Wangari Maathai, Kenya’s deputy environment minister won Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, to be the first African woman to win the Peace Prize.
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A study shows 80 percent of women feel they are not taken seriously by big banks, which are still predominately male institutions. On the other hand Women often have different needs and interests than men do when it comes to financial matters. From that point, and applying the philosophy of Virginia Woolf who wrote:†if a woman is to succeed, she needs money and a room of her ownâ€; some women in Munich are applying starting a bank by and for women.
At the Frauenbank, or Women’s Bank, women will get counseling about investments, retirement plans, savings and other financial tools will be done by female professionals, who understand the special needs of women, many of whom feel uncomfortable or underserved in traditional financial institutions. More…
I don’t think it’s a wise thing to do. A woman must prove herself in normal places beside the man and be up to all challenges coming her way. Yet I do believe that there are some places which will work better for women were they limited to females only, again, not because of the fear of underestimation, but because they’ll be more comfortable, such as women spas and beauty centers for example.
Right this second, right in front of me, I’m witnessing a very humiliating scene to all Muslims.
Opposite to our building is an embassy, people are all silent, staring at a circle of security men surrounding a woman. They took her to a corner outside the embassy. One is bombarding her with questions, the other is looking around her suspiciously, while the rest are smiling at the embassy employees, and visitors to make sure they’re all satisfied.
What’s the big deal? Nothing, just a request from a couple who came to pick their visa from the embassy, and asked the guards to “keep that thing awayâ€â€¦ with “thing†they were addressing a Muslim woman, who was guilty of wearing a headscarf.
The story is being told all over the building, some are complaining, some are swearing, some are giving stupid excuses, and some, like me, might be writing about it now. That’s the best we decided to do.
Did anyone help? Did anyone interfere? Nope, no one, including me. We got used to be humiliated, we got used to seeing injustice, we got used to be afraid. Afraid because we’re separated, we’re not one unit, fear has invaded our souls, our minds and our hearts.
How humiliating!
It’s such a shame, to see these things happening, and I’m pretty sure they’re happening each and every day whether we know of them or not. It’s such a shame to see our brothers and sisters in Iraq and Palestine being killed and humiliated and tortured in front of all people of the world, and we still follow some cheap media lies about “Islamic terrorism†threatening the world.
Why is it so easy to follow lies, to spread rumors and believe some claims we never witness, while we find it so difficult to allow ourselves to react correctly and positively to facts we’re experiencing on personal, national, and international levels?
I really wish people will leave Muslims alone. Enough with the “terrorist†nonsense. FOCUS on the facts. Focus on rescuing what’s left to be rescued, focus on solving root problems.
Wherever I click, there’s an article about Abu Mus’ab Al Zarqawi, hostages in Iraq, Taliban, or , or , or. But no trace of Iraqis being tortured, no more articles about Palestinian homes being destroyed.
As stupid and blind as people may get, there’ll always be some to remind them of the awful acts taking place and open their eyes to the real injustice.
As for now, all I can do is ask you all to please think twice before saying anything, think twice before you spread claims and market some expressions that will make things even worse.
And please… leave Muslims alone!
I’m sure many of you have already heard the news of the 15 year old French Muslim girl: Cennet Doganay who shaved her head after being banned from classes with her headscarf on.
Respecting both the law and her religion, Cennet tried out everything to cover her hair without “violating†the new law of France that banned any religious symbols in schools. She tried berets and bandanas but still she was not allowed to attend classes. So shaving her head was the only solution she could think of.
Now whether shaving her head left a positive or negative impression by others, that’s not the issue, simply because no one would feel the paradox of loving her country and her religion at the same time, but the ones who are like her, the ones suffering from the same ban in their own country, the country which raised them on the courage of making a choice, the country which taught them to think and act freely…
Personally, I believe that since Cennet didn’t harm anyone, didn’t violate any law, didn’t cause any trouble by shaving her head, then her act should be respected. She stood up for her beliefs and tried to prove to the world that all she seeks is practicing her religion peacefully. She wanted the whole world to see that her will was never to show disrespect to her country, she never wanted to look different than her fellow colleagues, all she wanted is to lead a normal life, a balanced life that combines respect and love of religion and state. In return, she should be given freedom and respect, not humiliation and bans.
I respect her courage and admire her determination to follow both her religion’s instructions and her country’s law. Although, deep inside me I’m sure she’ll still feel the absence of democracy and freedom every single time she looks in the mirror, everyday she sits in the classroom being taught the meaning of democracy, the value of freedom, and the importance of respect. I know that shaving her head may not move the feelings of anyone, I know it may not result in any improvement she’s wishing for, I know she might be thought of as a careless teenagers, or even a silly girl, I know she might be even laughed at. But she knows she made her point, she sure knows the ones who really care about freedom, democracy and principles will respect her. She must know, that Muslim women from all around the world are proud of her, because she, in these difficult circumstances and in this young age did something that older women, in other less complicated and difficult circumstances wouldn’t even think of doing.
One last thing I feel obliged to say is: if a Muslim does not wear a headscarf, if a Christian does not wear a crucifix, if a Jew does not wear a skullcap, that wont change the fact that they are still Muslims, Christians and Jews. And governments should know, that not wearing a religious symbol wont hide the fact, a simple question like: “what’s your religion?”, will unveil the fact. Unless of course, you’re also considering than ban of religion-related questions. But even if you do, be sure that you can’t stop people from belonging to a religion they love, because religion, whether you like it or not, is a part of us, without it we’re lost. So instead of banning religious symbols, why not focus on teaching tolerance, love, peace and respect to other religions, because after all, this is what religion is all about.
I also encourage you to read Le Hidjab de Strasbourg , it’s in English.
Tomorrow August 13th, is an official holiday in Tunisia, it’s Woman’s Day.
The streets are full of signs with “Tunisian Woman Day†and “We Respect Womenâ€, and stuff like that. Assi Al Hillani (a famous Lebanese singer) is throwing a concert on this occasion, and I’m sure so many women’s rights organizations and activists will be making speeches and activities to celebrate this day.
If you’re not living in Tunisia, then you must know that it’s one of the leading countries all around the world when it comes to women’s rights. But I personally think women are exaggerating sometimes. Women here asked for their rights, they got it, but it wasn’t enough for them, so they asked for more in the name of equality to men, till they overloaded their lives with duties and jobs, leaving men enjoying a less hectic and more comfortable life.
It is so impressive to see women working and living happily. It’s great to know they’re equal to men, but equality does not mean doing the same things, no. It means having full rights, being constructive and effective members in society and being protected from assaults or mistreatment. Freedom, independency and liberation of women, are definitions that got really mixed up because of some activists who unfortunately think, a woman can never be an equal to man unless she lost her femininity. Do I have to grow a mustache and have muscles about to explode just to prove I’m strong enough?!
From the beginning of existence women were born with their own responsibilities as females, and so were men. I’m not against women entering most of the fields that were exclusively for men, but I’m surly against treating men as competitors! Men and women are to work as a team, hand in hand, side by side, work can be in an office, at home, anywhere. As long as each has a duty, each has certain responsibilities, and both are happy, then there is no need to ask for more and more, it’s enough!
If a man buys the fruits, and the woman makes the juice, and they both drink it, then they’ve both played a role and they’ve both earned the drink equally. I don’t have to insist on buying the fruits myself and him making the juice! We should complete each other. Some women are tougher than their male partners, in this case, there’s no harm if she does the hard work as long as she’s happy with it and not being overloaded and as long as he’s helping her in other ways. But a woman should stop thinking that she’s never equal to man unless she cooks, works, drives the kids to school and back, goes out, cleans the house, and gets double the salary of her husband for example. This is slavery to a stupid useless idea. If the man is ok and can do his job, then both should make some kind of balance to guarantee a healthy comfortable relationship.
I just hate the fact that some women say they’re free and have their rights, when they’re working as twice as men, and being used every day of their life.
I wish women will really open their eyes and get their perfect role in life as working members, mothers, students and everywhere. It’s not in the quality of work, it’s the balance between rights and duties that makes the woman feel her freedom and be satisfied with her rights.
Anyway, happy Woman’s Day to all women of the world, specially the Tunisian woman, since tomorrow is her day:) Hoping all women will be as happy and well-treated as they wish.
Besides my interest in following up the progress of Arab women in all fields, this Report in particular means so much to me. If I were still in Jordan and in my job, I’d be the researcher working on this project, but hard luck for me 🙁
Anyway, whether I took part in it or not, this report is so important and helpful, and I think it’s worth discussing.
The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) report: “Progress of Arab Women 2004,†which aims to provide an insight into the world of Arab women and the progress achieved throughout the years, revealed that while women make up 49 per cent of the population in Arab countries only 28 per cent were in the active workforce, making these figures the lowest of any region in the world. On the other hand the report acknowledges and emphasizes the number of successful professional women in executive positions in a variety of Arab countries and also notes the increase in Arab women’s representation in national parliaments, the establishment of the Arab women’s organizations and the rising role of NGOs.
Three levels of action in the region are investigated towards women’s empowerment in the report: The policy level where international commitments are being made, the operational plans and actions at the national level, and the achievements and challenges in terms of the everyday lives of women.
The report also reflects the experience of Arab women in the context of social, economic and political security in a region that continues to face traumas and insecurities including radical social transformations, demographic transitions, poverty, resource shortages as well as occupation, war and civil strife.
The three key elements of social security proposed are Revisiting family codes and state practices which make women’s citizenship contingent on family relations, reforming welfare regimes so that they accommodate the needs of women, and regulating labour markets with gender sensitive and flexible mechanisms.
Economic security, as introduced in the report, refers to the need to protect people through the provision of job opportunities, a secure income, economic rights, and effective participation in economic life.
Education, training, microfinance and access to other loan and financial resources have been identified as means for enhancing women’s opportunities for income generation.
The chapter on “securing politics†reexamines possible explanations for the low political participation of women in Arab states, since “the number of Arab women involved in politics is still far from representative of their population in society.â€
Some of the obstacles, according to the report, include lack of support and guidance necessary for women to reach decision making positions and lack of knowledge and understanding of political rights and responsibilities.
The report, marking the 10th anniversary of the Beijing Conference, is expected to serve as a mapping tool for Arab countries to review the progress made in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.
Her Majesty Queen Rania acted as patron at the report’s launching ceremony, which was attended by ministers, and representatives of NGOs, UN agencies, embassies, the media and universities. At the end of the ceremony, Abu Ghazaleh, UNIFEM Regional Director,presented Queen Rania, president of the Arab Women’s Summit, with a copy of the report, marking its launch from Jordan and highlighting the great strides the country has taken in the area of women and development.
Source: The Jordan Times.
Violence, aggression and humiliation are words that Palestinians got used to. Not only the old, but also the young. Not only the men, but also the women.
I came across this picture that breaks the hearts of any human being of any nationality and any religion. When will the people of Palestine have the least rights of a decent and peaceful life?
Via: Sabbah’s Blog .
Again Sireh Wenfatahit discussed a very important issue: The Kitchen. A small title to a very important and long discussion concerning the importance of cooking at home, the difficulties that women face in order to fulfill the role of their grandmothers and mothers in earlier generations, the role of women nowadays and the reasons behind the presence of so many threats to the existence of house kitchen and healthy home cooking. It was a very interesting episode, and what caught my attention was this definition they used addressing the woman of today: “SUPERWOMANâ€.
I must admit that it’s the most appropriate definition to use. And I thought it was worth discussing.
A “superwoman†is both what most of men look for in their partners, and what women themselves challenge themselves to be.
A man is no longer looking for a partner to share feelings, a home and a family. He’s not satisfied with a woman who will only cook him a yummy meal, take care of his home and raise their children. He wants a woman that does all that and helps him in life’s difficulties, earn money just like he does, goes paying bills, and picks the children from school. He looks for a sharp thinker, an attractive appearance, and a feminine attitude. But still in all this, he needs the “basics†that are part of being a woman, which are: care, love, cooking, household, and raising kids. So what a man –generally speaking- is looking for nowadays is the skills of the women of yesterday + the character of the woman of today. A good cook, a loving mother, an equal partner, a great employee/ employer, and a sexy person.
I find this normal for a man to expect in our time, life is too demanding to handle alone. But what I think is not fair for women is the level of help a man awaits from his wife. He can’t expect his wife to wake up so early, go to work, spend most of her time there, come back home at around 6 p.m. exhausted, to go shopping for stuff for home, then head straight to the kitchen, prepare dinner, clean the house, look after the kids, keep in touch with friends and family, and at the same time look so elegant, sexy and tidy, with her hair done and her nails shining, smelling so good, then have dinner, clean the mess of after-dinner-time, and still be active and excited enough to spend time with him, talk to him, go out visiting or partying with him, then come back to her clean tidy home and sleep a couple of hours before the alarm goes off! This is not fair. Neither it is fair for her to do nothing in life but gossip, cook and household, neither it is fair for her to lose all those beautiful old pictures of a warm wife. Therefore best thing is choose what gives her the chance to prove herself as a constructive member of society outside the frame of the cook or the baby-sitter, get herself a successful career life that still allows her to fulfill her duty as a loving mother, a great cook and a tidy person. Which means the women should also understand this and stop thinking these stupid ideas of: ah we’re equal and I will show him I’m smarter and can earn as twice as he earns…blah blah blah!
We are equal, equality is not measured with how much each earns, and how long our work hours are. Our equality is measured by proving our success on all levels of life and not only the professional level. What good would it bring a woman to have a full time job of 6-8 hours a day, earning a fortune, yet having to hire a baby-sitter, a maid and a cook. Or even if she doesn’t hire them, she wont be able to talk to her kids, or be calm and active, ready to share her husband his thoughts and sorrows and give him the support he needs to survive his problems. Money might bring more stuff, but it will take away a lot of beautiful meanings from our lives in return. The gathering around a healthy home-cooked meal, the sense of sharing thoughts and many other things are all lost for the sake of few more dollars in the end of the month. It’s true that many men help their wives in household and cooking, but if you look at it, the wife is the one who ends up doing all the work, and the man makes only small things most of the time. Which results in women working like men outside their homes, and working more than men inside their homes. Yet women insist on showing off their ability on being successful workers outside, forgetting that by doing the basic stuff a woman does in her home, she is proving equality to a man working outside his home. Again, I’m not with the traditional picture of women doing the dishes and baking bread, but I’m not with using her love to be “super†to the extreme like we’re seeing today.
Being a woman is not as easy as many people think. She should have her own personality and fulfill her duties as a wife, a mother and a worker all at the same time. All what I wish would happen is that women will re-consider their lifestyles, give it a little thought, think of the best for you and the ones around you. Take a job which wont waste all your time, or get a part-time job only. Men are not better than women, neither are women better than men, they’re both equal and they both complete each other. If you get few money, he’ll get what makes it enough for both of you to have a great life, and if he gives little care, you will give what makes it enough for both of you to enjoy love and happiness. But if both focused on money, there will be no time left for love, and if both focused on love, there will be no money to support that love. We are to help each other and complete what our partners lack, be good at what they’re bad at, and give our best in what they give their least. It’s not with hours nor salaries that you achieve success and superiority, it’s being good at what you do in your professional, social and marital life while keeping a healthy balance between the working woman you love, the wife you adore and the mom you respect that makes you a “superwomanâ€. And it’s him who respects all three in you, and appreciates the quality and not the quantity of what you’re doing giving you support and treating you with equality who should be called a “supermanâ€.
So once again among all critical problems in the world, the Islamic veil (Hijab) seems to be the most dangerous, most uncivilized and most unwelcome “problem†to the European countries. So instead of solving environmental problems, or try find a way to rescue the hundreds of people killed on daily basis all over the world, and instead of putting all those efforts in finding cures for illnesses, Some find it the easiest and fastest to interfere with people’s wills and decisions. They find it more effective to steal their rights of choice in the name of “civilizationâ€.
So France took the first step towards “democracyâ€, “freedomâ€, “justiceâ€, “civilization†and “human rights protection†and prohibited wearing Hijab. And to follow its “successful†and “impressive†steps, Germany has finally prohibited “only†teachers from wearing Hijab in Baden-Württemberg for a start. BUT this prohibition did not include wearing neither Christian nor Jewish religious symbols, why? For very simple silly reasons: 1. “Hijab is a very obvious symbol!!†Well I guess a golden 1 meter long cross necklace isn’t that obvious, nor is the star of David printed on school bags and sweaters. And well, I think that’s right, a nun should have the right to teach, but a Muslim woman wearing Hijab shouldn’t, because Hijab is always THE MOST OBVIOUS!
2. “Hijab points out that women aren’t equal to men in Islam!!†And this is according to a protestant priest!! I guess this priest has no idea about Islam nor its rules. Because Islam is the religion that freed women from slavery and gave them back their rights. Islam is the religion that shows all people are equal and important.
And this very same priest along with a catholic one have raised a claim to “warn†the German government from editing the prohibition into: “not allowing Christian or Jewish symbols to be wornâ€. They want to stress the importance of spreading out this decision concerning Islam only without touching other religions.
Actually hearing news like this will make all Muslims even more proud for being Muslims, because it seems that Islam is the only religion that believes in the rights of other religions and gives them the freedom to practice their religious rights. And it has just occurred to me that there is a misunderstanding regarding Hijab. Non-Muslims think that Hijab is a sign of being conservative, or extremist or very strict, which isn’t true. Being a general religion that applies to all people of all kinds and level and regardless of their sex, Islam has nothing as sacrificing a part of society to offer servants for God. Because Muslims believe that there should be no one between the person and God, each have their rights to be the closest to God and to be able to pray for God and ask for his help without the interference of any one. And if the ones banning Hijab care to waste their precious time and spend few minutes on learning about Hijab, its reasons and its benefits, then they wont be doing this to Muslim women. They’ll know that Hijab is so far from being a conservative act. And just because Christians don’t all wear the nun clothes, that doesn’t mean that similar veils mean the ones wearing them are nothing but religiously-strict women.
Therefore it’s the most uncivilized, unfair and intolerant act ever to prohibit women from practicing their rights, because this -and not Hijab- is the symbol of discrimination and stealing the equality of women to men.
A very interesting post I’ve read concerning the issue of Hijab and the difficulties Muslim women face because of it is Crying Wolf/ Jalan-Jalan there is also this German website women in Germany have created to discuss their opinion and defend their right of wearing Hijab. The site is mein Kopftuch
