In Yemen, the current president Ali Abdullah Saleh criticised women for protesting because this indicated that they were fraternising with the opposite sex. Firstly, this statement was clearly made in a pathetic attempt to deflect criticism from his own actions onto Yemeni women and secondly, any footage you see will show that the women protest only with each other and their children.
Women are oppressed in Nepal, a Buddhist country for goodness sakes, through avenues such as inheritance rights and access to education. There was even an incident where a nun was expelled from her sect and refused treatment at a state-run hospital, what was her crime? Having been gang raped then robbed by a bus driver and four others who were pretending to help her.
In Saudi Arabia, in 2007 a woman met up with a man, unaccompanied, apparently to retrieve some photos of her from him. They were then set upon by a gang of seven strong who gang raped her. The gang was inevitably punished with imprisonment for up to a measly four years, yet she was also sentenced to six months imprisonment and 200 lashes for meeting up with a man who was not her relative. She was eventually pardoned by the King of Saudi because of the media furore and global criticism it caused.
There was a recent report of a woman in Afghanistan who was raped at the age of 18, as fate would have it, she became pregnant from this rape. She reported this to the authorities, who charged and imprisoned the perpetrator. However the rape victim herself was imprisoned for her role in the 'moral crime', about half of the female Afghan prison population are there for similar so-called moral crimes. She has been in prison for over a year with her child in tow and she was offered early release if she marries her attacker. She was unwilling of course at first, but she says she is now willing to do so for the sake of her child to not be incarcerated any longer.
Although thank goodness there is not such overt atrocities in the UK, sanctioned by the state anyway, there is sexism in every country. Here, like other countries that continue to ignore legislation, women are still paid less for the same job as a man. They are also exploited nationally every day in the most popular 'news'paper in the country. Women in the entertainment industry must look as good as possible and say as little as possible, that is meaningful anyway. Despite all the advancements of women's rights in this country, what is the first thing that a man will say to a woman who he is having a conflict with? I have lived in a working class area my whole life and when any couple has a domestic on the street, even with kids in tow, the first thing he will call her is a slag, whore and the ilk. This sexism crosses class divides, a self-proclaimed Conservative activist hash tagged a North African journalist referring to her as an 'Arab whore'. The police refused to investigate the case, she cited selective investigation compared with the recent racist football spat. (see 'Why Are We All Racist?'). Also, let us not forget the worst atrocity against females, the biggest genocide in the 20th Century; the selective abortion of female babies.
Just as men would have women believe that they are all terrible drivers or they cannot do this or that, women will conform to stereotypes that men create. Women should not let men define what they should be, that should be for us to determine. One of the most important steps in the Arab revolutions, if not the most important, is for women to play a greater role, for when you educate the women, you educate the whole nation*.
See also http://raraproductions.blogspot.com/ & http://anbarrockny.blogspot.com/
*Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
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