Saudi judicial reforms will start Jan. 1 and the process to bring about structural and procedural changes will take 20 years, said Minister of Justice Sheikh Abdullah Aal Al-Shiekh. "This is only the beginning of the overhaul plan and there will be more future reform plans," he said.
A budget of nearly SR7 billion has been allocated for the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Project for Developing the Judicial System. The project entails developing new court systems, building new courts and training judges.
A new Supreme Court – to replace the existing Higher Judicial Council – will be tasked with execution of Islamic Shariah laws and monitoring compliance, and reviewing death penalties handed down by Appeals Courts.
The King will appoint the head of the Supreme Court. Judges’ salaries, appointments and other administrative matters will come under the purview of the Judicial Council. Also, there will be specialized courts for commercial, labor, and personal status cases.
-- Saudi Gazette
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Algeria: Ministry of Education bans make-up in schools
The Algerian Ministry of Education devised a number of new disciplinary measures on December 13th affecting secondary schools. Memorandum 786 was sent to school principals in all 48 provinces, ordering them to ban pupils from wearing make-up and extravagant clothing on school premises.
The department of education warned that it will not tolerate any infringements of the new policy.
The memorandum is unequivocal: girls can no longer come to school wearing make-up or clothing deemed indecent. The memorandum will also oblige pupils of both sexes to wear smocks, as soon as the ministry finishes drafting the policy. Administrative staff and students are expected to comply with the policy as soon as they return from winter holidays next Saturday (January 3rd).
The decisions have sparked heated debate in Algeria between supporters and opponents.
In the wake of the controversy stirred up by the policy, Education Minister Aboubekeur Benbouzid explained that his department is merely enforcing the provisions of the law on educational guidance, and that he by no means is trying to restrict pupils' freedoms. Benbouzid also added, "In future, girls and boys will have to wear aprons of colours to be decided on by the ministry."
The president of the National Parents' Union prefers moderation. When interviewed by Magharebia, Mr. Mebarki Boualem said that "we should have moderation in all things. It's true that schools are places of education. … Of course abuses are to be condemned. Children who are well-mannered have nothing to fear. They are safe from the temptation to engage in excesses."
Saleha, a French teacher in a coeducational secondary school in Algiers, took a less relaxed view and strongly approved of the new measure. She told Magharebia, "I've been in education for over twenty years. … I must say that the current generation is very different. They behave as if they were much older. … I don't think you should come to school wearing make-up or extravagant clothes. Schools aren't catwalks. The same goes for boys. I think it was high time the ministry did something about it."
Most parents believe the memorandum is justified. Mustapha, the father of secondary school students Amel and Ramy, commented, "Girls come to school made up like adults. Others dress in very provocative ways. When I see them, I wonder whether they're coming to school to learn or for some other reason. When I heard that the ministry had decided to put an end to this situation, I welcomed the news."
Some parents, however, do not fully agree with the move. Naima, the mother of a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl, stated, "By banning make-up and what it calls extravagant clothing, the Ministry of Education is sending out a message that you should judge a book by its cover. I don't think you can judge people by what they wear. I let my daughter dress the way she wants to. She wears a little make-up. That doesn't mean she has bad habits; I keep a careful eye on her. She's an excellent pupil."
Despite the criticism, the Ministry of Education plans to fully enforce the new measures.
By Hayam El Hadi for Magharebia in Algiers
The department of education warned that it will not tolerate any infringements of the new policy.
The memorandum is unequivocal: girls can no longer come to school wearing make-up or clothing deemed indecent. The memorandum will also oblige pupils of both sexes to wear smocks, as soon as the ministry finishes drafting the policy. Administrative staff and students are expected to comply with the policy as soon as they return from winter holidays next Saturday (January 3rd).
The decisions have sparked heated debate in Algeria between supporters and opponents.
In the wake of the controversy stirred up by the policy, Education Minister Aboubekeur Benbouzid explained that his department is merely enforcing the provisions of the law on educational guidance, and that he by no means is trying to restrict pupils' freedoms. Benbouzid also added, "In future, girls and boys will have to wear aprons of colours to be decided on by the ministry."
The president of the National Parents' Union prefers moderation. When interviewed by Magharebia, Mr. Mebarki Boualem said that "we should have moderation in all things. It's true that schools are places of education. … Of course abuses are to be condemned. Children who are well-mannered have nothing to fear. They are safe from the temptation to engage in excesses."
Saleha, a French teacher in a coeducational secondary school in Algiers, took a less relaxed view and strongly approved of the new measure. She told Magharebia, "I've been in education for over twenty years. … I must say that the current generation is very different. They behave as if they were much older. … I don't think you should come to school wearing make-up or extravagant clothes. Schools aren't catwalks. The same goes for boys. I think it was high time the ministry did something about it."
Most parents believe the memorandum is justified. Mustapha, the father of secondary school students Amel and Ramy, commented, "Girls come to school made up like adults. Others dress in very provocative ways. When I see them, I wonder whether they're coming to school to learn or for some other reason. When I heard that the ministry had decided to put an end to this situation, I welcomed the news."
Some parents, however, do not fully agree with the move. Naima, the mother of a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl, stated, "By banning make-up and what it calls extravagant clothing, the Ministry of Education is sending out a message that you should judge a book by its cover. I don't think you can judge people by what they wear. I let my daughter dress the way she wants to. She wears a little make-up. That doesn't mean she has bad habits; I keep a careful eye on her. She's an excellent pupil."
Despite the criticism, the Ministry of Education plans to fully enforce the new measures.
By Hayam El Hadi for Magharebia in Algiers
Monday, December 29, 2008
Iraq: For Kurdish Girls, a Painful Ancient Ritual
The Widespread Practice of Female Circumcision in Iraq's North Highlights The Plight of Women in a Region Often Seen as More Socially Progressive
TUZ KHURMATU, Iraq
Sheelan Anwar Omer, a shy 7-year-old Kurdish girl, bounded into her neighbor's house with an ear-to-ear smile, looking for the party her mother had promised.
There was no celebration. Instead, a local woman quickly locked a rusty red door behind Sheelan, who looked bewildered when her mother ordered the girl to remove her underpants. Sheelan began to whimper, then tremble, while the women pushed apart her legs and a midwife raised a stainless-steel razor blade in the air. "I do this in the name of Allah!" she intoned.
As the midwife sliced off part of Sheelan's genitals, the girl let out a high-pitched wail heard throughout the neighborhood. As she carried the sobbing child back home, Sheelan's mother smiled with pride.
"This is the practice of the Kurdish people for as long as anyone can remember," said the mother, Aisha Hameed, 30, a housewife in this ethnically mixed town about 100 miles north of Baghdad. "We don't know why we do it, but we will never stop because Islam and our elders require it."
Kurdistan is the only known part of Iraq --and one of the few places in the world--where female circumcision is widespread. More than 60 percent of women in Kurdish areas of northern Iraq have been circumcised, according to a study conducted this year. In at least one Kurdish territory, 95 percent of women have undergone the practice, which human rights groups call female genital mutilation.
The practice, and the Kurdish parliament's refusal to outlaw it, highlight the plight of women in a region with a reputation for having a more progressive society than the rest of Iraq. Advocates for women point to the increasing frequency of honor killings against women and female self-immolations in Kurdistan this year as further evidence that women in the area still face significant obstacles, despite efforts to raise public awareness of circumcision and violence against women.
"When the Kurdish people were fighting for our independence, women participated as full members in the underground resistance," said Pakshan Zangana, who heads the women's committee in the Kurdish parliament. "But now that we have won our freedom, the position of women has been pushed backwards and crimes against us are minimized."
Zangana has been lobbying for a law in Kurdistan, a semiautonomous region with its own government, that would impose jail terms of up to 10 years on those who carry out or facilitate female circumcision. But the legislation has been stalled in parliament for nearly a year, because of what women's advocates believe is reluctance by senior Kurdish leaders to draw international public attention to the little-noticed tradition.
The Kurdish region's minister of human rights, Yousif Mohammad Aziz, said he didn't think the issue required action by parliament. "Not every small problem in the community has to have a law dealing with it," he said.
The practice of female circumcision is extremely rare in the Arab parts of Iraq, according to women's groups. They say it is not clear why the practice -- common in some parts of Africa and the Middle East -- became popular with Iraqi Kurds but not Iraqi Arabs.
Supporters of female circumcision said the practice, which has been a ritual in their culture for countless generations, is rooted in sayings they attribute to the prophet Muhammad, though the accuracy of those sayings is disputed by other Muslim scholars. The circumcision is performed by women on women, and men are usually not involved in the procedure. In the case of Sheelan, her mother informed her father that she was going to have the circumcision performed, but otherwise, he played no role.
Kurds who support circumcising girls say the practice has two goals: It controls a woman's sexual desires, and it makes her spiritually clean so that others can eat the meals she prepares.
"I would not eat food from the hands of someone who did not have the procedure," said Hurmet Kitab, a housewife who said she was 91 years old.
Kitab, who lives in the village of Kalar in Kurdistan's eastern Germian area, where female circumcision is prevalent, has had the procedure done on herself and all her daughters. When asked if she would have her 10-month-old granddaughter Saya circumcised, Kitab said "Of course" and explained that the procedure is painless.
"They just cut off a little bit," she said, flicking her finger at the top part of a key, which she then dropped on the floor.
Women's rights groups in Kurdistan are working eagerly to change the perception that the procedure is harmless and that it is required under Islam. They go to villages in rural areas where the practice is most ingrained and tell women and religious leaders of the physical and psychological damage the circumcision can cause. Health experts say the procedure can result in adverse medical consequences for women, including infections, chronic pain and increased risks during childbirth.
Ghamjeen Shaker, a 13-year-old from the Kurdish capital of Irbil, said she is still traumatized from the day she was circumcised. She sits with her legs clenched together and her hands clasped tightly on her lap, as if protecting herself from another operation. Indeed, Shaker says she sometimes dreams that the midwife who circumcised her is coming back to perform the procedure again.
She was 5 when her mother sent her out to buy parsley and then locked her in the front yard of their home with six other girls. "I knew something bad was going to happen, but I didn't know exactly where they were going to cut," she recalled. "My family just kept saying, don't worry, this is a social custom we have been doing forever."
"They pinned me to the ground, and I just cried and cried," said Shaker, who spoke barely above a whisper. "I was just so astonished. But now I realize that they want to prevent women from living their lives normally."
Her mother, Shukria Ismaeel Jarjees, a 38-year-old housewife, said she was forced by her relatives and elderly women in the community to have her daughter circumcised. "I made a huge mistake, and now my daughter is always complaining of pain in her pelvis," Jarjees said. Her eyes began to fill with tears. "I now advise my daughters to never circumcise their children."
Shaker hopes to become a social worker focusing on women's issues, in particular other girls traumatized by female circumcision.
"I want to make sure the world understands they cannot silence girls like this," she said.
Susan Faqi Rasheed, president of the Irbil branch of the Kurdistan Women's Union, said that even in the cosmopolitan capital, as many as a third of young girls are circumcised. "When the Kurds hold on to something, they hold on to it strongly," she said. "So now they hold to Islam more than the Arabs."
One of the religious leaders who have been less vocal in demanding female circumcisions is Hama Ameen Abdul Kader Hussein, preacher at the Grand Mosque of Kalar and head of the clergymen's union in Germian. Previously, he preached that female circumcision was required. Now he says it is optional, which Hussein believes has caused the area's rate of female circumcision to drop from 100 percent to about 50 percent.
"If there is any harm in this exercise," he said, "we should not do it."
Despite the outreach efforts, a study of women in more than 300 Kurdish villages by WADI, a German nongovernmental group that advocates against female circumcision, found that 62 percent underwent the procedure.
In Tuz Khurmatu, the most famous practitioner of female circumcision is Maharoub Juwad Nawchas, a 40-year-old midwife with traditional Kurdish tattoos covering her chin. She learned from her mother, who used to perform the procedure for free, though Nawchas now charges 4,000 Iraqi dinars, or just under $3.50, because her husband is disabled and can't work. She has circumcised about 30 girls a year for the past two decades.
On the day she circumcised Sheelan, the midwife began the ritual by laying down an empty white potato sack to serve as her working area. AK-47 assault rifles hung from the wall of the dingy concrete house, and watermelons rested below.
When Sheelan entered the room, her mother, Nawchas and a local woman placed the girl on a tiny wooden stool the size of a brick. The midwife applied yellow antiseptic to her pelvic area and injected her with lignocaine, an anesthetic. Little children peeked through the window to see what the noise was about.
"It's all right, it's all right," Sheelan's mother whispered, as the girl screamed so loudly her face turned red. She tried to bunch up her skirt over her pelvis and shield the area with her hand, but the women jerked her arms back.
Then Nawchas uttered the prayer, made a swift cut, and immediately moved the girl over a pile of ashes to control the bleeding.
The entire ritual took less then 10 minutes.
Back home, Sheelan lay on the floor, unable to move or talk much. She clutched a bag filled with orange soda and candy and barely said anything except that she was in pain.
But she became more animated when asked whether it was worth it to have the operation so her friends and neighbors would be comfortable eating food she prepared. "I would do anything not to have this pain, even if meant they would not eat from my hands," she rasped slowly.
"I just wish that I could be the way I was before the procedure," she said.
By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Foreign Service
Staff photographer Andrea Bruce and special correspondents Nian Ahmed and Dlovan Brwari contributed to this report.
TUZ KHURMATU, Iraq
Sheelan Anwar Omer, a shy 7-year-old Kurdish girl, bounded into her neighbor's house with an ear-to-ear smile, looking for the party her mother had promised.
There was no celebration. Instead, a local woman quickly locked a rusty red door behind Sheelan, who looked bewildered when her mother ordered the girl to remove her underpants. Sheelan began to whimper, then tremble, while the women pushed apart her legs and a midwife raised a stainless-steel razor blade in the air. "I do this in the name of Allah!" she intoned.
As the midwife sliced off part of Sheelan's genitals, the girl let out a high-pitched wail heard throughout the neighborhood. As she carried the sobbing child back home, Sheelan's mother smiled with pride.
"This is the practice of the Kurdish people for as long as anyone can remember," said the mother, Aisha Hameed, 30, a housewife in this ethnically mixed town about 100 miles north of Baghdad. "We don't know why we do it, but we will never stop because Islam and our elders require it."
Kurdistan is the only known part of Iraq --and one of the few places in the world--where female circumcision is widespread. More than 60 percent of women in Kurdish areas of northern Iraq have been circumcised, according to a study conducted this year. In at least one Kurdish territory, 95 percent of women have undergone the practice, which human rights groups call female genital mutilation.
The practice, and the Kurdish parliament's refusal to outlaw it, highlight the plight of women in a region with a reputation for having a more progressive society than the rest of Iraq. Advocates for women point to the increasing frequency of honor killings against women and female self-immolations in Kurdistan this year as further evidence that women in the area still face significant obstacles, despite efforts to raise public awareness of circumcision and violence against women.
"When the Kurdish people were fighting for our independence, women participated as full members in the underground resistance," said Pakshan Zangana, who heads the women's committee in the Kurdish parliament. "But now that we have won our freedom, the position of women has been pushed backwards and crimes against us are minimized."
Zangana has been lobbying for a law in Kurdistan, a semiautonomous region with its own government, that would impose jail terms of up to 10 years on those who carry out or facilitate female circumcision. But the legislation has been stalled in parliament for nearly a year, because of what women's advocates believe is reluctance by senior Kurdish leaders to draw international public attention to the little-noticed tradition.
The Kurdish region's minister of human rights, Yousif Mohammad Aziz, said he didn't think the issue required action by parliament. "Not every small problem in the community has to have a law dealing with it," he said.
The practice of female circumcision is extremely rare in the Arab parts of Iraq, according to women's groups. They say it is not clear why the practice -- common in some parts of Africa and the Middle East -- became popular with Iraqi Kurds but not Iraqi Arabs.
Supporters of female circumcision said the practice, which has been a ritual in their culture for countless generations, is rooted in sayings they attribute to the prophet Muhammad, though the accuracy of those sayings is disputed by other Muslim scholars. The circumcision is performed by women on women, and men are usually not involved in the procedure. In the case of Sheelan, her mother informed her father that she was going to have the circumcision performed, but otherwise, he played no role.
Kurds who support circumcising girls say the practice has two goals: It controls a woman's sexual desires, and it makes her spiritually clean so that others can eat the meals she prepares.
"I would not eat food from the hands of someone who did not have the procedure," said Hurmet Kitab, a housewife who said she was 91 years old.
Kitab, who lives in the village of Kalar in Kurdistan's eastern Germian area, where female circumcision is prevalent, has had the procedure done on herself and all her daughters. When asked if she would have her 10-month-old granddaughter Saya circumcised, Kitab said "Of course" and explained that the procedure is painless.
"They just cut off a little bit," she said, flicking her finger at the top part of a key, which she then dropped on the floor.
Women's rights groups in Kurdistan are working eagerly to change the perception that the procedure is harmless and that it is required under Islam. They go to villages in rural areas where the practice is most ingrained and tell women and religious leaders of the physical and psychological damage the circumcision can cause. Health experts say the procedure can result in adverse medical consequences for women, including infections, chronic pain and increased risks during childbirth.
Ghamjeen Shaker, a 13-year-old from the Kurdish capital of Irbil, said she is still traumatized from the day she was circumcised. She sits with her legs clenched together and her hands clasped tightly on her lap, as if protecting herself from another operation. Indeed, Shaker says she sometimes dreams that the midwife who circumcised her is coming back to perform the procedure again.
She was 5 when her mother sent her out to buy parsley and then locked her in the front yard of their home with six other girls. "I knew something bad was going to happen, but I didn't know exactly where they were going to cut," she recalled. "My family just kept saying, don't worry, this is a social custom we have been doing forever."
"They pinned me to the ground, and I just cried and cried," said Shaker, who spoke barely above a whisper. "I was just so astonished. But now I realize that they want to prevent women from living their lives normally."
Her mother, Shukria Ismaeel Jarjees, a 38-year-old housewife, said she was forced by her relatives and elderly women in the community to have her daughter circumcised. "I made a huge mistake, and now my daughter is always complaining of pain in her pelvis," Jarjees said. Her eyes began to fill with tears. "I now advise my daughters to never circumcise their children."
Shaker hopes to become a social worker focusing on women's issues, in particular other girls traumatized by female circumcision.
"I want to make sure the world understands they cannot silence girls like this," she said.
Susan Faqi Rasheed, president of the Irbil branch of the Kurdistan Women's Union, said that even in the cosmopolitan capital, as many as a third of young girls are circumcised. "When the Kurds hold on to something, they hold on to it strongly," she said. "So now they hold to Islam more than the Arabs."
One of the religious leaders who have been less vocal in demanding female circumcisions is Hama Ameen Abdul Kader Hussein, preacher at the Grand Mosque of Kalar and head of the clergymen's union in Germian. Previously, he preached that female circumcision was required. Now he says it is optional, which Hussein believes has caused the area's rate of female circumcision to drop from 100 percent to about 50 percent.
"If there is any harm in this exercise," he said, "we should not do it."
Despite the outreach efforts, a study of women in more than 300 Kurdish villages by WADI, a German nongovernmental group that advocates against female circumcision, found that 62 percent underwent the procedure.
In Tuz Khurmatu, the most famous practitioner of female circumcision is Maharoub Juwad Nawchas, a 40-year-old midwife with traditional Kurdish tattoos covering her chin. She learned from her mother, who used to perform the procedure for free, though Nawchas now charges 4,000 Iraqi dinars, or just under $3.50, because her husband is disabled and can't work. She has circumcised about 30 girls a year for the past two decades.
On the day she circumcised Sheelan, the midwife began the ritual by laying down an empty white potato sack to serve as her working area. AK-47 assault rifles hung from the wall of the dingy concrete house, and watermelons rested below.
When Sheelan entered the room, her mother, Nawchas and a local woman placed the girl on a tiny wooden stool the size of a brick. The midwife applied yellow antiseptic to her pelvic area and injected her with lignocaine, an anesthetic. Little children peeked through the window to see what the noise was about.
"It's all right, it's all right," Sheelan's mother whispered, as the girl screamed so loudly her face turned red. She tried to bunch up her skirt over her pelvis and shield the area with her hand, but the women jerked her arms back.
Then Nawchas uttered the prayer, made a swift cut, and immediately moved the girl over a pile of ashes to control the bleeding.
The entire ritual took less then 10 minutes.
Back home, Sheelan lay on the floor, unable to move or talk much. She clutched a bag filled with orange soda and candy and barely said anything except that she was in pain.
But she became more animated when asked whether it was worth it to have the operation so her friends and neighbors would be comfortable eating food she prepared. "I would do anything not to have this pain, even if meant they would not eat from my hands," she rasped slowly.
"I just wish that I could be the way I was before the procedure," she said.
By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Foreign Service
Staff photographer Andrea Bruce and special correspondents Nian Ahmed and Dlovan Brwari contributed to this report.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Saudi Arabia: Saudi women's group assails judge over 8-year-old's marriage
(CNN) -- A group fighting for women's rights in Saudi Arabia condemned a judge Wednesday for refusing to annul the marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a 47-year-old man.
The group's co-founder, Wajeha al-Huwaider, told CNN that achieving human rights in the kingdom means standing against those who want to "keep us backward and in the dark ages."
The Society of Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia, in a statement published on its Web site, called on the "minister of justice and human rights groups to interfere now in this case" by divorcing the girl from the man. "They must end this marriage deal which was made by the father of the girl and the husband."
On Saturday, the judge, Sheikh Habib Abdallah al-Habib, dismissed a petition brought by the girl's mother.
The mother's lawyer, Abdullah al-Jutaili, said the judge found that the mother -- who is separated from the girl's father -- is not the legal guardian, and therefore cannot represent her daughter.
The judge requested, and received, a pledge from the husband, who was in court, not to allow the marriage to be consummated until the girl reaches puberty, al-Jutaili said. When she reaches puberty, the judge ruled, the girl will have the right to request a divorce by filing a petition with the court, the lawyer said.
Al-Jutaili said the girl's father arranged the marriage in order to settle his debts with the man, "a close friend" of his.
In its statement Wednesday, the Society of Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia said the judge's decision goes against children's "basic rights." Marrying children makes them "lose their sense of security and safety. Also, it destroys their feeling of being loved and nurtured. It causes them a lifetime of psychological problems and severe depression.
"Moreover, children marriage creates unhealthy families because they were built on bad relationships."
The judge's decision also contradicts the king's consultative council, called the Majlis al-Shura, which found that anyone under the age of 18 "is a child and should be treated likewise," the women's rights group said.
In an interview with CNN, al-Huwaider said the Saudi government has signed international agreements involving children's and human rights, "and they know that this is very harmful to the kingdom's image. There is a strong wave to teach and spread human rights here in Saudi Arabia, but we all know that there are two players behind the scenes: a movement that wants reform and change to better the kingdom and another movement that wants to keep us backward and in the dark ages."
The Saudi Justice Ministry has not commented.
The Saudi Information Ministry forwarded CNN to the government-run Human Rights Commission.
Zuhair al-Harithi, a spokesman for the commission, said his organization is fighting against child marriages. "Child marriages violate international agreements that have been signed by Saudi Arabia and should not be allowed," he said.
Al-Harithi added that he did not have specific details about this case, but his organization has been able to stop at least one other child marriage.
Christoph Wilcke, a Saudi Arabia researcher for Human Rights Watch, said, "We've been hearing about these types of cases once every four or five months because the Saudi public is now able to express this kind of anger, especially so when girls are traded off to older men."
In an interview Wednesday with CNN, Wilcke said that while Saudi ministries may make decisions designed to protect children, "It is still the religious establishment that holds sway in the courts, and in many realms beyond the court."
He added that, "unfortunately, the religious establishment holds to conservative views which many scholars believe sometimes violate sharia [Islamic law]."
Wilcke said he hopes the appeals process will overturn the judge's decision.
The group's co-founder, Wajeha al-Huwaider, told CNN that achieving human rights in the kingdom means standing against those who want to "keep us backward and in the dark ages."
The Society of Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia, in a statement published on its Web site, called on the "minister of justice and human rights groups to interfere now in this case" by divorcing the girl from the man. "They must end this marriage deal which was made by the father of the girl and the husband."
On Saturday, the judge, Sheikh Habib Abdallah al-Habib, dismissed a petition brought by the girl's mother.
The mother's lawyer, Abdullah al-Jutaili, said the judge found that the mother -- who is separated from the girl's father -- is not the legal guardian, and therefore cannot represent her daughter.
The judge requested, and received, a pledge from the husband, who was in court, not to allow the marriage to be consummated until the girl reaches puberty, al-Jutaili said. When she reaches puberty, the judge ruled, the girl will have the right to request a divorce by filing a petition with the court, the lawyer said.
Al-Jutaili said the girl's father arranged the marriage in order to settle his debts with the man, "a close friend" of his.
In its statement Wednesday, the Society of Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia said the judge's decision goes against children's "basic rights." Marrying children makes them "lose their sense of security and safety. Also, it destroys their feeling of being loved and nurtured. It causes them a lifetime of psychological problems and severe depression.
"Moreover, children marriage creates unhealthy families because they were built on bad relationships."
The judge's decision also contradicts the king's consultative council, called the Majlis al-Shura, which found that anyone under the age of 18 "is a child and should be treated likewise," the women's rights group said.
In an interview with CNN, al-Huwaider said the Saudi government has signed international agreements involving children's and human rights, "and they know that this is very harmful to the kingdom's image. There is a strong wave to teach and spread human rights here in Saudi Arabia, but we all know that there are two players behind the scenes: a movement that wants reform and change to better the kingdom and another movement that wants to keep us backward and in the dark ages."
The Saudi Justice Ministry has not commented.
The Saudi Information Ministry forwarded CNN to the government-run Human Rights Commission.
Zuhair al-Harithi, a spokesman for the commission, said his organization is fighting against child marriages. "Child marriages violate international agreements that have been signed by Saudi Arabia and should not be allowed," he said.
Al-Harithi added that he did not have specific details about this case, but his organization has been able to stop at least one other child marriage.
Christoph Wilcke, a Saudi Arabia researcher for Human Rights Watch, said, "We've been hearing about these types of cases once every four or five months because the Saudi public is now able to express this kind of anger, especially so when girls are traded off to older men."
In an interview Wednesday with CNN, Wilcke said that while Saudi ministries may make decisions designed to protect children, "It is still the religious establishment that holds sway in the courts, and in many realms beyond the court."
He added that, "unfortunately, the religious establishment holds to conservative views which many scholars believe sometimes violate sharia [Islamic law]."
Wilcke said he hopes the appeals process will overturn the judge's decision.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Saudi Arabia: Religious police deny ban on lingerie saleswomen
The head of Saudi Arabia's religious police has denied banning women from working in lingerie shops, as complaints from female customers about male-only sales staff rise, newspapers said on Tuesday.
Sheikh Ibrahim al-Gaith of the powerful Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stressed that he does not oppose women sales personnel in lingerie stores per se.
But he said shops with female clerks had to be in malls restricted to women only, so the saleswomen did not come into contact with men.
"We don't reject the work of the women in lingerie stores if they are not next to men's stores," Gaith said, adding that this was government policy.
Saudi women have long complained that they feel uncomfortable having to buy lingerie from men and would prefer female sales assistants.
But the kingdom's ultra-conservative religious leaders have opposed allowing saleswomen in shops where men are allowed on the grounds that it would violate restrictions on contacts between opposite sexes not from the same family.
Those rules do not extend to salesmen and women customers, however.
In 2005 the labour ministry, in a bid to establish more job opportunities for Saudi women, urged lingerie shops to employ female staff. Minister Ghazi al-Gosaibi said this would serve to limit contact between men and women.
But clerics who can effectively set policy separately from the government have resisted the move, and Gosaibi's effort has had little effect.
In October Reem As'ad, who teaches economics at a Jeddah college, called for a boycott of lingerie stores that do not replace salesmen with saleswomen.
"We urge every man and woman to help our privacy from being violated by men from whom we are obliged to buy our intimate clothing," she told Arab News.
"Women walk around covered from head to toe, and yet they have to discuss the size and material of their undergarments with strange men. Isn't this odd?"
Agence France-Presse
Sheikh Ibrahim al-Gaith of the powerful Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stressed that he does not oppose women sales personnel in lingerie stores per se.
But he said shops with female clerks had to be in malls restricted to women only, so the saleswomen did not come into contact with men.
"We don't reject the work of the women in lingerie stores if they are not next to men's stores," Gaith said, adding that this was government policy.
Saudi women have long complained that they feel uncomfortable having to buy lingerie from men and would prefer female sales assistants.
But the kingdom's ultra-conservative religious leaders have opposed allowing saleswomen in shops where men are allowed on the grounds that it would violate restrictions on contacts between opposite sexes not from the same family.
Those rules do not extend to salesmen and women customers, however.
In 2005 the labour ministry, in a bid to establish more job opportunities for Saudi women, urged lingerie shops to employ female staff. Minister Ghazi al-Gosaibi said this would serve to limit contact between men and women.
But clerics who can effectively set policy separately from the government have resisted the move, and Gosaibi's effort has had little effect.
In October Reem As'ad, who teaches economics at a Jeddah college, called for a boycott of lingerie stores that do not replace salesmen with saleswomen.
"We urge every man and woman to help our privacy from being violated by men from whom we are obliged to buy our intimate clothing," she told Arab News.
"Women walk around covered from head to toe, and yet they have to discuss the size and material of their undergarments with strange men. Isn't this odd?"
Agence France-Presse
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Saudi Arabia: Campaign against maid abuse
By Magdi Abdelhadi
BBC Arab Affairs Analyst
A Saudi Arabian campaign against the abuse of domestic workers in the country has sparked controversy.
There are an estimated 1.5 million foreign domestic workers in Saudi. Many complain of abuse.
Critics say the ads misrepresent Saudi society. Rights activists say abuse is common, and acknowledging it is a first step towards solving the problem.
A report by Human Rights Watch earlier this year said some foreign workers are treated like slaves.
The adverts appeared on Saudi-owned satellite channels and newspapers.
A television advertisement, the first of its kind, shows a Saudi man shouting angrily at a foreign maid for failing to iron his clothes properly. We are obliged to treat servants well. Why ask them to do things that we can't bear ourselves? If we have mercy on them, then Allah will have mercy on us.
Another sequence shows the man in his car honking and yelling racist abuse at an Asian man.
The sketches end with him praying, asking God for help and mercy as a caption appears with the words "man la yarham, la yurham (He who shows no mercy, will receive no mercy [from God])".
This is the slogan of the Rahma (Mercy) campaign which has appeared on Saudi-owned satellite channels , MBC and Rotana, and some newspapers.
The print version of the campaign, which appeared in the London-based Al Hayat, showed a maid held inside a kennel with a dog collar around her neck, and a foreign chauffeur harnessed like a horse with a Saudi woman holding the reins.
'Misrepresentation'
But major Saudi newspapers have refused to publish the advertisement, apparently because for them, it was too shocking.
A campaign image showed a maid being fed from a dog bowl
Some writers and journalists have called for an end to the campaign because they believe it shows Saudi people as cruel and heartless.
Journalist Terad Al al-Asmari, told Islamonline, that the campaign overlooked abuse of domestic workers in other societies.
"It could lead to hatred between foreign labour and the Saudi citizen," he argued.
A Saudi academic, Dr Moutlaq al-Mouteery, criticised airing the campaign on satellite channels. Dr Mouterriy wrote saying that "discussing domestic problems on satellite channels turns them into a scandal [for Saudi Arabia]".
The director general of the Saudi advertising agency, behind the campaign, Qaswara al-Khateeb, defended the media drive.
"We sometimes forget that those who we deal with helpers are actually human beings," Mr Khateeb told the Saudi newspaper Arab News.
"We are obliged to treat them well. Why ask them to do things that we can't bear ourselves? If we have mercy on them, then Allah will have mercy on us."
Mr Khateeb told the BBC that the campaign was financed by a big Saudi corporation, but he refused to disclose which, adding that the backers did not want the message of the campaign to be associated with any particular group.
BBC Arab Affairs Analyst
A Saudi Arabian campaign against the abuse of domestic workers in the country has sparked controversy.
There are an estimated 1.5 million foreign domestic workers in Saudi. Many complain of abuse.
Critics say the ads misrepresent Saudi society. Rights activists say abuse is common, and acknowledging it is a first step towards solving the problem.
A report by Human Rights Watch earlier this year said some foreign workers are treated like slaves.
The adverts appeared on Saudi-owned satellite channels and newspapers.
A television advertisement, the first of its kind, shows a Saudi man shouting angrily at a foreign maid for failing to iron his clothes properly. We are obliged to treat servants well. Why ask them to do things that we can't bear ourselves? If we have mercy on them, then Allah will have mercy on us.
Another sequence shows the man in his car honking and yelling racist abuse at an Asian man.
The sketches end with him praying, asking God for help and mercy as a caption appears with the words "man la yarham, la yurham (He who shows no mercy, will receive no mercy [from God])".
This is the slogan of the Rahma (Mercy) campaign which has appeared on Saudi-owned satellite channels , MBC and Rotana, and some newspapers.
The print version of the campaign, which appeared in the London-based Al Hayat, showed a maid held inside a kennel with a dog collar around her neck, and a foreign chauffeur harnessed like a horse with a Saudi woman holding the reins.
'Misrepresentation'
But major Saudi newspapers have refused to publish the advertisement, apparently because for them, it was too shocking.
A campaign image showed a maid being fed from a dog bowl
Some writers and journalists have called for an end to the campaign because they believe it shows Saudi people as cruel and heartless.
Journalist Terad Al al-Asmari, told Islamonline, that the campaign overlooked abuse of domestic workers in other societies.
"It could lead to hatred between foreign labour and the Saudi citizen," he argued.
A Saudi academic, Dr Moutlaq al-Mouteery, criticised airing the campaign on satellite channels. Dr Mouterriy wrote saying that "discussing domestic problems on satellite channels turns them into a scandal [for Saudi Arabia]".
The director general of the Saudi advertising agency, behind the campaign, Qaswara al-Khateeb, defended the media drive.
"We sometimes forget that those who we deal with helpers are actually human beings," Mr Khateeb told the Saudi newspaper Arab News.
"We are obliged to treat them well. Why ask them to do things that we can't bear ourselves? If we have mercy on them, then Allah will have mercy on us."
Mr Khateeb told the BBC that the campaign was financed by a big Saudi corporation, but he refused to disclose which, adding that the backers did not want the message of the campaign to be associated with any particular group.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Gulf States: In Booming Gulf, Some Arab Women Find Freedom in the Skies
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Marwa Abdel Aziz Fathi giggled self-consciously as she looked down at the new wing-shaped brooch on the left breast pocket of her crisp gray uniform, then around the room at the dozens of other Etihad flight attendants all chatting and eating canapés around her.
It was graduation day at Etihad Training Academy, where the national airline of the United Arab Emirates holds a seven-week training course for new flight attendants. Downstairs are the cavernous classrooms where Ms. Fathi and other trainees rehearsed meal service plans in life-size mockups of planes and trained in the swimming pool, where they learned how to evacuate passengers in the event of an emergency landing over water.
Despite her obvious pride, Ms. Fathi, a 22-year-old from Egypt, was amazed to find herself here.
“I never in my life thought I’d work abroad,” said Ms. Fathi, who was a university student in Cairo when she began noticing newspaper advertisements recruiting young Egyptians to work at airlines based in the Persian Gulf. “My family thought I was crazy. But then some families don’t let you leave at all.”
A decade ago, unmarried Arab women like Ms. Fathi, working outside their home countries, were rare. But just as young men from poor Arab nations flocked to the oil-rich Persian Gulf states for jobs, more young women are doing so, sociologists say, though no official statistics are kept on how many.
Flight attendants have become the public face of the new mobility for some young Arab women, just as they were the face of new freedoms for women in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. They have become a subject of social anxiety and fascination in much the same way.
The dormitory here where the Etihad flight attendants live after training looks much like the city’s many 1970s-style office blocks, its windows iridescent like gasoline on a puddle. But there are three security guards on the ground floor, a logbook for sign-ins and strict rules. Anyone who tries to sneak a man back to one of the simply furnished two-bedroom suites that the women share may be dismissed, even deported.
In the midst of an Islamic revival across the Arab world that is largely being led by young people, gulf states like Abu Dhabi — which offer freedoms and opportunities nearly unimaginable elsewhere in the Middle East — have become an unlikely place of refuge for some young Arab women. And many say that the experience of living independently and working hard for high salaries has forever changed their ambitions and their beliefs about themselves, though it can also lead to a painful sense of alienation from their home countries and their families.
At almost any hour of the day or night, there are a dozen or more young women with identical rolling suitcases waiting in the lobby of their dormitory to be picked up for work on Etihad flights. Though several are still drowsily applying makeup — and the more steady-handed have perfected a back-of-the-bus toilette that takes exactly the length of their usual ride to Abu Dhabi International Airport — they are uniformly well ironed and blow-dried. Those with longer hair wear black hair-ties wrapped around meticulously hair-netted ponytails. They wear jaunty little caps with attached gauzy scarves that hint at hijab, the head coverings worn by many Muslim women. Like college students during exams, all of them gripe good-naturedly about how little they have slept.
There are exclamations of congratulation and commiseration as the women learn friends’ assignments. Most coveted are long-haul routes to places like Toronto and Sydney, Australia, where layovers may last many days, hotels are comfortable and per diem allowances from the airline to cover food and incidentals are generous. Short-haul flights to places like Khartoum, Sudan, are dreaded: more than four hours of work, followed by refueling, a new load of passengers, an exhausting late-night return flight to Abu Dhabi and the shuttle bus back to the dormitory tower with its vigilant guards.
Upstairs, scrubbed of their thick, professional makeup, most of the women look a decade younger. They seem to subsist on snack food: toast made, Arabic-style, by waving flaps of pita over an open flame; slivers of cheap, oversalted Bulgarian cheese; the Lebanese date-filled cookies called ajweh; pillowy rolls from a local Cinnabon outlet that one young Syrian flight attendant proclaimed herself addicted to (an expression she used with self-conscious delight, a badge of newfound worldliness).
They watch bootlegged DVDs — “Desperate Housewives,” “Sex and the City” — bought on layovers in Bangladesh and Indonesia. They drift along the tiled floors between their rooms in velour sweatpants and fuzzy slippers, and they keep their voices low: someone is always trying to catch a wink of sleep before her flight.
A Lonely Existence
It is a hushed, lonely and fluorescent-lighted existence, and it is leavened mostly by nights out dancing. Despite the increasing numbers of women moving to the gulf countries, the labor migration patterns of the last 20 years have left the Emirates with a male-female ratio that is more skewed than anywhere else in the world; in the 15-to-64 age group, there are more than 2.7 men for every woman.
Etihad flight attendants are such popular additions to Abu Dhabi’s modest hotel bar scene that their presence is encouraged by frequent “Ladies’ Nights” and cabin-crew-only drink discounts. It is almost impossible for an unveiled woman in her 20s to go to a mall or grocery store in Abu Dhabi without being asked regularly, by grinning strangers, if she is a stewardess.
One evening last fall, an Egyptian flight attendant for Etihad with dyed blond hair and five-inch platform heels led a friend — a 23-year-old Tunisian woman wearing a sparkly white belt who said that she had come to the Emirates hoping to find work as a seamstress — up to the entrance of the Sax nightclub at the Royal Meridien Hotel.
Just inside, in the bar area, several young Emirates men in white dishdashas were dancing jerkily to deafening club music.
Clutching her friend by the elbow, the Egyptian woman indicated one of the bouncers. “Isn’t he just so yummy?” she shrieked. The bouncer, who had plainly heard, ignored her, and the women filed past. Despite appearances, explained the Egyptian flight attendant — who asked not to be named because she was not authorized by Etihad to speak to the news media — sex and dating are very fraught matters for most of the young Arab women who come to work in the Emirates.
Some young women cope with their new lives away from home by becoming almost nunlike, keeping to themselves and remaining very observant Muslims, she said, while others quickly find themselves in the arms of unsuitable men. “With the Arabic girls who come to work here, you get two types,” the Egyptian woman said. “They’re either very closed up and scared and they don’t do anything, or else they’re not really thinking about flying — they’re just here to get their freedom. They’re really naughty and crazy.”
Treated Like a Heroine
Rania Abou Youssef, 26, a flight attendant for the Dubai-based airline, Emirates, said that when she went home to Alexandria, Egypt, her female cousins treated her like a heroine. “I’ve been doing this for four years,” she said, “and still they’re always asking, ‘Where did you go and what was it like and where are the photographs?’ ”
Many of the young Arab women working in the Persian Gulf take delight in their status as pioneers, role models for their friends and younger female relatives. Young women brought up in a culture that highly values community, they have learned to see themselves as individuals.
For many families, allowing a daughter to work, much less to travel overseas unaccompanied, may call her virtue into question and threaten her marriage prospects. Yet this culture is changing, said Musa Shteiwi, a sociologist at Jordan University in Amman. “We’re noticing more and more single women going to the gulf these days,” he said. “It’s still not exactly common, but over the last four or five years it’s become quite an observable phenomenon.”
Unemployment levels across the Arab world remain high. As the networks of Arab expatriates in the gulf countries become stronger and as cellphones and expanding Internet access make overseas communication more affordable, some families have grown more comfortable with the idea of allowing daughters to work here. Some gulf-based employers now say they tailor recruitment procedures for young women with Arab family values in mind. They may hire groups of women from a particular town or region, for example, so the women can support one another once in the gulf. “A lot of girls do this now because this has a reputation for being very safe,” said Enas Hassan, an Iraqi flight attendant for Emirates. “The families have a sense of security. They know that if their girls start flying they won’t be thrown into the wide world without protection.”
A Feeling of Displacement
Yet not everyone can make peace with life in the United Arab Emirates, the young flight attendants say. Even the landscape — block after sterile block of hotels and office buildings with small shops and takeout restaurants on their lower floors — can contribute to a feeling of displacement. Nearly all year long, for most of the day, the sunlight is bright white, so harsh that it obliterates all contrast. Despite vigilant watering, even the palm trees on roadsides look grayish and embattled.
Some of the young women tell stories of fellow flight attendants who have simply slipped onto planes to their home countries and run away, without giving notice to the airline.
The most successful Arab flight attendants, they say, are often those whose circumstances have already placed them somehow at the margins of their home societies: young immigrant women who are supporting their families after the death of a male breadwinner, for example, and a handful of young widows and divorced women who are eventually permitted to work overseas after their prospects of remarriage have dimmed.
Far more than other jobs they might find in the gulf, flying makes it difficult for Muslim women to fulfill religious duties like praying five times a day and fasting during Ramadan, the Egyptian attendant noted. She said she hoped to wear the hijab one day, “just not yet.” A sense of disconnection from their religion can add to feelings of alienation from conservative Muslim communities back home. Young women whose work in the gulf supports an extended family often find, to their surprise and chagrin, that work has made them unsuitable for life within that family.
“A very good Syrian friend of mine decided to resign from the airline and go back home,” the Egyptian flight attendant said. “But she can’t tolerate living in a family house anymore. Her parents love her brother and put him first, and she’s never allowed out alone, even if it’s just to go and have a coffee.”
“It becomes very difficult to go home again,” she said.
-- Katherine Zoepf, New York Times
It was graduation day at Etihad Training Academy, where the national airline of the United Arab Emirates holds a seven-week training course for new flight attendants. Downstairs are the cavernous classrooms where Ms. Fathi and other trainees rehearsed meal service plans in life-size mockups of planes and trained in the swimming pool, where they learned how to evacuate passengers in the event of an emergency landing over water.
Despite her obvious pride, Ms. Fathi, a 22-year-old from Egypt, was amazed to find herself here.
“I never in my life thought I’d work abroad,” said Ms. Fathi, who was a university student in Cairo when she began noticing newspaper advertisements recruiting young Egyptians to work at airlines based in the Persian Gulf. “My family thought I was crazy. But then some families don’t let you leave at all.”
A decade ago, unmarried Arab women like Ms. Fathi, working outside their home countries, were rare. But just as young men from poor Arab nations flocked to the oil-rich Persian Gulf states for jobs, more young women are doing so, sociologists say, though no official statistics are kept on how many.
Flight attendants have become the public face of the new mobility for some young Arab women, just as they were the face of new freedoms for women in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. They have become a subject of social anxiety and fascination in much the same way.
The dormitory here where the Etihad flight attendants live after training looks much like the city’s many 1970s-style office blocks, its windows iridescent like gasoline on a puddle. But there are three security guards on the ground floor, a logbook for sign-ins and strict rules. Anyone who tries to sneak a man back to one of the simply furnished two-bedroom suites that the women share may be dismissed, even deported.
In the midst of an Islamic revival across the Arab world that is largely being led by young people, gulf states like Abu Dhabi — which offer freedoms and opportunities nearly unimaginable elsewhere in the Middle East — have become an unlikely place of refuge for some young Arab women. And many say that the experience of living independently and working hard for high salaries has forever changed their ambitions and their beliefs about themselves, though it can also lead to a painful sense of alienation from their home countries and their families.
At almost any hour of the day or night, there are a dozen or more young women with identical rolling suitcases waiting in the lobby of their dormitory to be picked up for work on Etihad flights. Though several are still drowsily applying makeup — and the more steady-handed have perfected a back-of-the-bus toilette that takes exactly the length of their usual ride to Abu Dhabi International Airport — they are uniformly well ironed and blow-dried. Those with longer hair wear black hair-ties wrapped around meticulously hair-netted ponytails. They wear jaunty little caps with attached gauzy scarves that hint at hijab, the head coverings worn by many Muslim women. Like college students during exams, all of them gripe good-naturedly about how little they have slept.
There are exclamations of congratulation and commiseration as the women learn friends’ assignments. Most coveted are long-haul routes to places like Toronto and Sydney, Australia, where layovers may last many days, hotels are comfortable and per diem allowances from the airline to cover food and incidentals are generous. Short-haul flights to places like Khartoum, Sudan, are dreaded: more than four hours of work, followed by refueling, a new load of passengers, an exhausting late-night return flight to Abu Dhabi and the shuttle bus back to the dormitory tower with its vigilant guards.
Upstairs, scrubbed of their thick, professional makeup, most of the women look a decade younger. They seem to subsist on snack food: toast made, Arabic-style, by waving flaps of pita over an open flame; slivers of cheap, oversalted Bulgarian cheese; the Lebanese date-filled cookies called ajweh; pillowy rolls from a local Cinnabon outlet that one young Syrian flight attendant proclaimed herself addicted to (an expression she used with self-conscious delight, a badge of newfound worldliness).
They watch bootlegged DVDs — “Desperate Housewives,” “Sex and the City” — bought on layovers in Bangladesh and Indonesia. They drift along the tiled floors between their rooms in velour sweatpants and fuzzy slippers, and they keep their voices low: someone is always trying to catch a wink of sleep before her flight.
A Lonely Existence
It is a hushed, lonely and fluorescent-lighted existence, and it is leavened mostly by nights out dancing. Despite the increasing numbers of women moving to the gulf countries, the labor migration patterns of the last 20 years have left the Emirates with a male-female ratio that is more skewed than anywhere else in the world; in the 15-to-64 age group, there are more than 2.7 men for every woman.
Etihad flight attendants are such popular additions to Abu Dhabi’s modest hotel bar scene that their presence is encouraged by frequent “Ladies’ Nights” and cabin-crew-only drink discounts. It is almost impossible for an unveiled woman in her 20s to go to a mall or grocery store in Abu Dhabi without being asked regularly, by grinning strangers, if she is a stewardess.
One evening last fall, an Egyptian flight attendant for Etihad with dyed blond hair and five-inch platform heels led a friend — a 23-year-old Tunisian woman wearing a sparkly white belt who said that she had come to the Emirates hoping to find work as a seamstress — up to the entrance of the Sax nightclub at the Royal Meridien Hotel.
Just inside, in the bar area, several young Emirates men in white dishdashas were dancing jerkily to deafening club music.
Clutching her friend by the elbow, the Egyptian woman indicated one of the bouncers. “Isn’t he just so yummy?” she shrieked. The bouncer, who had plainly heard, ignored her, and the women filed past. Despite appearances, explained the Egyptian flight attendant — who asked not to be named because she was not authorized by Etihad to speak to the news media — sex and dating are very fraught matters for most of the young Arab women who come to work in the Emirates.
Some young women cope with their new lives away from home by becoming almost nunlike, keeping to themselves and remaining very observant Muslims, she said, while others quickly find themselves in the arms of unsuitable men. “With the Arabic girls who come to work here, you get two types,” the Egyptian woman said. “They’re either very closed up and scared and they don’t do anything, or else they’re not really thinking about flying — they’re just here to get their freedom. They’re really naughty and crazy.”
Treated Like a Heroine
Rania Abou Youssef, 26, a flight attendant for the Dubai-based airline, Emirates, said that when she went home to Alexandria, Egypt, her female cousins treated her like a heroine. “I’ve been doing this for four years,” she said, “and still they’re always asking, ‘Where did you go and what was it like and where are the photographs?’ ”
Many of the young Arab women working in the Persian Gulf take delight in their status as pioneers, role models for their friends and younger female relatives. Young women brought up in a culture that highly values community, they have learned to see themselves as individuals.
For many families, allowing a daughter to work, much less to travel overseas unaccompanied, may call her virtue into question and threaten her marriage prospects. Yet this culture is changing, said Musa Shteiwi, a sociologist at Jordan University in Amman. “We’re noticing more and more single women going to the gulf these days,” he said. “It’s still not exactly common, but over the last four or five years it’s become quite an observable phenomenon.”
Unemployment levels across the Arab world remain high. As the networks of Arab expatriates in the gulf countries become stronger and as cellphones and expanding Internet access make overseas communication more affordable, some families have grown more comfortable with the idea of allowing daughters to work here. Some gulf-based employers now say they tailor recruitment procedures for young women with Arab family values in mind. They may hire groups of women from a particular town or region, for example, so the women can support one another once in the gulf. “A lot of girls do this now because this has a reputation for being very safe,” said Enas Hassan, an Iraqi flight attendant for Emirates. “The families have a sense of security. They know that if their girls start flying they won’t be thrown into the wide world without protection.”
A Feeling of Displacement
Yet not everyone can make peace with life in the United Arab Emirates, the young flight attendants say. Even the landscape — block after sterile block of hotels and office buildings with small shops and takeout restaurants on their lower floors — can contribute to a feeling of displacement. Nearly all year long, for most of the day, the sunlight is bright white, so harsh that it obliterates all contrast. Despite vigilant watering, even the palm trees on roadsides look grayish and embattled.
Some of the young women tell stories of fellow flight attendants who have simply slipped onto planes to their home countries and run away, without giving notice to the airline.
The most successful Arab flight attendants, they say, are often those whose circumstances have already placed them somehow at the margins of their home societies: young immigrant women who are supporting their families after the death of a male breadwinner, for example, and a handful of young widows and divorced women who are eventually permitted to work overseas after their prospects of remarriage have dimmed.
Far more than other jobs they might find in the gulf, flying makes it difficult for Muslim women to fulfill religious duties like praying five times a day and fasting during Ramadan, the Egyptian attendant noted. She said she hoped to wear the hijab one day, “just not yet.” A sense of disconnection from their religion can add to feelings of alienation from conservative Muslim communities back home. Young women whose work in the gulf supports an extended family often find, to their surprise and chagrin, that work has made them unsuitable for life within that family.
“A very good Syrian friend of mine decided to resign from the airline and go back home,” the Egyptian flight attendant said. “But she can’t tolerate living in a family house anymore. Her parents love her brother and put him first, and she’s never allowed out alone, even if it’s just to go and have a coffee.”
“It becomes very difficult to go home again,” she said.
-- Katherine Zoepf, New York Times
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Saudi Arabia: First Woman-Owned Restaurant
Saudi Arabia this month marked the opening of its first restaurant entirely owned and managed by women, local media reported.
But the establishment of this start-up business in the kingdom's Eastern Province did not come without complications. The designers of the project had to make sure that there would be no contact whatsoever between the female staff working in the kitchen and the male customers who visit.
A "separation wall" will isolate the food pickup area from the kitchen to prevent contact between men and the 10 or so women cooking in the kitchen.
Saudi Arabia embraces one of the strictest interpretations of Sunni Islam. Separation between men and women in many public spaces is strictly enforced.
In restaurants, for instance, only men and women related by blood or marriage are allowed to sit at the same table. As in much of the Middle East, eateries and cafes usually have two separate sections: one for families and the other for single men.
The female owner and manager of the new Nourriyat Center for Cooking was hailed by the local press for "bravely" announcing her real name to the public.
According to the Saudi daily Al Yaum, it is the first time that a business appears under the real name of its female owner. The newspaper said that women traditionally used fake names when they opened businesses in the kingdom to avoid social stigmatization.
Noura Moukaytib, owner of the restaurant, told the newspaper that she wanted to challenge "those with obstinate minds" who look down on active women.
In its first phase, the new restaurant will offer only "Eastern and Western" takeaway fast food delivered to customers through a cashier.
Delivery of the orders will be conducted through a window specially designed to prevent men and women from "revealing themselves to one another."
Saudi Arabia has been widely criticized for failing to provide women with employment opportunities. Some human rights organizations and activists qualify the discrimination against women in the country as "gender apartheid."
According to local figures, women in Saudia Arabia make up 70% of students enrolled in universities but just 5% of the kingdom's workforce.
-- Raed Rafei in Beirut, LA Times
But the establishment of this start-up business in the kingdom's Eastern Province did not come without complications. The designers of the project had to make sure that there would be no contact whatsoever between the female staff working in the kitchen and the male customers who visit.
A "separation wall" will isolate the food pickup area from the kitchen to prevent contact between men and the 10 or so women cooking in the kitchen.
Saudi Arabia embraces one of the strictest interpretations of Sunni Islam. Separation between men and women in many public spaces is strictly enforced.
In restaurants, for instance, only men and women related by blood or marriage are allowed to sit at the same table. As in much of the Middle East, eateries and cafes usually have two separate sections: one for families and the other for single men.
The female owner and manager of the new Nourriyat Center for Cooking was hailed by the local press for "bravely" announcing her real name to the public.
According to the Saudi daily Al Yaum, it is the first time that a business appears under the real name of its female owner. The newspaper said that women traditionally used fake names when they opened businesses in the kingdom to avoid social stigmatization.
Noura Moukaytib, owner of the restaurant, told the newspaper that she wanted to challenge "those with obstinate minds" who look down on active women.
In its first phase, the new restaurant will offer only "Eastern and Western" takeaway fast food delivered to customers through a cashier.
Delivery of the orders will be conducted through a window specially designed to prevent men and women from "revealing themselves to one another."
Saudi Arabia has been widely criticized for failing to provide women with employment opportunities. Some human rights organizations and activists qualify the discrimination against women in the country as "gender apartheid."
According to local figures, women in Saudia Arabia make up 70% of students enrolled in universities but just 5% of the kingdom's workforce.
-- Raed Rafei in Beirut, LA Times
Friday, December 19, 2008
Bahrain: Barrier-Breaking Bahraini Masters Diplomatic Scene
Nonoo Is First Jewish Ambassador From an Arab Nation
By Nora Boustany
Washington Post Foreign Service
It takes charm, courage and chutzpah to master the Washington diplomatic scene, and Houda Ezra Nonoo, Bahrain's first female ambassador here and the first Jewish ambassador of an Arab country, is well on her way.
The granddaughter of Iraqi Jews who migrated to the tiny archipelago in the Persian Gulf, Nonoo came into public view in 2004 as a founding member of the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society. She helped bring attention to the plight of domestic workers and other foreign laborers and worked to promote the rights of women and children.
In 2006, Nonoo was appointed to the Shura Council, the upper chamber of parliament. She replaced her brother Ibrahim, the first Jewish member of the council, who decided to devote himself to his business concerns.
Then news leaked out that King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifae had informed U.S. officials of his intention to name Nonoo as ambassador here. Bahrain's news media shot down the move to name a "Jewish ambassador" as a public relations stunt by the Sunni dynasty, which rules over a disgruntled Shiite majority in this country of about 700,000 people.
"When newspaper headlines said the government was sending a Jewish envoy to Washington, that really upset me. I was hurt because I am Bahraini. They took my religion and forgot I was Bahraini," Nonoo said, adding that her grandfather served on the 1934 municipal council, which was elected. "I think I was chosen because of my work on human rights. I was outspoken, and that is what catapulted me into this position. I never expected to be here serving my country in this capacity."
Asked about reports that some Shiites felt left out when Nonoo was appointed, her predecessor, Nasser Beloushi, said: "We don't think about it in that way -- Sunni, Shiite, Christian or Jewish. You are a Bahraini first, and you should serve your country. Bahrain is that way."
Beloushi said Nonoo's father was a well-known financier and "one of the original pillars of our banking system. He was trusted and well liked." His money exchange business grew into the Bahrain Financial Company.
"Her brother's merchant companies are highly regarded and successful," added Beloushi, who said he knows him well.
Nonoo's grandparents initially considered heading to India but settled on the sleepy, barren island surrounded by oyster beds and coral reefs. Her grandfather, Ibrahim, started out with a money exchange business, the oldest such company in Bahrain.
About 500 Jews lived in Bahrain in the early 1940s, according to Ali al-Jalawi, a Bahraini author who has written a book about the community. After the creation of Israel in 1948, attacks on the homes of Bahraini Jews triggered an exodus from Manama, the capital. But Nonoo's family stayed.
"They never thought of leaving Bahrain, because it is their country and what they know. It is hard to just get up and go. Home is where the heart is," she said, sitting in her spacious, sun-flooded office on International Drive.
Today, 36 Jews live in the country, and they are all related, Nonoo said. There is one synagogue in Manama but no rabbi. A "learned scholar" presides over special religious celebrations and funerals, and kosher meat is flown in from London. The last bris was performed 80 years ago, and the last Jewish wedding took place in 1965, she said. Such functions are now held abroad.
Nonoo said she is not strictly religious but observes the high holidays, fasts on Yom Kippur and is respectful and mindful of "basic" Jewish traditions.
"At the end of the day, I am always going to be a Bahraini. Culturally and morally, I am an Arab," she said.
When Nonoo goes on speaking tours in the United States, she is often asked the same questions: Can she go out in Bahrain? Can she walk around without a veil? Is she allowed to drive? The answer to all of the above is yes.
Born in 1964, Nonoo attended a coed school run by Italian nuns, and her classmates included Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus and Bahais. They had play dates at one another's homes. "I never felt I was different," she said.
At 15, she was sent to boarding school in England, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in accounting from City of London Polytechnic. She also received an MBA from the International University of Europe in Waterford.
When she presented her credentials to President Bush this summer, Nonoo said she was nervous and slightly apprehensive, but "the door opened and he made me feel just like a friend."
Soon after her arrival, Nonoo attended the Meridian Ball, one of the glitziest events of the year, where diplomats, officials and A-listers get together for dessert, champagne and dancing after embassy dinners. "Everyone wanted to meet me. I had just arrived and I was overwhelmed," she admitted.
But Omani Ambassador Hunaina Sultan Ahmed al-Mughairy, another woman representing an Arab Gulf country, took Nonoo under her wing, she said with gratitude.
The demands of accompanying her country's foreign minister to appointments in New York on Tuesday morning did not prevent Nonoo from hosting her first big reception in Washington that afternoon.
Radiant and exuding a natural liveliness, Nonoo greeted well-wishers to an event at the Ritz-Carlton marking Bahrain's National Day. Understated yet chic in pumps, a tapered black lace dress and a short red satin jacket, she stood next to her husband, a British citizen of Iranian descent, and her defense attache. An oud player in traditional Gulf robes strummed lilting melodies in the background.
In Washington, Nonoo lives in a two-bedroom apartment but is contemplating revamping the embassy's old residence. Her husband, now visiting their sons, ages 16 and 17, helps run Gulf Computer Services in Bahrain, a family business. They often meet in London, where her older son studies.
"She is a breath of fresh air," noted Ina Ginsberg, a Washington member of the American-Bahrain Friendship Council. "She adds a new voice to the conversation. It takes guts for any woman to come here as ambassador, but she is going to be a trailblazer."
Arab League Ambassador Hussein Hassouna, who recently joined Nonoo on a speaking engagement at Harvard University, said he was taken by her intelligence and warmth. "She is a great addition. Arab countries do well to send women and envoys from minority communities."
By Nora Boustany
Washington Post Foreign Service
It takes charm, courage and chutzpah to master the Washington diplomatic scene, and Houda Ezra Nonoo, Bahrain's first female ambassador here and the first Jewish ambassador of an Arab country, is well on her way.
The granddaughter of Iraqi Jews who migrated to the tiny archipelago in the Persian Gulf, Nonoo came into public view in 2004 as a founding member of the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society. She helped bring attention to the plight of domestic workers and other foreign laborers and worked to promote the rights of women and children.
In 2006, Nonoo was appointed to the Shura Council, the upper chamber of parliament. She replaced her brother Ibrahim, the first Jewish member of the council, who decided to devote himself to his business concerns.
Then news leaked out that King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifae had informed U.S. officials of his intention to name Nonoo as ambassador here. Bahrain's news media shot down the move to name a "Jewish ambassador" as a public relations stunt by the Sunni dynasty, which rules over a disgruntled Shiite majority in this country of about 700,000 people.
"When newspaper headlines said the government was sending a Jewish envoy to Washington, that really upset me. I was hurt because I am Bahraini. They took my religion and forgot I was Bahraini," Nonoo said, adding that her grandfather served on the 1934 municipal council, which was elected. "I think I was chosen because of my work on human rights. I was outspoken, and that is what catapulted me into this position. I never expected to be here serving my country in this capacity."
Asked about reports that some Shiites felt left out when Nonoo was appointed, her predecessor, Nasser Beloushi, said: "We don't think about it in that way -- Sunni, Shiite, Christian or Jewish. You are a Bahraini first, and you should serve your country. Bahrain is that way."
Beloushi said Nonoo's father was a well-known financier and "one of the original pillars of our banking system. He was trusted and well liked." His money exchange business grew into the Bahrain Financial Company.
"Her brother's merchant companies are highly regarded and successful," added Beloushi, who said he knows him well.
Nonoo's grandparents initially considered heading to India but settled on the sleepy, barren island surrounded by oyster beds and coral reefs. Her grandfather, Ibrahim, started out with a money exchange business, the oldest such company in Bahrain.
About 500 Jews lived in Bahrain in the early 1940s, according to Ali al-Jalawi, a Bahraini author who has written a book about the community. After the creation of Israel in 1948, attacks on the homes of Bahraini Jews triggered an exodus from Manama, the capital. But Nonoo's family stayed.
"They never thought of leaving Bahrain, because it is their country and what they know. It is hard to just get up and go. Home is where the heart is," she said, sitting in her spacious, sun-flooded office on International Drive.
Today, 36 Jews live in the country, and they are all related, Nonoo said. There is one synagogue in Manama but no rabbi. A "learned scholar" presides over special religious celebrations and funerals, and kosher meat is flown in from London. The last bris was performed 80 years ago, and the last Jewish wedding took place in 1965, she said. Such functions are now held abroad.
Nonoo said she is not strictly religious but observes the high holidays, fasts on Yom Kippur and is respectful and mindful of "basic" Jewish traditions.
"At the end of the day, I am always going to be a Bahraini. Culturally and morally, I am an Arab," she said.
When Nonoo goes on speaking tours in the United States, she is often asked the same questions: Can she go out in Bahrain? Can she walk around without a veil? Is she allowed to drive? The answer to all of the above is yes.
Born in 1964, Nonoo attended a coed school run by Italian nuns, and her classmates included Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus and Bahais. They had play dates at one another's homes. "I never felt I was different," she said.
At 15, she was sent to boarding school in England, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in accounting from City of London Polytechnic. She also received an MBA from the International University of Europe in Waterford.
When she presented her credentials to President Bush this summer, Nonoo said she was nervous and slightly apprehensive, but "the door opened and he made me feel just like a friend."
Soon after her arrival, Nonoo attended the Meridian Ball, one of the glitziest events of the year, where diplomats, officials and A-listers get together for dessert, champagne and dancing after embassy dinners. "Everyone wanted to meet me. I had just arrived and I was overwhelmed," she admitted.
But Omani Ambassador Hunaina Sultan Ahmed al-Mughairy, another woman representing an Arab Gulf country, took Nonoo under her wing, she said with gratitude.
The demands of accompanying her country's foreign minister to appointments in New York on Tuesday morning did not prevent Nonoo from hosting her first big reception in Washington that afternoon.
Radiant and exuding a natural liveliness, Nonoo greeted well-wishers to an event at the Ritz-Carlton marking Bahrain's National Day. Understated yet chic in pumps, a tapered black lace dress and a short red satin jacket, she stood next to her husband, a British citizen of Iranian descent, and her defense attache. An oud player in traditional Gulf robes strummed lilting melodies in the background.
In Washington, Nonoo lives in a two-bedroom apartment but is contemplating revamping the embassy's old residence. Her husband, now visiting their sons, ages 16 and 17, helps run Gulf Computer Services in Bahrain, a family business. They often meet in London, where her older son studies.
"She is a breath of fresh air," noted Ina Ginsberg, a Washington member of the American-Bahrain Friendship Council. "She adds a new voice to the conversation. It takes guts for any woman to come here as ambassador, but she is going to be a trailblazer."
Arab League Ambassador Hussein Hassouna, who recently joined Nonoo on a speaking engagement at Harvard University, said he was taken by her intelligence and warmth. "She is a great addition. Arab countries do well to send women and envoys from minority communities."
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Bahrain: Women are Trailblazers
Bahrain's pioneering strides in providing modern education for women since the 1920s were hailed yesterday. "The establishment of modern education for women was a unique and historic turning point which had no parallel in the region," His Majesty King Hamad said in his National Day address at the headquarters of the Supreme Council for Women (SCW), also marking the Accession Day and Bahraini Woman's Day.
Present were Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
"Bahraini women are trailblazers, showing the path of achievement to their sisters in the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula," he said.
The King described the achievement as a defining moment for women to learn, contribute to nation-building and rear new generations.
His Majesty hailed the decision of the SCW to celebrate Bahraini Woman's Day.
"The National Day and Bahraini Woman's Day are twins in the same fabric," he said.
That long-dated march, he said, has yielded a generation of brilliant Bahraini women holding key positions as ministers, ambassadors, MPs, judges, barristers, engineers, teachers, nurses and administrators.
He also hailed women's voting rights as another milestone for modern Bahrain.
"The efforts to anchor the culture of human rights in Bahrain date back to the establishment of the first girls' school eight decades ago," His Majesty said.
He urged a national consensus to approve the draft family code, which, he said, "epitomises our common national will".
"Bahrain can't be left behind as other Islamic countries, from different doctrines and jurisprudence schools, have already approved similar laws," he said.
"Such a law would reflect Islam's radiant teachings and promote the type of social order advocated by religions," he said.
He also described the draft law as a step in the right direction to empower Muslim women and further anchor human rights and reflect the country's deep commitment to values and principles.
"All eyes will be turned to the National Assembly to debate the draft law and undertake the necessary decisions," he said.
His Majesty bestowed the Shaikh Isa First Class Order on SCW chairwoman Her Highness Shaikha Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa.
His Majesty yesterday received a cable of congratulations from Shaikha Sabeeka marking the National and Accession Days.
-- Gulf Daily News
Present were Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
"Bahraini women are trailblazers, showing the path of achievement to their sisters in the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula," he said.
The King described the achievement as a defining moment for women to learn, contribute to nation-building and rear new generations.
His Majesty hailed the decision of the SCW to celebrate Bahraini Woman's Day.
"The National Day and Bahraini Woman's Day are twins in the same fabric," he said.
That long-dated march, he said, has yielded a generation of brilliant Bahraini women holding key positions as ministers, ambassadors, MPs, judges, barristers, engineers, teachers, nurses and administrators.
He also hailed women's voting rights as another milestone for modern Bahrain.
"The efforts to anchor the culture of human rights in Bahrain date back to the establishment of the first girls' school eight decades ago," His Majesty said.
He urged a national consensus to approve the draft family code, which, he said, "epitomises our common national will".
"Bahrain can't be left behind as other Islamic countries, from different doctrines and jurisprudence schools, have already approved similar laws," he said.
"Such a law would reflect Islam's radiant teachings and promote the type of social order advocated by religions," he said.
He also described the draft law as a step in the right direction to empower Muslim women and further anchor human rights and reflect the country's deep commitment to values and principles.
"All eyes will be turned to the National Assembly to debate the draft law and undertake the necessary decisions," he said.
His Majesty bestowed the Shaikh Isa First Class Order on SCW chairwoman Her Highness Shaikha Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa.
His Majesty yesterday received a cable of congratulations from Shaikha Sabeeka marking the National and Accession Days.
-- Gulf Daily News
Morocco: King retracts CEDAW reservations
Morocco has retracted its reservations on the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), King Mohammed VI announced during a speech on Wednesday (December 10th), the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
"Our reservations," the monarch said, "have become obsolete due to the advanced legislation that has been adopted by our country."
The long-awaited move drew praise from civil society; the women's movement had made repeated calls for officials to take the necessary steps to apply the convention in Morocco.
Professor and researcher Malika Benradi noted that Morocco ratified the convention in 1993 with reservations, refusing to enforce any clauses opposing national or Islamic law. For example, Benradi explained that Article 9 deals with the right of a mother to transmit her citizenship to her children; a form of discrimination that Morocco abandoned in 2007.
Article 16 states that both spouses are equal at the moment of, during, and after the dissolution of a marital union. For example, under Moroccan law, there is no true equality between the spouses in terms of providing for one's household, which is solely the husband's duty. Benradi noted that "the retraction of reservations allows for progress, but it is already being debated, particularly with regards to religious issues such as inheritance."
Minister of Social Development, Family and Solidarity Nouzha Skalli expressed her satisfaction with the King's message. In her view, the move confirms Morocco's desire to be forward-looking in terms of women's rights. She added that "the withdrawal of the country’s reservations coincided with a number of other plans launched by Morocco," and "the country is well on the way to becoming an upholder of human rights."
The Moroccan Human Rights Organisation likewise welcomed the move. "Arrangements need to be put in place to enforce this international convention," said the president of the organisation, Amina Bouayache. She added that "Morocco now finds itself in a new set of circumstances. Other initiatives must also be taken, in particular reforms to the constitution and domestic law regarding civil rights and other forms of equality."
Khadija Riyadi, president of the Moroccan Human Rights Association, commented, "The Family Code needs to be amended, especially with regards to those articles that discriminate against women." She added that examples of discrimination pertain to "marriage with foreign nationals, the fact that legal guardianship is always granted to a child's father, inheritance, and polygamy."
The president of the Union for Women’s Action, Nezha Alaoui, noted that in withdrawing its reservations, Morocco "has removed all barriers to the establishment of full equality between men and women in the areas of economic, social and political law."
The president of the Democratic Women's Rights League, Fouzia Assouli, said that "the move was a minor revolution in terms of establishing the principle of equality between men and women – a principle for which the women's movement has fought for many years."
However, not everyone was pleased with the king's announcement. Mustapha Ramid, head of the Justice and Development Party's group in parliament stated that issues pertaining to Islamic law cannot be replaced. "We cannot lift all reservations to the point of achieving total equality, because this point is governed by sharia."
-- By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat
"Our reservations," the monarch said, "have become obsolete due to the advanced legislation that has been adopted by our country."
The long-awaited move drew praise from civil society; the women's movement had made repeated calls for officials to take the necessary steps to apply the convention in Morocco.
Professor and researcher Malika Benradi noted that Morocco ratified the convention in 1993 with reservations, refusing to enforce any clauses opposing national or Islamic law. For example, Benradi explained that Article 9 deals with the right of a mother to transmit her citizenship to her children; a form of discrimination that Morocco abandoned in 2007.
Article 16 states that both spouses are equal at the moment of, during, and after the dissolution of a marital union. For example, under Moroccan law, there is no true equality between the spouses in terms of providing for one's household, which is solely the husband's duty. Benradi noted that "the retraction of reservations allows for progress, but it is already being debated, particularly with regards to religious issues such as inheritance."
Minister of Social Development, Family and Solidarity Nouzha Skalli expressed her satisfaction with the King's message. In her view, the move confirms Morocco's desire to be forward-looking in terms of women's rights. She added that "the withdrawal of the country’s reservations coincided with a number of other plans launched by Morocco," and "the country is well on the way to becoming an upholder of human rights."
The Moroccan Human Rights Organisation likewise welcomed the move. "Arrangements need to be put in place to enforce this international convention," said the president of the organisation, Amina Bouayache. She added that "Morocco now finds itself in a new set of circumstances. Other initiatives must also be taken, in particular reforms to the constitution and domestic law regarding civil rights and other forms of equality."
Khadija Riyadi, president of the Moroccan Human Rights Association, commented, "The Family Code needs to be amended, especially with regards to those articles that discriminate against women." She added that examples of discrimination pertain to "marriage with foreign nationals, the fact that legal guardianship is always granted to a child's father, inheritance, and polygamy."
The president of the Union for Women’s Action, Nezha Alaoui, noted that in withdrawing its reservations, Morocco "has removed all barriers to the establishment of full equality between men and women in the areas of economic, social and political law."
The president of the Democratic Women's Rights League, Fouzia Assouli, said that "the move was a minor revolution in terms of establishing the principle of equality between men and women – a principle for which the women's movement has fought for many years."
However, not everyone was pleased with the king's announcement. Mustapha Ramid, head of the Justice and Development Party's group in parliament stated that issues pertaining to Islamic law cannot be replaced. "We cannot lift all reservations to the point of achieving total equality, because this point is governed by sharia."
-- By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Yemen: Women contest for 2009 parliament
Member of General People’s Congress GPC, the Head of the Woman Office Fatma al-Khatri has affirmed Tuesday GPC’s orientations to encourage a large number of Yemeni women to participate in the parliamentary elections scheduled in April 2009.
Meanwhile an official statistic on empowering the woman politically, economically and socially revealed appointment of 23 ladies in the post of director general in different ministries and government establishments in the year 2007.
Ms al-Khatri also said the GPC General Secretariat is considering the subject of pushing women to engage in contests for the 2009 parliament in a positive form and full conviction in the necessity engaging the woman as candidate in a manner leading to her success in the upcoming elections.
She has also pointed out that the GPC’s rules of procedure stipulates on the necessity of the existence of 15% women in the leaderships, whether at the level of office or governorate or membership of the permanent committee and the general committee.
Al-Mithaq weekly quoted the GPC leading member as saying,” Whenever the woman is there as candidate the man has to support her. We at the GPC do not differentiate between candidates with regard to the morale, financial and organizational support and sometimes support for the women may be increased.”
-- Almotamar.net
Meanwhile an official statistic on empowering the woman politically, economically and socially revealed appointment of 23 ladies in the post of director general in different ministries and government establishments in the year 2007.
Ms al-Khatri also said the GPC General Secretariat is considering the subject of pushing women to engage in contests for the 2009 parliament in a positive form and full conviction in the necessity engaging the woman as candidate in a manner leading to her success in the upcoming elections.
She has also pointed out that the GPC’s rules of procedure stipulates on the necessity of the existence of 15% women in the leaderships, whether at the level of office or governorate or membership of the permanent committee and the general committee.
Al-Mithaq weekly quoted the GPC leading member as saying,” Whenever the woman is there as candidate the man has to support her. We at the GPC do not differentiate between candidates with regard to the morale, financial and organizational support and sometimes support for the women may be increased.”
-- Almotamar.net
Saudi Arabia: Public cinema after 30 years enthralls audience
JEDDAH – After a long wait of 30 years, public cinema is back in Saudi Arabia. Using the occasion of Eid Al-Adha, Rowad Media and Kawthar Foundation and Production screened a show for the public at the King Abdul Aziz Cultural Center in Abraq Al-Raghama, attended by a large number of interested men and women who watched the comedy film “Manahi.”
“We haven’t had public cinema in Saudi Arabia for 30 years,” said one viewer. “That’s a long time, and we have missed it,” he added.
The 9-day festival began on Dec. 10 and two shows are being screened daily in Jeddah and Taif.
“On the opening night there was a flood of media personnel which made it just like a red carpet Hollywood premier,” said Fayez Al-Malki, the film’s main actor.
“I hope that this film will be a real commercial breakthrough in Saudi Arabia,” he said. “I am fully satisfied with the Rotana production and hope the film will be appreciated in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and around the world,” he added.
“Manahi,” which takes its title from the name of the film’s hero, is a comedy with a touch of Saudi culture and tradition. Apart from Al-Malki, the film stars Syrian actress Mona Wassef, Kuwaiti actor Abdul Imam Abdullah and a number of young Saudi actors.
“This is the first film in the revival of Saudi cinema,” said Ayman Halawani the director general of Rotana Studios.
“We are pleased with this achievement and we thank the organizers for such an opportunity. Soon we will provide the public with films which are appropriate to the customs and traditions of our society,” he said.
“I want to thank Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah, for giving us an opportunity to show films in Saudi Arabia just as is being done in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt,” said Mamdouh Salim, director of Rowad Media.
Thousands of viewers enjoyed the film on the first day with the audience laughing at every scene and singing songs with the hero. “We enjoyed the movie as there was entertainment with an important message,” said one man who brought his wife and children to see the movie.
“I think that the opposition to public cinema will not continue for long. We previously witnessed opposition to satellite channels in Saudi Arabia and a ban on mobile phones with cameras,” he said. Among those who came to see the film, young Saudis enjoyed the movie a lot.
“We have been looking forward to movies being shown publicly for a long time,” said Abdul Aziz, a 23-year-old Saudi.
“Instead we have had to travel to other countries to see films. We want movies in our own country that reflect our traditions and culture,” he said.
–By Fouzia Khan, Saudi Gazette
“We haven’t had public cinema in Saudi Arabia for 30 years,” said one viewer. “That’s a long time, and we have missed it,” he added.
The 9-day festival began on Dec. 10 and two shows are being screened daily in Jeddah and Taif.
“On the opening night there was a flood of media personnel which made it just like a red carpet Hollywood premier,” said Fayez Al-Malki, the film’s main actor.
“I hope that this film will be a real commercial breakthrough in Saudi Arabia,” he said. “I am fully satisfied with the Rotana production and hope the film will be appreciated in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and around the world,” he added.
“Manahi,” which takes its title from the name of the film’s hero, is a comedy with a touch of Saudi culture and tradition. Apart from Al-Malki, the film stars Syrian actress Mona Wassef, Kuwaiti actor Abdul Imam Abdullah and a number of young Saudi actors.
“This is the first film in the revival of Saudi cinema,” said Ayman Halawani the director general of Rotana Studios.
“We are pleased with this achievement and we thank the organizers for such an opportunity. Soon we will provide the public with films which are appropriate to the customs and traditions of our society,” he said.
“I want to thank Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah, for giving us an opportunity to show films in Saudi Arabia just as is being done in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt,” said Mamdouh Salim, director of Rowad Media.
Thousands of viewers enjoyed the film on the first day with the audience laughing at every scene and singing songs with the hero. “We enjoyed the movie as there was entertainment with an important message,” said one man who brought his wife and children to see the movie.
“I think that the opposition to public cinema will not continue for long. We previously witnessed opposition to satellite channels in Saudi Arabia and a ban on mobile phones with cameras,” he said. Among those who came to see the film, young Saudis enjoyed the movie a lot.
“We have been looking forward to movies being shown publicly for a long time,” said Abdul Aziz, a 23-year-old Saudi.
“Instead we have had to travel to other countries to see films. We want movies in our own country that reflect our traditions and culture,” he said.
–By Fouzia Khan, Saudi Gazette
Monday, December 15, 2008
Saudi Arabia: HRC moots plan to promote ‘rights culture’
RIYADH: The governmental Human Rights Commission has put out a plan to promote the culture of human rights in the Kingdom. The announcement came as the world celebrated the 60th birthday of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights this past week.
The HRC plan includes organizing a number of lectures and seminars, issuing awareness handouts and periodicals for both genders regarding the rights of women, children and workers, especially in the context of Shariah and international agreements.
In its statement, the HRC said it was committed to bringing to light the Kingdom’s efforts in maintaining human rights through abiding by international and bilateral treaties that it has signed. The HRC also outlined its achievements and praised Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s initiative to promote inter-faith dialogue, including a conference held recently at the United Nations in New York.
“This initiative is obvious evidence of the Kingdom’s belief in the importance of dialogue among cultures, religions and various civilizations as the main means to support peace and stability all over the world,” said the HRC in its statement, which included the rejection of “occupation policy, which violates nations’ sovereignty.”
In terms of actions taken inside the Kingdom, the HRC said it intervened in 1,013 cases in the second half of the 1429 AH (April to September 2008). About a fourth of these cases were resolved, the HRC said, while the rest have been either dismissed or are in pending litigation. This number included 131 labor disputes and 199 prisoners’ rights complaints, as well as social complaints (including medical complaints) and financial cases.
The HRC says that the number of complaints has risen 24 percent from the commission’s creation in 2006 to the end of 1428 AH (2007), led by cases from the country’s largest city and capital, Riyadh. The provinces of Makkah (which includes Jeddah and Taif cities), Asir and the Eastern Province — the locations of the Kingdom’s other large metro areas — were the origins of the highest number of resolved human rights complaints.
In September, the HRC said it received a total of about 10,000 cases in three years. HRC President Turki bin Khaled Al-Sudairi said that about half of these cases were referred to other agencies, dismissed for lack of evidence or were outside the jurisdiction of the HRC. He also said the HRC participated in the inspection of 12 domestic shelters (where women are placed when they flee abusive husbands or are involved in other domestic disputes that leave them estranged from their legal male guardians) along with officials from the ministries of Interior, Justice, Labor and Social Affairs.
In the defense of labor rights, the HRC intervened recently in the case of a group of Indian workers who were thrown out of their accommodation by their employer for complaining to the Indian Embassy about their working conditions.
“This is a serious violation of local labor laws for which we have to take immediate action since the victims do not have food and shelter for their daily upkeep,” an official from the commission who did not want to be named told Arab News in September. This case is still ongoing.
The HRC also opened a women’s branch to focus directly with issues pertaining to women and children, which will likely work closely with the new Family Court that the Kingdom is developing as part of its ongoing overhaul of the courts system.
“‘Dignity of women and childhood support’ is the motto of this new wing,” said Wafiqah Al-Dakhil, the newly appointed head of the women’s wing. She added that the aim is to create awareness about the laws pertaining to women and children through campaigns and define rights as established by Islam.
“Our activities would include organizing programs for raising awareness among children and their families on children’s rights; receiving children’s complaints; and providing legal intervention in guardianship, citizenship issues and child abuse cases,” she added. The commission’s website was inaugurated in March in order for the organization to utilize the Internet to collect complaints and other public feedback.
Al-Sudairi also suggested that the HRC would consider placing women on its board of directors.
“As the HRC is a member of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, we are taking urgent steps to finish our second annual report in a way that correctly reflects the organization and its sincerity, which stems from our strong belief in human rights that Islam is deeply concerned with,” Al-Sudairi said in September while announcing the preparation of the report issued last week.
-- Arab News
The HRC plan includes organizing a number of lectures and seminars, issuing awareness handouts and periodicals for both genders regarding the rights of women, children and workers, especially in the context of Shariah and international agreements.
In its statement, the HRC said it was committed to bringing to light the Kingdom’s efforts in maintaining human rights through abiding by international and bilateral treaties that it has signed. The HRC also outlined its achievements and praised Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s initiative to promote inter-faith dialogue, including a conference held recently at the United Nations in New York.
“This initiative is obvious evidence of the Kingdom’s belief in the importance of dialogue among cultures, religions and various civilizations as the main means to support peace and stability all over the world,” said the HRC in its statement, which included the rejection of “occupation policy, which violates nations’ sovereignty.”
In terms of actions taken inside the Kingdom, the HRC said it intervened in 1,013 cases in the second half of the 1429 AH (April to September 2008). About a fourth of these cases were resolved, the HRC said, while the rest have been either dismissed or are in pending litigation. This number included 131 labor disputes and 199 prisoners’ rights complaints, as well as social complaints (including medical complaints) and financial cases.
The HRC says that the number of complaints has risen 24 percent from the commission’s creation in 2006 to the end of 1428 AH (2007), led by cases from the country’s largest city and capital, Riyadh. The provinces of Makkah (which includes Jeddah and Taif cities), Asir and the Eastern Province — the locations of the Kingdom’s other large metro areas — were the origins of the highest number of resolved human rights complaints.
In September, the HRC said it received a total of about 10,000 cases in three years. HRC President Turki bin Khaled Al-Sudairi said that about half of these cases were referred to other agencies, dismissed for lack of evidence or were outside the jurisdiction of the HRC. He also said the HRC participated in the inspection of 12 domestic shelters (where women are placed when they flee abusive husbands or are involved in other domestic disputes that leave them estranged from their legal male guardians) along with officials from the ministries of Interior, Justice, Labor and Social Affairs.
In the defense of labor rights, the HRC intervened recently in the case of a group of Indian workers who were thrown out of their accommodation by their employer for complaining to the Indian Embassy about their working conditions.
“This is a serious violation of local labor laws for which we have to take immediate action since the victims do not have food and shelter for their daily upkeep,” an official from the commission who did not want to be named told Arab News in September. This case is still ongoing.
The HRC also opened a women’s branch to focus directly with issues pertaining to women and children, which will likely work closely with the new Family Court that the Kingdom is developing as part of its ongoing overhaul of the courts system.
“‘Dignity of women and childhood support’ is the motto of this new wing,” said Wafiqah Al-Dakhil, the newly appointed head of the women’s wing. She added that the aim is to create awareness about the laws pertaining to women and children through campaigns and define rights as established by Islam.
“Our activities would include organizing programs for raising awareness among children and their families on children’s rights; receiving children’s complaints; and providing legal intervention in guardianship, citizenship issues and child abuse cases,” she added. The commission’s website was inaugurated in March in order for the organization to utilize the Internet to collect complaints and other public feedback.
Al-Sudairi also suggested that the HRC would consider placing women on its board of directors.
“As the HRC is a member of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, we are taking urgent steps to finish our second annual report in a way that correctly reflects the organization and its sincerity, which stems from our strong belief in human rights that Islam is deeply concerned with,” Al-Sudairi said in September while announcing the preparation of the report issued last week.
-- Arab News
Bahrain: Families Backed by Law
MANAMA: A breakthrough draft law aimed at protecting family life and ensuring the rights of husbands and wives was approved yesterday. The move came as Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa chaired the weekly Cabinet meeting.
The draft law acknowledges family as a cornerstone of society and focuses on the need to ensure harmony in it.
The new law complements current legal provisions organising matrimonial relationships and marital laws.
The Cabinet stressed the importance of gender equality.
The amendments outline rules regulating marriages and divorces, and defines the rights of children.
The new legislation would be inclusive of Sunni and Jaafari doctrines.
The law specifies the rules and regulations governing marriage terms, contracts as well as the rights of husbands and wives. It also defines the different types of marriages, in addition to other key issues, particularly alimony and ways of establishing paternity.
The draft family code specifies different types of divorces and terms governing the dissolution of marriage. It also specifies key Sharia issues, including the period that the wife has to observe after the death of her husband and custody rights.
-- Gulf Daily News
The draft law acknowledges family as a cornerstone of society and focuses on the need to ensure harmony in it.
The new law complements current legal provisions organising matrimonial relationships and marital laws.
The Cabinet stressed the importance of gender equality.
The amendments outline rules regulating marriages and divorces, and defines the rights of children.
The new legislation would be inclusive of Sunni and Jaafari doctrines.
The law specifies the rules and regulations governing marriage terms, contracts as well as the rights of husbands and wives. It also defines the different types of marriages, in addition to other key issues, particularly alimony and ways of establishing paternity.
The draft family code specifies different types of divorces and terms governing the dissolution of marriage. It also specifies key Sharia issues, including the period that the wife has to observe after the death of her husband and custody rights.
-- Gulf Daily News
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Yemen: Increase in woman candidates to upcoming elections, expected
Almotamar.net - Administration manager at the Supreme Commission for Elections and Referendum SCER Ilham Abulwahab said she pins hope on covenant of honour among political parties to support the woman as a candidate in the 4th parliamentary elections in Yemen schedule in April 2009, calling for benefiting from the initiative of the president of the republic for allocation of 15% of seats for the woman and the quota system inside the present electoral system representing positive distinguishing in favour of the woman.
Ms Abdulwahab added that the Yemeni constitution stipulates equality between the man and the woman and its amendment in favour of positive distinguishing for the woman recalls referendum amidst a masculine environment it is possible for its bias against the woman. Nevertheless, she said it can be resorted to amending the law of political parties obliging them to offer a certain percentage to the woman in the lists of their candidates.
Although the administration manager at the SCER expected, in an interview with almotamar.net, an increase in number of woman candidates in the parliamentary elections of next April due to accumulation of awareness among the woman , she said the question of reaching the parliament she does not believe it.
-- Almotamar.net
Ms Abdulwahab added that the Yemeni constitution stipulates equality between the man and the woman and its amendment in favour of positive distinguishing for the woman recalls referendum amidst a masculine environment it is possible for its bias against the woman. Nevertheless, she said it can be resorted to amending the law of political parties obliging them to offer a certain percentage to the woman in the lists of their candidates.
Although the administration manager at the SCER expected, in an interview with almotamar.net, an increase in number of woman candidates in the parliamentary elections of next April due to accumulation of awareness among the woman , she said the question of reaching the parliament she does not believe it.
-- Almotamar.net
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Saudi Arabia: Women's group wins EU rights prize
RIYADH (AFP) — A Saudi charity which helps divorced and underprivileged women has won a European Union prize for human rights groups in the Gulf, the Riyadh office of the European Commission said on Wednesday.
The Al-Nahda Philanthropic Society for Women won the first Chaillot Prize over several other rights groups for its range of activities, including preparing underprivileged and under-educated women for jobs, setting up a school for Down Syndrome children, and assisting needy families, according to the Commission.
The award was announced to mark the 60th anniversary on Wednesday of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, originally presented to the UN General Assembly at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris.
Several rights groups in member-states of the Gulf Cooperation Council were shortlisted for the prize, which brings the winner 6,000 euros (7,760 dollars).
"With the launching of the Chaillot Prize, the EC desires to acknowledge the extraordinary work which is done by some institutions and individuals in the field of human rights in all the Gulf countries," said Antonia Calvo, the EC deputy head of mission for the region.
Al-Nahda is one of Saudi Arabia's oldest and most prominent non-governmental organisations, and its first foundation for women, founded in 1962 under the auspices of two respected princesses, Princess Sara al-Faisal and Princess Latifa al-Faisal.
Aside from helping thousands of poor women learn crafts and trades to help support themselves or augment family income, the group helps to provide housing to poor families and operates health awareness programmes for poor women.
The prize will be awarded in a Riyadh ceremony on December 17, said Calvo.
Women in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom face many restrictions, including not being allowed to travel or obtain identity documents without the permission of their male guardian.
They are also banned from driving, and should cover from head to toe when in public.
-- AFP
The Al-Nahda Philanthropic Society for Women won the first Chaillot Prize over several other rights groups for its range of activities, including preparing underprivileged and under-educated women for jobs, setting up a school for Down Syndrome children, and assisting needy families, according to the Commission.
The award was announced to mark the 60th anniversary on Wednesday of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, originally presented to the UN General Assembly at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris.
Several rights groups in member-states of the Gulf Cooperation Council were shortlisted for the prize, which brings the winner 6,000 euros (7,760 dollars).
"With the launching of the Chaillot Prize, the EC desires to acknowledge the extraordinary work which is done by some institutions and individuals in the field of human rights in all the Gulf countries," said Antonia Calvo, the EC deputy head of mission for the region.
Al-Nahda is one of Saudi Arabia's oldest and most prominent non-governmental organisations, and its first foundation for women, founded in 1962 under the auspices of two respected princesses, Princess Sara al-Faisal and Princess Latifa al-Faisal.
Aside from helping thousands of poor women learn crafts and trades to help support themselves or augment family income, the group helps to provide housing to poor families and operates health awareness programmes for poor women.
The prize will be awarded in a Riyadh ceremony on December 17, said Calvo.
Women in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom face many restrictions, including not being allowed to travel or obtain identity documents without the permission of their male guardian.
They are also banned from driving, and should cover from head to toe when in public.
-- AFP
Saudi Arabia: 'Don't strip me of my humanity'
Riyadh: The one-minute video airing on Saudi-owned satellite channels shows an Arab businessman screaming at his maid, pleading poverty when a domestic server asks to be paid, and denying an employee time off to visit his daughter in the hospital.
The clip closes with the businessman at prayer, pleading God for compassion, before fading to a line that reads: "He who is not merciful himself, will not be afforded mercy [by Allah]".
The video is part of the 'Mercy' campaign, a privately funded public service effort aimed at reminding Gulf Arabs that their religion requires them to treat employees, particularly their omnipresent maids and drivers, in a humane way.
The 'Mercy' campaign also includes brutally candid ads in Saudi newspapers, including one that depicts a maid peeking out from a doghouse with a chain around her neck. "Don't Strip Me of My Humanity!" the title reads.
"We want to raise public interest, to make people talk...and remind people what Islam is saying," says Kaswara Al Khatib, managing director of FullStop, the Jeddah-based advertising firm producing the public service ads, or PSAs.
Social responsibility
Al Khatib says the campaign is part of his company's social responsibility. "I look at what is going on around us and try to do something about it," he says.
The way some people treat their household help is "not good enough", he says, noting that 13-hour workdays are common and that living conditions are sometimes poor. "We think it's normal, but maybe we need to check, to go the extra mile," he says. "We need to treat them as equals."
Mercy is an important virtue in Islam. According to its scriptures, the Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) once said: "The merciful are shown mercy by the All-Merciful. Have mercy on those on earth, and the Lord of the Heavens will have mercy on you."
And before beginning most endeavours, Muslims invoke God's blessing by saying, "In the name of Allah the most Merciful, the most Compassionate."
Nonetheless, the treatment of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries is a sensitive and controversial matter, with critics charging that they are often underpaid and overworked.
There are an estimated 5.6 million foreigners living in Saudi Arabia, whose native population is 22.5 million, according to the CIA World Factbook. Many foreign workers are from poor Asian countries, such as Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
In July, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report about the conditions of the estimated 1.5 million household staff workers in Saudi Arabia. The report, titled As If I Am Not Human, said that these workers "receive less protection in Saudi Arabia than other categories of workers, exposing them to egregious abuses with little or no hope of redress.
"While many domestic workers enjoy decent work conditions," the report said, others endure "slavery-like conditions" that included "nonpayment of salaries, forced confinement, food deprivation, excessive workload, and instances of severe psychological, physical, and sexual abuse."
Exaggerated
The report caused a furore in Saudi Arabia, where newspaper columnists and government officials slammed it for being one-sided and exaggerated.
Many Saudis say that they, too, are victims, citing instances of maids running away to look for higher paying jobs after their employers had paid several hundred dollars to bring them to the kingdom.
"I'm sure there are abuses," Turki Al Sudairy, president of the government-appointed Human Rights Commission, said in a phone interview. "But a neutral person would think that all Saudis are doing this...We want a fair judgment. They [HRW] never thought that there are cases where the girls are hurting their employers."
Mazen Hayek, spokesman for the Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC) in Dubai, said that there has not been a lot of viewer feedback about the television ads of the 'Mercy' campaign.
He attributed this to the fact that "it's not an accusatory campaign, it's an awareness campaign...It calls for basic human rights and good treatment of human beings...It's not controversial".
MBC and MBC-owned Al Arabiya TV, which are popular throughout the Middle East, are both airing the three 'Mercy' videos "free of charge as part of its commitment to society," Hayek says.
MBC is owned by an in-law of the late Saudi King Fahd.
Rotana, another popular satellite television network among Arab audiences, which is owned by Saudi Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, is also planning to air the 'Mercy' videos, Al Khatib says.
Glimpses
Apart from the clip of the Arab businessman, two others show an Arab housewife shouting abuse at her maid, who appears to be Filipina. In one, she tells the maid to "get out of my sight" and in another, she yells at her "not to sleep until the house is spotless" as she apparently retires for the night.
The 'Mercy' ads are not appearing on Saudi government-owned television stations, Al Khatib says.
One Saudi newspaper offered the print version of the campaign declined to take it, but several others are running it, he added.
He says he'd only seen one negative comment so far from one newspaper reader. The $100,000 cost of the videos and print ads, which were all produced in Saudi Arabia, was borne by an individual who wanted to remain anonymous, Al Khatib says.
His firm has done other public service campaigns in the past, he adds, including ones against smoking and gossiping. Others have encouraged people to be good to their mothers, be devout Muslims, and demonstrate their patriotism by helping to improve Saudi society.
-- Caryle Murphy, Christian Science Monitor
The clip closes with the businessman at prayer, pleading God for compassion, before fading to a line that reads: "He who is not merciful himself, will not be afforded mercy [by Allah]".
The video is part of the 'Mercy' campaign, a privately funded public service effort aimed at reminding Gulf Arabs that their religion requires them to treat employees, particularly their omnipresent maids and drivers, in a humane way.
The 'Mercy' campaign also includes brutally candid ads in Saudi newspapers, including one that depicts a maid peeking out from a doghouse with a chain around her neck. "Don't Strip Me of My Humanity!" the title reads.
"We want to raise public interest, to make people talk...and remind people what Islam is saying," says Kaswara Al Khatib, managing director of FullStop, the Jeddah-based advertising firm producing the public service ads, or PSAs.
Social responsibility
Al Khatib says the campaign is part of his company's social responsibility. "I look at what is going on around us and try to do something about it," he says.
The way some people treat their household help is "not good enough", he says, noting that 13-hour workdays are common and that living conditions are sometimes poor. "We think it's normal, but maybe we need to check, to go the extra mile," he says. "We need to treat them as equals."
Mercy is an important virtue in Islam. According to its scriptures, the Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) once said: "The merciful are shown mercy by the All-Merciful. Have mercy on those on earth, and the Lord of the Heavens will have mercy on you."
And before beginning most endeavours, Muslims invoke God's blessing by saying, "In the name of Allah the most Merciful, the most Compassionate."
Nonetheless, the treatment of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries is a sensitive and controversial matter, with critics charging that they are often underpaid and overworked.
There are an estimated 5.6 million foreigners living in Saudi Arabia, whose native population is 22.5 million, according to the CIA World Factbook. Many foreign workers are from poor Asian countries, such as Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
In July, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report about the conditions of the estimated 1.5 million household staff workers in Saudi Arabia. The report, titled As If I Am Not Human, said that these workers "receive less protection in Saudi Arabia than other categories of workers, exposing them to egregious abuses with little or no hope of redress.
"While many domestic workers enjoy decent work conditions," the report said, others endure "slavery-like conditions" that included "nonpayment of salaries, forced confinement, food deprivation, excessive workload, and instances of severe psychological, physical, and sexual abuse."
Exaggerated
The report caused a furore in Saudi Arabia, where newspaper columnists and government officials slammed it for being one-sided and exaggerated.
Many Saudis say that they, too, are victims, citing instances of maids running away to look for higher paying jobs after their employers had paid several hundred dollars to bring them to the kingdom.
"I'm sure there are abuses," Turki Al Sudairy, president of the government-appointed Human Rights Commission, said in a phone interview. "But a neutral person would think that all Saudis are doing this...We want a fair judgment. They [HRW] never thought that there are cases where the girls are hurting their employers."
Mazen Hayek, spokesman for the Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC) in Dubai, said that there has not been a lot of viewer feedback about the television ads of the 'Mercy' campaign.
He attributed this to the fact that "it's not an accusatory campaign, it's an awareness campaign...It calls for basic human rights and good treatment of human beings...It's not controversial".
MBC and MBC-owned Al Arabiya TV, which are popular throughout the Middle East, are both airing the three 'Mercy' videos "free of charge as part of its commitment to society," Hayek says.
MBC is owned by an in-law of the late Saudi King Fahd.
Rotana, another popular satellite television network among Arab audiences, which is owned by Saudi Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, is also planning to air the 'Mercy' videos, Al Khatib says.
Glimpses
Apart from the clip of the Arab businessman, two others show an Arab housewife shouting abuse at her maid, who appears to be Filipina. In one, she tells the maid to "get out of my sight" and in another, she yells at her "not to sleep until the house is spotless" as she apparently retires for the night.
The 'Mercy' ads are not appearing on Saudi government-owned television stations, Al Khatib says.
One Saudi newspaper offered the print version of the campaign declined to take it, but several others are running it, he added.
He says he'd only seen one negative comment so far from one newspaper reader. The $100,000 cost of the videos and print ads, which were all produced in Saudi Arabia, was borne by an individual who wanted to remain anonymous, Al Khatib says.
His firm has done other public service campaigns in the past, he adds, including ones against smoking and gossiping. Others have encouraged people to be good to their mothers, be devout Muslims, and demonstrate their patriotism by helping to improve Saudi society.
-- Caryle Murphy, Christian Science Monitor
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Jordan: ZENID launches project with 6 Civil Society Organizations
Queen Zain Al Sharaf Institute for Development (ZENID) began its project of Eliminating Violence Against Women mid December. According to the project director, Lana Khoury, the project is funded by USAID. During November, the institute received several proposals for the project from 6 different NGOs. The project will be implemented with the cooperation of 6 NGOs in three regions; Northern, Central and Southern, for a duration of 3 years. The number of volunteers has totaled 89 women following extensive trainings given by ZENID on presentation and communication skills, human rights issues, gender issues, advocacy skills, proposal writing, and project management among others.
-- Al Ghad (Print Edition)
-- Al Ghad (Print Edition)
Egypt: Women enter Egyptian politics with help from church-sponsored program
CAIRO, Egypt (CNS) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., claimed she put 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling to women's electoral participation during the U.S. presidential primaries. In Egypt, the glass ceiling is much lower, yet a church-sponsored program is helping a handful of courageous women chip away at the restrictions of a political culture that would otherwise exclude them.
Fatheya Abdel-Rahman is one of the pioneers. Before she ran and won a seat on her local council in the Asyut region of Egypt, she didn't even know the local council existed. When she announced her candidacy for a council seat early this year, many in her village, including some of her relatives, criticized the 57-year-old for treading in territory where women are not supposed to trespass. But during her campaign she talked about everyday issues such as how local corruption was creating bread lines and letting the very poorest go hungry -- issues she said male candidates tended to ignore.
Her strategy worked. Abdel-Rahman was elected in April, and by September she made good on one campaign promise by inaugurating the village's only health clinic.
"Although I'm the first woman on the council, they have welcomed me. I have a voice," she told Catholic News Service. "I've got the respect today of people who used to mock me. There's a new vision in our community. Men and women come together in my house to talk about the future of the village."
Abdel-Rahman's political career was launched after she participated in political awareness training sponsored by Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' international relief and development agency.
For years CRS has worked with women in microfinance programs, and the agency decided to upgrade the empowerment of women from the economic to the political arena. Working with two local Egyptian groups for the last two years, CRS sponsored seminars on political awareness for women who participated in small-loan programs. The seminars focused on the nuts and bolts of democracy: how to register to vote, how to get a voter ID card, how to file for office, how to support each other during the campaign.
Eleven thousand women participated, and they selected women from their midst to pursue electoral office. Forty-eight actually initiated the process of registering their candidacy. Five of them made it on the ballot. Of those five, three won.
Laila Ahmed, project manager for CRS, said the meager number of women elected does not reflect the campaign's objectives.
"Our goal wasn't to get women elected. Our goal was to increase the participation of women, so that women leaders would emerge in the community and run, whether they won or not. We were lucky to have three winners in such a difficult environment," she said.
A U.S. government official whose agency has provided funding for the program said it is now widely accepted that if change is going to happen in poor communities, it will start with women.
"Many philosophers and political scientists say you judge the quality of a society by the quality of the life of its women. And when you raise the quality of life of its women you raise the quality of life for all," said Hilda Arellano, mission director of the U.S. Agency for International Development in Egypt, during a September ceremony honoring the newly elected women.
Earlier efforts to increase women's participation in Egyptian politics peaked in the '70s. In 1979, Egypt adopted a law guaranteeing women a quota of seats in the national legislature. Yet that was rescinded in 1986, and Egyptian lawmakers have rebuffed recent efforts to once again provide a minimum number of seats for women.
A more conservative cultural ethos is behind the resistance. The spread of Wahhabism, a conservative form of Islam that Egyptian migrant workers have brought home from Saudi Arabia, clearly has reduced the cultural space for women.
"In the past, women were more engaged in politics. But today, despite all the economic development in the country, some people are becoming more conservative and don't want women to participate," Hoda Sayed, another of the newly elected women councilors, told CNS.
Some women who tried to run for office received enthusiastic support from their families, Ahmed said, but others faced violent opposition.
"One husband threatened to beat his wife or burn down the house if she ran. Another came home with the papers to register her candidacy, but her husband ripped them up and said he would divorce her if she insisted. Some other women came up against competition from male members of their own clan, and tradition wouldn't allow them to compete against a relative in the election," Ahmed said.
She said the problem does not lie with Egypt's government.
"The government tries to encourage women to participate. The problem isn't the government; it's the people. The government isn't going to keep us from practicing democracy. The problem is that some men are difficult to persuade. Some of the women were prevented from running by the male clerks who receive the papers (they need) to file to run as a candidate. These men would keep asking for more papers, even though that's not legal," she said.
The women are setting all sorts of new trends. Sayed, a 34-year-old widow, also decided she wanted to go back to school to learn to read, so she started attending some of her children's classes.
"My kids were embarrassed at first to have their mother sitting with them but now they are all right with the idea. Now they help me prepare for exams," said Sayed, who is pushing the council to sponsor a literacy program in her village.
"Women make better politicians because we're closer to the people than men. We feel their suffering," said Abdel-Rahman.
Effectiveness could also be a campaign plank for Egyptian women.
"The men are watching us. When we opened the clinic, many people were surprised by the speed with which we got it approved and established. And so now they're asking why the men couldn't make it happen before," Abdel-Rahman said.
By Paul Jeffrey
Catholic News Service
Fatheya Abdel-Rahman is one of the pioneers. Before she ran and won a seat on her local council in the Asyut region of Egypt, she didn't even know the local council existed. When she announced her candidacy for a council seat early this year, many in her village, including some of her relatives, criticized the 57-year-old for treading in territory where women are not supposed to trespass. But during her campaign she talked about everyday issues such as how local corruption was creating bread lines and letting the very poorest go hungry -- issues she said male candidates tended to ignore.
Her strategy worked. Abdel-Rahman was elected in April, and by September she made good on one campaign promise by inaugurating the village's only health clinic.
"Although I'm the first woman on the council, they have welcomed me. I have a voice," she told Catholic News Service. "I've got the respect today of people who used to mock me. There's a new vision in our community. Men and women come together in my house to talk about the future of the village."
Abdel-Rahman's political career was launched after she participated in political awareness training sponsored by Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' international relief and development agency.
For years CRS has worked with women in microfinance programs, and the agency decided to upgrade the empowerment of women from the economic to the political arena. Working with two local Egyptian groups for the last two years, CRS sponsored seminars on political awareness for women who participated in small-loan programs. The seminars focused on the nuts and bolts of democracy: how to register to vote, how to get a voter ID card, how to file for office, how to support each other during the campaign.
Eleven thousand women participated, and they selected women from their midst to pursue electoral office. Forty-eight actually initiated the process of registering their candidacy. Five of them made it on the ballot. Of those five, three won.
Laila Ahmed, project manager for CRS, said the meager number of women elected does not reflect the campaign's objectives.
"Our goal wasn't to get women elected. Our goal was to increase the participation of women, so that women leaders would emerge in the community and run, whether they won or not. We were lucky to have three winners in such a difficult environment," she said.
A U.S. government official whose agency has provided funding for the program said it is now widely accepted that if change is going to happen in poor communities, it will start with women.
"Many philosophers and political scientists say you judge the quality of a society by the quality of the life of its women. And when you raise the quality of life of its women you raise the quality of life for all," said Hilda Arellano, mission director of the U.S. Agency for International Development in Egypt, during a September ceremony honoring the newly elected women.
Earlier efforts to increase women's participation in Egyptian politics peaked in the '70s. In 1979, Egypt adopted a law guaranteeing women a quota of seats in the national legislature. Yet that was rescinded in 1986, and Egyptian lawmakers have rebuffed recent efforts to once again provide a minimum number of seats for women.
A more conservative cultural ethos is behind the resistance. The spread of Wahhabism, a conservative form of Islam that Egyptian migrant workers have brought home from Saudi Arabia, clearly has reduced the cultural space for women.
"In the past, women were more engaged in politics. But today, despite all the economic development in the country, some people are becoming more conservative and don't want women to participate," Hoda Sayed, another of the newly elected women councilors, told CNS.
Some women who tried to run for office received enthusiastic support from their families, Ahmed said, but others faced violent opposition.
"One husband threatened to beat his wife or burn down the house if she ran. Another came home with the papers to register her candidacy, but her husband ripped them up and said he would divorce her if she insisted. Some other women came up against competition from male members of their own clan, and tradition wouldn't allow them to compete against a relative in the election," Ahmed said.
She said the problem does not lie with Egypt's government.
"The government tries to encourage women to participate. The problem isn't the government; it's the people. The government isn't going to keep us from practicing democracy. The problem is that some men are difficult to persuade. Some of the women were prevented from running by the male clerks who receive the papers (they need) to file to run as a candidate. These men would keep asking for more papers, even though that's not legal," she said.
The women are setting all sorts of new trends. Sayed, a 34-year-old widow, also decided she wanted to go back to school to learn to read, so she started attending some of her children's classes.
"My kids were embarrassed at first to have their mother sitting with them but now they are all right with the idea. Now they help me prepare for exams," said Sayed, who is pushing the council to sponsor a literacy program in her village.
"Women make better politicians because we're closer to the people than men. We feel their suffering," said Abdel-Rahman.
Effectiveness could also be a campaign plank for Egyptian women.
"The men are watching us. When we opened the clinic, many people were surprised by the speed with which we got it approved and established. And so now they're asking why the men couldn't make it happen before," Abdel-Rahman said.
By Paul Jeffrey
Catholic News Service
Monday, December 8, 2008
Iran: Amnesty Film On Iranian Women's Movement Striking Global Chord
A video shot by Amnesty International to show its support for the Iranian women's movement is attracting a surprising amount of worldwide attention.
The short but moving film -- posted on Amnesty's website and on YouTube -- was filmed at last month's Amnesty International U.K. Student Conference in the English city of Reading. It features evocative music and shows hundreds of students carrying banners and standing in support of the One Million Signatures Campaign to end discriminatory laws against women in Iran.
Not a single word is spoken.
Heather Harvey, Amnesty International U.K.'s Stop Violence Against Women campaign manager, says the annual student conference is always a big event for participants, but doesn't always generate a lot of media coverage.
This year was different, she says, with the video sparking calls of support from the Iranian diaspora, from Kurdish and other ethnic minority groups, and from student and women's organizations.
"I think it just shows how many people all around the world are actually watching what is happening in Iran and are supporting the women's campaign," Harvey told RFE/RL's Radio Farda.
She said the film is not a direct effort to change Iranian laws. That's for the authorities in Tehran and the Iranian people to do, she says.
"We are trying to show solidarity, to say to the women that we do support what they're campaigning for. They're simply campaigning for equality and for equal rights. [Those] equal rights are perfectly within the framework of the Iranian Constitution, within Islamic women's rights, [within] international human rights. There is no real conflict."
Harvey calls the One Million Signatures Campaign in Iran "extremely courageous and inspiring."
Women's rights activists in Iran are under increasing pressure from the government over their campaign for equal rights.
"What I find shocking, I suppose, is that the Iranian authorities see it as so threatening," Harvey said, "because all it is is women want to have an equal role in building and creating their society. If you exclude 50 percent of the population from decision-making, then ultimately your decisions are going to be flawed because you're not going to be coming up with policies or solutions that are really helpful to the whole of that society."
-- Radio Free Europe
The short but moving film -- posted on Amnesty's website and on YouTube -- was filmed at last month's Amnesty International U.K. Student Conference in the English city of Reading. It features evocative music and shows hundreds of students carrying banners and standing in support of the One Million Signatures Campaign to end discriminatory laws against women in Iran.
Not a single word is spoken.
Heather Harvey, Amnesty International U.K.'s Stop Violence Against Women campaign manager, says the annual student conference is always a big event for participants, but doesn't always generate a lot of media coverage.
This year was different, she says, with the video sparking calls of support from the Iranian diaspora, from Kurdish and other ethnic minority groups, and from student and women's organizations.
"I think it just shows how many people all around the world are actually watching what is happening in Iran and are supporting the women's campaign," Harvey told RFE/RL's Radio Farda.
She said the film is not a direct effort to change Iranian laws. That's for the authorities in Tehran and the Iranian people to do, she says.
"We are trying to show solidarity, to say to the women that we do support what they're campaigning for. They're simply campaigning for equality and for equal rights. [Those] equal rights are perfectly within the framework of the Iranian Constitution, within Islamic women's rights, [within] international human rights. There is no real conflict."
Harvey calls the One Million Signatures Campaign in Iran "extremely courageous and inspiring."
Women's rights activists in Iran are under increasing pressure from the government over their campaign for equal rights.
"What I find shocking, I suppose, is that the Iranian authorities see it as so threatening," Harvey said, "because all it is is women want to have an equal role in building and creating their society. If you exclude 50 percent of the population from decision-making, then ultimately your decisions are going to be flawed because you're not going to be coming up with policies or solutions that are really helpful to the whole of that society."
-- Radio Free Europe
MENA: Fashion’s reforming role
When an Israeli official was asked recently about prospects for peace with Syria, he argued that Bashar al-Assad wanted to take his country in a new direction, although the how and where were still riddles.
Then he offered a curious clue: to understand the Syrian leader’s ambition, look at his wife and how she dresses.
Asma al-Assad is an elegant, glamorous former banker. She was recently picked by Elle magazine as one of the best-dressed first ladies, which puts her in the company of Carla Bruni and Michelle Obama.
So does this tell us that Mr Assad, who has already mended fences with France, is also about to cosy up to the US and drop his other friend, Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad? Probably not, at least according to what Syrian officials have been saying. The strategic alliance, they maintain, is old and enduring and will remain so – peace or no peace with Israel.
Unsurprisingly, the Iranian president’s wife was not featured in Elle. I imagine she has little interest in designer outfits and prefers the same humble style as her husband, who is always clad in a modest beige windbreaker. In any case, who says a taste for fine clothes is incompatible with a militant, anti-western attitude?
Though the Israeli official’s theory regarding Mrs Assad is dubious, he takes his argument further, suggesting that the wives of Arab leaders are the projection of their husband’s messages.
Perhaps he is right in some cases. In Dubai, for example, the first lady is Princess Haya, wife of Sheikh Mohammad, the ruler, and daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan. She shares her husband’s love of horses and competitive sports, and plays a role in various international organisations, so she can be said to be projecting the image of a modern, outward-looking Arab woman.
The determination of the first lady of Qatar, Sheikha Moza, is also, in some ways, a reflection of Qatar’s ambitions. She is the driving force behind the importing of foreign educational techniques and, in true maverick tradition, she is seen as a power centre of her own.
But let us take the case of Jordan, where first ladies have been the epitome of glamour. Queen Rania’s promotion of better rights for women and her work on microfinance go hand in hand with her husband’s focus on economic development. But one of the most important aspects of their marriage is that she is of Palestinian origin. Yet, it would be dangerous to assume this suggests the Jordanian monarch wants to unite Jordan with Palestine. Indeed, he is desperate to see an independent Palestinian state established.
Compare Queen Rania’s profile with the invisibility of the first ladies of Saudi Arabia, which might suggest that their husbands have little interest in the place of women in society. But improving women’s lot has been a central plank of King Abdallah’s reforms – even if the process has been one step forward and two steps back.
What about Egypt? Suzanne Mubarak is among the region’s best-known promoters of women’s rights and presides over the National Council for Women. Hosni Mubarak, however, has far less pronounced reformist instincts. It took him decades to accept the necessity of radical economic reform and he has yet to see the benefit of political change.
So we should not read too much into the role of first ladies in the region, beyond the fact that they do improve the image of their often autocratic husbands.
The fact that Arab first ladies are becoming increasingly active, however, is not to be dismissed as a detail. In recent years, they have taken up a hugely important cause – that of women. Whatever their fashion taste – and whether they choose to wear the veil – they are helping to advance the debate over women’s rights. Less a reflection of their husband’s intentions, the Arab first ladies are a manifestation of an important evolution for women in the region.
By Roula Khalaf, Financial Times
Then he offered a curious clue: to understand the Syrian leader’s ambition, look at his wife and how she dresses.
Asma al-Assad is an elegant, glamorous former banker. She was recently picked by Elle magazine as one of the best-dressed first ladies, which puts her in the company of Carla Bruni and Michelle Obama.
So does this tell us that Mr Assad, who has already mended fences with France, is also about to cosy up to the US and drop his other friend, Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad? Probably not, at least according to what Syrian officials have been saying. The strategic alliance, they maintain, is old and enduring and will remain so – peace or no peace with Israel.
Unsurprisingly, the Iranian president’s wife was not featured in Elle. I imagine she has little interest in designer outfits and prefers the same humble style as her husband, who is always clad in a modest beige windbreaker. In any case, who says a taste for fine clothes is incompatible with a militant, anti-western attitude?
Though the Israeli official’s theory regarding Mrs Assad is dubious, he takes his argument further, suggesting that the wives of Arab leaders are the projection of their husband’s messages.
Perhaps he is right in some cases. In Dubai, for example, the first lady is Princess Haya, wife of Sheikh Mohammad, the ruler, and daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan. She shares her husband’s love of horses and competitive sports, and plays a role in various international organisations, so she can be said to be projecting the image of a modern, outward-looking Arab woman.
The determination of the first lady of Qatar, Sheikha Moza, is also, in some ways, a reflection of Qatar’s ambitions. She is the driving force behind the importing of foreign educational techniques and, in true maverick tradition, she is seen as a power centre of her own.
But let us take the case of Jordan, where first ladies have been the epitome of glamour. Queen Rania’s promotion of better rights for women and her work on microfinance go hand in hand with her husband’s focus on economic development. But one of the most important aspects of their marriage is that she is of Palestinian origin. Yet, it would be dangerous to assume this suggests the Jordanian monarch wants to unite Jordan with Palestine. Indeed, he is desperate to see an independent Palestinian state established.
Compare Queen Rania’s profile with the invisibility of the first ladies of Saudi Arabia, which might suggest that their husbands have little interest in the place of women in society. But improving women’s lot has been a central plank of King Abdallah’s reforms – even if the process has been one step forward and two steps back.
What about Egypt? Suzanne Mubarak is among the region’s best-known promoters of women’s rights and presides over the National Council for Women. Hosni Mubarak, however, has far less pronounced reformist instincts. It took him decades to accept the necessity of radical economic reform and he has yet to see the benefit of political change.
So we should not read too much into the role of first ladies in the region, beyond the fact that they do improve the image of their often autocratic husbands.
The fact that Arab first ladies are becoming increasingly active, however, is not to be dismissed as a detail. In recent years, they have taken up a hugely important cause – that of women. Whatever their fashion taste – and whether they choose to wear the veil – they are helping to advance the debate over women’s rights. Less a reflection of their husband’s intentions, the Arab first ladies are a manifestation of an important evolution for women in the region.
By Roula Khalaf, Financial Times
UAE: Women marginal in private sector
Most private employers lack a strategy to recruit Emirati women, but half plan to hire them in the coming year, a survey indicates.
The survey by the research company YouGov Siraj showed a willingness to add Emirati women to the workforce, but 60 per cent of businesses had not developed a strategy to employ more of them.
Only 13 per cent of private sector employees are Emirati women, the study found.
The study was commissioned by Tawteen, an initiative of the Emirates Foundation that promotes private sector employment for Emiratis. Emiratis of both sexes typically gravitate toward the public sector. Overall, Emiratis make up about 10 per cent of the private sector workforce.
But the study, preliminary details of which were provided to The National, shows that many Emirati women want to enter the workforce. A majority of women surveyed said it was better for families if mothers worked outside the home.
Asked to choose which of two statements they agreed with, 70 per cent picked “it is a mother’s responsibility to work so that she can be a role model for her children”. Eighteen per cent agreed that staying at home with children was best, to “see to their proper upbringing”.
“The survey may show that 70 per cent of women may say they want to work, even if they are mothers, but this still appears to be more an indication of attitudes than behaviour,” said Hussain Alothman, a professor of sociology at the University of Sharjah. “Because when you look at behaviour, it’s still a bit early in the game to say that women are beginning to readily participate in the workforce as they have done in education.” The majority of students in UAE postsecondary schools are women.
Prof Alothman said unlike women in other Arab countries, the issue of staying home and raising children was not the decisive factor in keeping Emirati women from taking jobs. “The issue is more about how the men perceive women being employed. Most local men do not want their wives to go outside the home to work.”
In the YouGov study, researchers surveyed and held focus-group discussions with women from Al Ain, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Subjects included women who were working, first-time job seekers and some who left work but wanted to return. Influential male figures, including fathers, brothers and husbands, also participated. The researchers also interviewed 51 employers.
Two major reasons for employers to hire Emirati women, the researchers found, were to “add prestige” to their organisations (45 per cent) and to promote “cultural know-how and social connections” (41 per cent).
Eighty-four per cent of the companies surveyed said they had introduced development and training opportunities for Emirati women. Sixty-three per cent offered flexible working hours and about half extended maternity leave. But the researchers concluded that private sector employers have not found the right formula.
Employers “need to persuade Emiratis that the private sector is a good choice by introducing family-friendly and culturally sensitive measures”, said Suzan Sandouka, the programme director of Tawteen.
Tawteen’s objective is to “address a number of existing of misconceptions about the private sector for Emiratis and to alleviate their anxieties identified in this research, such as lack of job security and stability, lack of prestige and lack of flexibility”.
Mohanned Tabishet, an anthropologist at UAE University, said shifting women away from the public sector would be difficult because of the perceived advantages of working for the state.
“In practical terms, the state has been more beneficial than the private sector. It pays more benefits and offers more stability,” Prof Tabishet said. “With the private sector you lack many of these benefits, like the housing stipends.
“Women look to the state as a secure form of employment. It’s a logical extension of their social surroundings.”
By Hugh Naylor, The National
The survey by the research company YouGov Siraj showed a willingness to add Emirati women to the workforce, but 60 per cent of businesses had not developed a strategy to employ more of them.
Only 13 per cent of private sector employees are Emirati women, the study found.
The study was commissioned by Tawteen, an initiative of the Emirates Foundation that promotes private sector employment for Emiratis. Emiratis of both sexes typically gravitate toward the public sector. Overall, Emiratis make up about 10 per cent of the private sector workforce.
But the study, preliminary details of which were provided to The National, shows that many Emirati women want to enter the workforce. A majority of women surveyed said it was better for families if mothers worked outside the home.
Asked to choose which of two statements they agreed with, 70 per cent picked “it is a mother’s responsibility to work so that she can be a role model for her children”. Eighteen per cent agreed that staying at home with children was best, to “see to their proper upbringing”.
“The survey may show that 70 per cent of women may say they want to work, even if they are mothers, but this still appears to be more an indication of attitudes than behaviour,” said Hussain Alothman, a professor of sociology at the University of Sharjah. “Because when you look at behaviour, it’s still a bit early in the game to say that women are beginning to readily participate in the workforce as they have done in education.” The majority of students in UAE postsecondary schools are women.
Prof Alothman said unlike women in other Arab countries, the issue of staying home and raising children was not the decisive factor in keeping Emirati women from taking jobs. “The issue is more about how the men perceive women being employed. Most local men do not want their wives to go outside the home to work.”
In the YouGov study, researchers surveyed and held focus-group discussions with women from Al Ain, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Subjects included women who were working, first-time job seekers and some who left work but wanted to return. Influential male figures, including fathers, brothers and husbands, also participated. The researchers also interviewed 51 employers.
Two major reasons for employers to hire Emirati women, the researchers found, were to “add prestige” to their organisations (45 per cent) and to promote “cultural know-how and social connections” (41 per cent).
Eighty-four per cent of the companies surveyed said they had introduced development and training opportunities for Emirati women. Sixty-three per cent offered flexible working hours and about half extended maternity leave. But the researchers concluded that private sector employers have not found the right formula.
Employers “need to persuade Emiratis that the private sector is a good choice by introducing family-friendly and culturally sensitive measures”, said Suzan Sandouka, the programme director of Tawteen.
Tawteen’s objective is to “address a number of existing of misconceptions about the private sector for Emiratis and to alleviate their anxieties identified in this research, such as lack of job security and stability, lack of prestige and lack of flexibility”.
Mohanned Tabishet, an anthropologist at UAE University, said shifting women away from the public sector would be difficult because of the perceived advantages of working for the state.
“In practical terms, the state has been more beneficial than the private sector. It pays more benefits and offers more stability,” Prof Tabishet said. “With the private sector you lack many of these benefits, like the housing stipends.
“Women look to the state as a secure form of employment. It’s a logical extension of their social surroundings.”
By Hugh Naylor, The National
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Yemen: Country comes last in Global Gender Gap report for the third year in a row
SANA'A, Dec. 6 — For the third consecutive year, Yemen ranks last in the Global Gender Gap Report 2008 published by the World Economic Forum with a slight improvement in its score compared to last year.
The Global Gender Gap Index scores can be interpreted as the percentage of the gap between women and men that has been closed. This year Yemen scored 0.466 compared to 0.45 in 2007. Each country is judged based on four categories: Economic participation and opportunity – outcomes on salaries, participation levels and access to high-skilled employment; Educational attainment – outcomes on access to basic and higher-level education; Political empowerment – outcomes on representation in decision-making structures; and Health and survival – outcomes on life expectancy and sex ratio.
The Global Gender Gap Index scores can be interpreted as the percentage of the gap between women and men that has been closed in health, economy, education and politics.
Yemen having a score less than 0.5 means that in these four categories together Yemeni women nearly have half the rights Yemeni men do.
However, the individual scores of each of the four categories vary. According to the report when it comes to health and survival, Yemeni women are almost as equal to men with a score of 0.98 while educational attainment comes second at 0.62, then comes economic participation at 0.25 and finally political empowerment which is 0.016.
Despite the slight progress from last year which was mainly in the health and survival category and education, the economic and political empowerment have dragged Yemen again to the bottom of the list of 130 countries world wide. The calculations include factors such as literacy rate, employment, healthy life expectancy, number of women in leading decision making positions.
Yemeni government's report
The Yemeni government had preceded the WEF's report by a local report which allegedly said that women participation has improved in the political, economic and social fields during the last few years.
Released by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, the third local report, which included statistics of the year 2008, said that women achieved progress in terms of decision making inside four political parties, General people's Congress, Islah, Socialist and Nasserite parties. It indicated that women assumed leading positions in these parties.
"Around 70 Yemeni women were able during 2006 to hold leading diplomatic positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," said the government's report, adding, "The number of women who held leading positions in the unions of different professions mounted to 371 and those who are members of these unions committees are 2,453.
Women who held the judge degree mounted to 67 including three women holding management positions in the Ministry of Justice and another five were nominated in the High Judiciary Institute. The rest 59 women were appointed as judges in the public courts and prosecutions.
However, the local report maintained that women participation in decision making is still low as only 13 women work in the leading positions in the Republic Presidency representing only 14 percent compared with 191 men in the same institution. Women participation in the Cabinet represents only 7 percent as only 18 women work there, whereas the number of men mounted to 131, according to the government's report.
Yet as co-author of the WEF report Ricardo Hausmann, Director of the Centre for International Development at Harvard University in USA explains that the index assesses countries on how well they are dividing their resources and opportunities among their male and female populations, regardless of the overall levels of these resources and opportunities. Thus, the Index does not penalize those countries that have low levels of education overall, for example, but rather those where the distribution of education is uneven between women and men.
A third report
A shadow report on women's empowerment in light of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women prepared by civil society organizations in Yemen contradicts the government's report, confirming that women participation is still low in the leading positions of the political parties.
Presented to the 41th session of CEDAW's Committee last May, the report said that there are no signs that indicate the Yemeni government works toward enhancing women participation through adopting the quota system in elections and the system of closed constituencies.
It pointed out that women's participation is only 0.33 percent in the parliament and 0.08 percent in the local councils.
While the report said that, in the field of health care, maternal mortality rate during delivery has decreased during 2008, it confirmed that the gap between men and women is still big in the different levels of education. It pointed out that curriculum, despite the recent change on it, still highlights the stereotyped roles of women.
Nabila Al-Mufti , a lawyer and women rights activist, maintains that improving women situation in Yemen is correlated with a solution to the problem of codification of laws and lack of awareness of women issues among members of the parliament in a fair way. She said that the situation is also related with the society adoption of such issues, noting that the society is still far from women issues.
Asked whether Islam is a barrier in front of women participation, Al-Mufti said that Islam doesn't hinder women progress as it contains all principles of justice, pointing out that the problem consists in lack of awareness of the Islamic teachings.
Although recent political debates especially regarding the probable boycott of the opposition parties of the coming parliamentary elections in April 2009, the ruling party is strongly hinting at promoting women in the political sphere and recognizing a quota of at least ten percent of the party's nominees in the parliament.
"The boycott of the opposition would be an excellent opportunity to for women's political movement as they can transform the competition from political between different parties, to social by integrating minorities such as women in the political competition," said Dr. Ahmed Al-Sofi Director of the Yemeni Institute for Developing Democracy and a prominent figure at the ruling party.
And although the Women's National Committee which is the government machinery for empowering women praised the President's pledge to allocate 15 percent of the parliamentary seats for women, Hooria Mashhour, deputy director of the committee admitted that the way is still too long in front of Yemeni women to reach their targets. She said that three issues imposed themselves on Yemeni women during 2008 on the national level. The first one was the amendment of laws related to women in the Yemeni legislation. She said that out of 20 articles that represent discrimination against women, only five were amended, the second issue is women political participation, and the third being safe motherhood.
The Global picture
Norway leads the world in closing the gender gap between men and women, according to the overall ranking in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2008. Three other Nordic countries – Finland (2), Sweden (3) and Iceland (4) – also top the Report’s Gender Gap Index. Previously higher ranking countries such as Germany (11), United Kingdom (13) and Spain (17) slipped down the Index but stayed in the top 20, while Netherlands (9), Latvia (10), Sri Lanka (12) and France (15) made significant gains.
The United States (27) made progress this year and closed gender gaps in estimated earned income and perceived income gaps for similar work. The United States also made strides in political empowerment, driven by increased participation of women in political decision-making positions. Switzerland’s (14) advancement up the rankings was based on large increases in the percentage of women in parliament and those in ministerial-level positions. France (15) improved significantly for the third consecutive year, thanks to gains in both economic participation and political empowerment. China (57) gains 17 places relative to last year driven by narrowing gender gaps in educational attainment, economic participation and political participation. Brazil (73) improves on education and economic participation but falls to 110th place in political empowerment. In the bottom half of the rankings, countries such as Tunisia (103), Jordan (104) and United Arab Emirates (105) made overall gains, driven by narrower gaps in literacy, and in the case of Jordan and the UAE, in the percentage of women in political decision-making positions. Syria (107), Ethiopia (122) and Saudi Arabia (128) not only fell farther in the relative ranking, but also showed a drop in scores relative to their own performance last year.
According to the report, the three highest ranking countries have closed a little over 80% of their gender gaps, while the lowest ranking country has closed only a little over 45% of its gender gap. Out of the 128 countries covered in both 2007 and 2008, more than two-thirds have posted gains in overall index scores, indicating that the world in general has made progress towards equality between men and women. Additionally, taking averages across the subindexes for these 128 countries reveals that, globally, progress has been made on narrowing the gaps in educational attainment, political empowerment and economic participation, while the gap in health has widened.
“Greater representation of women in senior leadership positions within governments and financial institutions is vital not only to find solutions to the current economic turmoil, but to stave off such crises in future. At the World Economic Forum, we put strong emphasis on addressing this challenge with a multi-stakeholder approach through our global and regional Gender Parity Groups,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. These communities of highly influential leaders from business, politics, academia, media and civil society – 50% women and 50% men – seek to share best practices and identify the most effective strategies to optimize the use of talent.
The Global Gender Gap Report 2008 is based on the innovative new methodology introduced in 2006 and includes detailed profiles that provide insight into the economic, legal and social aspects of the gender gap in each country. The Report measures the size of the gender gap in four critical areas of inequality between men and women.
The Report also provides some evidence on the link between the gender gap and the economic performance of countries. “Our work shows a strong correlation between competitiveness and the gender gap scores. While this does not imply causality, the possible theoretical underpinnings of this link are clear: countries that do not fully capitalize effectively on one-half of their human resources run the risk of undermining their competitive potential. We hope to highlight the economic incentive behind empowering women, in addition to promoting equality as a basic human right,” said Laura Tyson, co-author of the report and Professor of Business Administration and Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, USA.
“The Report reveals that progress is not only possible, but possible in a relatively short space of time: calculating the Index as far back as data would allow, we found that countries such as Chile, Spain, Turkey and Finland have closed between 5 and 10 percentage points of their respective gender gaps over just the past eight years. When we interpret these percentage changes at the societal level, we see that hundreds of thousands of lives are impacted, and at the economic level, we see enormous potential competitiveness gains,” said Saadia Zahidi, Head of Constituents at the World Economic Forum and co-author of the WEF Global Gender Gap report.
The World Economic Forum continues to expand geographic coverage in the Report. Featuring a total of 130 countries, this year’s Report provides an insight into the gaps between women and men in over 92% of the world’s population. Coverage has been expanded this year to include Barbados and Brunei Daressalam. The Report covers all current and candidate European Union countries, 23 from Latin America and the Caribbean, 23 from sub-Saharan Africa, over 20 from Asia and 15 from the Middle East and North Africa. Thirteen out of the 14 variables used to create the Index are from publicly available “hard data” indicators from international organizations, such as the International Labor Organization, the United Nations Development Program and the World Health Organization.
-- Yemen Times
The Global Gender Gap Index scores can be interpreted as the percentage of the gap between women and men that has been closed. This year Yemen scored 0.466 compared to 0.45 in 2007. Each country is judged based on four categories: Economic participation and opportunity – outcomes on salaries, participation levels and access to high-skilled employment; Educational attainment – outcomes on access to basic and higher-level education; Political empowerment – outcomes on representation in decision-making structures; and Health and survival – outcomes on life expectancy and sex ratio.
The Global Gender Gap Index scores can be interpreted as the percentage of the gap between women and men that has been closed in health, economy, education and politics.
Yemen having a score less than 0.5 means that in these four categories together Yemeni women nearly have half the rights Yemeni men do.
However, the individual scores of each of the four categories vary. According to the report when it comes to health and survival, Yemeni women are almost as equal to men with a score of 0.98 while educational attainment comes second at 0.62, then comes economic participation at 0.25 and finally political empowerment which is 0.016.
Despite the slight progress from last year which was mainly in the health and survival category and education, the economic and political empowerment have dragged Yemen again to the bottom of the list of 130 countries world wide. The calculations include factors such as literacy rate, employment, healthy life expectancy, number of women in leading decision making positions.
Yemeni government's report
The Yemeni government had preceded the WEF's report by a local report which allegedly said that women participation has improved in the political, economic and social fields during the last few years.
Released by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, the third local report, which included statistics of the year 2008, said that women achieved progress in terms of decision making inside four political parties, General people's Congress, Islah, Socialist and Nasserite parties. It indicated that women assumed leading positions in these parties.
"Around 70 Yemeni women were able during 2006 to hold leading diplomatic positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," said the government's report, adding, "The number of women who held leading positions in the unions of different professions mounted to 371 and those who are members of these unions committees are 2,453.
Women who held the judge degree mounted to 67 including three women holding management positions in the Ministry of Justice and another five were nominated in the High Judiciary Institute. The rest 59 women were appointed as judges in the public courts and prosecutions.
However, the local report maintained that women participation in decision making is still low as only 13 women work in the leading positions in the Republic Presidency representing only 14 percent compared with 191 men in the same institution. Women participation in the Cabinet represents only 7 percent as only 18 women work there, whereas the number of men mounted to 131, according to the government's report.
Yet as co-author of the WEF report Ricardo Hausmann, Director of the Centre for International Development at Harvard University in USA explains that the index assesses countries on how well they are dividing their resources and opportunities among their male and female populations, regardless of the overall levels of these resources and opportunities. Thus, the Index does not penalize those countries that have low levels of education overall, for example, but rather those where the distribution of education is uneven between women and men.
A third report
A shadow report on women's empowerment in light of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women prepared by civil society organizations in Yemen contradicts the government's report, confirming that women participation is still low in the leading positions of the political parties.
Presented to the 41th session of CEDAW's Committee last May, the report said that there are no signs that indicate the Yemeni government works toward enhancing women participation through adopting the quota system in elections and the system of closed constituencies.
It pointed out that women's participation is only 0.33 percent in the parliament and 0.08 percent in the local councils.
While the report said that, in the field of health care, maternal mortality rate during delivery has decreased during 2008, it confirmed that the gap between men and women is still big in the different levels of education. It pointed out that curriculum, despite the recent change on it, still highlights the stereotyped roles of women.
Nabila Al-Mufti , a lawyer and women rights activist, maintains that improving women situation in Yemen is correlated with a solution to the problem of codification of laws and lack of awareness of women issues among members of the parliament in a fair way. She said that the situation is also related with the society adoption of such issues, noting that the society is still far from women issues.
Asked whether Islam is a barrier in front of women participation, Al-Mufti said that Islam doesn't hinder women progress as it contains all principles of justice, pointing out that the problem consists in lack of awareness of the Islamic teachings.
Although recent political debates especially regarding the probable boycott of the opposition parties of the coming parliamentary elections in April 2009, the ruling party is strongly hinting at promoting women in the political sphere and recognizing a quota of at least ten percent of the party's nominees in the parliament.
"The boycott of the opposition would be an excellent opportunity to for women's political movement as they can transform the competition from political between different parties, to social by integrating minorities such as women in the political competition," said Dr. Ahmed Al-Sofi Director of the Yemeni Institute for Developing Democracy and a prominent figure at the ruling party.
And although the Women's National Committee which is the government machinery for empowering women praised the President's pledge to allocate 15 percent of the parliamentary seats for women, Hooria Mashhour, deputy director of the committee admitted that the way is still too long in front of Yemeni women to reach their targets. She said that three issues imposed themselves on Yemeni women during 2008 on the national level. The first one was the amendment of laws related to women in the Yemeni legislation. She said that out of 20 articles that represent discrimination against women, only five were amended, the second issue is women political participation, and the third being safe motherhood.
The Global picture
Norway leads the world in closing the gender gap between men and women, according to the overall ranking in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2008. Three other Nordic countries – Finland (2), Sweden (3) and Iceland (4) – also top the Report’s Gender Gap Index. Previously higher ranking countries such as Germany (11), United Kingdom (13) and Spain (17) slipped down the Index but stayed in the top 20, while Netherlands (9), Latvia (10), Sri Lanka (12) and France (15) made significant gains.
The United States (27) made progress this year and closed gender gaps in estimated earned income and perceived income gaps for similar work. The United States also made strides in political empowerment, driven by increased participation of women in political decision-making positions. Switzerland’s (14) advancement up the rankings was based on large increases in the percentage of women in parliament and those in ministerial-level positions. France (15) improved significantly for the third consecutive year, thanks to gains in both economic participation and political empowerment. China (57) gains 17 places relative to last year driven by narrowing gender gaps in educational attainment, economic participation and political participation. Brazil (73) improves on education and economic participation but falls to 110th place in political empowerment. In the bottom half of the rankings, countries such as Tunisia (103), Jordan (104) and United Arab Emirates (105) made overall gains, driven by narrower gaps in literacy, and in the case of Jordan and the UAE, in the percentage of women in political decision-making positions. Syria (107), Ethiopia (122) and Saudi Arabia (128) not only fell farther in the relative ranking, but also showed a drop in scores relative to their own performance last year.
According to the report, the three highest ranking countries have closed a little over 80% of their gender gaps, while the lowest ranking country has closed only a little over 45% of its gender gap. Out of the 128 countries covered in both 2007 and 2008, more than two-thirds have posted gains in overall index scores, indicating that the world in general has made progress towards equality between men and women. Additionally, taking averages across the subindexes for these 128 countries reveals that, globally, progress has been made on narrowing the gaps in educational attainment, political empowerment and economic participation, while the gap in health has widened.
“Greater representation of women in senior leadership positions within governments and financial institutions is vital not only to find solutions to the current economic turmoil, but to stave off such crises in future. At the World Economic Forum, we put strong emphasis on addressing this challenge with a multi-stakeholder approach through our global and regional Gender Parity Groups,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. These communities of highly influential leaders from business, politics, academia, media and civil society – 50% women and 50% men – seek to share best practices and identify the most effective strategies to optimize the use of talent.
The Global Gender Gap Report 2008 is based on the innovative new methodology introduced in 2006 and includes detailed profiles that provide insight into the economic, legal and social aspects of the gender gap in each country. The Report measures the size of the gender gap in four critical areas of inequality between men and women.
The Report also provides some evidence on the link between the gender gap and the economic performance of countries. “Our work shows a strong correlation between competitiveness and the gender gap scores. While this does not imply causality, the possible theoretical underpinnings of this link are clear: countries that do not fully capitalize effectively on one-half of their human resources run the risk of undermining their competitive potential. We hope to highlight the economic incentive behind empowering women, in addition to promoting equality as a basic human right,” said Laura Tyson, co-author of the report and Professor of Business Administration and Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, USA.
“The Report reveals that progress is not only possible, but possible in a relatively short space of time: calculating the Index as far back as data would allow, we found that countries such as Chile, Spain, Turkey and Finland have closed between 5 and 10 percentage points of their respective gender gaps over just the past eight years. When we interpret these percentage changes at the societal level, we see that hundreds of thousands of lives are impacted, and at the economic level, we see enormous potential competitiveness gains,” said Saadia Zahidi, Head of Constituents at the World Economic Forum and co-author of the WEF Global Gender Gap report.
The World Economic Forum continues to expand geographic coverage in the Report. Featuring a total of 130 countries, this year’s Report provides an insight into the gaps between women and men in over 92% of the world’s population. Coverage has been expanded this year to include Barbados and Brunei Daressalam. The Report covers all current and candidate European Union countries, 23 from Latin America and the Caribbean, 23 from sub-Saharan Africa, over 20 from Asia and 15 from the Middle East and North Africa. Thirteen out of the 14 variables used to create the Index are from publicly available “hard data” indicators from international organizations, such as the International Labor Organization, the United Nations Development Program and the World Health Organization.
-- Yemen Times
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