THE WOMEN'S WATCH
Volume 11 No. 2
December 1997
FGM IN COURT AND IN CULTURE: AN ADVOCACY LESSON FROM EGYPTIAN
WOMEN
For centuries girls have undergone genital mutilation as
the price of being female in a particular culture or in Islam.
On December 19, 1997, the claim of Islamic religious justification
was definitively rejected by the Egyptian Supreme Administrative
Court. The Court upheld a ban on female genital mutilation,
stating that it is not an individual right under Sharia and
that nothing in the Q'uran authorizes it. While the circumstances
of the decision are local-it upholds the authority of the
Minister of Health to issue the ban against FGM-the result
should reverberate throughout the Islamic world.
The decision underscores the position that mutilating young
girls cannot be called a religious duty. The Court's statement
as to Sharia will support activists everywhere who are faced
with the allegation that FGM is ordained by Islamic law. Most
importantly, the ruling will support women working locally
against FGM in their own countries, such as in the Gambia,
where the Gambia Committee on Traditional Practices succeeded
recently in persuading the Government to lift a ban on public
discussion of the issue.
In Egypt, much of the public discussion is attributable
to the efforts of the FGM Task Force, established in 1994.
According to its position paper issued in October 1997, the
Task Force organized on the basis of "a strong belief of a
woman's right to maintain the integrity and wholeness of her
body and the freedom of her mind; to choose her life and to
base her choices on her own evaluation of what should and
what should not be done." While the Task Force is concerned
that a legal ban may result in backlash, including deliberate
flouting of the law, the Court's decision reinforces the Task
Force's position that religion should not be used to justify
"the interference of a human hand to amputate parts of the
human body."
The Task Force position paper is helpful particularly on
the question of support from outside the country. While the
Gambia Committee enlisted outside support, as have other Southern
NGOs with respect to other issues, activism by NGOs outside
the country is not always productive and should be undertaken
carefully. In light of the debate and sensationalization of
the FGM issue that has taken place in the Western press, the
Task Force position is highly instructive-not only as to FGM,
but to other issues that concern women in both South and North.
We relate to FGM as a development issue. Organizations who
wish to support our efforts in combating FGM should have a
consistent approach to the multiple issues of development
. . . It is important that the different allies formulate
their support in a way that serves our side of the front-line,
and does not impose new burdens or concerns upon us.
As a human rights issue, it is inconsistent to be troubled
by the practice of FGM and close an eye to health policies
which deprive poor women-the majority of women-[of] their
basic rights of access to the minimal requirements of primary
health care. . . . The threat to cut aid to Egypt as a punishment
of the Egyptian government because of FGM or to pressurize
it to take measures, actually means the starvation of the
people, and not the government, of this country . . . Such
forms of international 'support' for the battle against FGM
actually serve to reinforce the practice and indeed, control
over women in general, as people engage into an illusory struggle
over identity.
Furthermore, it is unacceptable for Western supporters of
the battle against FGM to appeal to Egyptian state bodies
to intervene to overturn a judicial ruling, even when that
ruling is in favor of FGM. The Egyptian people have struggled
for many decades for the separation of the executive, legislative
and judicial authorities; they have fought numerous [battles]
to defend the independence of the judiciary. To appeal to
the president of the republic to intervene to overturn a court
ruling is in violation of the principles of democracy that
generations in this country have been fighting for . . .
Our consistency and accountability to our agenda, approach
and the forms of support we accept are strategic elements
in our existence and struggle. Solidarity organizations in
the north should be able to read into the lessons of the FGM
backlash in our country and similar reactions to similar situations
in other Third World countries . . .
The struggle against FGM is a struggle for the liberation
of women and men from the value system that governs them both.
Working towards change of this value system is in fact working
towards changing society as a whole. It is already a struggle
over several fronts. It does not need additional ones.
To contact the FGM Task Force: Tel. (20 2) 350 0757; fax
(20 2) 378 2643. P.B. 1239 El-Maadi, Cairo.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND DISCRIMINATION - Convention Articles 2,
3 and 5
The new government
of Poland embodies a backlash against women. According
to the Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning, the
new government has dropped women's issues from the national
agenda, renaming the Plenipotentiary for Family and Women's
Affairs as the Plenipotentiary for Family Affairs. Under its
new enabling act, the mandate of the Plenipotentiary does
not include women's issues and gender equality. Moreover,
the new head is the former head of the Association of Catholic
Families, well-known for its conservative stand on women's
issues. Polish women are deeply concerned about their future
equality and the implementation of the Beijing Platform for
Action. Concerned NGOs have urged the government to reconsider
its decision and make women's equality a priority issue on
the national agenda.
An Expert Group
on Promoting Women's Economic and Social Rights, held in Finland
in November 1997, has recommended that the CEDAW Committee,
the Human Rights Committee, and the Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights issue a joint general comment on
the indivisibility of civil and political and economic, social
and cultural rights and the centrality of gender awareness
to the enjoyment of those rights. The Expert Group made
a number of other specific and useful recommendations concerning
working methods and goals of the human rights treaty bodies
as well as for increased gender awareness in the activities
of other UN entities and international institutions. Further
information: WILPF, 1, rue de Varembé, C.P. 28, 1211 Geneva
20. Tel. 41 22 733 6175; Fax 41 22 740 1063.
Female students
in New Delhi are protesting their college's ban of jeans and
tight tops. The ban was issued under the name of preventing
"cultural pollution" and provoked protests from teachers as
well. The principal of the college could not understand the
protest since she had not asked the girls to cover their heads.
Since the ban, students who turned up in jeans had been forced
by the college to wear salwar khamiz, the loose-fitting traditional
South Asian women's costume. Hindu nationalist leader Shanti
Desai supported the ban while the Delhi University Teachers
Association insisted that the college has no authority to
dictate what students should wear. Students have threatened
more street protests. The ban only had a handful proponents
and one parent criticized it as "cultural fascism".
Discrimination
in inheritance remains one of the most important concerns
for women throughout Africa. The death of a staff member
of the Southern University Democratic Governance Project in
Zambia, a program that has provided staff support for civic
education including workshops on inheritance, made the staff
realize that they did not understand the law themselves. The
1989 Act, passed after successful lobbying by women's groups
including Women and Law in Southern Africa, provides protection
against property grabbing by the husband's family. It was
enacted to prevent the destitution of women whose in-laws
descend on the property and insist on their customary right
to it but fail to support the widow and children as required
by custom.
The Zambian
act is intended to prevent the result seen in a recent South
African case, where a widow of a customary marriage who lived
in an urban area was thrown out of her house by her father-in-law
claiming customary inheritance of the leasehold. In this
case, Mthembu v. Letsela (1997), the court held that even
in an urban area, in which the judge could not be sure that
families were properly supported by the husband's families
as required by custom, the customary inheritance by the husband's
family would hold. The Gender Research Project (University
of Witwatersrand) notes that decisions such as this indicate
the need for well-researched arguments on the realities of
preserving culture at the expense of equality, in light of
the South African constitutional guarantees of nondiscrimination.
Information: WLSA, P.O. Box UA 171, Harare, Zimbabwe; Gender
Research Project, CALS, Univ of Witwatersrand, PB 3, Witwatersrand
2050 SA. Tel: 27-011 403 6918; fax: 27-011-403-2341; e-mail
<125je2wa@solon.law.wits.ac.za>.
VIOLENCE AGAINST
WOMEN - Convention Articles 3, 5, 6, 12, 15 and 16
An Iranian
woman faces a second stoning for offense of Islamic mores.
On August 11, 1997, Zoleykhah Kadkhoda was charged with engaging
in extramarital sex and was sentenced to death by the religious
magistrate. The same day, the local Pasdaran, Baijijs and
other supporters of Islam buried her from waist down in a
ditch and began stoning her. The stoning was stopped by local
villagers. Kadkhoda was sent to hospital with serious injuries
on the head and face. If she survives, Kadkhoda might be sentenced
to a second stoning. The authority that sentenced Kadkhoda
was part of an ad hoc quasi-judicial system that emerged shortly
after the Islamic revolution to mete out punishment to the
offenders of Islamic mores. Judges appointed to this system
usually had little education but strong religious opinions.
An Iranian law adopted in 1992 gives to these irregular quasi-judicial
entities full power to arrest and detain suspects without
any redress against their abuse of power. Several groups of
Iranians living in Canada are planning a protest assembly
at the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa on January 21. Addresse:
President Mohammad Khatami Khamanei, Palestine Ave. Azerbaijian
Intersection, Tehran, Iran. Phone: Iran 01198216161.
According to
a government report, domestic violence makes home a very dangerous
place for Bolivian women. The Bolivian ministerial report
regarding gender issues found that eight out of ten women
are victims of domestic violence. On average, 60% of married
women and 30% of single women are subject to physical or verbal
abuse at home. Most of the victims are between the ages of
18 and 40. The most dangerous people for Bolivian women to
live with are those working in the military or the police.
Doctors and lawyers also are known for their aggressive behaviors
at home. The ministerial report was released on the international
day against violence against women. The Bolivian government
also has been considering a bill against sexual harassment
that has caused much controversy in the country.
After a 20-year
struggle, women in Mauritius have won the passage of a law
protecting them from domestic violence. Two women were
known to die of domestic violence while the Bill was debated
in Parliament. One was beaten to death, and the other was
set on fire. With the new law, women may get "eviction orders",
"tenancy orders" and "occupation orders" against abusive husbands.
The law Organizations such as Muvman Liberasyon Fam and SOS
Femmes.
Women in Malicounda
Bambara, a village in Senegal, have renounced the practice
of genital mutilation that has been practiced for generations
in their community. The women of the village took this
decision after participating in a series of workshops on literacy,
health, and human rights provided by Tostan, an NGO working
in collaboration with UNICEF. The local imam and customary
chief supported the decision, the imam noting that the Q'uran
does not require any form of female mutilation. Government
officials have hailed the decision and express hope that women
in other villages will take similar action.
Women are increasingly
the targets of anti-government violence in Algeria. According
to accounts in the New York Times, the Islamist terrorist
campaign has escalated its level of atrocities directed specifically
against women. Attacks on villages near Algiers regularly
include kidnapping, gang-raping, and killing young girls.
A decree attributed to the Armed Islamic Group gives specific
instructions on handling girls and women who are abducted
for purposes of rape. The International Women's Law Clinic
(CUNY), the Center for Constitutional Rights, and two private
US law firms have filed a Federal lawsuit against the Islamic
Salvation Front and Anwar Haddam, the "representative in exile"
of the Front, on behalf of several Algerian activists who
have been victims of terror. While the Islamic Salvation Front
is seen by some as a moderating force in the anti-government
campaign, attorneys for the plaintiffs point out that the
Islamic Salvation Front is deeply involved with groups that
are openly dedicated to terrorism and to subjugation of women.
POLITICAL AND
PUBLIC LIFE - Convention Articles 7 and 8
Women's peace
petition is fast gaining momentum. Over 150 organizations
are co-sponsoring a petition that demands all governments
of the world transfer a minimum of five percent of their military
budget over the next five years to health, education, and
employment programs. One hundred thousand signatures have
already been collected and presented to the President of the
UN General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko, following a press
conference sponsored by UNIFEM on October 24-United Nations
Day. Mr. Udovenko pledged his support and agreed to circulate
a Ukraine version of the petition among women's NGOs in his
country. The petition will continue through the year 2000
as an expression of a hope that the new millennium can be
blessed by a culture of peace. Copies of the Peace Petition
from Women of the World can be obtained from: Peace Action
International, Tel: (212) 750-5795, Fax: (212) 867-7462. Email:
paintl@igc.apc.org.
The Commonwealth
Heads of Government Meeting has set new gender equality targets
for member countries. The Committee of the Whole recommended
that Heads of Government endorse the recommendations made
by the Ministers Responsible for Women's Affairs at their
1996 meeting. One of the recommendation is that member countries
should be encouraged to achieve a target of no less than 30
per cent of women in decision-making positions in the political,
public and private sectors by the year 2005. Another recommendation
asks governments to increase women's participation in all
peace initiatives. Information: Eleni Stamiris, Director,
Gender and Youth Division, Commonwealth Secretariat, Marlborough
Hose Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HX, UK. Fax: (44) 0171 930 0827.
Sex inequality
persists in the Council of Europe countries. In the 40
countries that make up the Council of Europe, women hold few
high-ranking posts in government. On average, women fill less
than 20 percent of parliamentary seats, according to the Council
report titled "Women in Politics in Member States of the Council
of the Europe". Sweden and Norway have the best record for
women in government, with cabinets consisting of 50 percent
and 42 percent women respectively. France has 33 percent women
cabinet members, but only 11 percent women representatives
and 5.6 percent senators in Parliament. Cyprus, Hungary, Moldova,
Poland, Romania and Slovenia have no women in their cabinet.
In terms of women's participation in parliament, Turkey ranks
last with only 13 women out of 550 parliament members. In
general, only 14 of the 40 countries have more than three
women in cabinet.
Certain members
of Britain's House of Commons seem to have difficulty meeting
the challenge of sharing the floor with a newly elected critical
mass of women-120 of them. Giggling at references to women's
bodies during debates on health care and making crude gestures
when women speak on the floor, old-boy MPs, according to several
female Members, frequently behave "like juvenile schoolboys
on a day out." The Commons tradition of allowing members to
"behave like escapees from an all-male boarding school, which
most of them were," according to the New York Times (December
22, 1997), will have to be reshaped by the new female members-and,
as MP Jane Griffiths says, "it is the wrong battle to have
to fight."
Certain men
in Afghanistan, in contrast, are now working with women who
have formed a women's battalion to fight the Taliban.
Hazaras are Turkic Shiites and are the only ethnic group in
Afghanistan that gives women a major political, social and
military role. Based in Hazarat, 160 miles northwest of Kabul,
they are the strongest element of the anti-Taliban alliance.
The women started training after they participated in fighting
off a Taliban attack, taking up the guns after men were killed.
Female Hazara professors who fled Kabul also have established
a university, making classrooms of mud and straw and working
without books-and as of November 1997 had 300 students and
16 teachers.
HEALTH AND REPRODUCTIVE
RIGHTS - Convention Articles 10, 12, 14 and 16
The Christian
right has challenged South Africa's Termination of Pregnancy
Act on constitutional right-to-life grounds. The Act,
the first of its kind in Africa, provides for termination
of pregnancy upon request in the first twelve weeks and a
limited right of termination thereafter. The Reproductive
Rights Alliance of South Africa has joined as a party, to
support the Government's defense of the law and to make certain
that arguments grounded in feminist theory of substantive
rights are included in the case, which will be a major constitutional
test on reproductive rights. Information: Gender Research
Project, CALS, Univ of Witwatersrand, PB 3, Witwatersrand
2050 SA. Tel: 27-011 403 6918; fax: 27-011-403-2341; e-mail
<125je2wa@solon.law.wits.ac.za>.
Four US Bishops
have affirmed that Catholicism provides for many points of
view on social issues. In an advertisement defending the television
show, "Nothing Sacred," the four Bishops stated that there
are many voices in Catholicism in America and that "Nothing
Sacred" is wonderful. The show is about a priest and grapples
with issues of change in the Catholic church, including contraception,
abortion, sexuality, divorce, and women's ordination. The
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has charged
the show with being anti-Catholic and orchestrated an advertiser
boycott of it. According to the Bishops, the charges were
"unfair" and "malign" and do not represent the view of most
American Catholics. "We believe 'Nothing Sacred' has wit,
intelligence, and compassion and can serve as a positive vehicle
for discourse," said the Bishops. More than 50 priests and
nuns will also sign the advertisement of the Bishops. Meanwhile,
ABC, the television network that broadcasts the show is considering
rescheduling the show so that more people could see it.
EMPLOYMENT - Convention
Article 11
The European
Court of Justice has ruled in favor of job preferences for
women. The case was brought by a male teacher in Germany
after a woman was appointed to a post for which he was equally
qualified. The promotion decision was based on a law of the
North Rhine-Westphalia state in that gave women priority in
promotion in public sector jobs if such jobs were in categories
that hired fewer women than men. When asked to make a decision
to clarify whether or not the law in question violated EU
laws, the court decided that the German state law was not
unfair to men because the priority the law provides for women
does not amount to unconditional, automatic preferences. The
court distinguished this decision from its 1995 ruling against
a quota system introduced by the German state of Bremen, saying
that the present case was different because it did not preclude
men from the outset. The European Commission commended the
Court for its recognition that women face "deep-rooted prejudices"
and need help to compete for jobs. The North Rhine-Westphalia
state said the ruling vindicated its effort to help women
move up the career ladder. Women believe the decision has
provided a firm legal basis for government to take measures
that promote equality for women.
Takako Doi,
head of Japan's Social Democratic Party, believes that increasing
women's seats in the Diet is necessary to change the traditional
stereotype that women should stay home and men should work.
Considered to be the most powerful women in Japan, Doi was
the first woman to serve as the speaker of the lower house
of the Diet. Doi acknowledged a regression in women's status
under Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto. Women occupy only
7.7 percent of the total seats in the Diet and have little
say in policy. She criticizes the Japanese political system
as one of the most backward in terms of women's participation
in government.
RESOURCES
IWRAW's World
Wide Web site has been updated and will be adding items
during the first half of 1998: http://www.igc.apc.org/iwraw/.
ISIS-WICCE
is planning to hold a training program on the theme "Documenting
Women's Experiences in Armed Conflicts as a Tool for Advocacy
and Redress" July 20 - September 21 1998. Candidates should
have work experience with a women's NGO or its equivalent
on women's human rights issues in a developing country. Contact:
Exchange Program Coordinator, Isis-WICCE, P.O. Box 4934, Kampala.
Tel: 256-41-266007/8; Fax: 256-41-268676. Email: isis@starcom.co.ug.
A new international
office of World University Service (WUS) has been established
in Amsterdam. WUS is an international NGO that focuses on
education, development and human rights. Its activities include
publishing the journal Academic Freedom and the WUS Human
Rights Bulletin, and organizing the Summer University on Human
Rights and the Right to Education in Geneva. The Summer University
is a postgraduate program composed of theoretical courses
as well as practical training. Contact: Leo van der Vlist,
International Programme Officer, World University Service,
Da Vinci Bedrijvenhuis, Nieuwpoortkade 2A, 1055 RX Amsterdam,
the Netherlands. Tel: 31-20-606-0729; Fax: 31-20-688-5899.
The International
Information Center and Archives for Women's Movement (IIAV)
will host the Know How Conference on the World of Women's
Information in Amsterdam, August 22-26, 1998. Contact: IIAV,
Obiplein 4, 1094 RB Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Tel: +31-20-66-50-820;
Fax: +31-20-66-55-812. Email: knowhow@iiav.nl. URL: http://www.iiva.nl.
ABANTU for
Development is a non-governmental development organization,
founded in 1991 by women from African countries. Its main
focus is on promoting sustainable development in Africa through
training and providing information. Contact: ABANTU for Development,
First Floor, Winchester House, 11 Cranmer Road, London SW9
6EJ, UK.
The Directory
of Agencies for Development Assistance is a 350-page guide
to resources supporting community-based projects in developing
countries. It is available in Spanish, English, and French.
Contact: Mission Service Project, Fax: (315) 782-0473; Email:
MisProjSer@aol.com.
The European
Women's Lobby is setting up "The Women's Talent Bank,"
a database of female experts who specialize in the 24 areas
that correspond to the 24 Directorates General of the European
Commission. Contact: European Women's Lobby, Rue du meridien
22, B-1210 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 217-90-20; Fax: (32-2) 219-84-51.
Women of the
World: Laws and Policies Affecting their Reproductive Lives
is a 173 page report on Anglophone African countries. Contact:
Women's Health Project, P.O. Box 1038, Johannesburg, 2000.
Tel: (011) 489-9917; Fax: (011) 489-9922.
"My House is
My Husband": A Kenyan Study of Women's Access to Land and
Housing uses gender contract theory to explore women's
access to property in Kenya. Contact: Shivona Tavares, Information
Officer, UNCHS (Habitat), P.O. Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya.
Fax: (254-2) 624-333. Email: shivona.tavares@unchs.org.
An Introduction
to Advocacy: Training Guide is based on and tested in
several African settings and provides useful tools to people
for engaging in the advocacy process. Contact: SARA Project
Coordinator, AED, 1255 23rd Street NW, Washington DC 20037.
Fax: 202-884-8701.
The Women's
Human Rights Resources Web site is an excellent source
of research on women's international human rights. The site
is part of the DIANA international human rights database and
is sponsored by the Bora Laskin Law Library at the University
of Toronto. Address: http://www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/diana.
The Oak Institute
for the Study of International Human Rights at Colby college
will host each year a fellow who will teach and conduct research
as a scholar-in-residence at the college. The program is made
possible through a major grant from the Oak Foundation. Contact:
Parker Beverage, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, Lunder
House, Colby College, Waterville, Maine 04901, USA. Tel: (207)
872-3168; Fax: (207) 872-3474. Web site: www.colby.edu.
WOMEN'S WATCH
subscriptions policy. Women's Watch is sent free to groups
and individuals in developing countries and on an exchange
basis with libraries and documentation centers. Subscriptions
are US$25 per year payable in US dollars only or an international
money order. Subscriptions are renewable as of January 1 of
each year. Checks in US dollars on a US bank should be made
payable to: IWRAW, Humphrey Institute. Other subscription
points: In Great Britain and continental Europe, send subscriptions
in pounds or Eurodollars to: Marianne Haslegrave, Commonwealth
Medical Assn., BMA House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9JP,
UK. In Australia: Hilary Charlesworth, Department of International
and Public Law, ANU, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia. In Canada,
Susan Bazilli, METRAC, 158 Spadina Road, Toronto, Ontario
M5R 2T8. In Japan, Japanese Ass'n of International Women's
Rights, Bunkyo Women's College, 1196 Kamekubo, Ohi-machi,
Iruma, Saitama 354 Japan.
WOMEN'S WATCH
is published by the IWRAW project, Humphrey Institute of Public
Affairs at the University of Minnesota, USA. Editor: Marsha
Freeman. This issue was written with the help of Liu Dongxiao,
IWRAW Cram-Dalton Fellow. IWRAW is a global network of individuals
and organizations that monitors implementation of the Convention
on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against
Women, an international treaty ratified by 161 countries.
The University
of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
The Humphrey Institute is hospitable to a diversity of opinions
and aspirations. The Institute does not itself take positions
on public policy issues. The contents of this report are the
responsibility of the editors. IWRAW is grateful to the Ford
Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation,
the Carnegie Corporation, Shaler Adams Foundation, SIDA and
numerous other individuals and foundations for financial support.
Contributions to the project are welcome and are tax deductible
for US taxpayers.