- You’ve probably heard that France banned the niqab. Some people like it and some don’t. More here and here and here and here and here.
- Bangladesh bans local elders from meting out punishments according to religious law, which will make it difficult for them to order the flogging of rape victims.
- The USA Today examines a skateboarding school for girls in Afghanistan.
- Q & A with artist and filmmaker Shirin Neshat.
- Some religious leader in Kuwait sticks his nose into a Muslim-Jewish couple’s business.
- A group of young Saudi men have launched a campaign to convince Saudi men of the unappreciated virtues of polygamy. Great.
- On the murder of Zakia Zaki, the founder of Radio Sada-e-Sulh in Afghanistan. May Allah give her peace and justice.
- Morocco and the United Nations Development Fund for Women signed a memorandum of understanding to implement the third phase of the Gender Responsive Budgeting. Related: Women in several Maghreb countries are welcoming the U.N.’s creation of a new body known as the Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.
- The New York Times asserts that many working Egyptian women have burdens without privileges.
- A Canadian woman accused of stabbing her 19-year-old daughter multiple times with a kitchen knife has been found fit to stand trial.
- The National profiles Farida Mohammed Ali, a female maqam singer.
- A Lebanese woman talks about the late Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah gave her independence.
- On how women in the Gulf are gaining power through social and economic crossroads.
- The New York Times reports that Malaysia’s newly-appointed female judges still have an unclear role.
- The Guardian talks to Safia Jama, who runs the Somali Integration Team for women in Tower Hamlets.
- Sisters in Islam’s study on polygyny shows that 44% of first wives in polygynous marriages are forced to find another source of income after her husband married another woman.
- The Los Angeles Times reports that when Syria recently banned niqabs in schools, few activists paid attention.
- The Texas Muslim Women’s Foundation opened a thrift and consignment store to further serve victims of domestic violence.
- Elan profiles Farhana Kahera, the Executive Director of Muslim Advocates and the National Association for Muslim Lawyers.
- Golnaz Esfandiari writes about Fariba Davoodi Mohajer and her headscarf.
- The Canadian Council of Muslim Women opposes the addition of “honor killings” to the Criminal Code on the grounds “murder is murder” and a special category could stigmatize new immigrants and some ethnic or religious groups.
- A woman in North Carolina believes that she was fired from her job at the hospital because of her hijab.
- Faith-based organizations in Nigeria are being asked to “rehabilitate” sex workers.
- The Huffington Post writes about two women in Iran that are under threat of execution.
- Talking with the director of Salam Rugby, a movie about Iranian women who play rugby.
If there are any news stories about Muslim women that we’ve missed, please feel free to post them in the comments!
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Tags: Friday Links, Muslim women
Good analysis of the news coverage related to the banning of the veil:
http://www.fair.org/blog/2010/07/16/burqa-ban-coverage-of-a-law-to-free-women-leaves-them-voiceless/
Sisters in Islam’s study on polygyny shows that 44% of first wives in polygynous marriages are forced to find another source of income after her husband married another woman.
I feel compelled to point out that the statistic is meaningless without knowing how many wives in nonpolygamous marriages seek other sources of income.
The Canadian Council of Muslim Women opposes the addition of “honor killings” to the Criminal Code on the grounds “murder is murder” and a special category could stigmatize new immigrants and some ethnic or religious groups.
I must say I more or less agree.
[Article]: “Sisters in Islam’s study on polygyny shows that 44% of first wives in polygynous marriages are forced to find another source of income after her husband married another woman.”
[Dude]: “I feel compelled to point out that the statistic is meaningless without knowing how many wives in nonpolygamous marriages seek other sources of income.”
Not really, given that (1) a common rationalization given for polygamy is that is provides economic security for women and children, and that it therefore benefits the entire society, and (2) women worried about polygamy are often assured that since according to the Shariah, men are bound to support all their wives and children, polygamy is supposed to be an exception and hence, nothing to be worried about.
The reality, as we can see from this study, is that men who “technically” aren’t entitled to practice polygamy because they can’t afford it find ways of doing it anyway, and that polygamy often enough results in more economic insecurity for women and children rather than less.
While such unpalatable realities are unlikely to change the minds of those who are committed to supporting polygamy for ideological reasons–when they are reminded of the suffering it often causes, they simply change gears and extol the rewards women will supposedly receive in the afterlife for patient suffering–it might make those who care about social justice think a bit.
and that polygamy often enough results in more economic insecurity for women and children rather than less.
But that’s not what the statistic points out. You need to know how women in nonpolygamous marriages are doing. If 70% of those need to find a job, then it seems first wives in polygamous marriages actually do better than their monogamous counterparts.
It’s probably not the case, but it would be dishonest to simply assume that the number is lower for monogamous marriages. I can’t find the study, but if the study didn’t look at that statistic, then it’s inconclusive, and poorly designed.
[...] politicians’ thinly veiled obsession with defining how Muslim women should dress, see here and [...]