Editor’s Note: It’s been a hectic week for nearly everyone at MMW, so we apologise for not having a real post today. Thankfully, Anneke is on the ball, so we’ll be splitting her great list of links into two posts this week. We’ll be back to normal next week, insha’Allah.
A proposed reform of the National Women’s Council by the ruling military council in Egypt is facing resistance from the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party.
Mrs. Mariyatha from Kerala, India is an inspirational community leader in the fight against polio.
In Abu Dhabi, women lament the loss of a women’s-only beach; having to share the beach now with male guests takes away a lot of the freedom many women felt at a female only beach area.
For Persian new year, Iranian officials introduce a new uniform for female civil servants in fashionable colors, dark grey and navy blue. This bright attire is voluntary, an official has been quoted saying, and there’s talk of a uniform for university students. Can’t wait!
Tens of thousands of women in the Southern Pakistani city of Karachi took to the streets to rally for improved women’s rights and more gender equality.
Thousands of refugees from the volatile region of northern Mali, mainly women and children, are fleeing into neighbouring Niger, but the situation in Niger does not bring much relief.
The tradition of “baad,” where a girl is used to “pay” for a shameful crime committed by her family members, is illegal in Afghanistan (and in Islam as well), but nevertheless “baad” is flourishing in Afghanistan’s rural areas, according to a UN report in 2010.
Human Rights Watch calls on the International Olympic Committee to ban Saudi Arabia from participating at the 2012 London Games, as it is still discriminating against women in sports. Saudi Arabia lacks a government sports infrastructure for women, and there is no physical education for girls in school.
A seminar in Hyderabad, India, addressed the problem of the immense popularity of black magic practitioners, which many Muslim women turn to in times of need, taking up precious time and money, without much result, obviously.
Ramallah, Occupied Palestine-based Nisaa FM is the only radio station in the Middle East devoted solely to women’s issues.
A French (non Muslim) mother has received custody of 11-year old daughter in Pakistani court, even though the girl claims she wants to remain with her (Muslim) father.
There is physical education for girls in Saudi arabian schools! I grew up in Saudi and we had phys Ed just like the boys section of our school did. We played basketball, volleyball, badminton, did aerobics, had sports competitions, races. We even had some phys Ed teachers who made the whole school do exercises in morning assembly!
Of course we didn’t have access to a swimming pool since the only one the school had was an outdoor one for the boys.
As far as I know most girls’ schools in Saudi do have some form of phys Ed lessons If not a complete curriculum for it. So wrong to state that there is no phys Ed in Saudi schools for girls!
I find the way that you are framing the custody issue an the eleven-year-old girl disturbing. According to the news article you linked to, the girl was only about four when her father took her to Pakistan, and she’s been living there with him ever since. Is it surprising that now she reportedly wants to stay with her father instead of living with her mother? She hasn’t lived with (or maybe even seen) her mother for seven years!
How is the religion of the mother the issue here? Yes, the father has been trying to make it an issue. In custody disputes worldwide, parents often make use of whatever ammunition they can in order to get their way–to the detriment of the children, in most cases. Manipulating children to choose one parent and reject the another is abusive. Using religion in order to do that is taking abuse to another level.
I would hope that your site would also be aware that such appeals to religion in custody battles can not only be used against non-Muslim mothers formerly married to Muslim men, but also against MUSLIM mothers, whose (Muslim) former husbands claim are not “good Muslims”–because they don’t wear hijab, or don’t have a conservative approach to their religion.
@ Avishan, I have the ‘no phys ed for girls’ from HRW, and I was actually doubting it when I wrote it down. As far as I know there is no phys ed in ‘public school’ for girls, but even that could be wrong. That the sport facilities for both girls and women are below par, that is something that is certainly the case.
@ Humayra, in cases such as these I do understand that using the right words and definitions is important. I tried to stay quite neutral, but fact is that this case made the head lines is because Pakistani court gave custody to a non Muslim French woman over her daughter, who is considered to be a ‘Pakistani’ Muslim girl. Even though the religion of the mother is a non-issue to both you and me, without that ‘detail’ it would probably not be a news item…. And that is what I am trying to do with the Friday Links, just try to cover some of the items which made the news around the world, which featured Muslim women. It is certainly not an opinion piece!