Women's News June 14, 2011

Quite a bit has been happening lately.


Bahraini woman Ayat al-Qurmezi has been sentenced to jail time for writing and reading poetry that "incited hatred against the regime."

A Kuwaiti woman who burned down her husband's wedding tent when he tried to marry a second wife, which killed 57 women and children, has been sentenced to death.  

A Pakistani-American who became a weight-lifter is trying to get permission to compete in the hijab.  Weight-lifters usually wear form-fitting clothing, but she can't, for religious reasons.


In a previous post I discussed how Muslim women are trying to compete in beauty pageants and I mentioned Miss Turkey and a woman who hopes to be Miss UK.  I just wanted to point out that the current Miss USA is a Muslim woman originally from Lebanon.

More Problems with Kuwaiti Prime Minister: Update I

The prime minister has survived a no-cooperation vote 25 to 22.  One of the MPs resigned after the vote, but the opposition seems determined to change the government.  There appear to be some Sunni-Shi'ite tensions involved but I'm not completely sure about that situation yet.

More Problems with Kuwaiti Prime Minister

MPs are a bit upset in Kuwait.  Some of them were injured by security forces when they held an unauthorized public rally.  In retaliation, the MPs have filed a no cooperation motion against the prime minister.  If it passes, then the emir of Kuwait will have to fire the PM or dissolve parliament or hold new elections.

The prime minister is the nephew of the emir, and has been in office since February 2006.  Apparently, since he became prime minister, parliament has been dissolved 3 times and the cabinet has resigned 5 times.

The Kuwait Times has an update on the situation, which it looks like the prime minister is winning.  The vote is set for January 5th.  What will happen after that is unclear.

Human Rights for Workers

There is a big problem in parts of the Middle East, in regards to workers' rights.  This is generally a problem for workers from Southeast Asia.  There are large numbers of Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, and others in the Middle East, especially in the Gulf states.  And they are often mistreated. 

Human Rights Watch is looking into cases involving maids from Sri Lanka working in Jordan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.  In these case the women either had nails pounded into their bodies, or were forced to swallow nails. 

Another maid in Saudi Arabia was convicted of murdering a baby in her charge.  She says the baby choked on his food and she could not save him.  And considering how little regard is given to people from Southeast Asia, it would not surprise me if the baby's family wanted her life because their baby died.

This is a major problem, and I have seen it myself, in the Gulf.  For some reason, people from Southeast Asia are seen as menials, and often expendable.  They are the equivalent of illegal Mexicans working in the US, who cannot go to the police, except that in the Middle East they generally are not illegal.  Just mistreated.

New Roundups

I've been a bit remiss in keeping up with the news this week, so here's a quick recap of some of the goings on:

Egypt is cracking down even more on the media and the Muslim Brotherhood.  And again, the US isn't saying anything about it.

A small TV station in Kuwait was attacked by a mob, for making fun of the ruling family.

Rachel Corrie's family finally got their day in court, in Israel.  The driver of the bulldozer that killed Rachel testified behind a screen.

Bahrain is cracking down on Shi'ites, ahead of elections there.  Bahrain has a large Shi'ite population, and is worried about Iran gaining a foothold.

Blogger Ali Abdulemam is still in jail in Bahrain.  I'm not sure if he is Shi'ite or if he was just arrested for daring to speak his own mind.

Kuwaiti Elections

Kuwait had elections over the weekend. Yes, an Arab country with elections - they do exist. This is a relatively recent phenomenon and it's still pretty new to them. The conservatives won a bunch of seats, but no woman won a seat. That is a problem in a lot of countries - men thinking women should stay at home and take care of the kids and not get involved. And before I get anyone telling me "that's the problem with Islam" I would like to point that it's also "the problem" with Christianity. There are a number of US politicians (male) who think that their wives should stay at home and take care of the kids and not get involved. The US has had a parliament (Congress) since before the US was a country - and yet, today, we still have only a handful of
women in office. But we expect countries that have never had a parliament to suddenly allow voting and elect women overnight.

Kuwaitis Shouldn't Go To Lebanon

Kuwait is following in Saudi Arabia's footsteps by advising it's citizens not to travel to Lebanon. There was a threat to the Kuwaiti embassy and they've had some trouble in parliament. I may discuss the situation in Lebanon in a different post.

Female Kuwaiti Minister

Yes, the Minister of Education is female. She's had some problems lately and been accused, basically, of being too liberal. She just survived a no confidence vote. I think the fact that she passed it is a good sign, that things are opening up in Kuwait and people are more willing for them to open up.