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VOL. 3, FEBRUARY, 2009 |
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“Unfortunately, Afghan society has not yet become a society which can accept that women are able to do this job, like any other person.”
“I was very happy to get this job, especially being the first woman to be a mayor in Afghanistan, but there are some men who think a woman couldn’t do this job,” Azra Jafari told Reuters.
"I face the same risks that any other woman or government employee faces, but this problem should not stop you from doing your job. Danger is everywhere”, 30-year old Jafari said.
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Photo Credit: Reuters
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FIRST AFGHAN WOMAN MAYOR
“Unfortunately, Afghan society has not yet become a society which can accept that women are able to do this job, like any other person.” |
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Kabul, Jan 14 – Afghanistan’s first woman mayor is determined to improve one of the country’s newest and poorest provinces, but she is concerned women’s rights in the former Taliban state are getting worse.
“I was very happy to get this job, especially being the first woman to be a mayor in Afghanistan, but there are some men who think a woman couldn’t do this job,” Azra Jafari told Reuters.
About twice a month, she commutes between the capital Kabul and the town of Nili in Dai Kundi province, with her four-year old daughter in tow. Her husband lives and works in Kabul.
“I face the same risks that any other woman or government employee faces, but this problem should not stop you from doing your job. Danger is everywhere,” 30-year old Jafari said.
Jafari worked as a teacher and at welfare rights organisations before being appointed mayor in a male-dominated society which was under the tight grip of the Taliban’s ultra-orthodox Islamist rule only eight years ago. |
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Photo Credit: Reuters |
But she laments the lack of women’s progress since that time. “Unfortunately, day by day, the position of women fades... We had three or four women ministers during the interim government period, now we have one.”
But Jafari is determined to change things: “I don't want to say that I can do this job because I am a woman, I want to say that I can do this job because I am a good citizen and I am someone who believes she can be a good mayor and can help the people of Dai Kundi.”
SOURCE:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL256985.htm
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SAUDI GIRL GROUP DARES TO ROCK
“What we’re doing - it’s not something wrong, it’s art, and we’re doing it in a good way. We respect our traditions.”
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JIDDA, Saudi Arabia - They cannot perform in public. They cannot pose for album cover photographs. Even their jam sessions are secret, for fear of offending the religious authorities in this ultraconservative kingdom.
In a country where women are not allowed to drive and rarely appear in public without their faces covered, the band is very different. But the members of Saudi Arabia’s first all-girl rock band, the Accolade, are clearly not afraid of taboos.
The band’s first single, “Pinocchio,” has become an underground hit here, with hundreds of young Saudis downloading the song from the group’s MySpace page.
Now, the pioneering foursome, all of them college students, want to start playing regular gigs - inside private compounds, of course - and recording an album. |
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Photo Credit:
Courtesy of the Artist |
“In Saudi, yes, it’s a challenge,” said the group’s lead singer, Lamia. “Maybe we’re crazy. But we wanted to do something different.”
“We’re looking for a drummer,” she added. “Five guys have offered, but we really want the band to be all female.”
SOURCES:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/world/middleeast/24saudi.html?ei=5070&emc=eta1
http://www.myspace.com/accoladeofficial |
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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - After two decades of hard work, Zainah Anwar is proud that she is leaving Sisters in Islam as one of the strongest advocates of Muslim women’s rights in the country. Zainah cannot accept the idea of a God who is unjust to half the human race “simply because they are women.”
Sisters in Islam seeks to challenge the hold that conservatives and traditionalists have on interpretations of Islam in Malaysia . It also assists individual women in their struggles against the at times oppressive courts in Malaysia ..
In 2008, Anwar decided to step down to give way to young blood to continue the fight for Muslim women’s rights. But hers will be a tough act to follow. Zainah herself remains on the board of SIS. She concurrently serves as project director for the SIS-initiated global movement for justice and equality in the Muslim family.
She is also tries to bring awareness of their rights in Islam to girls in universities or upper secondary schools. |
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Photo Credit:
SAMUEL ONG / The Star |
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“People think that somehow we’re weak and not able to express opinions…” |
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In what may be the United States’ only law firm composed solely of Muslim women, the attorneys represent the ethnic and religious diversity within the Islamic faith: Some cover their hair, some don’t. Some are Sunni; others are Shiite, and at least one is happy to be secular.
The six women hope that by founding Amal Law Group, they are helping to dispel common stereotypes held about Muslim women. “People think that somehow we’re weak and not able to express opinions,” said Janaan Hashim, the firm’s 41-year-old founder.
The firm offers the Muslim community legal services on issues from civil rights and employment regulations to criminal, family, real estate and Immigration law. |
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Photo Credit: Chicago Tribune |
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“It’s not only philanthropy they’re after - investment in women means a return on the gross national product of the country, and on household income.”
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When Ngozi Okoli-Owube saw a local newspaper advertisement last spring for 10,000 Women, a global entrepreneurship program run by Goldman Sachs, she and about 100 other women jumped at the chance to apply.
“I have a university degree, but I did not have the training in how to run a business,” said Ms. Okoli-Owube, who had been struggling to get enough students to enroll at her “Start Right” school. “I have to learn to keep the books, how to market and to get advice from women who’ve come out the other side.”
The welfare of girls and women has long been on the agenda of international agencies. But corporations have also begun to take their economic power more seriously, especially in emerging markets.
Goldman set aside $100 million over five years to bring business education to 10,000 qualified women business owners in developing countries, a commitment that remains unchanged despite banking industry turmoil. |
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Photo Credit: Marc Bryan-Brown |
SOURCE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/business/26lend.html?emc=eta1 |
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The search is on for the most influential Muslim women in Britain, for inclusion on the first Muslim Women Power List. It is hoped that those named will act as role models.
Companies and individuals are being invited to make nominations for the awards, run by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in association with The Times and Emel, the Muslim lifestyle magazine.
The Muslim Women Power List is intended as a celebration of the 100,000 Muslim women in Britain who have reached the top of their field or are on the fast track to success. |
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The aim is to challenge the view that Muslim women conform to a stereotype. The commission also wants to encourage mentoring and networking among Muslim women to help people fulfil their potential.
SOURCES:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5519490.ece
www.thelist2009.com |
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