Sunday, March 8, 2009

International Women's day - Middle East

It's International Women's day today, but there will not be much cheering in the Middle East. If you are a woman and live in most of the Muslim Middle East, this is what you can look forward to:
 
Driving and Voting - If you live in Saudi Arabia, forget about driving and voting.
 
Honor killings - If you are suspected of hanky panky by members of your family, you will end up dead for dishonoring the family.
 
Female Genital Mutilation - practised in much of North Africa and parts of the Middle East.
 
Burqa - This is the style in Afghanistan.
Women's Rights Muslim Burqa
Hijab - This is the style in many Muslim countries. Iran and Saudi Arabi have stricter garments.
 
These styles are not options. They are enforced by brutal religious police.
 
If you are a woman, you'll be happy to know that Sharia law protects you - a bit. The bad news is that husbands have a duty to beat disobedient wives. The good news is that they are not supposed to leave a mark. That's fair, isn't it? Owning property and getting citizenship is sometimes a bit tricky for women too in this party of the world.
 
Getting Stoned - And If you like getting stoned, Iran is the place to be. This woman is about to be stoned for adultery:
Iran - stoned for adultery 
 
There's only one place in the Middle East where women are protected - "Apartheid" Israel.
 
 

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