Iraqi Women's Rights
Kat is launching on her blog a campaign to support the Iraqi women in their struggle to oppose adopting Shari'ah as the sole source of law or as a major source of law.
Now, let me speak about some other features of dealing with Iraqi women as an inferior creature. It is the Bedouin tribal legacy which represents the frame governing men's attitude toward women. One of these features is awarding women as compensation when killings happen between tribes. It is called "Fasli'ya". The compensated side tries to humiliate the woman which is awarded as "Fasli'ya" by marrying her to a very old man, since she represents the foe.
I can remember a work colleague, of tribal background, used to say "I'm trying to hasten the marriage of any one of my sisters". I asked him "Is any of them engaged?" and his reply was "No, but I'll force any of them to marry the first man who would propose". The reason he gave was that he could marry using the money which he receives as a dowry for his sister. Woman is dealt with as a commodity.
Another feature is to use a relative woman, mostly a sister, as a dowry to be exchanged with another man's sister. Each marries the other's sister. It is called "Qusa bi Qusa". Each one of the two women will be continuously threatened to lose her home & family. According to this way of marriage, if one of the two women, for example, is divorced then the other must be divorced regardless whether she lives happily with her husband or not.
A fourth feature is "Al-Nahwa". It means that a man can prevent the marriage of any of his female cousins. The man might be married to another woman or so old for the bride, still, he can stop the marriage. Declaring "Al-Nahwa" by a man allows him to kill any one would propose to his female cousin. And he might never marry her but just to harm her by keeping her unmarried for lifetime.
In other cases women are deprived of their rights even according to Shari'ah. A woman may be excluded from inheritance.
The above features do not represent the dominating way in dealing with women, but it still exists in some Iraqi communities especially the rural ones.
Iraqi women need help to achieve their human rights and constitutional rights. So if any of you can help, even by a word, then please don't hesitate. For me, I encourage you to sign this petition. Thanks to Kat and to all of those who will make a step in supporting the Iraqi women's rights. By the way, the referendum on the constitution is on 15th October, so there is time to put pressure & make a difference.
Now, let me speak about some other features of dealing with Iraqi women as an inferior creature. It is the Bedouin tribal legacy which represents the frame governing men's attitude toward women. One of these features is awarding women as compensation when killings happen between tribes. It is called "Fasli'ya". The compensated side tries to humiliate the woman which is awarded as "Fasli'ya" by marrying her to a very old man, since she represents the foe.
I can remember a work colleague, of tribal background, used to say "I'm trying to hasten the marriage of any one of my sisters". I asked him "Is any of them engaged?" and his reply was "No, but I'll force any of them to marry the first man who would propose". The reason he gave was that he could marry using the money which he receives as a dowry for his sister. Woman is dealt with as a commodity.
Another feature is to use a relative woman, mostly a sister, as a dowry to be exchanged with another man's sister. Each marries the other's sister. It is called "Qusa bi Qusa". Each one of the two women will be continuously threatened to lose her home & family. According to this way of marriage, if one of the two women, for example, is divorced then the other must be divorced regardless whether she lives happily with her husband or not.
A fourth feature is "Al-Nahwa". It means that a man can prevent the marriage of any of his female cousins. The man might be married to another woman or so old for the bride, still, he can stop the marriage. Declaring "Al-Nahwa" by a man allows him to kill any one would propose to his female cousin. And he might never marry her but just to harm her by keeping her unmarried for lifetime.
In other cases women are deprived of their rights even according to Shari'ah. A woman may be excluded from inheritance.
The above features do not represent the dominating way in dealing with women, but it still exists in some Iraqi communities especially the rural ones.
Iraqi women need help to achieve their human rights and constitutional rights. So if any of you can help, even by a word, then please don't hesitate. For me, I encourage you to sign this petition. Thanks to Kat and to all of those who will make a step in supporting the Iraqi women's rights. By the way, the referendum on the constitution is on 15th October, so there is time to put pressure & make a difference.
posted by Ibn_Alrafidain at 11:06 AM
4 Comments:
Well I signed, I'm Number 355 I think.
We need another million signatures!
I was reading about FGM over at the Christian Science Monitor site, I think that's enough, to get evey woman in the world to sign this petition!
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0810/p06s01-woiq.htm
Spammers have hit you too I see.
Thanks for the link and I think it is an important issue. I'm going to keep writing. I wrote to the WSJ after their bad article and explained his lack of knowledge about women's rights.
Ibn_Rafidain,
Thank you for the details. I knew part of them only.
Ibn_Alrafidain:
It is not possible to have a thriving economy without the full input of all of its adult citizens.
That's it, in a nutshell as we say in the USA.
So you see, women MUST have full rights, or your country will be holding itself back.
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