Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Turkish PM denounces Caesarean births and abortion

Posted: 28 May 2012 08:30 AM PDT

Auveen Woods
WVoN co-editor

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on last week that he was against abortion and Caesarean births.

“I am a Prime Minister who is against Caesarean births. I consider abortion as murder.”

Mr Erdoğan added that: “Nobody should have the right to allow this. You either kill a baby in the mother’s womb or you kill it after birth. There’s no difference.”

His comments elicited immediate reaction with protests staged the next day outside his offices in Istanbul.

Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin defended the Prime Minister’s comments the next day citing World Health Organisation statistics, which she said advise a rate of 15-20 percent of Caesarean births compared to Turkey where one in every two women gets a Caesarean operation.

Mrs Şahin emphasised that the state had no place in dictating birth control methods but that prerequisites should be considered before an abortion is necessary.

“Abortion and ending pregnancy, which is what our prime minister called ‘murder,’ is ending the pregnancy after ignoring birth control methods,” Şahin said.

“If you destroy a life and have an abortion after you ignore birth control methods beforehand, then this is a violation of the right to live.”

Abortion was legalised in Turkey in 1983 up to the first 10 weeks in response to the growing number of deaths due to unsafe abortion procedures.

Abortion is available to all single women over 18 but if the women is married she needs the the consent of her husband.

Unsafe abortion remains one of the major causes of maternal deaths in Turkey for women of reproductive age.

The number of legal abortions performed in the country has been sharply restricted by the requirement that the procedure be carried out only by, or under the supervision of, a gynaecologist.

This is a factor that particularly affects rural women who may not be able to have an abortion within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy as local healthcare facilities are often without the necessary trained specialists.

More care needed for South Asian widows and single women

Posted: 28 May 2012 07:00 AM PDT

Aisha Farooq
WVoN co-editor

Supporters of women’s rights across South Asia gathered last week in Islamabad to discuss better care policies for widows and single women.

Hosted by the Aurat Foundation and the South Asian Network for Widows’ Empowerment in Development (SANWED), the two-day workshop sought to uncover and resolve the challenges some women face in their daily lives.

Gender experts at the workshop announced that both single women and widows were the most marginalised groups across the South Asian province.

They receive the least amount of government protection and have minimal access to their basic rights. They are largely ignored and outcast by both society and the state.

Syeda Fiza Batool Gilani, the Goodwill Ambassador for Women’s Empowerment, claimed that social stigma was responsible for this lack of support.

“While the cause of women empowerment and emancipation has started to get the attention at different levels thanks to the exemplary struggle waged by the women rights groups, there has been discernible lack of focus and public policy intervention in mainstreaming the rights of widows and single women.

“In the absence of a man, she becomes a non-entity and has little or no standing in society. Hence, widows and single women become vulnerable to discrimination”, Gilani said.

Gilani also added that the majority of these women were unaware of their fundamental rights, which could allow them means of compensation and even access to inheritance.

Speaking for India, Dr. Mohini Thapa announced that there were currently 40 million widows in India, accounting for 11% of the entire female population. This significantly contrasted with the male population, of whom only 2.5% were widowers.

Semin Qasim, of the Humanitarian Assistance for Women of Afghanistan (HAWA) Program, said that widows were found to be the poorest of the Afghan population, receiving no assistance from either their community or the government.

Qasim reported there were currently 700,000 widows in Afghanistan. ”There are certain areas where there are all women-headed households as men have either died or went missing,” she added.

Representing Bangladesh, Ferdous Ara Begum said that Bengali widows fared slightly better than those in Pakistan, India and Nepal. However, she added that Hindu widows are more discriminated against by their religious communities than any other religious groups.

Each country representative decided on new legislation that would offer a greater means of support to enable women who could not otherwise help themselves.

Entitled, the 'Islamabad Declaration for Mainstreaming Widows' and Single Women's Rights in Public Policy', the declaration is aimed at creating ‘synergies’ on a local, regional and international scale across the South Asian province.

By doing so, it would push women’s issues mainstream where they would have less chance of being ignored in patriarchal societies.

Cecilie Landsverk, the Norway Ambassador for Pakistan, discounted the popular notion in South Asia that all widows needed were the bare means to survive.

She said that widows needed to be ‘acknowledged and empowered’. Employment and the removal of inheritance bans by some religious communities, she felt, would ensure that widows would have the means to become a valued and integral part of society.

UAE women start twitter campaign against skimpy dressing

Posted: 28 May 2012 05:30 AM PDT

Auveen Woods
WVoN co-editor

Two local women in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have started a twitter campaign against inappropriate clothing worn by some Westerners in their country.

The “@UAEDressCode” campaign is designed to promote respect for the country’s culture among foreigners and raise awareness about what locals consider appropriate dress for both men and women.

Hanan Al Rayes and Asma Al Muheiri’s campaign began accidentally when the women posted an angry message on twitter after seeing a woman wearing very short shorts in a shopping mall.

Muheiri said the woman looked “repulsive” and many people in the Dubai mall were looking at her, but no-one did anything. Muheiri reported the woman to the mall management, only to be told there was nothing they could do.

While wearing skimpy clothing is not illegal in the UAE, shopping malls have policies stating that knees and shoulders should be covered.

The UAE is the most liberal of the Gulf states and does not enforce a strict dress code.

Traditional dress for Emirati women is the abaya, a large black garment covering nearly all the body. For Emirati men, it is the thawb, an ankle-length shirt of wool or cotton. However, the majority of UAE citizens are expatriates – over 80% according to Visit Abu Dhabi.

There have been several cases of expatriates not respecting the laws and being arrested, for example, for not wearing enough clothing at beaches, some even being completely nude.

Local celebrities such as Jalal Bin Thaneya and Mishaal Al Gergawi have joined the campaign, which has become a debate on how closely foreigners should follow local customs and just what standards of dress are acceptable.

A twitter search for #UAEdresscode reveals a wave of comments, both for and against the campaign.

“Forbidding tank tops/skirts in the malls in UAE is as ridiculous as forbidding the Niqab in the streets in France” reads one message.

“Respect our country’s culture, be decent in your clothing” reads another post.

Dominic Jermey, British Ambassador to the UAE, has already urged expatriates and tourists to be more mindful of local customs and respect UAE dress codes.

Second poison attack on Afghan schoolgirls

Posted: 28 May 2012 04:00 AM PDT

Michelle Wright
WVoN co-editor 

Girls at a school in Afghanistan were taken to hospital last week after poison was sprayed into their classrooms.

The BBC reported that 125 schoolgirls and three female teachers at the Bibi Haji school in the Takhar province received treatment after experiencing nausea, headaches and dizziness. Some of the girls were as young as 10.

Taliban insurgents are suspected to be behind the attack.

According to Al Jazeera, intelligence officials believe it was carried out as part of an operation aimed at shutting down schools before the proposed withdrawal of foreign combat troops in 2014.

A spokesperson for Afghanistan's intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security said: "By poisoning girls they want to create fear. They try to make families not send their children to school."

This is the second attack on schoolgirls in the Takhar province in as many months. In April, 171 women and girls were treated for poisoning when water at their school was contaminated (see WVoN story).

The attacks raise further concern for what the future holds for Afghan women.

Since the US-led invasion in 2001, three million girls have been able to return to school, according to Al Jazeera.

But Afghan women's rights activists fear such freedoms will be scaled back once troops finally leave the country (see WVoN story).

Under the former Taliban regime girls and women were banned from education and employment.

From hard labour to champion runner – in her own words

Posted: 28 May 2012 02:30 AM PDT

By Salam ongbi Patamo
As told to Thingnam Anjulika Samom
Panos London* 

I don't have a tracksuit or a pair of trousers to use when I run, so I just pull up my phanek [sarong] to my knees. I run the three kilometres from my village to the army camp at Leimakhong at least two or three times a day.

When I first started running people would look at me in surprise or laugh. So I preferred to run before dawn because there were fewer people on the road.

I had spent my whole life in this obscure corner of an equally obscure village in the remote state of Manipur [north east India]. I never ever thought, even in my dreams, that one day I would be known as a sportswoman.

I entered my first race as a bit of a joke. Some of the women I work with wanted to sign up for a local marathon and asked me to sign up too. I was 60-years-old.

As most of the women were much younger than me, I took their request as a joke but said, why not, I will also join. So we all signed up.

To my surprise I came sixth in the veteran women's category and won 500 rupees. The money wasn't that important to me. I bought lunch for the six of us who had joined the marathon with the prize money, and some paan with the leftover amount.

What was more significant was the respect that people showed me after the victory. Local women's and older people’s collectives organised reception functions for me. It was the first time that I had been honoured and recognised by my own people. Before that I was a nobody.

My life was like the majority of Manipuri women. Our roles are wife, mother, grandmother.

I was the youngest of four siblings and my formal education only continued until I learnt how to sign my name. I can't read or write. When I was 17 I married a fellow villager, Salam Ingocha.

He taught for a few years at a local school then joined me working at the riverbed quarry. We had four children – a daughter and three sons.

My husband used to drink a lot which sometimes ended with him coming home and picking an argument. I went back to my family home many times, but came back again when he came to call me, thinking of the children. There were many nights that I spent hiding outside the house when he was very drunk.

I never questioned the way of my life or thought there could be any alternative.

I have always been a quarry worker and still am. We work along the nearby Leimakhong riverbed, digging for stones and sifting sand.

For those of us who live on the riverbanks, the rivers have always been our mother who ensured our survival. Like most others in my village, I was a young girl when I started working there.

We use circular sieves to lift the soil from the river and find large stones. Then we sift the soil that is left with finer sieves into smaller stones and sand.

Work starts early in the morning. We have a lunch break and a brief rest at home then we continue to work while daylight lasts.

A major change came about when a veteran athlete in the next village persuaded me to sign up for trials for the National Masters Athletic Championships to be held in Chennai in Tamil Nadu. I was selected to represent my state in the over-60s category.

It's more than 3,200 kilometres from Imphal to Chennai. We travelled by bus to Dimapur in the neighbouring state of Nagaland, and then by connecting trains to Chennai via Guwahati in Assam.

I used to see all these inter-state coaches heading for Nagaland or Assam on the national highway near our village. Whenever I would see one I would say I wonder if I will travel on one? And I did. We took one on the first leg of our journey to Chennai.

I had never travelled outside the state. I felt a bit strange as I was travelling without even a family member. But our coach was very good and there were many other women in our team, so that strangeness didn't last long. Soon we were enjoying the train ride, which for many, like me, was a first.

In Chennai, there was no distinction between day and night, it was brightness all the time. I also saw the ocean. The water spread on and on, a thousand times bigger than our river.

There were people playing in the waves. Some even waded into the water to some distance. I was scared, but I went in briefly just at the edge of the waves.

When I first entered the stadium in the Manipur team's sports pants and top, I almost fainted at the sight of the other participants standing there. I thought, Oh God, they're so tall, how am I ever going to run with them.

I wanted to run out of the event instead, and cursed myself for being so foolish and rash in signing up for sports. But I kept on running. Later, when I heard my name announced as the winner, I wept in elation.

I won gold medals in all the events I entered – 800m, 1500m and 5000m.

I called my family at 1.30am after winning the first medal. My daughter-in-law, Kunjamani, ran around the village just after dawn to tell everyone.

Coming home, I found my elder brothers – Chaoba and Bijoy – waiting for me. I had never seen them crying before.

And those same people who used to laugh at me when I was doing my practice runs now stand by and shout in encouragement when they see me running.

One major frustration was that I could not speak to anyone from the other states. I speak only Meiteilon, the language of the Meitei community in Manipur. The others spoke either Hindi or English.

So I have started taking night classes to learn to read and write and my five-year old grandson Abhinash helps me with my lessons at home. I can now count to 100 and write the alphabet in block letters, though I am still having difficulties with small letters.

I would like to keep competing but veteran athletes have to pay their travel expenses and are only partly reimbursed after the event. I wanted to go to the Asian Masters Athletic Championships at Kuala Lumpur, but this would cost 70,000 to 80,000 rupees. This is next to impossible for me. So I had to stay back.

*Panos London has been supporting local journalists in developing countries to produce high quality content and to raise the voices of individuals in developing countries, which would usually go unheard.  You can read more from their Voices From The Ground project here.

Putting rape in Syria on the map

Posted: 28 May 2012 01:00 AM PDT

Julie Tomlin
WVoN co-editor

Lauren Wolfe is the director of Women Under Siege, a Women’s Media Center initiative on sexualised violence in conflict.

In this e-mail interview, she explains how open source crowd-mapping technology is being used to track incidents of rape in the ongoing conflict in Syria and what they hope to achieve with the Syria crowdmap project.

How did the project come about?

The idea for the Syria crowdmap came from a doctor at Harvard. We met while both looking on Twitter for reports about rape in the conflict and were on the phone after about 10 minutes of chatting online. We teamed up with a few Syrian activists and an epidemiologist at Columbia, and launched in just a few weeks.

We knew this is an ongoing, breaking crisis, and that we had to start quickly if we were going to capture the atrocities as they happened. And that's why we did it—too often these stories of what women endure are gathered after the fact, when much evidence has been destroyed or lost to shame and silence.

Why is it important to collate information about rape in conflict?

These are the stories that do not get told. Women's experiences in war have long been second-page news or not covered at all. We're leaving out half of humanity's suffering if we neglect these stories, and we're relegating women's pain to the trash heap of history – silence is a strong statement in the case of rape or war.We have to make clear to the women caught up in the horrors of conflict that we have not forgotten them, and that when they suffer, we actually care.

What you plan to do with the information you are collecting?

The idea right now is to gather a base of documentation that will hopefully be useful in putting together evidence that could be used in potential war crimes trials. The information is also crucial to understanding where women are most in need—where organisations can send survivor services to help them.

My hope is that just putting these stories on the map, literally, serves to show the world that we are paying attention, that we will no longer sit back and wait to find out later how women have been brutalised.

Have you managed to detect any patterns to these crimes as yet?

It's clear that something very terrible happened in Homs on the night of March 11-12. We have a number of reports (here's just one) pointing to mass rape. But that is the kind of information that will be carefully vetted as we are able to triangulate sources. Our team of epidemiologists as well as Physicians for Human Rights will be working to do that as we get farther along.

Other patterns, which have been confirmed with human rights organisations include: the rape of women at checkpoints; the violation of women who are brought to jails to be raped in front of their husbands and the rape of the male detainees themselves.

A number of reports of mass rapes seem to occur after the army bombs a town – then shabiha (government-aligned plainclothes militia forces) come in and loot houses and rape and kill women. The attacks can be sorted by type and perpetrator here.

How do stories of rape get reported?

The stigma attached to rape cannot be underestimated. I've spoken to women from Guatemala to Madagascar who have never told anyone they were raped but me. Often they seem to find a release in the telling, so I'm grateful to be able to provide that. But what kind of societies are we creating that not only destroy a woman's body in an act of sexualised violence but then convince her she will be killed, re-raped, bribed, shunned, or laughed at if she speaks out about what happened to her?

So we as journalists, human rights workers, and humans, have to speak out when they are unable. The silence of women around the world is a gray, heavy layer in the atmosphere. It's why I do this work—I can't bear the thought that a woman somewhere is suffering because of something entirely out of her control.

Rape effectively destroys her. It also tears apart her family and her community, unfortunately, if she chooses to speak out. We have to begin to take responsibility for one another, even in situations that are full of horror and fear. No one woman should be left to carry that pain alone.

And in conflict, we're talking about hundreds or thousands of women raising children born of rape, nursing physical wounds Do caused by rape, and dealing with trauma from rape beyond anything they should have to handle on their own.

Do you have any thoughts about how the reporting of rape has been politicised?

Every side has something to gain or lose through stories of sexualized violence.

Women's bodies are used as battlegrounds in conflict both literally and figuratively—there is much to be gained by making your opponent look like a raping mass of animal-like men. Underreporting is the basic problem when you're looking at sexualized violence in war. But in some cases, you have to be mindful of overreporting for this reason.

I've been in touch with people working on understanding what happened to women in Libya, and it seems too early to say whether rape happened on a large scale. I've heard opposing views, and I'm not able to determine yet what really happened there and at the moment, it doesn't seem that anyone is.

We have to be really careful at this stage to say how much any of these things are actually happening. It's still a matter of comparing and vetting stories to determine which may be true and which may be convoluted versions of others or even propaganda.

What do you think about how rape is being reported by the media in recent conflicts – is there any change from previous ones?

I'm encouraged that women's stories are in some of the coverage, but I don't think we're there yet in how we talk about them. These women have entire lives and are more than just the horror of their rapes. (They are also more than what they wore or looked like, which is a common problem for the media reporting on rape in general.)

At the same time, I can't necessarily fault journalists covering a war for not doing features on women as opposed to spot news while covering all aspects of war.

It's really about showing sensitivity—whether in reporting on a soldier's death or a woman's rape. But it's also about showing the bigger picture so we can get a handle on how rape is being used as a weapon of war. Is it being used as part of ethnic cleansing as it was in Bosnia? Is it meant to create food insecurity as it was in Darfur?

We have to look closely — zoom-lens closely — at masculinity and how it is being twisted into a form that pushes men to do these terrible things in wartime. It's time to recognise that we're getting nowhere by looking at these acts askance, and that we're headed for more of the same if we don't start right now.