Posted on 05/21/2005 5:57:25 AM PDT by Cornpone
DEAD SEA, Jordan (Reuters) - Women face a pervasive lack of freedom in the Arab world and no country in the region meets international standards for protecting their rights, human rights activists charged on Saturday.
Freedom House, a U.S.-based group, said a study of countries in the broader Middle East and North Africa had found that women were disadvantaged in nearly all areas of society, including justice, the economy, education, healthcare and media.
The study, which was distributed at a World Economic Forum regional meeting in Jordan, called for Arab governments to eliminate discriminatory laws and remove barriers to women participating in politics and business.
Sameena Nazir, editor of the report, said such moves were necessary both as a matter of principle and in order to make moves towards democracy in the region meaningful.
"Women are half the population of the Middle East," she told Reuters in an interview. "If they are not part of the democratisation process in a full capacity, the process will be incomplete.
The study ranked 16 Arab countries, the West Bank and Gaza on various areas such as access to justice, economic rights and social and cultural rights.
Only three countries -- Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria -- scored at or above a level described as reflecting "imperfect adherence" to universally accepted rights standards in more than one category.
Many countries, notably Saudi Arabia and some fellow Gulf states, had very low scores.
The study said, for example, that women in Saudi Arabia could not be treated in hospital without a male's permission. A United Arab Emirates law, meanwhile, required a woman to give up her citizenship if she married a non-UAE citizen.
Freedom House noted some changes across the region.
Morocco, it said, had expanded women's rights substantially in a new family code while Egypt had increased women's divorce rights.
Nazir said the study had been completed before Kuwait's recent decision grant women suffrage.
"It is a huge development for women's rights recognition in Kuwait ... and in the region," she said.
(Added) The Freedom House report can be found at Women's Freedom in the Middle East
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This just in...
Who knew ?
My point exactly. American feminists and their friends in the media are too busy decrying the perceived mistreatment of women in this country to take any interest in the complete subjugation and violence that women face under Islam.
Can'ya hear?
BTW, that picture of Theo van Gogh was shocking! Such powerful pictures never find their way onto MSM.
Guaranteeing equal rights based on Sharia is like promoting alcohol consumption under Prohibition. And right you are about the UN. Apparently human rights abuses are only a problem if committed by the US or Israel. The sooner we withdraw from that abominable institution and kick it off our shores, the better off we'll be.
They do in Europe. But, thankfully, our MSM wisely chooses to protect our delicate constitutions from the truth./sarc
The UN should be disbanded ASAP. It's a bunch of Muslim "states" holding the free, sane world hostage.
"I never knew that" whodathunkit! sure am glad someone told me.
Well said. Here! Here!
Like I've been saying, islime isn't a religion....it's a perversion.
Nasty, but good show, well-put. I scarfed that one up, for future use.
AMAZING! Another revelation I found out today was dogs bark.
It doesn't matter. Feminists in this country don't care about Islam. They just care about the evil Christian Bush and his supposed threat to the feminist sacrament of abortion.
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