Afghanistan: Female Entrepreneur Sees Business Flourish

Afghan woman is all about business

Gayle Tzemach (Christian Science Monitor)

… In a small office hidden behind a gate in Kabul, Kamela Sediqi sits at her laptop and builds her business. The unlikely entrepreneur is the architect of Kaweyan Business Development Services, a consulting firm she started in 2004 with only her computer and her determination…

Malaysia: Government Constitutional Obligation of Fairness to Minorities

Pro-Muslim tilt in Malaysia’s courts

Simon Montlake (Christian Science Monitor)

… Diplomats, lawyers, and religious leaders say that Malaysia’s race-based coalition government – a power-sharing formula unchanged since independence in 1957 – is failing to address growing ethnic tensions fed by pro-Malay discrimination and a growing stress on Islamic governance. Minorities are largely invisible in the ranks of police, military, and civil service, while schools are increasingly segregated by race and language…

Mexico: Women as Non-Citizens, Non-entities

In this Mexican village women cannot vote or run for office; they aren’t even considered citizens because they don’t “work”. This government model is based on a traditional Mexican Indian culture and has even been granted an exemption by the Mexican government.

Women lose in Mexico Indian rights gain

Mark Stevenson (Associated Press)

Women in this Indian village high in the pine-clad mountains of Oaxaca rise each morning at 4 a.m. to gather firewood, grind corn, prepare the day’s food, care for the children and clean the house.

But they aren’t allowed to vote in local elections, because — the men say — they don’t do enough work.

Turkey: University Hijab Ban to End

The ban on head scarves in universities is coming to an end. Based on the reaction of Turkish “secularists”, a person could be led to believe that this will be the end of Turkey itself.

What was never adequately explained is this: How could it be right to deny a woman an education simply because she wears the hijab? For that matter, why would she be denied government jobs? Or services?

The ban was never reasonable and was never fair. Anyway, the “old guard” will still be relieved to know that burqas and niqabs (face veils) will still be banned at university.

Turkey: Plan to Lift Ban on Head Scarves

(The Associated Press )

Turkey’s ruling party agreed with an opposition party Monday to lift a decades-old ban on Islamic head scarves in universities of the mainly Muslim but secular nation.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party and the Nationalist Action Party said in a joint statement that the two parties agreed to make changes in the constitution and the Higher Education Law to allow female students wearing head scarves into universities…

See also:

In Turkey, a Step to Allow Head Scarves

Sabrina Tavernise (New York Times)

Turkey’s governing political party — a class of young, observant Muslim politicians — reached an agreement late Monday to lift a ban on the wearing of head scarves by women attending universities, a move likely to enrage the country’s staunchly secular old guard and clear the way for a more openly religious society….

Afghanistan: Getting and Keeping Girls in School Remains a Challenge

Even with the Taliban officially out of power, barriers for girls and women seeking an education remain. These include: lack of adequate facilities (some schools are actually tents), a shortage of qualified female teachers (in a society where gender separation is still important), lack of books and a continued fear of violence from the Taliban and/or their sympathizers.

Afghanistan’s Girl Gap

Aryn Baker (Time Magazine)

… The parlous status of girls’ education belies one of the greatest hopes raised when the Taliban was toppled by U.S.-led forces in 2001: the liberation of Afghanistan’s women. Yes, they can now vote, they have a quarter of the seats in parliament, and they are legally allowed to find jobs outside the home. Foreign donors and nongovernmental organizations have expended a great deal of energy and capital on building women’s centers and conducting gender-awareness workshops. But more than six years since the fall of the Taliban, fewer than 30% of eligible girls are enrolled in schools, and the infrastructure is so poor that only a tiny fraction are likely to get the education they need to enjoy the fruits of emancipation…

USA: Obama, the Un-Muslim

Amid all of Barack Obama’s earnest denials that he is Christian and not Muslim, Frank James wonders why Obama doesn’t take the time to note that Islam is a legitimate religion. The logical answer is that in today’s climate saying anything positive about Islam or Muslims would be political suicide.

Obama’s no Muslim but why no defense of Islam?

Frank James (Baltimore Sun)

See also:

Obama refutes e-mails calling him “closet Muslim”

Martin C. Evans and Keith Herbert (NY Newsday)

Barack Obama broke into his stump speech throughout a day of campaigning in South Carolina yesterday to take on an e-mail whisper campaign that included allegations that he refuses to take the Pledge of Allegiance and is a “closet Muslim.”

Obama referred to the whisper campaign during a morning radio program and later at campaign stops, telling an audience at a Sumter church that some had been “bamboozled.”

USA: Giuliani’s Dark Side; Getting Even

The New York Times has dug up multiple acts of vengeance by presidential contender Giuliani.

In Matters Big and Small, Crossing Giuliani Had Price

Michael Powell and Russ Buettner (NY Times)

Rudolph W. Giuliani likens himself to a boxer who never takes a punch without swinging back. As mayor, he made the vengeful roundhouse an instrument of government, clipping anyone who crossed him.

Mexico: Women-Only Bus Service Offers Grope-Free Ride

Women-only buses have been introduced in Japan, as well.

Mexico City starts grope-free buses for women

Mica Rosenberg (Reuters)

Mexico City has started a women-only bus service to protect female passengers from groping and verbal abuse common on the city’s packed public transportation system.

Millions of people cram into subway trains and buses in the Mexican capital, one of the world’s largest cities, and women have long complained of abuse from men taking advantage of overcrowding to sneak in an inappropriate grab…

Saudi Arabia: Ban on Women Drivers to Be Lifted

Change comes slowly, but it does come. Conservatives are getting the vapors because they realize that allowing women to drive gives them more control over where they go (and when and with whom). The naysayers seem to believe that, given a choice, women will engage in the worst behaviors. I think they will be proven wrong. I hope the driving ban really will be lifted and that this is not just a rumor.

Saudi Arabia to lift ban on women drivers

Damien McElroy (Daily Telegraph)

Saudi Arabia is to lift its ban on women drivers in an attempt to stem a rising suffragette-style movement in the deeply conservative state.

Government officials have confirmed the landmark decision and plan to issue a decree by the end of the year….

Indonesia: NY Times Photog Records Mass Female Circumcision

One defender of the practice claims that female circumcision “balances” the female psychology. (Presumably the majority of the world’s women, including most Muslim women, are mentally unbalanced since they have not been “cut.”)

The photos which accompany this article are not graphic, but are disturbing nonetheless. The article does note that Indonesians do not practice the most extreme forms of female circumcision which are more common in Africa.

A Cutting Tradition

Sara Corbett (NY Times)

… In Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, a debate over whether to ban female circumcision is in its early stages. The Ministry of Health has issued a decree forbidding medical personnel to practice it, but the decree which has yet to be backed by legislation does not affect traditional circumcisers and birth attendants, who are thought to do most female circumcisions. Many agree that a full ban is unlikely without strong support from the country’s religious leaders. According to the Population Council study, many Indonesians view circumcision for boys and girls as a religious duty …

UK: Shop Bans All Head Scarves, including Hijab

The reader comments that accompany this article are far more disturbing than the article itself. “About bloody time someone has the guts to stand up to these people” is a good (bad) example of the mindset of many of the contributors.

Shop bans head scarves and hijabs

Shuiab Khan (Lancashire Telegraph)

Shoppers wearing head scarves have been banned from a shop because the owner said they cannot be properly identified.

The ruling at Whitegate Wines off-licence and Convenience Store, Padiham Road, Burnley, includes those wearing the hijab – the traditional Muslim head wear…

Pakistan: Women Discuss Bhutto’s Influence on their Lives

Towards the end of this article, one Pakistani woman wonders what she will do with her Linguistics degree. Her family has permitted her to get an education, but after graduation she will be forbidden to work outside the home. Instead, she will be expected to stay at home waiting for her parents to arrange her marriage.

Pakistani women assess Bhutto

John M. Glionna (Los Angeles Times)

Squeezed into segregated public buses with scant seats reserved for women, schoolteacher Suneela Mohsin thinks of Benazir Bhutto. She thinks of the slain leader when she walks crowded streets, forbidden to talk to strange men in public or even make eye contact in this society dominated by men.

“Our culture offers women very little public space,” she said, wearing a deep maroon dupatta, the traditional shawl-like covering, around her head and body. “Benazir was our last hope of change. But now she’s gone…”

UAE: Sharia-Compliant Hotel to Open

‘Islamic’ hotel opens in Dubai

(Gulf Daily News Bahrain)

Hotel management group Millennium is planning to open a 163-room Sharia-compliant property in Dubai.

The hotel will not serve alcohol and have separate timings for men and women using the swimming pool.

Copthorne Hotel general manager Reda Mukhtar said the hotel, opening today, will serve people looking for a ‘more decent treatment’ in services.

USA: Woman Seeks to be First Female Muslim Military Chaplain

Shareda Hosein wants to be the first female Muslim military chaplain. She faces opposition from the military and from fellow Muslims because she cannot lead mixed prayers.

Soldier of Faith
As a graduate of an intensive program to train Muslim chaplains, Shareda Hosein wants to be the first woman in the U.S. military to be one. But the Army says it’s not a battle she should win.

Caryle Murphy (Washington Post)

USA, NY, NY: Nixzmary Brown Murder Trial; Defense Counsel Presents a Nauseating Mix of Lies, Fantasy and Excuses

Two years ago, 7-years old Nixzmary Brown was murdered by her mother and her stepfather. The case against her stepfather has finally gone to trial. His “defense” for murdering his stepdaughter consists of:

• blaming Nixzmary (for being “difficult”),

• blaming Nixzmary’s mother (another piece of human debris, she did nothing to aid her child),

• and claiming that he was merely disciplining Nixzmary and did not realize he had “crossed the line” from discipline to abuse.

This link goes to a picture of Nixzmary Brown’s bedroom. Note the absence anything normally associated with little girls: no canopied bed, no ruffles, no stuffed animals, no Hello Kitty knick knacks. Just a filthy litter box and a bucket of Scoop Away cat box filler.

Defense: Nixzmary’s stepdad points finger at mother

Anthony m. DeStefano (New York Newsday)

…. The stepfather of 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown slapped, beat and tied the little girl to a chair, but it was the child’s abuse at the hands of her mother that killed her, a defense attorney told a Brooklyn jury Wednesday.

In opening statements in the murder trial of Cesar Rodriguez, 29, attorney Jeffrey Schwartz of Manhattan painted a picture for the jury of an unemployed defendant caught in a poisonous relationship with a manipulative and volatile wife, who by the age of 27 had given birth to six children with five different men.

“Not all of us are in ‘The Brady Bunch,’” Schwartz told the jury about Rodriguez’s family, referring to the 1970s TV comedy about a household filled with children from previous marriages….

Granted, not all families are like “The Brady Bunch”, but animals housed in the zoo live better and are treated better than poor little Nixzmary Brown. This 7-years old child only weighed 45 pounds at the time of her death. Her life consisted of beatings, starvation, and humiliation. She spent her days tied to a chair. Her “bathroom” was a litter box.

Here’s more on her stepfather’s “defense.”

Murder Case Tests Limits on Parents’ Right to Hit

Andy Newman and Leslie Kaufman (NY Times)

During a break in the Nixzmary Brown murder trial in Brooklyn last week, Jeffrey T. Schwartz, the lawyer for Nixzmary’s stepfather, described the predicament he said his client found himself in.

“You don’t know you’ve crossed the line until you get accused of crossing the line,” he said.