Sheikh Hani Al-Siba’i, an Egyptian scholar recently got properly schooled by a female Lebanese TV show host. Al-Siba’i thought that it was quite okay to behave like an ass while asserting that he is “serving the idea in which he believes.” They were discussing reports of Christians joining the Islamic fundamentalist group (ISIS).
TV host Rima Karaki, who is a university professor herself, eventually cut the ideological, misogynist son of a maggot-infested gargoyle off the air.
Well played Rima.
This is brilliant!
Last month I published a post concerning the ridiculous assertion by a Saudi cleric that driving vehicles causes harm to women’s ovaries and pelvis. Women drivers are frowned upon in Saudi Arabia and although there’s no actual law forbidding them from driving, licences are not issued to them.
This weekend, there were reports of at least 14 women from Jeddah, Mecca and the Eastern Province being arrested for participating in a defiance campaign. It’s likely that they’ll be fined, or some could even lose their jobs.
Saudi Arabia features prominently on this BBC News World report, as a country with the least equality between men and women. The map below actually fingers most of the Middle East and large parts of North Africa as the worse places a woman could find herself. And I’m going to refrain from pointing out the correlation between degree of religiosity in these countries and the disdain for women’s rights… Oh crap! I just did!
On a lighter but welcome note, there are still good men in Saudi Arabia, as this YouTube video which has gone viral points out. Comedian Hisham Fageeh and some friends did a send-up of Bob Marley’s No Women, No Cry to illustrate just how absurd this driving ban is.
One can only hope these pathetic clerics relent and allow women to drive soon, among other human rights they’re currently denied.
You’d think that women would be averse to supporting patriarchal attitudes, but it would seem that’s not the case when it comes to religion and politics. There’s probably a fairly unpalatable number of women all over the world who see no problem in rationalizing the acceptance of patriarchy when it conflicts with their religious, political and cultural beliefs.
And we have them right here in South Africa too. The ANC Women’s League (ANCWL), who for all intents and purposes function merely as the ANC’s cheerleaders, are adamant that the time is not right for a female leader of the party, and by extension, President of the country. Why?
Well according to the League leaders, it’s against processes, traditions and does not support continuity and healing of a visibly broken organization.
So that makes it alright to continue supporting a male leader who is without doubt one of the worst (in all possible areas) that South Africa has ever had the misfortune to have as a President. And believe me, this guy makes some of the apartheid era Presidents and Prime Ministers look positively angelic.
But does the ANC have the calibre of women in their ranks who could become a future President? According to Jen Thorpe writing in Thought Leader, the pickings are mighty slim, and if one looks at the track record of ANC women in key government positions, the picture is dismal indeed. There are however one or two who have done quite a good job at running their portfolios, but would they be up to running a country?
The only way to find out is to give them the opportunity. Hell, I sincerely doubt they could do a worse job than the sod who’s currently lauding it over his subjects… even if they tried.
But, it seems that they will have to wait until processes and traditions change, and the ANC heals itself. You know as well as I, that that is not going to happen until Jesus returns.
It therefore leaves women with just two more options if they want to see a female President. Either vote for the opposition Democratic Alliance or Agang, both parties having fairly strong women leaders.
And since female voters probably outnumber male, that is quite an appetizing prospect, one that South Africa sorely needs.
Religion is a pretty tenuous thing at best to seek sanctuary in, but most people seem to find comfort there, and as much as I speak out against this aberration, I realise that it is going to take a long long time to totally rid the world of its hold, if ever. So imagine how despondent it must feel to those seeking sanctuary in its bosom, to be discriminated against on the basis of their gender.
Far be it for me to claim to know how women feel about being discriminated against, but at least I can relate, having endured victimization under apartheid in South Africa. So I do know that it must feel rotten.
Just about every religion I’ve come across, has discriminated against women, some more so than others. All on the basis of interpretation of obscure and archaic religious texts, written in a time when men had not much more knowledge than garden snails. And let’s be clear about it; it’s men (99.99% of the time) who are the perpetrators of this discrimination.
It’s shocking and disheartening to learn on a daily basis how religiously inspired men around the world, treat women with contempt, even going so far as to maim, mutilate and kill them, because of some insignificant act committed, which is deemed to be in violation of a religious doctrine.
Just the other day, I read with utter dismay how the number of women imprisoned in Afghanistan in the last 18 months has risen by 50%, to 600. Their offenses which range from running away from abusive husbands, family and forced marriages, to being the victims of sexual abuse, are regarded as “moral crimes.” What kind of mindset can turn the victim of sexual assault into a moral criminal?
Afghanistan is a shit hole, but this kind of thing happens in many other countries which are considered advanced, even civilized by modern standards. A proposed Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) law in Afghanistan is being blocked by religiously inspired lawmakers who argue that some sections are un-Islamic. That is incomprehensible and utterly devoid of sane or rational thinking.
In the Middle and Far East, women are subject to other forms of discrimination such as limitations on basic freedoms like free movement, enforcement of dress codes, and being prevented from driving vehicles. We are told by self-appointed moralists that these basic rights infringe on certain religious tenets. It’s however by no means any different in the highly advanced West where lesbians face the threat of violence, and discrimination against termination of pregnancy, or Africa where female genital mutilation is still enforced.
No amount of cuss words can describe how utterly deprived these beliefs are.The common denominator is religion, and patriarchal men who hide behind it, spreading their hatred… and fear of women.
If this is the treatment meted out to god-fearing women, I can only shudder in disgust at what non-believing women have to go through.
The use of religion and culture to violate women’s rights is a vile and cowardly pursuit, but is distressingly prevalent throughout the world.
The U.N. Commission on the Status of Woman which has been lobbying since 1946 for the advancement of women, is at the moment pushing for acceptance of the declaration on woman’s rights. However Egypt, Iran and Russia together with the Vatican (no surprises there!) are “threatening to derail the women’s rights declaration by objecting to language on sexual, reproductive and gay rights.” Egypt in opposition, has unashamedly proposed an amendment which will allow men to once again hide behind religious and cultural values.
In a disturbing parallel move, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood posted a statement on its website which claims that the declaration will among other things, destroy society by allowing women to travel freely, work, use contraception and control the household finances. That kind of thinking would be hysterical if it was not so shockingly infantile and backward. Even more worrying is that according to the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies, this is a position favoured by many Arab governments.
You will no doubt laugh hysterically, but these are the ten objections to the declaration contained in the statement on the Muslim Brotherhood’s website, that they believe will lead to decadence:
This retarded mentality roughly translates into “Woe be unto men if we can’t have multiple wives, but heaven help us if we allow them to travel freely, use contraception, file for divorce, accuse us of rape, decide how to spend money… and fuck other women.”
Why are these men so afraid of women?
Lenny Says 