Laws Offer Little Protection for Afghan Women

Women in Afghanistan are barely under the protection of laws, making them vulnerable to rape and assault by strangers and their relatives. Laws to protect women from forced marriages and rape are still not being enforced and while this issue has gained attention from the media, nothing is being done to stop it. While many women in jail are victims of rape and assault, a lot of them are imprisoned for refusing to marry, running away from their husbands, and for “adultery” when they are raped. Many Afghanistan women are blamed for committing a crime when it wasn’t their fault, often times taken advantage of by their perpetrator. Their rights have been violated and yet they are still being punished as criminals.

These women are running out of time to get their voices to be heard as the “international presence in Afghanistan draws down in the coming years”. The United Nations is pushing to make Afghanistan’s government enforce laws on violence against women, but the future for this looks bleak. Afghan laws are often prevented by traditional Afghan justice, which doesn't protect women and often lets perpetrators walk free. While movies are trying to be made to get more attention about the issue, countries don’t want to endanger the lives of the women who would be interviewed. This is an ongoing problem that unfortunately doesn’t look promising for Afghanistan women.

Question: Would an international women’s organization (i.e Women for Women) make effective change for women’s rights in Afghanistan? Would change be better served from a political body, like the United Nations? Or should a religious organization (i. e Islamic Relief) try to effect change for women’s rights?

Link to source: Here

current event

Monday, the senate of Iran announced that two bills were unanimously passed regarding women called the Anti-Women Practices Bill and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill. Senator Nilofar Bakhtiar led the charge for such rights and finally had the two bills passed. He stated that the reason for these bills was that “several practices and customs in vogue in the country which were not only against human dignity but also volatile to human rights”.

In these new bills, one main issue that the bill regarded was that women are now not forced into marriage or have to marry the Quran. The women also if forced to marry, than the perpetrator will would be punished with imprisonment of up to seven years but not less than three years. The perpetrator would also, on top of jail time, be fined for their actions.

Another main reason that was mentioned in these bills was that women now were also in Iran allowed to receive their rightful share in inheritance and giving. Section 498A of the bill states that “woman inheriting any movable or immovable property at the time of opening of succession” and whoever by deceitful or illegal needs deprives such, will also be punished and put in jail that may reach up to 10 years and no less than 5. The perpetrator in this case would also be fined twice as much as the last offense would be.

Nilofar Bakhtiar believes in these two laws and states that currently, Such customary norms, which are contrary to Islamic injunctions, should be done away forthwith and the persons continuing such practices be dealt with severely by providing penal and financial liabilities and furthermore believes that these two bills that were recently passed can fix that.

Essential Question: Do you agree with what Nilofar Bakhtiar is saying and with the new laws that were passed? Why or why not?

Sources: http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=10937&Cat=13

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/13/senate-passes-two-women-bills.html

Three Waves of Feminism Reading

Click here and enjoy!

Derek Scafid: "The Heartbeat Bill"

Background:

Roe v. Wade:

This was a major Supreme Court ruling on the controversial topic of Abortion. Based on the fourteenth amendment which states:

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The outcome of this case was that the court decided a right to privacy by due process under the 14^th amendment, making abortions legal in the early months of pregnancy.

After this case, abortions will become illegal after the fourth month of pregnancy.

The new Ohio Bill, “the Heartbeat Bill”, with the nation’s most strict abortion limit, with make it illegal for a women to have an abortion if and when the fetus has a heartbeat, which is seen and heard over an ultrasound. This heartbeat is often heard after only 6 weeks of being pregnant. Ohio Prolife Action, which is a group that’s goal is to support the pro life movement in the state of Ohio, has been airing anti abortion ads and also advertise the state senators’ phone numbers, in effort to build more support to the heartbeat bill. In Early June the much republican Ohio House passed the bill with a 55-44 vote. At the House hearing, Ultrasounds were done, so that legislators could see and hear the fetal heart beats. A group called Ohio Right to Life has no current thoughts on the Bill. They only think that if legislation takes too long, and the bill is fought in court, the justices will shoot it down. Some people of Ohio have a strong feeling that the state should not be so concerned with abortion, and should not “waste” money on the matter. Instead, the state should be working on the 9% unemployment. Talks in the Senate began today, and are still ongoing.

Question to classmates: What are your feelings towards this state bill? Do you agree or disagree with the Bill? Why? What do you think will happen to this Bill in the Senate? If the Senate passes it, do you think it will be challenged in court and why do you think the outcome with be? Why?

sources:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/12/07/ohio_senators_hear_heartbeat_abortion_bill/

Iron Jawed Angels - Mindmap

Create a mindmap of the events depicted in the film, Iron Jawed Angels.  We imagine this will be a timeline of sorts, but feel free to get creative.  Begin with the creation of NAWSA as discussed in our tableau lecture and end with the passage of the 19th Amendment. You should document all of the important events, concepts, and themes illustrated.  Include details (words, images, phrases) that you took from the film.  For example, each mindmap should include a section that examines the role of black women in the movement.  You can find a synopsis of the film here if you need a refresher.  This can be constructed on 8 1/2 x 11 paper.

Steinem's Wall Street Occupied as Women Still Earn Less Than Men

Recent movements such as the Occupy Wall Street movement have brought the subject of unequal wages to the attention of many. In 2010 college graduates owed an average of $25,250 after completing college. Due to women getting paid less than men (about 81 cents for every dollar a man makes) it makes paying off this debt a lot harder. Lower wages and an unemployment rate of 9.1% for college graduates age 20-24 in 2010 combine to make paying off these debts almost impossible.
The people who are fighting for this equality call themselves the 99% which is a reference to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz's study showing that the richest 1% controls 40% of the U.S wealth.

Question: Why do you think women are getting paid an average of 81 cents for every dollar a man makes? Also what do you think about Stiglitz's study; does it surprise you that the richest 1% of population owns 40% of the U.S wealth?




Link to Article: Click Here

Women Abuse in the Military

There are over 210,000 women that are active in the US military today, with around 60,000 women troops that were deployed support the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even though women recruits are now common in the US military, there is a high percentage of women that have reported being sexually abused by men during their service. A 2004 survey registered by the Pentagon recorded that one out of seven woman soldiers in active duty have reported being sexually abused by male soldiers, and only an estimated one-third of the incidents were reported. Another survey conducted by the national phone services reported that nearly half of the Vietnam women veterans were susceptible to sexual abuse with 35% admitting victims to physical abuse, and 30% declared they were victims of rape.

Women abuse in the military have been continues for the past few recent decades. In the 1991 Talihook scandal, over 100 navy officers were accused of sexually assaulting and harassing multiple women, which had been approved by a Navy brass official for years. No officer were charged for their crimes and were let off without convictions. A similar case occurred at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland where drill instructors were accused of sexually assaulting several women during their training. Among the different military services the Army has shown the highest rates of sexual abuse against women followed by the Marines, Navy, and Air Force.

Though women victimization of sexual assault are common in the military most of the incidences go unreported and unnoticed by the military officials. Women who were victims of sexual assault have admitted that they fear confessing their perpetrators due to a lack of privacy, confidentiality, and limited victim services. Many who do announce their victimization later get harassed, intimidated, and further abused by other soldiers. Perpetrators of the crime hardly receive any convictions or harsh punishment, and are usually sent to other base camps or required to take marriage counseling or anger-management classes. Nearly 5000 soldiers who have been accused of sexual assault in 1992 where given no prosecution or any sort of punishment. Those that serviced between 1988-1993, 80% received honorable discharges when retired, and 54% were promoted to higher ranks. Since the past years twice as many sex offenders that were charged for sexual assault received administrative punishment rather than court rulings.

Only recently has the United States began to form policies and laws that would terminate sexual abuse in the military. The Department of Defense have been conducting frequent reviews on their policies toward sexual assaults, programs to help those that were victims. Findings of the Department of Defense showed that they had poorly organized data systems documenting reports of sexual assault in the military as well as many missing cases. The DOD have concluded that they not been enforcing their policies and programs towards sexual assault, and that they require greater help and awareness for those that were victimized. The DOD have declared that the Secretary of Defense needs to take action in developing and administering new policies that would reconstruct the various programs that have failed to end sexual harassment in the military. New policies have been recommend to Congress and Secretaries, but many have been ignored and failed to be acknowledge by the government.

Why are women recruits so susceptible to sexual assault during their service in America? What can be done to change further crimes against women in service and end sexist ideologies that would unify our military?

Source: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/512380