Global Voices (Gender)

By Ayesha Saldanha

As in the rest of the Arab world, fewer women in the Gaza Strip wore the hijab 20 or 30 years ago. The “Islamic revival” over the last few decades has resulted in an increase in the wearing of headscarves and other forms of “Islamic” dress, a phenomenon which in Gaza grew with the rise of Hamas. Today the majority of women in Gaza wear the hijab; however those who do not frequently face social pressure to do so. Sometimes the pressure is institutional; there have even been cases of Christian schoolgirls being pushed to wear the hijab. In this post we hear from Asmaa Al-Ghoul, a journalist and blogger who was arrested last year for not wearing a headscarf; she is furious that a friend who refuses to wear the hijab has not been allowed to graduate from university.

Palestinian university students. Photo courtesy of PalFest under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Asmaa writes:

في معظم البلدان يحدث التمييز العنصري ضد المحجبات في تركيا وفرنسا وتونس وهذا شيء معظمنا ضده لأن فيه تجاوز للعلمانية كما قال فوكاياما ، إلا في غزة التمييز العنصري ضد من لا يرتدين الحجاب..فتجد القوانين الظالمة، والتعليقات الجارحة، والكلمات السخيفة ونظرات الاستحقار، والاستخفاف بأخلاق غير المحجبات..انه عالم غزة الصغير..نحتاج فيه لمن يدافع عن حقوق غير المحجبات وغير المجلببات وغير المنقبات…انها تراتبية ترسخ التعامل مع المرأة على أساس أنها جسد… In most countries discrimination takes place against women wearing the hijab – in Turkey, and France, and Tunisia – and that is something that most of us are against because it violates secularism, as Fukuyama says. Only in Gaza is the discrimination against those women who don't wear the hijab… You will come across repressive rules, hurtful comments, stupid words and contemptuous looks, and scorn for the morals of women not wearing hijab. In the small world of Gaza we need someone to defend the rights of women who don't wear the hijab, or the jilbab, or the niqab… It's a system that establishes the idea that women should be treated as bodies. ومن هنا لنتابع الحكاية :
قبل قليل استمعت لحلقة اذاعية للناشط الرائع رامي مراد على صوت الشعب، تتحدث عن التمييز العنصري ضد الطالبات في جامعة الأزهر، وكان شي مخجل جدا ما يحدث في الجامعة، خاصة أنه مسكوت عنه منذ سنين، وأعرف ان هناك جامعات في الجوار تقوم قوانينها بالأساس على هذا التمييز العنصري ولكن تلك الجامعات تابعة لأحزاب بعينها وفقدنا الأمل فيها منذ زمن..خاصة بعد ان اصبحت هي والحكومة واحد واستطاعت فرض تغييرها بالقوة والسلطة والقوانين.. From here we follow the story:
A short while ago I listened to radio programme by the wonderful activist Rami Murad on Sawt Al-Sha'ab [Voice of the People, a radio station affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine], which was talking about discrimination against students in Al-Azhar University. Something very shameful has been happening in the university, especially so as it is something that has been silenced for years. I know that there are universities nearby whose rules are based on this discrimination, but these universities belong to certain political factions, and we lost hope in them a long time ago… Especially after they and the government became one and the same, and they could impose their changes by force and authority and laws…

Asmaa is referring to the fact that Al-Azhar University has a strong association with Fatah, which would normally indicate a less religiously conservative environment than that of the Islamic University of Gaza which is affiliated with Hamas. She continues:

أما ما هو جديد كلياً أن ذلك يحدث في جامعة الأزهر، والمصيبة منذ عشرين عاماً، فعلى جميع الطالبات ارتداء الحجاب كشرط لتسلم شهادة التخرج كي تكون صورهن الموجودة في الشهادة بالحجاب….وسواء كانت الطالبة مسيحية أو مسلمة أو علمانية أو ليبرالية أو شيوعية أو أي شيء لازم تحافظ على سريان التيار، وتضع قطعة القماش على رأسها لتنال شرعية الجامعة وتنال شهادتها..كم هو شيء مخجل يا جامعة الأزهر…!!
هل تريدين يا أزهر أن تكوني ملَكية أكثر من الملك وتقليد التخلف المحيط بك وتقولي والله بنخرّج طالبات محترمات؟..بما أنه الحجاب وعدمه صار مقياس للأخلاق عندك!..يقول د.رياض العيلة على الراديو وبالفم الملآن والفخور: هذا عرف جامعي يتناسب مع الواقع..أي واقع اذا كانت الكثيرات من طالبات الأزهر لا يرتدين الحجاب..أم أنه يقصد واقع الجامعة المجاورة له منذ عقود..ولا يريد أن يتهمهم أحد بالانحلال كما تحجج أحد العاملين في الجامعة لخريجة صديقة حين طالبت أن تكون صورتها على الشهادة كما هي في الواقع أي بشعرها.. But what is entirely new is that this is happening in Al-Azhar University - yet the terrible thing is that it has been for twenty years. All female students are required to wear the hijab as a condition of receiving their graduation certificate, so that their picture is on the certificate with the hijab…Whether the student is Christian, Muslim, secular, liberal, communist, or anything, she has to maintain the the established practice of the movement, and put a piece of cloth on her head to get the university's legitimacy and degree. How shameful this is, Al-Azhar! Al-Azhar, do you want to be more monarchic than the monarch and the tradition of backwardness surrounding you, just to be able to pretend that you produce respectable students - since wearing a hijab or not has become a measure of morality for you? Dr Riyadh Al-Aila says on the radio in a loud, proud voice, “This university custom matches the reality…” What reality, if many of the students of Al-Azhar don't wear the hijab? Or does he mean the decades-long reality of the neighbouring university? And no one wants make accusations of decadence, like one of the employees of the university did who argued with my graduate friend when she asked for her picture on her certificate to be as she is in reality, with uncovered hair.

Asmaa is angry:

ان تعاملنا مع الفتاة يوما بعد يوم يقوم فقط على أساس أنها عورة وفتنة وليست انسانة..يقول د. العيلة على الراديو..: “البنت نص متر بكون صدرها مبين”، هل هذا كلام أكاديمي من رجل حر يا عالم؟ هل يعقل هذا التمييز ضد الفتاة والتعامل معها أنها صدر وبطن ورجلين..كلام هدفه التحقير من المرأة وتعمد أن تظهر كأنها تبرز جسدها لأنها تحب العري والعهر ويجب أن نغطيه لها…فيتبرع الجميع بتغطيته: الجامعة والمجتمع والحكومة والأخ والزوج والأم والخطيب..كأننا مصنوعات من الفاحشة ودون عقل وروح وإرادة… Our daily dealings with girls are based solely on their being sexual objects and not human beings… Dr Al-Aila says on the radio, “A girl [without hijab] is showing half a metre of her chest.” Are these academic words from a free man, o world? Is it comprehensible, this discrimination against girls, and dealing with them as chests and abdomens and legs? This talk is aimed at belittling women and intends to show that they expose their bodies because they love nakedness and fornication, and it's necessary to cover them… And everybody seems to volunteer to do that: university, society, government, brother, husband, mother and fiancé… As if we are all sinful creatures without minds, souls and volition.

Younger girls are also affected:

حزنت وغضبت العام الماضي حين وضعت مديرة المدرسة شقيقتيّ التوأم وأخريات في ساحة المدرسة الثانوية تحت الشمس في محاولة لاجبارهن على الحجاب..وتوجهتُ كالمجنونة إلى المدرسة، فقالت لي المديرة وقتها : بدي أكسب فيهن أجر …ههههههه شي مضحك..في غزة تحول التربوي والمحامي والقائد والصحافي والجرسون والشرطي، إلى دُعاة وشيوخ، مش بس الحكومة ثيوقراطية مجتمعنا كله ثيوقراطي ..اي مجتمع رجال دين ونساء دين… Last year I was saddened and angered when the headteacher of their school put my twin sisters and other girls in the playground of the secondary school under the sun in an attempt to force them to wear the hijab. I stormed off to the school like a madwoman, and the headteacher at the time said to me, “I want to receive God's reward because of them.” Ha-ha, that's funny… In Gaza the educators, lawyers, leaders, journalists, waiters and policemen have all turned into preachers and sheikhs. It's not just our government that is theocratic, but our whole society; it's a society of male and female clerics…

And Gaza's Christian minority is not exempt:

تقول طالبة مسيحية اسمها نادين أنها لا تستطيع أن تعلق شهادة تخرجها من جامعة الأزهر في البيت كيف وهي محجبة، صديقتي الخريجة… لم تضع الحجاب للصورة وتناضل من أجل ذلك، وكلنا فخراً بها ..قالت:لا لا أريد شهادتي لأني لا أخجل من قناعاتي، وهي الآن لم يندرج اسمها ضمن حفلات التخرج التي تغلق سيارات الأهالي الشوارع من أجلها هذه الأيام، كما أنها من المفترض أن تسافر لدراسة الماجستير ويجب أن تأخذ معها شهادتها الأصلية..كيف ذلك؟ A Christian student called Nadine says that she cannot hang her graduation certificate from the University of Al-Azhar in her house as she is wearing the hijab in it. My graduate friend did not put on the hijab for the picture, and is struggling because of that. We are all proud of her… She said, “No, I do not want my certificate, because I am not ashamed of my convictions.” Now her name is not included in the graduation parties, for which people's cars are blocking the streets these days. She is supposed to travel to study for a master's, and she should take her original certificate with her… How?

Asmaa ends:

ختاماً..
أذكر حين دخلت الأزهر أنا ذاتي كنت محجبة، كانت صورتي في البطاقة الجامعية محجبة، وبعد أن خلعت حجابي في عام 2006 بكامل ارادتي لأني كنت أرتديه ليس وفقها بل تبعا لإرادات محيطة بي، رفضت الجامعة تغيير صورتي للحجة ذاتها، وحتى الآن أجاهد من أجل ذلك..
وأقول لصديقتي الخريجة…ستكونين كما تريدين
يكفيك فخراً أنك لست ضمن القطيع.. In conclusion…
I remember that at the time I entered Al-Azhar I myself wore the hijab; the picture of me on my university ID was in hijab. After I removed my hijab in 2006 (entirely by my choice, because I had been wearing it not because I agreed with it but of course because of the wishes of those around me), the university refused to change my picture under the same pretext, and until now I am fighting because of that…
I say to my friend the graduate, be who you want to be.
You should just be proud that you are not following the flock.

By Mong Palatino

Based on an article written by Vinh Dang, about 40,000 Vietnamese citizens married foreigners between 2005-2008. The author also identifies the possible reasons why many Vietnamese are marrying foreigners.

By Jillian C. York

Canadian women at the 19th Annual Missing Women's Memorial March in February 2010

As August 30 marked the International Day of the Disappeared, news from Canada that nearly 600 native women have gone missing over the past three decades has spread far and wide and throughout the Canadian blogosphere. Human rights activists claim that the Canadian government has not done enough to investigate the disappearances. Most of the women are thought to have been murdered. There is also suspicion that some may have been the victims of extra-judicial killings.

A racist system?

American blogger Kera Lovell was surprised to learn of Canada's high rate of missing native women:

Everyone loves Canada, eh?  And no one can give you any specific details about Canada other than: two Olympics were held there, in Quebec they speak French, and, that it’s known for ice wine, ice hockey, and syrup.  And Michael Moore is from there.

But what about their issues?  Assuredly Canada deals with similar problems of race, class, gender, etc, but you never hear about Canada, so it must be fantastic there. Right?

I recently learned from this Rabble news article posted on Racialicious that Canada has a high rate of missing and murdered native women, totaling nearly 600 women over the past 25 years, and half since the year 2000. And more than half of these murders remain unsolved.  WTF?

Native American paper Indian Country Today is publishing a four-part series on the disappeared women. Part 4, published on August 25, discusses Canada's policies toward its indigenous population in relation to the disappearances. In a comment on the post, NY Indian Girl writes:

A SYSTEM is to blame. That system has been planted in the minds of Natives in Canada, the U.S., etc. The system has become a mindeset of no self worth, forced assimilation, forced removal from homelands,etc. Just as the slaves had a systemic mindset put in them, the same was done to ALL Indigenous people. When your people are murdered for their land by a foreign nation and then forced to take on the thought process and lifestyle of that nation, it breaks down who you are and gives the oppressor the hold on you that is needed to keep you down. None of these people asked for what has befallen them. And once the cycle started, it has been hard to break. So do not put blame at the door of those who did not ask for what happened to them, put blame on those who stole from them and forced them to take on lives that were not and still are not their own. My ancestry is both of slaves and Native Americans, so I see both sides. Thanks for the story.

The role of the media

Blogger Patricia, writing for Citizen Shift, reporting on a Montreal workshop on violence against women, writes of the media's role in the disappearances:

There are 520 cases of reported missing native women in Canada. What is so alarming, says Robertson is how the police and media fail to acknowledge this. “Native families don’t know who to turn to.” Robertson used a horrible example of three young native women who went missing in Quebec in 2006. Around the same time a lion cub disappeared from a zoo. This got a lot of coverage but the women’s stories did not. Police did not want to interfere because the reserves come under federal jurisdiction and these young women were from reserves. The story had a very tragic end when the body of Tiffany Morrison from Kahnawake was found this summer near the Mercier Bridge.

Trisha Baptie, writing for She Loves Magazine, calls on the public to pay equal attention to the plight of indigenous Canadian women:

My Facebook news feed has been a constant stream of two things this past week: one is of a white, 30-something, tall (very tall, actually) man with size 16 feet named Tyler who went out hiking two weeks ago and has not been seen nor heard from since. Tyler is great. We have many friends in common; he’s a pro hiker and I hope and believe he will be found soon…

…Truth be told there are hundreds of missing–mostly aboriginal–women all across Canada. What is different in these two stories is that there is no expense being spared for Tyler. In fact, there are fundraisers being held in the search for Tyler, yet no one is pulling out all the stops to find my sisters. In the words of Laura Holland, a member of the Aboriginal Women’s Action Network (AWAN): “My sisters, my perfect sisters were not considered perfect enough victims and witnesses for the Vancouver prosecutors and police.” And therein lies the problem. Understand this is a hard topic to tackle. Understand I want Tyler found. I pray he is safe. I want helicopters, infrared cameras, rescue teams and everything that can be used, to find him.

My question, though, is why society is not doing it for the women missing across this country? Why in the name of “unstable lifestyle” “addiction issues” “homeless” and “prostituted women” do we get to abandon them? Why is their marginalization by society the very excuse we use not to pursue them with all our heart. With God’s own heart? Didn’t he seek out the one sheep that got away from the flock? Isn’t Jesus’ take-home message Love the least of these?

Photo by nofutureface made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

By Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados remains shell shocked today as it struggles with the reality that what local media are calling “a scene straight out of the drama series CSI” could happen in the relatively peaceful island. What appears to have started as a robbery turned into a murder scene as the suspects reportedly set the building ablaze before fleeing, leaving the victims trapped inside.

Barbados Free Press immediately began blogging:

Sorrow first. The outrage will wait – but no window bars will contain it.

There will be time later for the righteous outrage that is building across this country – outrage that is not directed only at the two pieces of worthless garbage who cutlass chopped and threw gasoline bombs at these young women.

No, there will be time for all that later.

For now, we grieve, we pray and we do what we can for those who cannot stop sobbing.

In another post, the blog posts information on the suspects, prefacing it by saying:

Somebody knows something – it’s a small island.

Meanwhile, Barbados Underground's “Gospel Knight Rider”, noting that “people are again crying out for hanging” in the wake of the incident, comments:

THIS IS RIDICULOUS…You see we have leaders that are void of principles, they take stands based on public opinion and in the case of hanging; they (our leaders) stand with the international community (Amnesty International and the likes).

The post goes on to extoll the virtues of “Biblical principles that made western civilization so strong”, summing up by saying:

Let Tudor Street be a wake up call.

Barbados Free Press is concerned about the way in which the country's leadership has (or has not) responded to the tragedy:

The second largest* mass murder in our country’s modern history has produced not one word of condolence or concern from Prime Minister David Thompson. Not so much as a press release, let alone a personal appearance.

And that is not the David Thompson we all know.

In light of this, citizens are naturally questioning if the Prime Minister is fit enough to return to his duties after returning a week ago from two months of medical treatment in the USA.

Prime Minister Thompson must be unable to appear in public – or he would have by now.

The concern over the PM’s lack of appearance is not really about this horrible crime.

We know that David Thompson’s heart goes out to the families and friends of the victims. Of course he cares and grieves with the rest of us. The David Thompson we know would want to show some leadership and compassion in all the circumstances. Normally, he would have appeared by now – but that means that he is unable to appear.

At a time when the country needs strong leadership, the Prime Minister's illness is just one more thing Barbadians must grapple with. Global Voices will continue to follow discussions in the island's blogosphere.

The thumbnail image used in this post, “Agni's Dance or Drawing with Fire”, is by addicted Eyes, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license. Visit addicted Eyes' flickr photostream.

By Janine Mendes-Franco

The Signifyin' Woman, upon learning that Marlon James' ‘The Book of Night Women' is listed as a finalist for the 2010 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, asks: “Can there be such a thing as a book worthy of being prized for promoting peace? Better yet, can a work of fiction be so powerful?”

By Ndesanjo Macha

THAT AFRICAN GIRL: LEARNING TO LIVE BETWEEN WORLDS is a blog written by African women about their childhood.