Archive for the 'violence against women' Category

No license to abuse in anyone’s culture

Published by
Sarah
at June 7, 2007 in Politics, Uncategorized, law, media, race, racism, violence and violence against women. 0 Comments

The issue of violence against women, and particularly violence within certain cultural and religious communities have characterised some of the most heated debates on race, culture , immigration and women’s rights in recent times.

Wo! magazine interviews two academics- Dr. Christina Ho, a lecturer in Social Inquiry at the Faulty of Humanities and Social Science, and Penny Crofts a senior lecturer in law, at the University of Technology, Sydney- at the “No license to abuse” conference in Bankstown. The forum was a one-day event which aimed to address awareness about racialised violence against women survivors of domestic violence in particular the access women from diverse backgrounds have in accessing protection from the law.

We talk Dr. Chris Ho to on her address “Hijacking Feminism- The politics of Women’s Rights in contemporary Australia” in which Dr. Ho looks at the representation of violence against women in Australian politics. Dr. Ho argues that violence against women is a global issue but many Australian commentators portray it as a problem of cultural minorities; in particular within the Lebanese or Muslim communities. She addresses why conservative commentators are only concerned with violence against women when men of minority backgrounds are the perpetrators. Dr. Ho analyses the politics behind these current debates and offers some thoughts on how advocates of women’s rights can respond.

We also have a chat to Penny Crofts, a specialist in criminal law theory. In her address “Tolerating intolerance: Liberal Culturalism and Ethnicity in Provocation” Penny discusses the legal principles relating to the cultural defence in domestic violence cases. In her overview of the use of the Provocation defence in law she refers to theoretical framweorks which argue that liberal cultures are not ‘colour-blind’ and she poses such questions as: is the court truly neutral? If so, what capacity does the court have to recognise cultural differences; and how far should cultural differences be recognised if at all where there are values of bodily integrity to be resolved.

Gang rape filmed on mobile phone

Published by
Sarah
at April 6, 2007 in rape, rape culture, violence and violence against women. 1 Comment

From the Herald

A TEENAGER was brutally raped by a gang of boys who filmed the scene on their mobile phones, then sent the footage to school friends, police said yesterday.

Five boys have been charged with aggravated sexual assault of the 17-year-old girl, and distributing a video of the attack.


Why?

For Lorraine Corne, a Sydney clinical psychologist, the seeds of that answer might be found on our televisions.

“The first thing that occurs to me is that in our society we allow people to be videoed in all sorts of degrading ways,” she said.

“For example, in Big Brother, in internet porn and in Funniest Home Videos. In all of these there is humiliation. And there are no boundaries.”

Lily Mazahery on the Ayatollah’s theocracy

Published by
Sarah
at December 21, 2006 in Ayatollah's Theocracy, Islam, fundamentalism, law, religion, violence against women and women in power. 0 Comments

A transcript of an awesome speech made by an Iranian-American attorney Lily Mazahery, Head of the Washington-based Legal Rights Institute, on the human rights situation of women and girls under the Iranian legal system. 

These are the type of women that western feminists need to get behind. This links to my earlier thread about the powerful potential of western muslim women to instigate change via non-violent means through the power of ideas.

This kind of global grassroots movement by people who are deeply rooted and have a genuine passion and knowledge of the societies they are attempting to reform makes them powerful agents for change.

Such awe-inspiring women include figures such as  Iranian activist Mehrangiz Kar and Shirin Ebadi- winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize and a personal hero of mine.

This ‘insider’ status gives these women a unique mandate- A free pass from the ‘imperialist’ tag of those who speak without such ‘insider’ status or use human rights atrocities and feminist arguments as a cover for racist agendas.

 

 

 

UNICEF report: 7000 fewer girls born in India every day

Published by
Anna
at December 15, 2006 in World, struggle and violence against women. 1 Comment

In some states, the minister said, newborn girls have been killed by pouring sand or tobacco juice into their nostrils.

“The minute the child is born and she opens her mouth to cry, they put sand into her mouth and her nostrils so she chokes and dies,” Chowdhury said, referring to cases in the western desert state of Rajasthan.

“They bury infants into pots alive and bury the pots. They put tobacco into her mouth. They hang them upside down like a bunch of flowers to dry,” she said.

“We have more passion for tigers of this country. We have people fighting for stray dogs on the road. But you have a whole society that ruthlessly hunts down girl children.”

That’s the Indian Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury talking about the still prevalant practice of female infanticide in India. According to her 10 million girl children have been killed in India in the past 20 years.

Unfortunately it will continue to hapen until women gain even a semblance of equality in that country but that’s far from realised. Girl children will continue to be thought of as not only worthless but a burden until they have the means to economic equality, education and social acceptance.

what day is it?

Published by
outfox
at December 6, 2006 in Politics, celebration, things to read and violence against women. 2 Comments

So, does everybody know that Amnesty Internationals’ 16 Days of Activism is on?

 Ok,now you do.

A global campaign, the 16 Days calls for an end to violence against women. Winding up on December 10th, International Human Rights Day, it symbolically links women’s rights with human rights.   
This year Amnesty International Australia’s aiming to collect 16,000 signatures in support of the Australian Government developing a National Plan of Action towards eliminating violence against women. 

It’s not too late to sign the petition or  check out events in several states including music festivals, art exhibits, letter writing events and a rally.  I’m feeling lucky to be in Brisbane again, so I can head to the That Takes Ovaries! open mike event this Friday.   


Since the release of That Takes Ovaries!, Rivka Solomon’s inspiring collection of real life women’s stories of courage, open mike and theatre events have been held worldwide for women to share their personal stories of bravery.
As part of the 16 Days of Activism it’s coming to Brisbane, with Wonder Woman, aka performance artist Evelyn Hartogh flying in to MC. Women are invited to join in the fun and share their tales this Friday at Avid Reader West End, from 5.20pm.  Men welcome too, so long as your stories about a woman in your life who’s done something that took Ovaries!

Should be good.

 

Women’s lives don’t matter: Nicaragua

Published by
Anna
at November 21, 2006 in Politics, World, abortion, religion, struggle and violence against women. 2 Comments

Abortion has long been illegal in Nicaragua but had, up until now, been allowed where it would save the woman’s life if three doctors testified that the woman would die if she didn’t undergo the procedure. Now even that exception has been ripped away from Nicaraguan women.

Some figures from the Guttmacher Intstitute to keep in mind. In Nicaragua:

  • A quarter of all births (35,000) are among 15-19 year-olds but 86 per cent don’t want a child within the next two years and 36 per cent don’t have adequate access to contraception.
  • Half of 20-25 year old women had had a child before their 20th birthday
  • Nearly half of all births are unplanned
  • The rate of childbirth among adolescents is the highest out of any other Central American country.
  • Also higher than any other Central American country is the rate of maternal deaths which is 230 for every 100,000 births.

The WHO estimates that 78,000 women die from illegal and unsafe abortions each year (13 per cent of maternal deaths). Most of those of course occuring in developing countries such as Nicaragua. So even if access to a cheap illegal abortion is possible there’s no real out for these women. Imagine being powerless knowing that your death was imminent because your government couldn’t give a fuck. Pro-life indeed.

The leftist, Sandanista and former president Daniel Ortega sold women up shit creek in order to try to gain support from the Roman Catholic voting block and regain presidency. According to the linked NYTimes article his support for the ammendment was critical.

Pakistani women protest rape law ammendments

Published by
Anna
at November 21, 2006 in Islam, World, liberalism, religion and violence against women. 2 Comments

What do you make of this?

Hundreds of female supporters of Pakistan’s largest Islamic group protested today against government amendments to controversial rape laws.

Some 800 women, many wearing veils, attended the rally in a downtown district of the capital, Islamabad.

They were supporters Jamaat-e-Islami, a militant-linked Islamic charity.

These are strong women, with a strong voice. Not just puppets of the radical Jamaat-e-Islami wing from what I can tell. And yet they are protesting ammendments that could prevent a lot of suffering on behalf of women who are locked up for things such as ‘adultery’ - even if the sex act was forced.Shakira Hussein explores their mission in an article for New Matilda :

The JI women have no time for the likes of Jehangir. They claim that they are the true defenders of Pakistani women and that secular advocates of women’s rights are puppets of the West. They say that without the protection of the Hudood Ordinances, Pakistani women would suffer the plight of Western women — forced to dress and behave according to the lewd desires of men. Just as many in the West refuse to believe that a woman might choose to wear the hijab, JI women find it hard to believe that a woman would choose to wear jeans that display her bum cleavage.

In viewing Western or Westernised women primarily as victims, the JI women differ from their male counterparts, who view ‘immodest’ women in terms of the threat they pose to social order. While Islamist men tend to believe that it is immoral women who lead men (and other women) from the path of virtue, many Islamist women believe that ‘fallen’ women have been coerced or manipulated into sin. By outlawing immorality, they believe that it is possible to free women from being sexually exploited, or having their families broken up by their husbands’ extra-marital affairs.

The JI women are well aware that the Hudood Ordinances have caused immeasurable pain to many women who are entirely innocent of adultery. Through their welfare work in providing legal aid and emergency shelter to women in crisis, they have witnessed the damage at first hand. Such programs provide useful propaganda for JI, but there is also no doubting the women’s passionate belief in their work. They speak of their satisfaction in helping women who have been falsely accused, and they angrily denounce the common practice of a husband divorcing his wife and allowing her to remarry, only to go to the authorities with the claim that the first marriage was never dissolved and that his former wife is therefore guilty of adultery with her new husband.

And yet, they continue to support the Ordinances under which such women are jailed. They insist that the main problems lie in the implementation of the law, rather than the law itself. For instance, if marriages and divorces were properly recorded (most are not), it would be much more difficult for disgruntled former husbands to lay false charges. If the legal system were not so grindingly inefficient, women would not languish in jail for years only to be found not guilty (as most often happens) when they finally come to trial.

Is there a comparison here between christian anti-feminists and the Islamic women of JI? Or is it more complicated than that? It seems Western feminists and the Islamic women of JI hold similar views about one another. I guess we have to ask whether their agenda is to uphold the power of their patriarchal religion, or if they indeed are acting on behalf of women. Christian anti-feminists seem beholden to maintaining the patriarchal notion of women’s place as ‘God’ stipulates. However the JI women seem to be about ‘liberating’ women- Just in a completely different way to the ideas and actions of western feminists. Does anyone know more?

A Moment for Alia Ansari

Published by
Sarah
at November 7, 2006 in religion, violence and violence against women. 1 Comment

Alia Ansari was a mother of six and wore a headscarf. She walking down the street in Fremont, California when she was shot randomly on the street, in what can only be described as a religiously motivated attack. She is my mother. She is your mother.

Groups in California have come out in support of Mrs. Ansari in a “Wear a headscarf day” for November 13.

I recommend everyone get involved in at least remembering her and what she represents.

It seems it’s not the powerful mullahs who have to suffer for their stupid statements. It’s always women who must pay. Innocent women like Mrs. Ansari, an Afghani immigrant, who unwittingly bear the brunt of media frenzies and demonising that have become regular public fare.

The recent deaths of the five young Amish girls in America, in what also appears to be a hate crime, reflects the way in which women- particularly from ethnic and religious minorities- have become the sacrificial pawns in the game of politics and prejudices.

These women face a triple brunt- first from superheroine feminists who want to ‘rescue’ them, then pressures from their own communities, and lastly being the vulnerable and visible targets of those who wish to inflict harm.

This kind of thing- violence against women, immigrants, minorites- it’s the death of liberalism and the worst kind of cowardice.

Egypt mass sex assault update

Published by
Anna
at November 7, 2006 in World, sexism, street harassment and violence against women. 2 Comments

This story kind of died, which I think is really disturbing. It seems, either the Egyptian Government’s official denials are working or people don’t think it’s newsworthy. How is it not newsworthy? Shows where the mass media’s priorities lie.

An alleged mob attack on women during last week’s Islamic holiday has escalated into a political fight involving President Hosni Mubarak’s government.

Witnesses accuse police of doing nothing to protect the women as they walked on a downtown street, and democracy activists have cited the controversy as a sign that Egypt is mismanaged and corrupt.

But the government has accused the bloggers who publicised the incident of defaming the country, and some police officials have said there is no evidence that anything happened.

A handful of internet bloggers, who said they either witnessed or spoke with eyewitnesses in downtown Cairo the nights of October 23 and 24, reported that women of all ages and styles of dress were attacked by crowds of men and boys who groped them and tore their clothes, trying to remove them.

Struggle in Oaxaca

Published by
Anna
at November 4, 2006 in Politics, World, struggle and violence against women. 2 Comments

Brownfemipower has written about the Indigenous struggle in Oaxaca, women’s role within it and feminism’s oversight of the state oppression and worsening crisis playing out there:

 

All feminists MUST pay attention to what is happening in Oaxaca. Indigenous women are leading the way to female liberation–which means that just as their demands for access to birth control carry the same weight in their actions that their demands for access to community radio do, they are also taking the brunt of the violence liberation often brings. But thier entire community recognizes that they will never have liberation (aka community health, freedom from poverty, clean air to breath, workers rights, sexual freedom, control of the land etc) as long as the nation/state has ultimate control over what happens to their bodies and souls–or as long as violence against women is acceptable in any form.

The current crisis saw the military invade the area on October 27-8 as the Teacher’s union is demanding the resignation of the governor because of his anti-labour policies. Anyway read the original post and there is addresses and contact info of people to write to and lobby.

And there are continuing updates on Women of Color BlogÂ