Friday, July 22, 2005

Iraqi Females: Life is Only Getting Worse

Open Democracy: Just as Iraqi women were anticipating a new era of democracy and freedom, a wave of intimidation by extremist groups has arisen to crush their hopes. Violent oppression of women is spreading across Iraq as insurgents and religious extremists use rape, acid and assassination to force Iraqi women to wear the veil – the symbol of submission, first signal of further repression to come. Many Iraqi women have never worn the scarf. Now, dead bodies of girls and women are found in rivers and on waste ground with a veil tied around the head, as a message. Were things coming up roses under Saddam's rule? Absolutely not. But this war has now been newly sold to us as "liberation" for the Iraqi people... do females not count as 50% of the population of people to be liberated? As the LA Times reports: A draft of the Iraqi constitution would make fundamental changes in the legal rights of women, undoing decades of progression and will sharply reduce the number of women in the National Assembly. and from International Herald Tribune: Article 14 of the Iraqi constitution installs Shariah Law: In matters such as marriage, divorce and family inheritance, people will be governed by the religious codes of their individual religions. Shiite families will follow Shiite interpretations of Shariah, while Sunnis will follow Sunni interpretations. This dismantles secular rule that was enacted in 1959, and upheld by Saddam during decades of his rule. As the NY Times reports: a proposal is in place to phase out a measure in the interim constitution requiring that 1/4 of parliamentary seats go to women. This shouldn't even shock me, given that theocrat- pharmacists want to deny women their prescribed birth control, Bush appoints a Roe v Wade- hating WHITE MALE to replace the 1st woman to be appointed to the Supreme Crt. Looks like it's time for us womenfolk around the globe to just accept our lot in life as a pair of ovaries w/legs.
Posted by Tina :: 12:22 AM :: 0 Comments:

Post a Comment

---------------------------------------