You Can’t Write-Off Human Rights
Amber Reed
Undergraduate/Creative Writing
I’m wondering if any readers out there can remember back to a time that was very unfortunate for women. A time when women were thought to only be useful in the home, and in some cases, were forced to stay in the home just because they were female. Does anyone remember a time when women were made to wear specific clothing covering themselves in the presence of others? How about a time when women were to adhere to the sexual wishes and desires of men, usually their husbands, and were seen as little more than sex objects? Does anyone remember? I’m sure you think you remember, but the thing is, you can’t remember. You can’t remember because the situations I’ve played out for you here are not from the past; those scenarios are happening today, happening as I write this.
In March a law was signed in Afghanistan, passed by both houses of Parliament, and signed by President Hamid Karzai that, among other things, legalizes rape in marriage.
The background of this law is said to be political in nature; President Karzai is up for election again in August and the law seems to appeal to the swing vote from the Shiite population (roughly 20 percent). Shinkai Zahine Karokhail, a female MP, stated to the Guardian newspaper, "They wanted to pass it almost like a secret negotiation. There were lots of things that we wanted to change, but they didn’t want to discuss it because Karzai wants to please the Shia before the election."
Afghanistan’s constitution grants equal rights to women, however, this law gives the Shiite population the right to deal with family issues according to Shiite law which goes back to the Koran as the ultimate authority. Shiite family law corresponds to issues including marriage and divorce, inheritance, rights of movement, and bankruptcy.
The law would make it so that women must agree to sex with their husbands at least every four days unless harm would come to either party because of it. A woman may refuse sexual intercourse for five reasons: menstruation, fasting for Ramadan, preparing for pilgrimage, illness, or recovering from childbirth. Mohammad Asif Mohseni, one of the law’s main drafters stated, "If she is not sick, and if she does not have another problem, it is the right of a man to ask for sex and she should make herself ready for it." He makes it very clear that although women are equal under the Afghan constitution, they are nowhere near equal to men in their society, which sees them as uneducated and unable to find work, so the man takes care of the wife and children. "For all these expenses, can’t we at least give the right to a husband to demand sex from his wife after four nights?" he said. (The italics are my own addition) You’re kidding me, right? Maybe if their women started being allowed to get an education this problem wouldn’t happen. But then again, the men wouldn’t be getting laid either, and we can’t have that now, can we?
The law would also give a woman’s husband the right to decide when and for what reasons a woman is allowed to leave the house. Fathers and grandfathers are given custody of children in all situations, and a woman’s right to work, get an education, or attend a doctor’s appointment are all to be decided by her husband. However, woman are allowed to leave in the event of a medical emergency or for issues of urgency without permission (Thank Allah!). In addition to the rights to sex and control over the right to leave the house, men may also choose what their wives wear and when they wear it.
People around the world have shown their disgust with this law even being considered, and the protest of many Shiite women in Afghanistan shows that outrage on the home front is present as well. Close to three hundred women marched on the Afghanistan parliament building with banners reading, "We want dignity in the law" and "Islam is justice," to deliver a petition against this distasteful law. Starting at the School of Lost Prophet, the most powerful Shiite cleric, the women chanted and, after being confronted by the men of the school who amassed to a mob three times the size of the women’s group, continued their march. In the process these women endured backlash for their protest in the form of threats and verbal abuse, spitting, and stones being thrown. Sadly another group slowly formed; it was another group of women protesting in favor of the law. Eventually this groups acquired banners as well with sayings such as "Down with the Christians" and "Down with the apostates."
One of the protesters of the law, Fatima Husseini, said, "Whenever a man wants sex, we cannot refuse. It means a woman is a kind of property, to be used by the man in any way that he wants."
Nesa Naseri, a female student who chose to protest in favor of the law stated, "We think those who oppose this law 8 The Flip Side
in fact oppose the Koran. This law does not approve rape, it is rather about loyalty of wife to husband and husband to wife. Rape is what you can see in the West, where men don’t feel responsibility for their wives and leave them to go with several men." (From National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women, "…marital rape can be defined as any unwanted intercourse or penetration (vaginal, anal, or oral) [by a spouse]." Sounds exactly like what this law is allowing actually.)
Hilary Clinton has met with and spoken to President Karzai taking issue with his new law. During a press conference post their meeting Clinton said, "This is an area of absolute concern for the United States. My message is very clear. Women’s rights are a central part of the foreign policy of the Obama administration." Mark Malloch Brown, Britain’s foreign office minister for Africa, Asia and the UN brought a frightening reality to light, ""We are caught in the Catch-22 that the Afghans obviously have the right to write their own laws. But there is dismay. The rights of women was one of the reasons the UK and many in the west threw ourselves into the struggle in Afghanistan. It matters greatly to us and our public opinion."It’s scary to think that this might be what we’ve paved the way for in the Middle East. Dawn Brown, NDP (Canada’s social democratic party) defense critic adds to this the concern of the Canadian soldiers who have served in Afghanistan. ""The government has said over and over again that the underpinning of this mission was to defend women’s rights and to provide education for girls…could this really end up being what we’re fighting for in Afghanistan?" she asks.
The way that countries outside of Afghanistan have gotten involved thus far is, at the very least, encouraging. If nothing else it gives me hope that violence and oppression of women may be on the decline for good, however, it’s scary to see how far, and at what costs people will go to not only to follow a religion, but also for political power. I can only hope this law doesn’t pass as is (it is suspended temporarily for possible revision, most likely as a result of the negative response Karzai has gotten).
The women who had courage enough to protest and fight for their rights in spite of the view that they were essentially going against the Koran and their religion just shows how far human rights and decency has come thus far all over the world. Clearly we’ve come too far to let a book supposedly written over a millennium ago be the ultimate decision maker in our lives. If this law comes back without significant changes made in favor of women’s rights, I’ll legitimately fear for the future of the Middle East, for the already dirtied name of organized religion, for everyone. It only takes one pebble to start an avalanche.
Sources:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,514517,00.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/5080797/Hamid...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/01/afghanistan-womens-rights-ha...
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090401/afghan_law_...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/world/asia/16afghan.html
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/three-cheers-for-afghan-wome...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6098614.ece