Project/Initiative of the Year: Banning
Two-Finger Test Petition Axis Law Chambers
Most inclusive law firm: Axis Law Chambers
Best Gender and Diversity Rights Advocacy: Blueveins
Best Prosecutor: Alvina Shah
Best ADR Lawyer: Dr Nudrat Piracha
Pro bono Contributor of the Year: Barrister Jannat Ali
Kalyar
Mentor of the Year: Shabnam Ishaque
Academic of the Year: Abira Ashfaq
Unsung Achiever of the Year: Noor ul sabah
Outstanding Comeback of the Year: Maliha Zia Lari
Transactional Lawyer of the Year: Amina Ahmed
Sole Practitioner of the Year: Barrister Shayyan
Qaiser
In-House Legal Counsel: Fatima Gohar & Mehvish
Muneera (TIE)
Gender and Diversity Champions: Maliha Zia Lari,
Rubina Naz, Maria Farooq, Sabira Islam
Legal Department of the Year: Novo Nordisk Pharma
Law Student of the Year: Winner — Maha Hussain, 1st
Runner Up — Ashba Nawaz, 2nd Runner Up — Neelum Ibrar Chattan
The awards are aimed to promote visibility to the work
of female legal professionals and encourage entities to promote inclusive
practices. Addressing the event, Parliamentary Secretary Barrister Maleeka
Bokhari said: “I am delighted that today we are finally formally celebrating
women’s achievements in law. It is a great moment for me and very refreshing
indeed.”
Speaking on the occasion Nida Usman Chaudhary, the
founder of Women in Law initiative Pakistan and curator of this collaborative
action for increasing women’s representation in law said: "To see female
lawyers being given their due recognition and visibility at the national level
has truly been a dream for which we at Women in Law have worked for all these
years. This would never have been possible without the leading support of
Hon’able Federal Law Minister Dr Muhammad Farogh Nasim and Parliamentary
Secretary, Federal Ministry of Law and Justice, Barrister Maleeka Bukhari.
Their dedication, commitment and role for increasing women’s representation in
law through this historic public-private partnership will pave the way for a
more inclusive legal profession and contribute to access to justice in more
ways that we can imagine. In spite of the challenges that came our way, support
from the Federal Ministry, our sponsors, the Australian High Commission, the
British High Commission and implementing partner, Group Development Pakistan,
has been unflinching for which I am very grateful. We are very happy that all
our hard work is now coming together for everyone to see."
The event began with a symposium on diversity and
inclusion which featured a panel talk on fair representation. The speakers
included Justice (r) Naisra Iqbal, Barrister Taimur Malik, Barrister Aneesa
Agha and ASP Ayesha Gul. The panel talk was moderated by Valerie Khan from GDP.
The panel highlighted the need for institutional responsibility and reforms for
fair representation in the justice sector through constitutional and legal
amendments but also softer measures for undertaking gap analysis studies,
gender audit of laws and policies and setting up of diversity and inclusion
committees to ensure fair representation in all sphere of justice sector,
including in the process and conversations towards this reform.
The event also featured the launch of ‘Pakistan
Journal of Diversity and Inclusion’ — Pakistan’s premier international
publication featuring original academic legal scholarship on thematic areas
designed to promote debate and discourse around diversity, inclusion and
reforms. It was followed by paper presentations by individual authors whose
papers had been shortlisted and selected for publication in the Pakistan
Journal of Diversity and Inclusion.
Source: Dawn
https://www.dawn.com/news/1660176
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Iran’s
women say new family law puts their health at risk
November
28, 2021
SANANDAJ,
Iran - Nergiz Bahmani sits in a gynecologist’s office in Sanandaj, in Iran’s
Kurdistan province. Rage and anger paint her facial features. She is pregnant
and wants an abortion, unwilling to experience the physical and mental agony
she suffered after her first child. But a new law has made access to
medications, pills, and abortion clinics more difficult.
“I
got married ten years ago and, mentally, I wasn’t ready to have children. But,
pressured by my husband’s family, I was obligated to get pregnant six years
ago. After giving birth, I got depression and a number of physical illnesses.
Sometimes I wished death upon my child because I thought the child was the
cause of my pain,” Bahmani, 36, told Rudaw English.
“I
no longer want to have a child. The psychologists who I visited also told me
that,” she said, her hands shaking. “Two weeks ago, I was told I’m pregnant,
despite using the pill. I don’t want to suffer from my previous pain again.”
A
new law, however, is making it difficult for Bahmani to get the abortion she
wants. The Youthful Population and Protection of the Family law has generated a
lot of controversy among women’s civil and rights activists.
The
law severely restricts access to abortion, contraception, and voluntary
sterilization services. The goal is to boost the declining fertility rates, but
critics say the law tramples on women’s human rights.
Under
the law, those who facilitate abortion are threatened with heavy punishment. UN
experts have called for its abolishment, referring to article 61 that states
that abortion, if carried out on a large scale, would fall under the crime of
“corruption on earth” and would carry the death penalty.
Since
the law came into force, access to birth control and abortions has fallen.
Women who were previously able to obtain an illegal abortion can no longer do
so.
“My
husband and I decided to abort the baby at three months. But, we have been back
and forth in doctor’s visits for two weeks. The psychologists don’t find my
plea for aborting the baby justifiable and we can’t access the process of
abortion like before,” said Bahmani. “Three days ago, we convinced a doctor in
Sanandaj to perform the surgery for an amount of money, but the doctor said we
have to get the medications ourselves. My husband has looked for them in all
the pharmacies in Sanandaj and Kermashah, but he couldn’t find the drugs that
were readily available before.”
Bahmani
and her husband decided to visit Tehran as they have been told smuggled drugs
can be found in the capital’s Naser Khosrow Street. “I don’t want to repeat my
previous experience and suffer from all that pain again,” she said.
Women’s
rights activists are worried about how this law will affect women’s health and
their ability to help women.
“Some
of the articles of the youthful population law threaten to punish those who
want to teach and educate mothers about childbirth,” legal expert and women’s
rights activist Maryam Husseini told Rudaw English.
She’s
also worried that the law could lead to an unsafe black market.
“Passing
a law that doesn’t consider the health of mothers will definitely lead to an
increase in smuggled drugs and [illegal] abortion surgeries, whose victims are
women. From now on, we have to expect that a large number of abortion surgeries
will be taking place in illegal places that might be nonstandard, leaving the
mother with physical and sexual problems, and sometimes death,” she said.
Sumaya
Ahmed, 38, had an abortion four days ago.
“My
child was three months old when I knew I was pregnant. Our economic situation
isn’t good. We didn’t want to raise my child in Iran’s chaotic situation that
has an unclear future,” Ahmed told Rudaw English through Instagram.
Unemployment and poverty have risen in Iran under US sanctions and the
coronavirus pandemic.
When
Ahmed decided to get an abortion, she could not find a legal option. “After a
few days of searching, we found a doctor and convinced him to perform the
surgery illegally for 10 million toman, which is much higher than before,” she
said.
“I
suffered from a lot of pain and I’m still in pain, but I’m glad that in this
terrible situation, I didn’t bring another person into this community that is
filled with crisis.”
The
new bill also restricts access to contraception methods such as drugs or
condoms that are becoming hard to find or very expensive.
At
a pharmacy in Sanandaj, 30-year-old Hameed* waits for the other customers to
leave and then in a low voice asks the pharmacist for condoms. The pharmacist
hands him a pack priced at 80,000 tomans ($3). Hameed is shocked and says the
price was only 20,000 tomans last month.
Hameed
has been married for two years. “I don’t want us to have children because of
our economic situation and I don’t want my wife to take contraceptive pills
because of their side effects, so I use condoms. But after the new law, condoms
either can’t be found in pharmacies or their prices have gone up really high
compared to before, which makes it hard for us to buy,” he tells Rudaw English.
A
lack of access to condoms could increase the spread of disease, some experts
are warning. “The youthful population law that limits access to contraception
methods like condoms could lead to an increased spread of the AIDS virus,” said
Masoud Mardani, a member of Iran’s anti-AIDS committee.
Source:
Rudaw
https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/271120212
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Iraq:
Court hearing resumes on marriage of 12-year-old girl
By
Shawn Yuan
28
Nov 2021
Baghdad,
Iraq – A court has resumed hearing a case in which a judge was asked to
formalise a religious wedding between a 12-year-old girl and a 25-year-old man,
raising concerns across Iraq.
It
was not clear whether a verdict would be given on Sunday.
The
court, located in Baghdad’s Kadhamiya district, adjourned the case last week as
demonstrators rallied in front of the court, chanting and holding banners with
slogans such as: “Child marriage is a crime against children,” and “No to child
marriage”.
“Children
should be at home watching cartoons, not be married,” said one demonstrator in
front of the courthouse last week. “That’s why we are here today to show our
condemnation.”
The
case was first brought under the spotlight when the mother of the girl – in a
video – called on authorities to save her daughter. The mother told local media
her 12-year-old daughter had been raped and forced into a marriage to her
stepfather’s brother.
A
department of the Ministry of Interior that deals with violence against women,
however, said in a statement after meeting the girl, her father, and her
husband that it was assured she had not been coerced into marriage.
“No
matter what, a marriage between a 12-year-old girl and a 25-year-old man is
simply not acceptable,” Hala, an advocate for women’s and children’s rights in
Iraq, told Al Jazeera, asking to be identified only by her first name.
The
law in Iraq states the legal age for marriage is 18, but that it could be
lowered to 15 in “urgent” cases should the person in question’s father consent
to marriage.
The
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW), a universal legal document aimed at protecting women’s rights, also
states marriage under the age of 18 is a form of forced marriage.
Yet
despite the legal provisions, child marriage is rampant in Iraq, especially in
rural areas, and other countries in the region. Poverty and religious practices
drove many parents into marrying their young daughters off, hoping it would
either ease the burden of the family or bring financial support.
According
to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) conducted by the government of
Iraq and published in 2018, 7.2 percent of married women aged 20 to 24 were
first wed before they turned 15 years old, and another 20.2 percent were
married before age 18.
“Child
marriage is a violation of human rights, compromising the development of girls
and often resulting in early pregnancy and social isolation, with little
education and poor vocational training reinforcing the gendered nature of
poverty,” UNICEF, a participant in the survey, said.
Despite
the furore surrounding this case, many other girls do not enjoy the same level
of attention, according to legal professionals.
“This
case gets particular media attention because the mother of the young girl went
on social media and stirred up nationwide discussion,” Mariam Albawab, a
Baghdad-based lawyer who works on children’s rights cases in Iraq, told Al
Jazeera.
“However,
there are thousands of cases that have gone under the media radar, and many of
those marriages went ahead without much notice or condemnation.”
Save
the Children, an international NGO, has called for the minimum age of marriage
to be at least 18 years and for the removal of any exceptions to this rule.
“You
thought the story in Capernaum would all be fictional, but in fact, its
plotline is being replayed every day here in Iraq,” Hala said, referring to the
Lebanese film released in 2018 with a story that entailed a money-strapped
family trying to sell their 11-year-old daughter in exchange for two chickens.
Source:
Al Jazeera
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Saba
Saqib, Alkhidmat Trust Lahore Urges Muslim Women To Become Role Model For All
Women
November
29, 2021
Vice
President Alkhidmat Foundation Women Wing Trust Lahore Saba Saqib has said that
being a Muslim we should have to become role model for women of the world.
This
was stated by Saba Saqib while addressing the distribution ceremony of
certificates among the female students who completed two years Fehmul Quran
Diploma Course and Computer Short Course at Alkhidmat Foundation Women Wing
Trust Lahore, Community Center Punjab Society.
Education
Program Manager Sumera Chapra, Shain Tariq from Quran institute Lahore, Yasmin
Saleem, students of the institution and parents attended the ceremony. On the
occasion shields and certificates were distributed among the female students
who completed the course.
Saba
Saqib said that Alkhidamt Foundation Women Wing Trust is not only imparting
Islamic education among the women but also offering sewing, embroidery and
computer short courses for them so that they could play their responsibility in
looking after their families in a dignified manner.
While
addressing the ceremony Sumera Chapra said that the women who have completed
the Fehmul Quran Diploma Course will lit the candle of the religion in better
way.
Source:
Pakistan Observer
https://pakobserver.net/saba-urges-muslim-women-to-become-role-model-for-all-women/
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Israel
to host Miss Universe contest as planned despite COVID-19 fears: Minister
28
November ,2021
Israel
will host the Miss Universe beauty pageant on Dec 12 despite imposing travel
restrictions in a bid to stave off the Omicron strain of the coronavirus,
Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov said on Sunday.
He
said participants in the contest, to be held in the Red Sea resort of Eilat,
will be granted waivers from the curbs. Israel announced on Saturday it was
banning the entry of foreigners into the country.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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Egypt
attaches great attention to promoting women’s rights: Shoukry
November
27, 2021
Egypt’s
Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has met with Sima Bahous, the Executive Director
of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN
Women), during her current visit to Egypt.
Bahous’
visit coincided with the launch of a 16-day campaign to face violence against
women in Egypt, under the slogan “Kony” (Be).
Ahmed
Hafez, spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, said that Shoukry stressed that
Egypt attaches great attention to promoting women’s rights in various fields
and combating violence and harmful practices against them.
The
minister also highlighted the unprecedented boom in various fields in Egypt and
the launch of initiatives aimed at supporting women’s rights. He reviewed the
Egyptian government’s efforts to empower women in various state bodies, which
resulted in the rise of women’s representation in the Egyptian parliament to
25%.
For
her part, Bahous praised Egypt’s efforts to empower women, noting that it chose
Egypt as her first destination after assuming the leadership of UN Women
because of its leading role in promoting women’s rights.
She
also hailed Egypt’s active role in international and regional forums in support
of women’s rights. She added that the UN Women looks forward to enhancing
cooperation with the Egyptian government in the coming period.
Source:
Daily News Egypt
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