 |
|
|
 News from Around the Americas | March 2006 
Women Rally, Demand Equal Rights in Asia
 Khalid Tanveer - Associated Press
| | South Korean women workers shout slogans during an anti-government rally marking International Women's Day and demanding greater labor rights for non-regular workers and better working condition in Seoul, Wednesday, March 8, 2006. The Korean read 'Union Fighting.' (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) |
Thousands of women from villages and cities across patriarchal Asia took to the streets Wednesday for International Women's Day to press for freedom, equal rights and an end to discriminatory laws.
In Pakistan, 5,000 women rallied in Multan, a city in the eastern Punjab province, many chanting "Women demand freedom!" and "Women demand their rights!"
Among leaders of the rally was Mukhtar Mai, a woman who was gang-raped in 2002 on orders by a council of villagers near Multan as punishment for her brother's alleged affair with a woman from a higher caste family. Mai drew international attention after she spoke publicly about her ordeal.
"I have dedicated my life to women's rights. Wherever a woman is oppressed, I will go there and fight for her rights," Mai told reporters at the rally, which was organized by a women's rights group.
About 1,000 other women, mainly school and college girls, staged a demonstration in front of Parliament in the capital, Islamabad, demanding that a law making it difficult to press rape charges be repealed.
Some 300 women rallied in the southern city of Karachi pressing the same demand. They carried banners that read, "We reject all laws discriminatory to women."
Under the Hudood Ordinance, the testimony of four witnesses is required to prosecute a rape case, making punishment almost impossible because such attacks rarely happen in public.
Thousands of cases of abuse against women are reported in Pakistan each year, including "honor killings" of women murdered by male relatives because of accusations of adultery or marrying without family consent.
In mostly Muslim Bangladesh, where women lead the ruling and main opposition political parties, thousands joined calls for an end to attacks with flesh-burning acid that leaves hundreds of women disfigured each year.
Protests took place in nearly 30 cities across Bangladesh on Wednesday with both men and women marching together.
They carried placards and banners, reading, "No more acid attacks on women" and "Raise funds for acid victims."
"We have no other choice but to fight against such heinous crimes," said, Motiur Rahman, one of the organizers of the rally.
Most of the victims are women attacked by spurned lovers, but recently more men and children are being splashed with the agonizingly painful sulfuric acid in family arguments or disputes over property, victim support groups say.
The chemical is easily obtained from battery shops or jewelers, who use it to brighten precious metals.
"We are here today to promise that we will make acid terrorism a history," Ilias Kanchan, a popular film star, told the Dhaka rally. "We have to end this terrorism at any cost."
In Indonesia's tsuanmi-ravaged province of Aceh, hundreds of women protested what they said was unequal treatment under Islamic law.
Aceh is the only province in Indonesia to have imposed Shariah law, which requires women to wear headscarves and men to pray five times a day. But the women complain that they are the only ones to be targeted by the heavy-handed religious police.
"Some of my friends were detained by the Shariah police just because they wore jeans," said Raihan, 23, a protest organizer.
Protesters also urged parliament to allow women greater freedom in dress.
"Women in tight dresses are not demons or corrupt," one march leader declared.
In the Indonesian capital Jakarta, hundreds more women marched against a proposed anti-pornography bill that as well as barring nudity in art, would also make the baring of legs or shoulders in public a crime.
The bill also calls for prison terms of up to 10 years and fines of up to US$100,000 (euro83,672) for kissing in public.
"This is just another form of discrimination," Mariana, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name, told the crowd. "We have to stand up against this kind of oppression."
Indonesia has a secular government, and most of the country's 190 million Muslims practice a less austere form of the faith than many Islamic nations in the Middle East and South Asia. But a handful of Muslim-based political parties are pushing for the passage of the bill to prevent the country's "moral decay."
In Kuala Lumpur, a moderate Muslim nation, delegates at a women's conference said that women were making strides in gaining equality, but there was still a long way to go.
They noted that Malaysian women comprise only about 10 percent of corporate board decision-makers in local companies.
"A low representation of women in decision making capacities can cause their needs to be not fully considered when policies are formulated," Norasmah Samsudin, head of the government-run Women's Development Department, was quoted as saying by the national news agency Bernama.
However, there are now women in key posts in bodies such as the central bank, federal court and securities commission, Norasmah said.
In the Philippines, 12,000 women marched along the main avenue of Manila's financial district, calling for the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who they accuse of abuse of power.
Associated Press reporters Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, Teresa Cerojano in Manila, the Philippines and Sean Yoong in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia contributed to this report. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us