Thursday, February 9, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Nawal El Saadawi: give women half of seats on new council

Posted: 08 Feb 2012 09:00 AM PST

Julie Tomlin
WVoN co-editor

Women should have half of the seats on the new council that Egyptian revolutionaries are demanding to replace the military council, claims prominent feminist and writer Nawal El Saadawi.

Revolutionary groups in Egypt have called for a campaign of civil disobedience starting on 11 February, unless the military council agrees to seven demands including that it step down and be replaced by a revolutionary council.

El Saadawi said women must make up 50 per cent of any council, committee or group to ensure that their interests are represented:

"Women should be 50 per cent and we need a new constitution that should say frankly that women are equal to men and we should apply international human rights law and anti discrimination standards inspired by international laws that make people equal," said Saadawi.

The Egypt Revolutionaries’ Alliance – which was formed in the wake of clashes between protesters and police forces in Cairo last November brings together over 50 political groups including the April 6 Movement.

Its demands include that the interim government, led by SCAF-appointed (Supreme Council of the Armed Forces) premier Kamal El-Ganzouri, be dismantled and replaced by a new body which would be selected by the People’s Assembly.

They are also demanding the formation of a special committee to investigate massacres and other crimes committed by the ruling authorities since 25 January 2011.

El Saadawi, who describes herself as the "spiritual godmother" of the Egyptian Women's Union which was reformed last year, said the revolutionary movement needed to discover new creative methods after learning “a lot of lessons” in the year since President Hosni Mubarak stepped down on last year on 11 February.

While there has been a great deal of focus on how women’s rights might be affected by the outcome of the recent elections, many of those who were involved in the 2011 uprising are still focusing on the need to oust the military regime which they believe is resisting the revolution (see WVoN story)

El Saadawi has claimed that the attacks on women on International Women's Day in Tahrir Square last year, when men told them they should "go back home where they belong" (see WVoN story) were carried out by hired thugs.

Women will again be marching from the Syndicate of Journalists’ building to Tahrir square despite the violent treatment of protesters in recent weeks, she insisted.

"They are killing us – there is blood everywhere," said El Saadawi. "We are facing death every minute but people are no more afraid of death."

Saudi journalist charged with criticising religious police over teenagers’ deaths

Posted: 08 Feb 2012 07:00 AM PST

Julie Tomlin
WVoN co-editor

A journalist could face charges in a Saudi court after she criticised the country's religious police for their part in the death of 15 teenage girls.

A Saudi judge called for the arrest of Saudi journalist and TV presenter Nadin Al-Badir after she spoke out against the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice on Egypt's Dream2 TV.

Her criticisms came after the teenagers died in a school fire because the religious police stood at the door and refused to allow them to leave the building because they were not wearing the hijab, or traditional Islamic head covering. They also refused to allow the fire brigade to enter the school.

Al-Badir also told how a 28-year-old man Hassan Nabil Hmeid was beaten to death because he had grown his hair long.

"What matters is that this young man's life came to an end because of backward, reactionary people, who would like to take us back hundreds of years in time.

“I don't think the situation back then was as bad as they would like it to be," said Al-Badir, who said that the only matters the religious police pursue are "superficial ones".

The judge, Mutrak Al Bishr, charged Al-Badir with dishonoring the Saudi institution and demanded that international police forces repatriate her in order that she can appear before a Saudi court.

 

Story links, 8 February 2012

Posted: 08 Feb 2012 02:45 AM PST

Every day we'll post up a number of story links that we think are interesting.

They won't necessarily be from that day, but usually will not be more than a few days old.

The following are the ones we’ve found today.

Story links:

Women in Saudi Arabia sue for right to drive

Posted: 08 Feb 2012 01:32 AM PST

Katie McQuater
WVoN co-editor 

A court in Saudi Arabia has agreed to hear a complaint by a female activist against the de facto ban in the kingdom on women drivers.

Manal al-Sharif, a 32-year-old computer consultant and founder of the Women2Drive movement, announced on Sunday that she is pursuing the case.

Sharif was jailed by a Saudi court for more than a week in May last year after she posted a video of herself driving on YouTube (see WVoN story).

On the day of her arrest, she unsuccessfully filed an application for a driving licence and in November, started a lawsuit challenging that refusal.

According to Sharif's lawyer, AbdulRahman Allahim, the case will be heard in the Board of Grievances, a court that hears citizen complaints against the government. Prosecution of women drivers is typically handled in religious courts.

Despite the historic decision by King Abdullah in September 2011 to allow women the right to vote and run in future municipal elections, male guardian laws under the country's conservative Wahhabi interpretation of Islam remain largely unchanged.

The laws not only restrict women's freedom of movement and expression but are detrimental to their health and wellbeing, says female Saudi activist Wajeha al-Hawidar:

“These laws make the woman like a child in all aspects of her life. She is not dealt with as an adult with a fully developed brain.”

The right to drive issue received further international attention when a report produced for the Shura Council, the country's legislative assembly, claimed allowing women to drive would spell the 'end of virginity' among unmarried women.

Though there is no formal written ban on driving, women are routinely denied driver's licenses and currently risk being fined, jailed or lashed for breaking the ban. Despite this,women have been taking to the roads in small numbers to test enforcement.

In a possible shift that could improve the chances of women demanding the right to drive, a local newspaper has been reported over the weekend as saying that Saudi Arabian authorities would create a new commission to handle social issues, including women driving.

While the report hasn't been confirmed by the government, the suggestion that cases of women driving might be moved out of religious courts where they would usually be dealt with, has sparked new interest.

Riyadh academic and blogger Eman al Nafjan suggested that the proposal may have been prompted by embarrassment over the international coverage of the driving issue.

Speaking on the need to make progress on the longstanding issue of the right to drive, Manal al-Sharif said:

“It’s 22 years now. We have to just finish it.