At the end of the day – there are still several Muslim dominated countries where women really do not enjoy equal rights as men. That’s not to confuse women who choose to cover themselves with a burka or head scarf …. because for some – that’s just religious devotion to god by choice. And I say – if that’s how they want to live their lives … then more power to them. But – there are many women who wish for a more equal lifestyle and frankly … in many of these countries – women are just treated as 2nd class citizens. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan’s rural areas, Afghanistan, and certain African countries dominated by relatively recent growth of the Muslim religion including Sudan and others … there are real problems of equality for women.
Now – the vast majority of Muslims do not believe this or support this sort of action … but it does still exist in the so called “lawless” rural areas. This is really a problem in the areas where schools are nearly non-existent and learning the so called teaching of the Koran is the only “education” around. Needless to say – that “teaching” is usually extreme and not consistent with the vast majority of Muslim’s worldviews. But – this type of extremism while only the minority is still far too prevalent an issue within the Muslim religion. And it’s something that all Muslims should be speaking out against (and indeed many are).
The idea that women would be murdered over something like this is appalling to me. Those areas that the Taliban controls have been a huge, huge step back for women. It’s just a moral outrage….
Reuters explains the bigger picture HERE:
Afghan women have won back basic rights in education, voting and work since the Taliban were ousted from power but fears are mounting both at home and abroad that such freedoms could be traded away as Kabul seeks peace talks with the group.
“Afghan women and girls were looking to the international community to protect the progress they have made in the last decade and they have been let down,” Oxfam Afghanistan’s head of policy and advocacy, Louise Hancock, said on Sunday after the close of the Tokyo summit.
Violence against women has increased sharply in the past year, according to Afghanistan’s independent human rights commission. Activists say there is waning interest in women’s rights on the part of President Hamid Karzai’s government.
Authorities blamed the Taliban for the stoning to death of a young couple in northern Kunduz province two years ago in a crowded bazaar, days after a pregnant widow was flogged and killed in western Baghdis province. The Taliban denied involvement.
In Saudi Arabia … women have been given lashes for trying to drive themselves (source)
