28, Female and Unmarried

HARISHA V.

A regular day at home starts with mother blaming father for not getting his daughter married. Cousins and friends who are my age and even younger are married with more than one kid. My parents, though supportive of my study and career aspirations, are not able to swim in a society where they have a daughter who has crossed the ‘marriageable’ age.

My neighbours who watch me tie my shoe laces daily when I get ready to go for a jog seem to murmur: “She is overweight, that’s the reason why she is not married yet. She wants to reduce her weight so that a guy would accept her.” My uncle calls up and asks my father if his daughter is in love with an ‘other-caste’ person and whether the delay stems from any consequent disputes.

I walk into my cousin’s wedding, but being unmarried I’m not allowed to participate in most of the rituals. Silently I sit back, trying to relax my over-worked mind. People gather around me to find out if I believe in the institution of marriage, in having children, and whether I’m at all interested in men. Before they get any answers, one of the aunties from the crowd advises me to try a facial so that my complexion should not be a hindrance for marriage. Another aunty asks me to perform some vrata so that the goddess who is in charge of getting girls married would be pleased and the moment would come in my life. A few aunties and uncles go straight to my parents to suggest matches they find around.

My ophthalmologist suggests that I go for Lasik surgery so that I can get rid of the glasses, and without glasses my chances of getting married would improve.

My parents thought of a better option: an astrologer. He says I suffer from kuja dosha; that’s why I am not married yet. And, if I am not married before November by performing a special puja, I won’t get married at all.

Well, the reasons are pretty legitimate in this country not to get married. But I am not married yet as I have chosen not to, yet. My reasons are personal, taking the many dimensions of my career into consideration. But, really, do I need a reason for not getting married? I just don’t feel like getting married yet. Isn’t that good enough? I would like to get married when I feel like it and when I find the right person when I have to.

I’m very clear about my objectives. I teach underprivileged kids for free in my leisure hours. I planned a city tour for them which I thought would be enjoyable and informative to them. But I had no idea my marital status would become a problem to the parents of some of those kids to send them along with me. The stereotyping of a 28-year-old unwed female was clear.

I’m left wondering: If a marriage involves a man and a woman, why isn’t that a man is ostracised for being unmarried? And if the sex ratio is declining at this rate, logic dictates that men should suffer it manifold when compared to women!

Wishing for a time when men sit down and perform vrata for marriage.http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/28-female-and-unmarried/article5906183.ece

missleading modi

The controversial front-runner is campaigning against rape, but he may be disastrous for India's women. 

on a balmy December day on the outskirts of New Delhi, thousands of people poured into a dusty field to hear Narendra Modi speak. The combative 63-year-old politician, sporting a neatly trimmed silver beard, frameless glasses, and light beige tunic, took the stage one year after a brutal December 2012 gang rape in India's capital sparked nationwide protests. Tens of thousands of rapes are reported in India each year, yet few are brought to trial and even fewer are successfully prosecuted. Of the 706 rape cases filed in 2012, only one has resulted in a conviction. "Remember Nirbhaya!" Modi bellowed to the crowd. The politician invoked the name -- meaning "fearless one," which the public gave to the gang-rape victim -- to push a message for the parliamentary election, taking place in April and May, which Modi's opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to win by a wide margin, earning him the prime minister's seat. Delhi, he said at the rally, has "earned a bad name as the rape capital. When you vote, do not forget this."

For Modi, it is advantageous to couch rape in the context of governance, where his strength as a candidate lies. The chief minister of the state of Gujarat since 2001, Modi has staked his candidacy on his home state's strong economic performance and has positioned himself as the pragmatic pro-business alternative to his leading challenger, Rahul Gandhi of the incumbent Congress party. Many women seem to view India's current election as a referendum on governmental incompetence and corruption, which has stymied efforts to crack down on sexual assaults. (There are no reliable polls measuring Modi's popularity with women voters.) It is here that Modi, with his strong law-and-order credentials, has been successful. But there are other parts of Modi's record that he would prefer women -- who make up 49 percent of India's 814 million eligible voters -- to forget: A social conservative aligned with the Hindutva movement, a radical brand of political Hinduism, Modi is hardly an advocate for women's rights.

In February 2002, just five months after Modi assumed office, clashes between Hindus and Muslims broke out in Gujarat after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims returning from the holy city of Ayodhya was set on fire. The resulting three days of rioting left an estimated 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus dead. Scores of women, many of whom were Muslim, were raped during the pogroms, according to Amnesty International.

While a 2012 report by a Supreme Court–appointed investigative team exonerated Modi from any wrongdoing, India's National Human Rights Commission, a government agency, found that Modi's administrationfailed "to control the persistent violation of the rights to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the people of the State." Modi's perceived unwillingness to aggressively prosecute the rapists in the years after the violence unsettled many Gujaratis.

Even for those who believe Modi was innocent in 2002, his politics come with baggage: The BJP is the standard-bearer for Hindutva -- literally, Hindu-ness -- a conservative ideology that enshrines problematic gender identities in its vision of Hindu culture. The leaders of the Hindu right, including Modi, "fashioned an image of Indian masculinity as aggressive and warlike," wrote Martha Nussbaum, a philosopher and academic at the University of Chicago, in her 2007 book, The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future.

Hindutva ideologues often celebrate women who are sexually pure, subservient, and domestic.

Hindutva ideologues often celebrate women who are sexually pure, subservient, and domestic. Mohan Bhagwat, the head of the right-wing Hindutva organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which Modicampaigned with in his 20s and 30s, reportedly said in January 2013 that when "women living in cities follow a Western lifestyle," rape happens.

Domination over Hindu women "lie[s] deep in the Hindu right's political consciousness," wrote Nussbaum, a comment echoed by others. Urvashi Butalia, who co-founded Kali for Women, India's first feminist publishing house, told AFP, "The BJP has never been particularly known for its progressive attitudes toward women, and there's no reason to believe a Modi government would be good news for women." (By contrast, Modi's leading challenger, Gandhi of the Congress party, a secularist who hails from a family of imposing matriarchs like former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, is viewed as being sympathetic to women's issues but lacking the leadership skills to bring about change.)

Still, Modi is unapologetic about his Hindutva links. Last summer, the BJP plastered Mumbai with posters depicting Modi above a slogan that read "I am Hindu Nationalist." He tries to balance the Hindutva message with pro-development statements like "My identity is of a Hindutvawadi [Hindutva-ist], but I say build toilets before you build temples." Yet amid his message of economic growth, his edgier religious rhetoric remains: In July he accused Congress of hiding behind the "burqa of secularism."

The only scandal associated with Modi and women broke in November 2013, when the investigative news sites Gulail.com and Cobrapost.comalleged that Modi had used state intelligence agencies and anti-terrorism squad officers in 2009 to stalk a young woman for at least two months. In what the Indian media is dubbing "Stalkgate" or "Snoopgate," the sites claimed to have obtained audiotapes on which Amit Shah, then Gujarat's home minister, is heard ordering a high-ranking police officer to snoop on the woman at the behest of "saheb" -- an honorific often used for Modi. The BJP does not deny that the woman was monitored: The party circulated a letter to the press allegedly written by the father of the woman stating that the police were only looking out for "her own interest, safety and security." (When reached for comment, BJP spokesperson M.J. Akbar said that the stalking claims are "a lie that has been planted by the government.") That a person accused of surveilling a woman is running for prime minister "is really quite shocking," says Kavita Krishnan, secretary of the All India Progressive Women's Association, a left-wing women's association.

In terms of general competence, however, voters credit Modi with keeping crime and corruption down in his home state of Gujarat. "He has maintained very good law and order in Gujarat," says Brahma Chellaney, one of India's leading strategic thinkers. In the state's urban centers "you see women walking by themselves late at the night, which you don't see in other big Indian cities. His success in enforcing law and order and his record in combating corruption definitely appeal to women voters."

Asifa Khan, a national executive committee member of the BJP's minority wing, a group dedicated to addressing the concerns of minorities, and one of Modi's most prominent Muslim women backers,said in February 2013 that "his popularity among women is phenomenal. Women in Gujarat are grateful that they can roam about freely even late at night." Modi hopes that his perceived track record of bureaucratic competence will be enough to attract women's support. Given that governance, along with the economy, is a top priority for all constituencies in this election, voters might overlook his problematic history.

But a Modi win would likely embolden Hindutva organizations nationally, which have been kept in check by the ruling secular Congress party. This would not bode well for women's rights, which has to do with more than just safe streets. "He has not made a single statement which really represents a progressive agenda for women," says Krishnan, who played a key role in organizing the 2012 Delhi gang-rape protest; she added that for women, "his victory would represent a nightmare."

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/04/14/misreading_narendra_modi_women_india

WOMEN IN SCIENCE

Explore the data for countries worldwide

Just 30% of the world’s researchers are women. While a growing number of women are enrolling in university, many opt out at the highest levels required for a research career. But a closer look at the data reveals some surprising exceptions. For example, in Bolivia, women account for 63% researchers, compared to France with a rate of 26% or Ethiopia at 8%.

Women in Science, a new interactive tool, presents the latest available data for countries at all stages of development. Produced by the UIS, the tool lets you explore and visualize gender gaps in the pipeline leading to a research career, from the decision to get a doctorate degree to the fields of research women pursue and the sectors in which they work.

 

In Sweden, for example, women form the majority (60%) of students enrolled in a Bachelor’s programme, but their numbers decline as they move up the education ladder, accounting for 49% of doctoral students and only 36% of researchers.  The data tool reveals this trend across every region, highlighting the conflict that many women face as they try to reconcile career ambitions with family-caring responsibilities.

Women researchers also tend to work in the academic and government sectors, while men dominate the private sector which offers better salaries and opportunities. This is the case even in countries with high shares of women researchers. In Argentina, for example, 52% of researchers are women. However, they account for only 29% of researchers employed in the private sector.  

Perhaps most importantly, the data tool shows just how important it is to encourage girls to pursue mathematics and science at a young age. In every region, women researchers remain the minority in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). In the Republic of Korea, for example, only 17% of researchers are women and they account for just 9% of those working in the field of engineering and technology.

By highlighting trends in different regions and countries, this tool provides a unique view on International Women’s Day (8 March). It is particularly useful for those interested in a global perspective on the gender gap in research, especially in the STEM fields. Available in English, French and Spanish, it can be easily embedded on your website, blog or social media sites.

It should be noted that this tool presents internationally comparable data produced by the Institute. This means that the indicators can be accurately compared across countries with very different contexts for women in science. Yet, due to methodological differences, data are missing for countries such as the United States or Canada. In addition, data are also missing for some developing countries that do not have the resources to collect or report R&D data. The Institute seeks to work with all countries to improve the availability of accurate data that can be compared internationally.

http://www.uis.unesco.org/ScienceTechnology/Pages/women-in-science-leaky-pipeline-data-viz.aspx

First women joining Palestinian commando unit

By KARIN LAUB and MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH | Associated Press – Mon 7 Apr, 2014

JERICHO, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian women in combat fatigues and headscarves rappelled down a six-story tower, fired assault rifles at imaginary terrorists and in a drill straight out of the movies bundled a would-be VIP into a car and sped off after a shooting.

The 22 future commandos are trailblazers in a still largely male-dominated society, set to become the first female members of the Presidential Guards, a Palestinian elite force of 2,600 men. Their inclusion is the result of gradual changes in the West Bank in recent years.

Some gender barriers have fallen, with a few women assuming posts as mayors, judges and Cabinet ministers or starting their own businesses. At the same time, unemployment is on the rise, and families are more open to women entering non-traditional jobs if it means another paycheck.

Women make up just 3 percent of 30,000 members of the Palestinian police and other security agencies in the West Bank, but there's a push to recruit more, said Brig. Rashideh Mughrabi, in charge of gender issues in the National Security Forces.

The female Presidential Guards recruits were picked from last year's graduating class of Independence University, a four-year security academy in Jericho that trains future officers.

For graduate Kurum Saad, the appeal was immediate. As a female officer, her traditional role would have been in administration, but she wanted adventure.

"I didn't want to sit in an office," the 23 year old said. "Since I was a little girl, I loved shooting and sports."

On Sunday, Saad and the others in her group put on black combat boots, camouflage uniforms and pulled black ski masks over the headscarves to show journalists what they'd learned in their special training.

Several women, including non-swimmers, were asked to jump into a pool as a show of courage. They dove in in full uniform, including boots, and one had to be pulled out by a lifeguard.

Six women, including Saad, rappelled down the six-story tower in pairs. Saad said she excels at sharp shooting but for months was terrified of heights. She said that during training in Jordan with local commandos, she overcame her fear. Sunday, she swiftly made her way down, smiling as she touched ground.

Saad said she relishes her role of opening doors for other women. Her father is proud of her and her little sister is eager to join the Guards, she said.

All but two of the female Guards, including Saad, wore black headscarves, reflecting a growing trend among Palestinian women to cover their hair because of tradition, Muslim religious observance or social pressure.

As the women performed their drills at the walled Presidential Guards training complex in Jericho — having been called back from a break for the occasion — hundreds of young men waited in line outside in the brutal desert sun.

They had responded to ads announcing the Guards wanted recruits, but faced a tough selection process, with only a few dozen of the tallest and fittest being chosen.

The Presidential Guards were established under the late Yasser Arafat, the globe-trotting Palestinian leader. Arafat spent most of his life in exile but returned to the Palestinian territories in 1994, as part of interim peace deals with Israel, and set up a self-rule government.

Under Arafat's often-chaotic rule, various security branches grew in size, with often overlapping or competing assignments. After Arafat's death in 2004, the U.S. and Europe stepped in, training and equipping some of the units as part of an attempt to rein in vigilantes and militants.

Under Arafat's successor, President Mahmoud Abbas, the Guards are engaged in personal protection, including of visiting dignitaries, but are also trained for anti-terrorism missions.

For now, the female Guards are only being drawn from the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip, which is not under Abbas' control and is ruled by the Islamic militant Hamas, about 400 women serve in the 16,000-strong security forces. They have undergone some training, including in martial arts, but work mostly in administrative jobs, including as border control officers and an anti-drug unit.

The West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem were captured by Israel in 1967 and are sought by the Palestinians for a future state.

The Palestinian security force training was meant to help prepare the people for statehood, yet independence remains elusive, with the latest U.S.-led mediation mission appearing to be on the verge of collapse.

Some of the new female Guards say they believe they are serving their homeland, but in the short term there's also the draw of travel and adventure. On Sunday, they filled out European visa applications for a training session in Italy. Meanwhile, Italian and French trainers are to come to Jericho to teach them stunt driving and more personal protection skills.

The women are to start work at Abbas' compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah in the summer. They'll live in separate quarters from those of the men, but their work will be the same: personal protection, especially if there are female dignitaries or wives of male visitors.

Rami Sammar, 23, one of their male colleagues, said he's watched the women train and is impressed. "The way I see them, they are performing no less than us, the guys," he said.

___

Daraghmeh reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writer Daniela Berretta contributed to this report from Jericho, West Bank.

https://in.news.yahoo.com/first-women-joining-palestinian-commando-unit-061523192.html

In matrilineal Meghalaya, only one woman fights LS polls (Election Special)

Shillong  

April 8, 2014

What an irony! In a matrilineal state like Meghalaya, a lone woman is in the fray, that too as an independent candidate, in the Lok Sabha polls in the state.

No political party has fielded a woman in the polls for the state's two Lok Sabha seats - Shillong and Tura - that will go to the polls April 9.

Agatha K. Sangma, the youngest parliamentarian in the current Lok Sabha, decided to stay away, making room for her father and former Lok Sabha speaker Purno A. Sangma who has represented the Tura constituency nine times.

A total of 968,958 voters, including 495,070 females, will vote in Shillong, while 584,070 electors, including 288,247 females, will cast their ballot in Tura.

Ivoryna Shylla, the 65-year-old lone woman candidate and one among the eight candidates from Shillong, is fighting the polls on the plank of women's issues.

"I decided to contest on seeing that there was no woman candidate in the polls," Shylla told IANS.

For Shylla, this is her third electoral battle. She had earlier unsuccessfully contested the assembly elections in 1983 and 1993 from the Nongbah Wahiajer and Laitumkhrah assembly constituencies respectively.

"I am not worried as my spirit is high with the unexpected support from all sections of society, especially women," said the former president of Meghalaya's Bharatiya Janata Party Mahila Morcha who quit the party long time back.

"My main focus is to fight for women's rights in our state which was known to be safe and secure for women in the past," Shylla said.

However, several women feel females should have also thrown their hat into the electoral battle in the matrilineal state.

"I was expecting more women to contest the election after the performance of women in the assembly and district autonomous council elections," said Diana Sohtun, a college student.

The seven male candidates include sitting Congress parliamentarian Vincent H. Pala and sitting United Democratic Party leader Paul Lyngdoh.

But Padmashree awardee Patricia Mukhim said women in Meghalaya have always shied away from politics because the social structure is still seen as a male domain where money and muscle play a critical role.

"Khasi women are barred from decision-making roles in local bodies. Women who engage with politics are labelled 'hens that crow'. These are disincentives for women to join politics and contest elections," said Mukhim, also a well-known journalist and editor of an English newspaper.

Amena Passah, who teaches history in the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), said women have been socially active but politically passive in the state.

"A traditional saying 'when the hen crows, the world will come to an end', is a subtle way of discouraging women from coming out to a political platform," Passah said.

Sociologist Rekha Shangpliang said the participation of women in politics was not a question of who wields power, because even in a patriarchal society, women do exercise power through the role of mother as opposed to roles as wife and sister.

State Urban Affairs Minister Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh, one of the four elected women legislators in the 60-member assembly, however, said the Lok Sabha was a different level of politics where not anyone can throw a hat in the electoral battle.

The lone Rajya Sabha seat for Meghalaya is occupied by Congress leader Wansuk Syiem, the first woman from the state to have been elected to the upper house.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/in-matrilineal-meghalaya-only-one-woman-fights-ls-polls-election-special-114040800547_1.html

Women's issues missing from poll campaign in Haryana

Monday, 7 April 2014

"Who talks about us sahab (sir)?" said Noor Begum and walked away towards her house through the dusty roads of Mewat. And probably her statement best highlights where women's issues stand in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in the male- dominated Haryana which has the worst sex ratio in the country.

It's clearly a no women's land and all the major political parties – whether BJP, Congress or the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) – in the fray talk about women's issues with none having any solid concrete vision to put forward to the voters regarding them.

It's not only women issues that are absent from the poll festival, the major parties have not even given enough tickets to women. For the 10 Lok Sabha seats, Congress and INLD have given ticket to one woman candidate each while BJP has fielded none.

Also, Congress and INLD's candidate got ticket due to their political lineage rather than their gender. Congress's women candidate from Bhiwani – Mahendragarh seat Shruti Choudhry – is granddaughter of Chaudhary Bansi Lal, who was a freedom fighter, a senior Congress leader and former chief minister of Haryana. INLD's Kusum Sherwal, who is contesting from Ambala seat is wife of INLD's secretary general Ashok Sherwal.

Aam Aadmi Party, which is contesting all 10 seats, has given ticket to only one woman – Balwinder Kaur from Kurukshetra constituency. Balwinder Kaur is wife of Bharatiya Kisan Union state president Gurnam Singh. Overall, among the 230 candidates fighting for 10 seats in Haryana, only four per cent are women.

So just like the women candidates, their issues are also missing from numerous political rallies, meetings and jansabhas across Haryana -- whether it is NCR area of Faridabad or more rural areas such as Mewat, Bhiwani, Hisar or Karnal.

Senior advocate and INDL's candidate from Faridabad seat, RK Anand, told dna, "Women's security is an issue in this area as you can see a change when you step into Faridabad from Delhi."

However, the issue probably does not hold much importance for the party, as it was evident in a political meeting that Anand attended half an hour later with INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala's grandson Digvijay Chautala. They discussed many issues, including Congress's misrule and about izzat (respect) of his grandfather who is in jail but there was not a word about women's issues.

There were a few woman who were standing at a corner of the programme with their faces covered. Speaking to dna, they said the decision to vote for a particular candidate is taken by the head of the family who is unmistakably a male.

Thus problems like sanitation for women, literacy, crime against women are off the radar of political parties.

The gravity of the situation becomes quite clear in inner rural regions of Haryana such as Mewat, Mahendargarh and Bhiwani and others.

In Badhra area of Mahendargarh, a woman Sarita Singh, said that basic problems like lack of toilets are one of their main issues.

"Sometimes, we have to hold on and wait for going to toilet until it becomes dark so that no untoward incident happens and we are not exposed to anyone. We just want political parties to provide us basic facilities. But we are forced to vote as per the orders of elders in the families," Savitri said.

Haryana Janhit Congress, which is led by Bhajan Lal's son Kuldeep Bishnoi, is also no different. HJC's Kamal Singh Pradhan said, "Safety of women and sex ratio" are the most important issues for them. He, however, admitted that political campaigns in Haryana do not have any special focus on women.

As per 2011 census, Haryana had the dubious tag of having India's worst sex ratio with only 879 females per 1,000 males compared to the national average of 943.

Decline in female population has resulted in men 'buying' women for marrying from states such as Chhattisgarh and north eastern parts of the country. But they are shy to admit the same and often introduce them as their field workers.

"At many places, men have bought women for marriage. But they are not open to talking about it due to fear of being ridiculed or made fun of in the society," said Dharmendra Kumar of Bhiwani.

Political parties only talk about women when they are repeatedly asked or pressed about it. But none of them has turned it into a big issue in their fight.

BJP's candidate from Karnal constituency, Ashwini Kumar, also was speechless when asked about women issues that he is highlighting in his election campaign.

"We are fighting for development of everyone. Our main issue is development. Villagers here are innocent and there is nothing for them," Kumar, who himself is an owner of a newspaper, told dna when asked about women issues in his campaign.

But interestingly, his campaign is being run by his wife, sister-in-laws and other women of the family.

Saudi women inching closer ever to the wheel

By Acil Tabbara

October 24

\\

Dubai (AFP) - Saudi female activists are gearing up to test a long-standing driving ban, with more defiant women already getting behind the wheel as the authorities seem to be taking a more lenient approach.

Under the slogan "women's driving is a choice," they have called on social networks for a turn-out on Saturday in a campaign in the world's only country that bans women from driving.

"October 26 is a day on which women in Saudi Arabia will say they are serious about driving and that this matter must be resolved," said Manal al-Sharif, who was arrested and held for nine days in May 2011 for posting online a video of herself behind the wheel.

In a protest she led the following month, a number of women were stopped by police and forced to sign a pledge not to drive again.

The 34-year-old computer engineer who now lives in Dubai told AFP women have already begun responding to the call, and "more than 50 videos showing women currently driving" have been posted online during the past two weeks.

With the exception of two women who were briefly stopped by police, authorities have so far not intervened to halt any of the female motorists.

This, combined with what seems to be more social acceptance to the new phenomenon is encouraging more women to get behind the wheel along major roads across the kingdom.

A video posted on social networks this month shows a fully veiled woman driving in Riyadh as male motorists and families give her the "thumbs up" in support.

"There will be a November 26, December 26, a January 26, until authorities issue the first driving permit to a Saudi woman," said Sharif.

To reduce the risk of accidents, only women who have driving licences issued abroad are being invited to participate in the campaign. Obviously, none are issued in Saudi Arabia.

Dangerous for the ovaries?

Woman driver defies Saudi banPlay video."

But conservative religious figures are still opposed to women driving.

A Saudi cleric's warning last month that driving was dangerous to the health of women and of their children sparked an online wave of mockery.

"Physiological science" has found that driving "automatically affects the ovaries and pushes up the pelvis," Sheikh Saleh al-Luhaydan warned in remarks to news website Sabq.org.

"This is why we find that children born to most women who continuously drive suffer from clinical disorders of varying degrees," he said.

One female tweeter retorted: "When idiocy marries dogma in the chapel of medieval traditions, this is their prodigal child."

"What a mentality we have. People went to space and you still ban women from driving. Idiots," said another comment.

Women who have been calling for three decades for the right to drive in the ultra-conservative kingdom have learned that public gatherings can get them in trouble in the absolute monarchy where any protests are officially banned.

In 1990, 47 women were arrested and punished after demonstrating in cars. The minister of interior subsequently banned women from driving but no law was ever promulgated.

This time, "there will be no demonstrations or rallying points," activist Aziza al-Youssef told AFP.

Youssef spoke of "positive indications" from authorities. In particular, she cited the chief of the notorious religious police, Sheikh Abdullatif al-Sheikh, and Justice Minister Mohammed al-Issa affirming this year that no religious text bans women from driving.

Even so, Saudi Arabia's appointed advisory Shura Consultative Council rejected on October 10 a move by three female members to put the ban up for discussion.

Woman Driver Defies Saudi Ban in RiyadhPlay video."

Activists argue that driving does not violate Islamic law (sharia) as claimed by conservatives who support the ban.

"Just as wives of the (Muslim) Prophet (Mohammed's) companions travelled on camel and horseback, it is our right to drive using the transportation means available during our modern era," activists said in an online petition linked to Saturday's campaign.

The petition has amassed more than 16,000 signatures since September, despite being blocked only two weeks after its launch.

In another argument, activists point to the kingdom's underdeveloped public transport system and say many families cannot afford to hire drivers.

"My salary is 3,500 riyals (around $941/682 euros) and a driver costs me 1,200 riyals," a divorced mother wrote on the campaign website.

Women's rights have always sparked controversy in the kingdom.

King Abdullah's appointment of 30 women to the 150-member Shura Council in January drew protests from radical clerics in the kingdom.

His predecessor, king Saud, had to dispatch troops to protect the first girls' school in the 1960s.

For Sharif the campaign aims to push women in the kingdom to demand "rights which are even more significant than the right to drive."

Diplomats at a UN review of Saudi Arabia's human rights record on Monday condemned the kingdom's failure to abolish a system requiring women to seek permission from male relatives to do basic things such as leave the country, and criticised the ban on driving.

Saudi women, forced to cover from head to toe, still need permission from a male guardian to travel, work and marry

.http://news.yahoo.com/saudi-women-inching-closer-ever-wheel-184851672.html
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/entertainment/13-Aug-2012/it-s-saudi-women-only-city
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/international/20-Jan-2013/doors-opening-for-saudi-women

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Democracy without equality

Brinda Karat : Mon Oct 14 2013

We need to interrogate the politics and policies that fuel the increasing violence against women

If a woman were to choose where she would travel to on a consideration of which country has a "safe" environment for women, where would she go?

Following a number of shocking and horrible incidents in which young foreign women were victims of sexual assault in different parts of India, some governments, such as those of the US and the UK, issued advisories warning women against travel to India. Others expressed concern about the state of women's safety in India. More recently, there has been international interest in whether there has been any change in safety conditions for women in India following the more stringent laws passed after the brutal December 16 gangrape in Delhi.

There is indeed reason for concern because, with an average of 66 registered rape cases a day, India's newly acquired reputation as a country unsafe for women is not misplaced. But what are the benchmarks to rate a country?

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has collated crime rates against women, calculated on the basis of rape cases reported to the police per 1,00,000 population, from a number of countries and provided a comparative picture for 2010. Since the number of reported cases of rape does not show much change, it can be taken to represent a broad trend even today. The UN also issues a caveat that while looking at these figures, one must take into account the differences in the definitions of sexual assault in different countries.

The data show that the countries that most often express concern about what is happening to women in other countries have quite high rates of sexual crimes against women within their own borders. The crime rate in the US, for example, is 27.3; in the UK it is 28.8; and in France, it is 16.2. Among other developed countries, Sweden has a high rate at 63.

In such a comparison, the choice on a consideration of safety could well have been Lebanon, which has a (rape) crime rate of 0.5. But one rarely hears any voices using the example of Lebanon, or for that matter any other country in Asia, as a safer place for women. India, according to these comparative calculations, has a (rape) crime rate of 1.8.

Such comparisons are of little use to those in the struggle for women's freedom from sexual crimes, because it hardly matters, say, to a woman in Muzaffarnagar who has been the victim of a communally driven rape, or the courageous young woman journalist in Mumbai who was gangraped, to know that more women are victims of sexual crimes in the US or the UK than in Mumbai or UP. The point is not to compare so as to justify, nor to illustrate the obvious hypocrisy of Western governments towards women's security in their own countries. It is to raise a more fundamental, related issue: the politics and policies that feed into, and indeed in some cases are responsible for, the increasing violence against women. This is in turn linked to the concept of what constitutes democracy and democratic rights.

Women suffer, particularly women from the poorer sections, when models of democracy are not linked to equality. Power, including sexual power, is more easily exercised over unequals. The models of democracy in developed countries are, in the current jargon of international agencies, promoted as "best practice" democracies, to be emulated by the rest of the world. But gender justice and equality between the sexes have not been intrinsic building blocs for these Western-style democracies.

Economics has much to do with providing or depriving status to women, which in turn has a cascading impact on their social position, including their vulnerability to sexual violence. Some years ago, a leading women's organisation in the US calculated that unequal wages for American women was providing an extra $200 billion a year to US companies. More recently, a study conducted by the Institute for Women's Policy Research has shown that women are paid, on average, 77 cents to every dollar earned by men, and it is worse for African-American women (68 cents) and Latina women (58 cents).

In truth, the so-called development paths of these societies, built on the plunder of much of the world, have actually utilised historically existing inequalities, whether of gender or race, to maximise profits — a far cry from challenging patriarchy-driven actions of assertion of power over women.

Another aspect is the gross consumerist cultures spawned by these developed market economies that seem to be centred on the sexualisation and commodification of women's bodies. The hegemony of these cultures over others is more easily established, promoted as they are by communication technologies, given that Western-based media companies control most of the world's mass media. These have a transnational impact in shaping portrayals and perceptions of women in countries far removed from the control centres.

In India, the adoption of such concepts of democracy, of policies, politics and cultures, though, of course, with Indian characteristics, has added new layers to the dismal status of women. The trajectory of capitalist development has not only coexisted with, but actually strengthened, historical injustices of caste- and gender-based oppression.

Women and men in each country outraged by the increasing violence against women within their borders must work out country specific strategies to fight these trends. But when the UN states that violence is "universal", regardless of the societies women live in, it should not preclude, as it tends to, an analysis of the dominant cultures that engender violence, both social and gender-based. We need to resist offensive fundamentalisms that imprison women and deprive them of independent citizenship rights in the name of this or that religion, caste or culture. We need to resist abhorrent legal frameworks and practices that sanction cruelty towards women. But we also need to challenge the economic, social and cultural frameworks being imposed on the world by the West, which have much to do with making the world unsafe for women.

(The writer is a member of the CPM politburo)

With Thanks from Indian Express

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/democracy-without-equality/1182263/1