There is an insidious and dangerous pattern of harassment against women in the Middle East that is reaching critical proportions, mostly because:“…that harassment was unchecked across the region because laws don't punish it, women don't report it and the authorities ignore it.”
That is the conclusion from a panel of activists after a 2 day conference in Cairo to discuss this alarming trend. The full article is HERE.
No matter how demurely they are dressed or whether they have children in tow, women who venture into the streets are subjected to sexual harassment, including groping and verbal abuse.
The problem seems to encompass most nations of the Middle East, including Syria, Yemen and Egypt.
“Participants at the conference said men are threatened by an increasingly active female labor force, with conservatives laying the blame for harassment on women's dress and behavior.”
“In Yemen, where nearly all women are covered from head to toe, activist Amal Basha said 90 percent of women in a published study reported harassment, specifically pinching.”
"The religious leaders are always blaming the women, making them live in a constant state of fear because out there, someone is following them," she said.”
“If a harassment case is reported in Yemen, Basha added, traditional leaders interfere to cover it up, remove the evidence or terrorize the victim.”
There is a campaign of systematic terrorizing and unrelenting harassment aimed against Arab women that has largely been ignored or covered up for years.
Women have had no place to turn, no one to help them. But that is changing with the formation of The Alliance For Arab Women which is spearheading projects to change the course of women’s lives in Arab nations.We need to let these women know we support them and that they will not be forgotten by drawing attention to their plight every chance we get.
My trip to Washington DC is delayed on account of blizzard. I had promised myself a brief respite from blogging, but the issues of the day are too compelling to stay, and an important post on an important subject should never be ignored.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rocky, for reminding us not to be so focused on our own national priorities that we ignore the rest of the world. Agreed, we MUST support the aspirations of women, especially in the Islamic world, and remind Muslims that if they want to be part of a global community, they need to get their human rights house in order.
Not just limited to Islam beyond our borders, our newest member of the Swash Zone, Infidel753, posted this story about a legal minor (formerly Muslim) in Ohio who wishes to convert to Christianity. According to Muslim law, the penalty for conversion is death. The young woman is a runaway who fears for her safety. Follow the link to Infidel's story.
Thanks for posting this. Such behavior is to be expected in a society where pretty much anything that men do to women is treated as the woman's fault because women are, just by existing, a temptation to sexual immorality.
ReplyDeleteIt would be impossible to even estimate the prevalence of more serious crimes such as rape in these countries, since that too is often considered the woman's fault and the incentives to keep quiet about it if it happens are overwhelming.
(O)ct(o)pus, thanks for the link. I also highly recommend this book written by a woman who grew up in a Muslim society, left for the West, and eventually became an atheist. She did not experience the kind of sexual harassment discussed in this posting, but the cultural attitudes she describes make it easy to understand how it happens.
Infidel,
ReplyDeleteI worked in Saudi Arabia for almost 5 years and I had numerous Saudi friends and I visited numerous Saudi homes...
I remember one time a group of us were talking about having more than one wife...and the Saudi men all agreed "who would want more than one?"
Their wives would call them at work and they would have to run home....
Not much different than "Married With Children"
Now, having said that...
I do agree that organized religion does strictly enforce a strict moral code that penalizes women and of course with any society you your extremists and your evil.
I was asked numerous times why we (Americans) we so against having more than one wife when all the Saudi's saw on television was that we were always having affairs...
At least one tiger loose in the woods didn't get the last snarl.
ReplyDeleteInfidel: I was asked numerous times why we (Americans) we so against having more than one wife when all the Saudi's saw on television was that we were always having affairs...
ReplyDeleteWonder what they think of our current affairs.
Informative piece that makes me appreciate our living conditions and our mores, such that they may be.
Will add this to my blog roll, if I may.
I think Saudi Arabia probably has a better handle on things even though Saudi women are certainly marginalized.
ReplyDeleteLeslie - thank you for your comments and feel free to blogroll.
Rocky, it's an abomination. That's what happens when you demonize sexuality and make women the culprits in it. Sick.
ReplyDeleteLets see, Iran has street protests and they blame some western power. Muslims bemoan a lack of democracy in their political system and they blame America for propping up their despotic ruler.
ReplyDeleteEverything that occurs in the middle east is always blamed on someone else...
Sexuality is no different.
"no matter how demurely they dress" -- which just goes to show you that all the cultural cover-ups and limitations don't actually protect Muslim women from harm.
ReplyDeleteI've got a book on my shelf, Price of Honor, in which a Saudi woman tells of an attempted kidnapping and (she assumes) rape by a taxi driver in Riyadh. This is apparently not uncommon, and it is a direct result of the kingdom's prohibition against females driving. (Luckily, this particular woman was no fool and carried a handgun, which is also illegal for women but much easier to conceal than a car.)