From: Karen Rand Smigrodzki (karen@smigrodzki.org)
Date: Fri Apr 11 2003 - 22:33:30 MDT
You are correct that the women of Iraq don't have it as bad as the women in
Saudia or Yemen, for example. However, I find that most people haven't the
experiences of being both an American woman with all the freedom that
entails and a woman who lived as a Muslim woman, at times complete with
hijab, among Arab Muslims for years. This experience, which I claim, is what
informs my view when I say that the women of Iraq, in spite of being more
liberated that their Saudi counterparts, are still entitled to the label
"un-liberated". It doesn't take a government to oppress women. The
oppression of women is inherent in the culture and religion. Certainly an
Iraqi woman, if the male members of her family allow, may be as free as her
brothers. The Iraqi government might have nothing to say -- unlike the same
scenario in Saudia wherein the government would crack down.
Iraq's Hussein may have headed a secular government, and I have not been a
student of government; however, how secular can a government truly be when
that government takes government funds to build religious worship sites?
Hussein built mosques; he was in the process of building what was to be the
largest mosque in the world. Doesn't a truly secular government mean that
there must be a separation of mosque and state?
--Karen
----- Original Message -----
From: "Damien Sullivan" <phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu>
To: <extropians@extropy.org>
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2003 3:31 PM
Subject: Re: Predictable catastrophes of human stupidity
> On Fri, Apr 11, 2003 at 01:27:15AM -0400, Karen Rand Smigrodzki wrote:
>
> > so possibly I missed it) anyone mention that the liberation in Iraq
extends
> > almost wholly to the *men* of Iraq and not it's women. My point is that
>
> AFAIK the women of Iraq *are* liberated by Arab standards. Remember Iraq
(and
> Syria) had/have secular governments, not Islamist ones; Baathist
oppression
> was equal opportunity.
>
> If your point is whether they'll stay liberated, with Shia sheiks being
> invited to take over, well, that's a good question.
>
> -xx- Damien X-)
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Apr 11 2003 - 22:40:19 MDT