Migration Category: news-5001-10000-global

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his cabinet have approved the reestablishment of the Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The Afghan Parliament will consider the proposal when it reconvenes later this summer. Initiated by the Taliban, the Vice and Virtue Department sent religious police to patrol the streets where they brutally punished Afghan citizens for disobeying the Taliban’s interpretation of Sharia law.

Women were particularly affected by the religious police as they were publicly beaten for such arbitrary offenses as wearing white shoes, showing their wrists or ankles, or going outside their home without a male relative. Women were also prevented from attending school, working, or being seen by a male physician, while women doctors and nurses were banned from working.

It is not clear what powers the proposed Vice and Virtue Department would have. Nader Nadery of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission told The Independent, “It will remind people of the Taliban. We are worried that there are no clear terms of reference for this body.” The Minister for Haj and Religious Affairs, Nematullah Shahrani denied that the Department would have police powers, instead claiming that it’s duty would be to “tell people what is allowable and what is forbidden in IslamÉthrough radio, television and special gatherings,” reports The Independent.

This proposal comes at an especially critical time for Afghan women and girls as the burning and bombing of girls’ schools has reached crisis proportions. Ahmed Rashid, a well known author and expert on the Taliban recently wrote in the Washington Post that “…every single day somewhere in Afghanistan a girls’ school is burned down or a female teacher killed by the Taliban.” Many districts have closed all of their schools according to a recent Human Rights Watch Report

“Afghan women and girls face increasing insecurity, and it’s more important for the government to address how to improve their access to public life rather than limit it further,” said Coursen-Neff of Human Rights Watch, “Reinstatement of this controversial department risks moving the discussion away from the vital security and human rights problems now engulfing the country.”

Canadian men outnumber women four to one in all jobs in the investment industry except support staff occupations, says a new study conducted by the Canadian non-profit group Women in Capital Markets. Women in Capital Markets (WCM) conducted the study as part of its regular examination of Canadian women’s involvement in the workforce. The report also found that women occupy only 12 percent of managing director-and-above positions in the private retail market. Said WCM President, Jacqueline Szeto, in a press release, “Leaders in the financial community now recognize the challenges women face in building their careers in the capital markets […] However, they are still struggling with how to address the issue.”

WCM has produced these “Benchmarking” reports periodically since 2000 in conjunction with Catalyst, a US-based non-profit organization that works to promote women in business. Many within the two organizations hope that the study will lead to increased diversity within Canadian businesses. “Today we urge firms to also measure success by showing an increase in the number of talented women in their ranksÐ starting with the senior level,” said Sonya Kunkel, Senior Director with Catalyst Canada.

United Nations Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, recently began advocating for a multi-lateral UN agency for women in an effort to bring international women’s issues to the forefront. The UN has failed to effectively address women’s issues and “…after fifty years of passivity and paralysis, it’s time to have an agency through which women can assert their rights,” Lewis said to a high-level panel on UN reform in Geneva last Friday, reports Voa News.

If created as Lewis envisions, the new multi-lateral agency would not replace existing UN agencies addressing women’s issues, such as the UN Population Fund, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), or the Division for the Advancement of Women, but would combine these groups into a “strongly resourced…multilateral agency” to address women’s issues worldwide, according to a UN press release.

In a press conference in March, Lewis also advocated for increased representation of women in the UN and increased transparency in programs addressing women’s issues.

Taliban militia bombings, burnings of girls’ schools, and the killing of teachers are increasing at an alarming rate as the Taliban resurgence continues to gain strength. Ahmed Rashid, a well known author and expert on the Taliban recently wrote in the Washington Post that “…every single day somewhere in Afghanistan a girls’ school is burned down or a female teacher killed by the Taliban.” Under the Taliban regime, education for Afghan women and girls was banned. Attacks on girls’ schools began immediately following the reopening of the schools by the new Afghan government in 2002, but the current situation has reached crisis proportions undermining the rights that Afghan women and girls were just beginning to enjoy.

Many children, especially girls are kept home out of fear. Lack of resources has also been a major problem in rebuilding the education system which was completely destroyed after decades of war. In Lessons in Terror: Attacks on Education in Afghanistan, a report just released by Human Rights Watch (HRW), it states that there are some areas where the majority of primary-school-age girls do not attend school at all and only five percent of girls compared to 20 percent of boys attend secondary schools. Human Rights Watch (HRW), has called for the international community and the Afghan government to create a concrete strategy for addressing the security problems.

The United Nations (UN) has also repeatedly condemned the attacks. The World Food Program, which provides programs to school children, recently issued a report raising concerns about the increases in threats and attacks on girls’ schools. Munoz Villalobs, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education said in a recent statement “I am deeply concerned that schools, especially girls’ schools seem to be systematically targeted by terrorist groups with the apparent objective of forcing parents to refrain from sending their children to school and thus forcing the authorities to close the schools.”

The Feminist Majority has waged a campaign urging the U.S. to increase security in Afghanistan, to protect the rights of women and girls and to increase funding for organizations working to advance women’s rights in Afghanistan and Afghan women-led non-profits. Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation/Feminist Majority, which has waged a campaign urging the U.S. to increase peacekeeping troops throughout Afghanistan said, “As the bombings and burning of girls’ schools continue unabated and the situation for women and girls continues to deteriorate, the Bush Administration remains silent.”

TAKE ACTION Urge your senators and representatives to co-sponsor “The Afghan Women’s Empowerment Act of 2006”

Pakistan’s President signed an amendment to a controversial Islamic law on Friday that will allow 1,300 women facing charges of adultery and other minor crimes to be released from prison on bail. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s amendment to the Hadood Ordinance allows women awaiting trial to be released on bail, excluding those accused of murder or terrorism.

Under the Hadood Ordinance in Pakistan, developed by the former dictator Gen. Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq in 1979, women can be stoned to death if found guilty of adultery, theft is punished by amputation of the right arm, and drinking alcohol is punishable by 80 lashes, according to the Associated Press. In addition, women are commonly incarcerated on adultery charges. Even rape victims are convicted of adultery under the Hadood Ordinance unless they have four male witnesses, which human rights groups say makes a rape conviction impossible.

“President Musharaff has taken a bold decision to protect the rights of women and save them from the misuse of Islamic laws,” said Sumaira Malik, Pakistan’s Minister for Women’s Affairs, IRIN news reports. Over 6,000 Pakistani women are currently awaiting trial under the Hadood Ordinance, reports IRIN news. Despite the fact that they have been released on bail, they will still face trial for their supposed crimes.

In Saudi Arabia, recent changes to business regulations will now allow women to launch and register businesses by themselves. The Saudi Ministry of Commerce has simplified the procedures so that women can apply for and receive a business license and complete the registration process alone. Women will not be allowed to start businesses in some fields considered unsuitable for women, such as construction and real estate. Muhammad Atiq Al-Harby, the director general of the Ministry of Commerce, said, “For some businesses, women need the help of a man,” according to Arab News.

These changes follow a conference that addressed women’s rights and commerce issues in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia this spring. The Gulf Businesswomen’s Forum was held at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry produced 11 recommendations to further protect and promote the interests and rights of women, according to Gulf News.

Women in Saudi Arabia face systematic discrimination and human rights abuses. Traditionally, women and children in a Saudi household are considered to be the “household property” of the Saudi male head of household, according to the US Department of State.

Following recent figures that indicate 15 Irish women go to the United Kingdom for an abortion every day, Alliance for Choice has called on the Irish government to legalize abortion. Spokeswoman Sian Muldowney said that “Ireland needs to face up to its responsibility to Irish men and women to provide a comprehensive sex education strategy, a national sexual health services strategy and safe and legal abortion in Ireland,” reports Ireland On-Line. Alliance for Choice is an Irish grassroots organization campaigning for safe and legal abortion, and was a supporter of the 2004 March for Women’s Lives in the United States.

The statistic on women traveling for abortions came from the UK Department of Health, which reported 5,585 Irish women coming to Britain in 2005, a slight decrease from the 2004 number. This is the fifth year that these statistics have shown a decline. However, many suspect these figures are lower than reality because they measure only the number of women getting abortions in Britain and giving Irish addresses, while many women may give the addresses of friends or family in Britain.

In an historic agreement, the Quebec provincial government will give some 400,000 women working in the public sector back pay and raises totaling $4 billion to make up for the wage gap between women and men. Quebec’s Treasury Board president Monique Jerome-Forget, in making the announcement, said that though people may think this is a large amount of money, “…you can also say that for years there were people who were underpaid and who did work for which they should have received a larger share of remuneration,” according to Quebec’s The Gazette.

The agreement was reached to narrow the gap in salaries between male- and female-dominated job fields. The agreement gives raises to about 95 percent of women eligible for pay equity, leaving only 20,000 women, mostly managers, in the public sector without compensation. Discussions for these positions are ongoing. The government has until 2008 to pay the salary adjustments.

“We are resolving an injustice that has lasted for many years,” said Jerome-Forget in a recent press conference, according to Canadian Press.

LEARN MORE Calculate your wage gap in the United States with the WAGE Project