An Afghan bill allowing a husband to starve his wife if she refuses to have sex has been published in the official gazette and become law.
The original version, which caused outrage earlier this year, obliged Shia women to have sex with their husbands every four days at a minimum, and it effectively condoned rape by removing the need for consent to sex within marriage.
Women's groups say the new wording still violates the principle of equality that is enshrined in their constitution.
It allows a man to withhold food from his wife if she refuses his sexual demands; a woman must get her husband's permission to work; and fathers and grandfathers are given exclusive custody of children.
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By Sarah Rainsford
BBC Online
2009-08-16
Posted in Women In the News
In a country where most women leave home only under the cover of a
burqa, Shahla Atta wears bright pink nail polish, highlights her eyes
with glitter and wants to be Afghanistan's next president.
Atta,
42, is one of two women among more than 30 candidates vying for the
presidency — an uphill and even dangerous undertaking. Neither has much
chance of unseating President Hamid Karzai in the Aug. 20 vote. But
just the fact that they are running open campaigns, plastering photos
of their uncovered faces around Kabul, is an accomplishment in itself.
Many Afghans, especially in rural areas, believe that a woman should not show her face to non-family members.
"It
is difficult for a woman even to invite some people over for tea and
tell them about her ideas," said Shinkai Kharokhel, a female lawmaker
in Kabul.
2009-08-12
Posted in Women In the News
A court in
Myanmar sentenced the pro-democracy leader
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to 18 months of additional house arrest Tuesday, drawing widespread condemnation from around the world.
Playing up a moment of suspense, the court first sentenced Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, 64, to
three years of hard labor for violating the terms of the house arrest
where she has spent 14 of the past 20 years.
Moments later, it reduced
the sentence and sent her home from the prison where she had been held since the trial began three months ago.
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Seth Mydans
NYT online
2009-08-11
Posted in Women In the News
A Jewish Holocaust survivor who later lived on the streets of New
York City has left half of her $300,000 estate to Hebrew University,
the school said Monday.
"It moved us very much," university
spokesman Yefet Ozery said in a telephone interview from Jerusalem,
where the school is based.
"Hebrew University has many, many
donors and benefactors and supporters and many people remember us in
their will, but I haven't come across such a person that lived actually
as a poor woman who would give half of her bequest to Hebrew
University," Ozery said.
The woman, who died two years ago in
her 90s, has not been identified publicly at the request of her
estate's executor, he said.
2009-08-10
Posted in Women In the News
Judge Sonia Sotomayor has arguably lived the American dream.
She was
born to a Puerto Rican family and grew up in a public housing project
in the South Bronx.
Her father was a factory worker with a third-grade education, and
died when Sotomayor was nine years old. Her mother raised Sotomayor
while working as a nurse.
And her amazing story goes on and on...
Sotomayor graduated as valedictorian of her class at Blessed Sacrament
and at Cardinal Spellman High School in New York. She won a scholarship
to Princeton where she continued to excel, graduating
summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
Related links:
Sonia Sotomayor: All You Need To Know
2009-08-08
Posted in Women In the News
