Women in the News
Tuesday's Post carried a story about women in Northern Nigeria, who are now being resegregated on public buses - the back for them, of course - and motorcycle taxis, which they will not be able to ride at all because when they ride with a male driver, they are touching him, which is against Islamic law. And, of course, there are no female drivers (Go to www.washingtonpost.com and type in "In Northern Nigeria, Riding Too Close for Comfort"). The implications for their lives are, obviously, enormous.
Wednesday's Post carried a story about how Sri Lankan tsunami widowers, many if not most of whom had been spending the majority of their time drinking themselves "senseless" because they had no idea how to take care of themselves, have been marrying new wives and getting back to work. Fortunately for them, a 20-year civil war left the country with a "surplus" of "marriageable young women." Well, I guess that's one way to do it. Unfortunately, Sri Lankan widows are "often regarded as undesirable spouses" and "in any case, tend to be reluctant to allow a new man into their home for fear of how he will treat his stepchildren" so they are "stuck" having to be all things: breadwinners, parents and housekeepers. (Go to www.washingtonpost.com and type in "New Wives Bring New Hope to Sri Lankan Widowers")
Of course, we all know that women's rights are a key hold up in the development of the Iraqi constitution, where the Shiites want to reinstitute some form of strict Islamic law, sharia. I knew this was coming even before they took out Sadaam. I used to say that at least he was an equal opportunity oppressor. Today's Tom Toles cartoon features a woman in a burka with an ayatollah holding an Iraqi "Constitution" and suggesting she could think of her burka as her own private voting booth where she could keep her thoughts to herself.
I don't know what to make of all this, but it sure is depressing.
Wednesday's Post carried a story about how Sri Lankan tsunami widowers, many if not most of whom had been spending the majority of their time drinking themselves "senseless" because they had no idea how to take care of themselves, have been marrying new wives and getting back to work. Fortunately for them, a 20-year civil war left the country with a "surplus" of "marriageable young women." Well, I guess that's one way to do it. Unfortunately, Sri Lankan widows are "often regarded as undesirable spouses" and "in any case, tend to be reluctant to allow a new man into their home for fear of how he will treat his stepchildren" so they are "stuck" having to be all things: breadwinners, parents and housekeepers. (Go to www.washingtonpost.com and type in "New Wives Bring New Hope to Sri Lankan Widowers")
Of course, we all know that women's rights are a key hold up in the development of the Iraqi constitution, where the Shiites want to reinstitute some form of strict Islamic law, sharia. I knew this was coming even before they took out Sadaam. I used to say that at least he was an equal opportunity oppressor. Today's Tom Toles cartoon features a woman in a burka with an ayatollah holding an Iraqi "Constitution" and suggesting she could think of her burka as her own private voting booth where she could keep her thoughts to herself.
I don't know what to make of all this, but it sure is depressing.
posted by pat at 9:27 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home