WOMEN'S RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS

 

Islamic women

In Islamic countries a woman’s life seems to be less worthy than that of a man. For example, in a court of law, a woman’s testimony is worth half that of a man’s. Furthermore, if a woman were to be murdered the compensation for the family would be half that for the murder of a man. In Islam, women are permitted only one spouse; however, men may have up to 4 wives. In addition, the legal age for girls to marry is just nine years old, but boys are allowed only after the age of fourteen. As a result, pedophiles are able to exploit and subsequently leave young girls.

These are only a few of the injustices women and girls face. In countries like ours people relish in the freedom that is choosing what to wear without heavy restrictions; in most Islamic societies women lack this freedom. Women are more often than not required to wear headscarves outside of the house or in the presence of males with the exception of family members and husbands. Not only are women encouraged, if not required, to wear a headscarf, but they often are forbidden  applying makeup or nail polish. Traditionalists believe that women are more likely to bring shame to their families or end up getting hurt, for example raped, if they were to revel in these practices.

Infibulation

The practice of infibulation attempts to control women’s sexuality and it is practised mainly in northeastern Africa. Adverse health effects depend on the type of procedure, they can include recurrent infections, difficulty urinating and passing mestrual flow, chronic pain, the development of cysts, an inability to get pregnant, complications during childbirth and fatal bleeding.

Leyla Hussein is a Somali-British activist, writer and licensed psychotherapist. In 2013, she founded  The Dahlia Project, US first therapy service for female genital mutilation. She is a survivor and this is her story:

I think that gender discrimination is, unfortunately, not only widespread in Islamic societies but virtually in every one. Expensive birth control or abortion, maternity leave, rape culture, these are only a few ways in which we women are limited or discriminated anyway. It is our job to join hands and fight the injustices we all are subjected to.

Camilla, 3scB