Migration Category: news-5001-10000-global

Iran announced its decision to submit a film that defends women’s rights to compete in the foreign film category of the Oscars. The film, written by women’s rights advocate Kambosia Partovi, is about a widowed woman working to keep up her late husband’s restaurant while deflecting her brother-in-law’s requests to marry her, following the tradition of taking her as his second wife, according to the Globe and Mail.

Partovi is well known for his argument against the subordination of women, according to the Guardian Mail. He also wrote the 2000 Golden Lion winner, Circle, as well as I, Taraneh, 15 Years Old, both of which also represent the problems women face in Iran.

A recent study of 1,100 pregnant women in the United Kingdom finds that pregnant women are not receiving adequate support in the workplace. The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) and Tommy’s Baby Charity, an organization which promotes safe and healthy pregnancies, conducted the survey to assess attitudes and experiences of women during pregnancy. The research showed that one in six women were afraid to tell their employers they were pregnant.

The survey found that 45 percent of women in the UK are treated unfairly by their employers. Ten percent of expectant mothers faced negative reactions from bosses when announcing their pregnancy. Some women gave accounts of being told they could or should terminate their pregnancies. One woman announced her pregnancy to her boss, who subsequently suggested, “Oh well, you could still lose it yet. It’s early days,” The Independent reports.

Although companies are legally obligated to allocate paid time-off without discrimination, numerous women revealed a fear of being fired. The EOC confirmed this fear, finding that 30,000 women lose their job as a result of pregnancy. One in four women were under pressure from their employers who expected them to work just as they did before. In spite of medical circumstances, one woman was made to lift heavy boxes while pregnant.

Jane Brewin, the chief executive of Tommy’s Baby Charity told The Scotsman, “These are alarming statistics, as they show just how little pregnant women at work are being supported through their pregnancy – and how this is detrimentally affecting them, both mentally and physically.”

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report yesterday that exposed the bride-kidnapping and violent domestic abuse that occurs among women in Kyrgyzstan. According to the report, women as young as twelve years old are forced into marriage after being captured by groups of men who bring her to the home of the future groom. The woman is often subjected to rape, as well as physical and psychological pressure from the groom and his family in order to gain her consent for marriage. Once married, many Kyrgyzstan wives endure violent beatings and stabbings; some are even killed by their husbands.

While Kyrgyzstan has a law which requires police to respond to and prevent domestic abuse through a serious of specific procedures, Krygyz authorities neglect these obligations, according to HRW. Many government officials believe that domestic violence is more of a private issue than a law enforcement issue. When asked in an interview what the government could do to stop violence against women, one government official said, “Women should be more obedient and pay more attention to men and then domestic violence would decrease,” according to the report.

A Santiago, Chile appeals court panel overturned a provisional ban on emergency contraception (EC) last week, allowing women over the age of 14 to obtain EC without parental consent and at no cost from public clinics. The temporary injunction was put in place after two parents and the mayor of La Florida, Chile, Pablo Zalaquet, filed a lawsuit trying to block the government’s liberal decision.

While EC has been available with a prescription in Chile for around $20, and only with parental consent for young women, the decision to provide it for free and with no required parental consent is an attempt to make EC more accessible for younger and poor women. Government spokesperson Ricardo Lagos Weber said, “This seems correct, equitableÉ it obligates us to take responsibility for the profound and serious reality that the sexual initiation of young people in Chile is occurring at a very early age,” reports Reuters.

A Santiago, Chile Court of Appeals has placed a provisional suspension on Chile’s progressive decision to distribute free contraception to women 14 and older without parental consent. The government’s program had included free distribution of emergency contraception (EC). The injunction was issued Wednesday after a group of parents and two mayors claimed that “the EC-for-everyone plan infringes on parents’ rights because it doesn’t require that teens seeking emergency contraception have parental authorization”, Salon reports.

Soledad Barria, Chilean Health Minister, told Chile’s National Television that this injunction is harming young women as well as all low-income women. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet agrees, saying, “Any person with a doctor’s prescription can buy [EC], because it’s been legalized for sale, but there are people with fewer resources who can’t buy it, and so we have opted to provide it at doctors’ offices as needed,” according to Salon.

According to The Santiago Times, Barria says that the Health Ministry plans to appeal the court’s decision saying, “We would consider it very grave if this affects the control and the distribution of contraceptives and information to youth.”

In a global “Day for Darfur” on Sunday, September 17, activists in thirty-seven countries will speak out to demand intervention in the escalating humanitarian crisis in western Sudan. Protesters will be calling for introduction of UN peacekeeping forces in Darfur by the end of the month, when the current African Union security forces are scheduled to leave. In a statement last Wednesday, UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland pronounced “collapse” of the region imminent unless UN forces are permitted to intervene.

Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir rejected last month’s UN decision to introduce 20,000 UN peacekeeping troops, accusing the UN of trying to “recolonize” Sudan, Reuters reports. Without security forces, humanitarian agencies now providing aid to millions of displaced people would be compelled to leave the country, precipitating the death of approximately 100,000 Darfuris per month, according to Egeland.

Protesters participating in the massive day of action will wear blue hats to symbolize the need for UN peacekeeping forces, who typically wear blue berets or helmets. Tens of thousands of protesters are expected at the rally in New York City, where former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will be among the speakers demanding that the international community put pressure on Sudan.

For more information see www.dayfordarfur.org or www.savedarfur.org

READ MORE about student activists taking action against Sudan in this month’s Ms. magazine

Women Muslims across the world have spoken out against recent proposals in Saudi Arabia to ban women from praying at the most sacred shrine for Muslims, the Grand Mosque in Mecca. The Grand Mosque, which Muslims across the world face during daily prayers, is the annual destination for many Muslim pilgrimages each year. The proposed ban would be an attempt to reduce crowding, but the widespread opposition to the proposals has made Saudi officials reconsider.

Aisha Schwartz, founder and director of the Muslimah Writers Alliance, started a petition in protest of the proposals, which has already gathered over 1,000 signatures. The petition begins, “The religion of Islam was revealed for both men and women. Both sexes are equal when it comes to the performance of religious duties and in terms of rewards and punishments.” According to Arab News, Muslims in 38 countries have joined together to ensure that women cannot be denied access to mosques.

Reuters reports that the Saudi clerics and officials responsible for the proposals appear to have backtracked already. Instead of banning women, Mohammed bin Nasser al-Khozayem, the deputy head of Grand Mosque affairs, said that spaces designated for women may be expanded to reduce crowding.

A recent report by Action Aid International finds that girls who are better educated begin having sex later, are more likely to use condoms, and have a decreased chance of contracting HIV. The report, “Girl Power: The Impact of Girls’ Education on HIV and Sexual Behavior,” finds that girls who have completed secondary school have less risky behavior than those who have only completed primary school. The report also finds that better educated boys are more likely to have safer sex and protect themselves against HIV than less educated boys.

The authors of the report stress the special need of girls to be educated, as “Young women receiving higher levels of education are likely to wait longer before having sex for the first time, and are less likely to be coerced into sex.” Women are hurt by the structure of the education systems in most African countries, which charge fees for schooling that increase with grade level, leaving many girls without the opportunity to finish primary school, let alone secondary school.

The report recommends that schools stop charging students for primary school to increase education rates for both girls and boys. It also recommends that comprehensive sexual education be taught in primary school, with condom use heavily promoted, according to Population Action International.

The Chilean government recently decided that contraception will be publicly available for all women over the age of 14. According to IPS, all public health centers must dispense birth control, including emergency contraception (EC), free of charge. The decree also ensures that younger women can without authorization from their parents obtain a prescription for birth control pills.

The Catholic Church and conservative politicians are already criticizing the decision that aims to give women of all ages and incomes control over their sexual and reproductive lives. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, a pediatrician, responded, saying to the Santiago Times, “The obligation of the state is to provide alternatives, and the obligation of families, of each one of us, is to communicate with our children, explain things to them, and to teach them.” Government Spokesperson Ricardo Weber expanded on the real need for Chile to provide these services, telling IPS that 14 of every 100 young people are sexually active by the age of 14.

The decision was made by the Chilean Health Ministry after the Chilean Center for the Development of Women asked for greater accessibility to EC.

In Britain, a proposed law would criminalize the possession of extreme and violent pornography. The proposal was in reaction to a 30-month campaign by Liz Longhurst, a woman whose daughter was strangled by a man who admitted to an obsession with violent Internet pornography. Longhurst collected 50,000 signatures that would make the possession of violent images (including internet and digital images) illegal. Currently, British laws criminalize the distribution and publication of material considered obscene, but online materials are not covered.

As with many censorship laws, the lines are unclear as to what is to be considered extreme and violent. According to the Belfast Telegraph, the laws would apply to pornography that features “violence that is, or appears to be, life threatening or is likely to result in serious disabling injury.” The law, however, would not apply to people who happened across such images nor affect the mainstream entertainment industry’s obscenity laws, BBC reports.

The proposed law must still be approved by Parliament, which is currently out of session until October.