Marriage rules aren't the same for men & women. An aspect of the Islamic culture that has captivated young American and European men throughout history is the legality and common practice of taking more than one wife. The thought of dealing with two or more wives frightens many men into uncontrollable convulsions, but for others, the concept enthralls and incites their wonder and amazement. Of course, the first question that seems to roll off the tongue of every inquisitively youthful Soldier or Marine stationed in the Middle East when openly conversing with a Muslim is, "So, do you get to sleep with all four of them at the SAME time? " Oh, how it pains me to watch their naïve little bubbles burst and ooze with shattered fantasies when they are presented with the realities of this Islamic institution.
I was under the impression that the average Muslim man exercised his right to four wives, or at least a couple. Do not have access to all jobs. Read this article in: عربي Many Iraqi women say they are discriminated against BAGHDAD, 30 May 2007 (IRIN) - When Suha Abdel-Azim, 38, received a letter from her boss saying she had to stop working for security reasons, she couldn’t believe it.
After three years as an engineer for a local company, she was fired without compensation. “I was shocked when they told me I was being fired. “I tried to convince them that I could work from home. Suha is now unemployed. “When they see my cv [curriculum vitae] they get excited but later they say they cannot employ me because I’m a woman and it could be too dangerous for them.
Unemployment affects children “In about 14 percent of families in Iraq women are the main breadwinners, and often they care for a large number of children. “Discrimination against women today is unprecedented. Women say they are being threatened for working outside their homes and in places which are mostly patronised by men. Women teachers face threats as/ar/cb. Women can't choose to divorce. Not allowed to drive. Girls denied education. Thirteen-year-old Huda Ahmed's world was turned upside down when her classmate was kidnapped two years ago. The girl was snatched by armed men on her way to school in Kirkuk, and was only released three days later when her family paid 40,000 US dollars in ransom. Fearing harm may come to their only daughter, Huda's parents pulled her out of school. Often depressed, she now spends her days cleaning the house and watching television when there's electricity. Huda envies her classmates and two brothers, who still attend school, and says she is deeply conflicted about her parents' decision.
"I'll go back to school the first chance I get, but for the time being I will respect my parents' decision," said Huda. A survey released earlier this year by NGO Women for Women International found that Iraqi girls are being removed from school at an alarming rate. Experts said that a combination of factors, including poor security, poverty and tradition, were at play. The war. The beginnings of the US wars with Iraq started with Bush Sr in 1991. Embargoes, sanctions, and bombing raids have strung together decades of militarised US brutality towards Iraq. Repeated lies about weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein's capabilities ignited the 2003 illegal invasion. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives in this period and several million have been displaced by this US occupation.
Huge numbers of these people are women - the very women that Laura Bush promised to "save". In the weeks leading up to this 10-year anniversary of the 2003 war there has been precious little said about actual women's rights in Iraq. These are messy times we live in. It is problematic and troubling that Sandberg readily claims to be a feminist, without qualifying that her kind of feminism is corporatist and way too exclusionary.
So what is a girl or woman to think? These complex relations and their related exclusionary silences seem to appear everywhere. Clothing. Young women are replacing shapeless cover-ups for tight-fitting skirtsReligious leaders say fashionable youngsters need to be reined inGovernment say it's a woman's right to choose what she wears By Anna Edwards Published: 13:57 GMT, 3 September 2012 | Updated: 13:59 GMT, 3 September 2012 A culture rift is threatening to split the young and old of Iraq as Western trends grow increasingly fashionable amongst the country's youth. Young women are replacing shapeless cover-ups that protect their modesty with ankle-baring skirts and tight blouses, while men strut around in tight clothes and fashionable haircuts.
But although the styles are the de rigueur to many Western countries, they appear shockingly brazen in conservative Iraq - and now religious leaders are trying to strip people of their fashionable dress. The trends have prompted Islamic clerics in at least two Iraqi cities to mobilize the 'fashion police' in the name of protecting religious values. 'It's just suppression.' Loss of freedom. By Yanar Mohammed Yanar Mohammed, founder of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, spoke Oct. 23 in New York City at a meeting organized by a committee of supporters and co-sponsored by News and Letters Committees.
Below are excerpts from her talk. For information, including the English-language Iraqi women's rights newspaper, and to offer support: www.equalityiniraq.com. It means a lot to me to be here, close to the place where the World Trade Center was, where thousands of innocent civilians died. Our hearts go out to all the families of the victims. We know what they feel like. When the war on Iraq happened, we who were living in exile knew that we had to go back to work for a brighter future. When I arrived in Baghdad, every public building was bombed or burnt. Women in Iraq lived under much better conditions than other women in the Middle East. There are widespread problems for women right now. OWFI members' other priority is demanding jobs for women without income. Domestic abuse. BAGHDAD -- Salma Jassim was beaten, kicked out of her marital home with her newborn daughter on her shoulder and then deserted by her husband.
But she says the threat she faces from her own family, who feel shamed because of her divorce, is just as bad as the abuse. There are few places in Iraq where Jassim can turn for help. Iraqi experts believe that domestic abuse has increased during the years of war and economic hardship since the 2003 U.S. -led invasion. But attempts to strengthen laws to protect women have gone nowhere in the face of heavy cultural and religious resistance. The World Health Organization has estimated that one in five Iraqi women has reported being a victim of domestic violence, and experts say the rate is much higher.
Government officials say for the time being there's little hope that laws giving men wide rights to "discipline" their wives will be changed. State Minister for Women's Affairs Ibtihal al-Zaidi agreed. Police Col.