Hats off

March 12, 2008 at 5:36 pm · Filed under Arabisms, Seriously

I didn’t write anything on the occasion that marks Women’s Day, mainly because I have not been in a very optimistic mood lately as I cannot help but feel that the Arab world keeps sinking deeper every year.

There isn’t much good news to celebrate; women were not granted any life changing rights since the Kuwaiti women were allowed to vote back in 2004. Honor crimes are still at the same average in Jordan, and article 340 of the Penal Code is still not discussed. The women quota is still the only way to give women power in parliament (save for this year, where we had one exception) and Arab women hold 3.5 percent of parliamentary seats. We still can’t drive in Saudi Arabia. We still can’t give our nationalities to our children. For a more comprehensive list of how we still haven’t gotten anywhere, you can read this post courtesy of Tololy.

I will also share this plea, by a Saudi woman called Wajeha Al-Huwaider:

For those who don’t speak Arabic:

(via)






  • http://www.iamleet.com m7md

    maybe arabic women aren’t working enough (:, start working , stop talking

  • Ahmad Al-Sholi

    Its a man’s world, I hate this fact too being a primary reason of our ugly situation.

    Rights are deserved and not granted.

    Females need to fight stronger: strike, reject.. and be ready to face consequences. Thats the right path.

  • http://rmyeid.blogspot.com/2008/03/andfaraway.html m7md

    Well, I think they only need to fight smarter ;) , I mean ,I ask you, are women and men equal in abilities? I do not think so.
    I am not saying either is better than the other, this is the not the point.
    They are simply not comparable.

    The quest of making women equal to men, or men equal to women or whatever
    is, in my humble opinion, mislead and mis-expressed. It is like saying “How
    come wales live in the sea and elephants live on earth, they are both
    mammals, they are both huge, let’s make them equal!”. My point is, p*eople
    are trying to compare genders, but they aren’t exactly comparable*.

    I personally *root for justice, and not equality*. Making everyone equals
    would make life boring. Giving everyone justice is what we need. If i a
    woman is better at something, she should do it. If a man is better at
    something, he should do it.

    True funny story. One day I was listening to the radio, and a woman activist
    was nagging about inequalities in the media. She said “There are 9 columns
    in the newspaper, and ONLY ONE is devoted to women issues”. I wished I was
    in that studio to answer her. How many columns are devoted to men’s issues?
    I am not saying there should be columns for men’s issues. What I am actually
    saying is that 1 column for women issues gives women an *advantage* over
    men, cause there are no men columns. If people thought of what she was
    saying they would infer that she means women are not interested in the
    remaining 8 columns, which would very likely be about the world, technology,
    economics, health … etc. She was giving a picture that women are shallow.

  • http://rmyeid.blogspot.com/2008/03/andfaraway.html m7md

    I’d like to hear replies on this. Thank you.
    And sorry if it seems offensive to anybody,

  • http://saneed.wordpress.com Saned

    “We still can’t give our nationalities to our children.”
    Are you talking about Jordanian citizenship??

  • http://andfaraway.net Roba

    It is very disappointing that young, educated men think like this. We are definitely a million miles away from the second when you can start saying, “Work harder”, because we are talking about very basic issues in which the main blocks are the minds of the decision-making men.
    I hate to imagine how the average Jordanian thinks when listening to your opinions.

    Saned, yes. And Lebanon. And Saudi Arabia. And most of the Arab world.

  • Hala

    As an Arab woman, I think that women’s rights in the Arab world have advanced tremendously over the years. Some Arab countries lag behind more than others and in general we may not have the same rights as women in other countries, but one has to take into account that Arab countries are relatively new and if one compares where, for example, the US was 50 or so years after it was founded, we are by far more advanced in women’s rights. It will take time; but both men and women should be willing to fight to make a difference. I also believe it is about making changes one issue at a time, when you list all the issues that are out there, in my mind it does not create awareness, but creates a sense of hopelessness about our ability to make changes and it becomes harder to recruit people for any of those causes.

  • AG

    dude, are you serious?
    the only plus most men have on most women is physical strength. That should not be reason to deprive them of any rights. Men are stupid for doing some of these things because the differnence in body is not enough to make such changes.
    For example…voting…(most) women are known to be less conformist and vote for who/what they think is right unlike men who go vote in groups for their cousin because he will do them favors later on.
    there are many other issues. driving is Saudi…there is no logical reasoning behind this ban. I want one person to explain to me why women are forbidden to drive in the city…

  • AG

    btw, I didn’t try to sound weird or anything

  • http://rmyeid.blogspot.com/2008/03/andfaraway.html m7md

    ayyob said:
    “For example…voting…(most) women are known to be less conformist and vote for who/what they think is right unlike men who go vote in groups for their cousin because he will do them favors later on.
    there are many other issues. driving is Saudi…there is no logical reasoning behind this ban. I want one person to explain to me why women are forbidden to drive in the city… ”
    Well, I believe thats all of lacking justice , and I dont dis-agree with that (:, as I said , non is better than the other, and justice should be forced, and that includes giving women all their rights, but franklhy, I dont want to see a man showing his legs (wearing a skirt, out of equality !)
    Please guys pay more attention when you read.

    and roba, you are acting as most of the people do, blaming the system and the situation around us, and eventually we end up doing sth, it is us who creat the system and leave it ruling us, but unfortunately we dont try to fix it or stop it, we just obey it, I believe the change should start from every and each woman !, they should start creating the life they feel they should live and trying to force that on the people around them (in a good way of course), and by time this should become a general theme in the sosciety, and change will occour, don’t just wait for a good man to go up the system and change every thing, because our system auto-filter those guys

    and good luck (:

  • Ahmad Al-Sholi

    Roba,

    I insist on the fact that most oppressions can be left off when the oppressed are willing to fight against the oppressor.

    That said, women are included to gain their rights. Many are just imposing self constraints by the cultures of fate, wrong religion understanding, backward tradition.. conferences, funds and legal frameworks are good but never are enough to obtain.

    You and I know how many females in our culture bound themselves to the fact that they are second in priority, must be married, educated for no clear reason than a social habbit.

    Over controlling men are disgusting and they can only be fought and limited by reason (men and women). Unfortunately, the oppressor will never stop if no one stops him.

    Hope I made myself clear.