Discriminatory Laws Still Holding Women Back in the Middle East

By Sania FarooquiNEW DELHI, India, Dec 14 2020 (IPS) Decades of aggressive efforts to create equal opportunities for women, shatter the glass ceiling and build a more inclusive society only ends up in failure, when the key stake holders refuse to acknowledge discriminatory laws, socio-cultural and religious set ups that continue to threaten progress made by the female work force. Yousra ImranBritish Egyptian writer Yousra Imran’s book ‘Hijab and Red Lipstick’ gives a sharp insight into the lives of women in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Sara, the protagonist in the book is torn between her father’s conservative interpretation of Islam, his need to control and protect her from everything he calls “haram”, a term used for ‘forbidden’ in Islam and her desperate bid for freedom from life under the guardianship system. “The current challenges for women in the Gulf and some Middle Eastern countries is that despite modernization the law still sees women as minors when they are unmarried women, and if they do get married, legally they move from being under the guardianship of a father or brother to the guardianship of their husband. “Women just want their own agency – the ability to make decisions without needing a written letter of permission or no objection letter from a male guardian”, says Yousra Imran to IPS. She is the author of the book Hijab and Red Lipstick. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG) tha...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Education Gender Gender Identity Gender Violence Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies Labour Middle East & North Africa Poverty & SDGs Religion TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news