Women Worldwide
Jul. 13th, 2005 11:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alcibiadesTwo sickening stories about the plight of women in the world:
The ongoing fight against female genital mutilation on Africa. The good news is that incremental progress is being made. The sickening aspect is reading about the details of what is done by women to girls because of tradition based on ignorance and superstition and false intrepretations of the Koran.
And in Pakistan, a separated woman's feet are chopped off by her husband and in laws after they accused her of promiscuity. God knows what trivial infringement that means in central Pakistan, the same region that sentenced Mukhtaran Mai to gang rape. Just because they can apparently.
In a really backhanded kind of way I suppose that it counts as progress that so many of these stories are finally getting out to the West, seeing the light of day. In the past, I'm sure they were simply covered up – and there was no hope of stopping these traditions at all. So the fact that these stories are getting a public airing is actually hopeful – embarrassing the Musharraf regime represents the greatest hope for arresting these traditions.
The ongoing fight against female genital mutilation on Africa. The good news is that incremental progress is being made. The sickening aspect is reading about the details of what is done by women to girls because of tradition based on ignorance and superstition and false intrepretations of the Koran.
And in Pakistan, a separated woman's feet are chopped off by her husband and in laws after they accused her of promiscuity. God knows what trivial infringement that means in central Pakistan, the same region that sentenced Mukhtaran Mai to gang rape. Just because they can apparently.
In a really backhanded kind of way I suppose that it counts as progress that so many of these stories are finally getting out to the West, seeing the light of day. In the past, I'm sure they were simply covered up – and there was no hope of stopping these traditions at all. So the fact that these stories are getting a public airing is actually hopeful – embarrassing the Musharraf regime represents the greatest hope for arresting these traditions.