Iran - Womens Lib.: Iranian women go online to break silence over sexual abuse

For 14 years, Sara Omatali kept her personal trauma under wraps, unable to speak out about the ordeal she suffered in Tehran in the summer of 2006. The former journalist, who now lives in the United States, was sexually assaulted while interviewing a prominent artist in the Iranian capital. A week ago, she finally decided to break her silence on Twitter.

Omatali is among dozens of Iranian women who have recently taken to social media to denounce the sexual harassment and abuse they suffered. Some have used the #MeToo hashtag, coined in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

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Iranian women go online to break silence over sexual abuse

Turkey - Presidential elections: Men and Women are not equal saysTurkish PM Erdogan - by Alev Scott

Cartoon of Turkish PM  Recep Tayip Erdogan

Ten days before historic presidential elections in Turkey, the deputy prime minister has brought to the country’s attention the pressing matter of female modesty. “A woman must not act in an alluring manner but must preserve her purity,” said Bülent Arınç, co-founder of the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) and close ally of the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is widely expected to win the election on 10 August.

“A woman must not laugh in public … Where are our girls, who blush delicately, lower their heads and turn their eyes away when we look at their faces, our symbols of chastity?”

Arınç was speaking on the subject of Turkey’s “moral collapse” at a meeting to mark the Islamic festival of Eid al-Fitr. His advice became, ironically, the source of much mirth on social media and inspired a flurry of photographs of Turkish women laughing, perhaps through gritted teeth.

While Arınç took care to provide advice for men too – “A man will not be a womanizer” – his fixation on the behaviour of Turkish women enraged both women and men who are already resentful of the AKP’s "moralistic" hectoring.

However, despite some outrage, many Turkish voters will applaud Arınç as the voice of reason, his sermon as the tonic Turkey needs. He represents a party that employs Islamic and quasi-Islamic ideals, ever more explicitly and insistently, to appeal to its core base of support among conservative Turks.

The timing of the speech was no coincidence. On 10 August, Turks will for the first time vote directly for their president and the election is effectively a popularity test for Erdoğan, who has been in power for 11 years and is seeking to continue as a self-styled “active” head of state. Erdoğan has long claimed to represent the pious working man of Turkey and has overseen landslide victories for his party in three consecutive general elections.

He knows perfectly well that he has alienated the more liberal and secular of Turkish voters with his religious rhetoric but this is now immaterial. The AKP’s aggressive policy of polarisation encourages deep commitment to Erdoğan and creates a stark division within the Turkish population. Almost 50% of Turks vote for Erdoğan: the formula works.

The prime minister  Recep Tayip Erdogan  has made no secret of where he stands in the debate on women’s role in Turkish society: in 2010, he declared that “women and men are not equal. They only complement each other”. During his election campaign 10 days ago, he visited a dormitory of female university students to warn them not to “hang around” but find husbands as soon as possible.

Read more: Why Turkish women will be laughing all the way to the election | Alev Scott | Comment is free | theguardian.com

Womens Lib Middle East: Women in Saudi Arabia: Unshackling themselves

A recent move to introduce physical education to government girls’ schools met the same response as most attempts to give Saudi women equal rights with men.

 A group of conservatives protested in Riyadh, the capital, against “Westernising” moves that would lead to adultery and prostitution. Such mores, they argued, have no place in the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad.

Slowly the tide in Saudi Arabia appears to be running in women’s favour. “The Saudi woman’s voice has always been there calling for change,” says Hatoon al-Fassi, a prominent Saudi historian of women in Arabia.

“But today it is more apparent and it is getting to the decision-makers.” Though lambasting the lack of equality between the sexes in the kingdom, Human Rights Watch, a New York-based lobby group, last year referred to “encouraging, modest” reforms for women.

Read more: Women in Saudi Arabia: Unshackling themselves | The Economist

European Women's Power: Reshaping trust in Europe with women's vision

Women make up half the world's population. Do they not have a right to half the representation, half the space and half the share of voices on all political issues? The deficit of women represented in European politics is obvious and, most of all, counterproductive, writes Véronique Morali.

Véronique Morali is the president of the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society. She is the president of Fimalac Development, vice-chairman of Fitch Group and the chairman of Web media AlloCiné.

Tomorrow, the Women's Forum for the Economy and Society will convene a special meeting at the European Parliament to discuss how to re-create trust in Europe. Europe today is in crisis; we all know this. That crisis goes far beyond the very significant financial difficulties that our banking systems have been facing since 2007.

It involves the need to recreate a sense of community and empowerment for collective action on a range of important social issues. This is a crisis of trust — a failure of public confidence in Europe's own institutions and leadership.

But if citizens feel increasingly distant from their political leadership is that so very surprising, when the institutions and leadership of Europe so visibly fail to reflect the communities they are intended to serve?

It's very obvious that there is a deficit of representation of women in European politics. At every level, from the European Commission to the European Parliament — including the European Council, the Court of Justice, the Central Bank and the Court of Auditors, women are not represented in proportion to their numbers, their skills, their talents or their rights.

One third of the members of the European Parliament are women. Look harder, and in four countries – Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic and Luxembourg — women make up less than one-quarter of MEPs. In national parliaments, exactly half the 28 country parliaments of the Union are made up of fewer than one-quarter women. The European Commission, meanwhile, has never been led by a woman. Currently just 9 out of the 28 European Commissioners are women — again, barely one-third.

Does this matter? Well, for one thing, it's counterproductive. Any society or group that deprives itself of half the talents and skills available is hurting its own chances of success. It's also not fair. And a society that is unfair — which creates obstacles to the advancement of individuals because of characteristics that are not relevant, such as ethnic origin or gender — is a society that generates either bitterness or disengagement or mistrust.

Read more: Reshaping trust in Europe with women's vision | EurActiv

Middle East: Saudi Women Protest Against Driving Ban - by Zein Ja'Far

Women in Saudi Arabia have reportedly taken to the wheel to demand the right to drive - despite threats of immediate arrest.

Saudi authorities have warned they face arrest, possible legal action and could be stopped by force if they are caught behind the wheel.

But the threats have failed to put off many, including Bareah Albuzeedy, who says she will fight for her rights regardless of what authorities say.

Protesters were expected to drive their cars in cities across the country.

Ms Albuzeedy said: "What we're asking for is a very simple right. It's only to let women drive and that's it."
Saudi professor and campaigner Aziza Youssef said the group had received 13 videos and another 50 phone messages from women showing or claiming they had driven, adding that it had no way to verify the messages.

Read more: Saudi Women Protest Against Driving Ban

What Does Sex Have to Do with World Peace? - by Soraya Chemaly

Last year, a quiet but powerful book, Sex and World Peace, was published by an interdisciplinary group of researchers and scholars. The authors, Valerie M. Hudson, Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill, Mary Caprioli and Chad F. Emmett, set out to demonstrate and document the complex but evident relationship between how girls and women are treated and the security of the states in which they live.

The authors took the question, “How does a nation’s security affect the status of its women?” and asked instead, “Does the status of women affect a nation’s security?” The answer was a resounding, “Yes!” And their results and recommendations are startling in their power and clarity.

The book’s conclusions are compellingly derived from the authors’ construction and use of the WomanSTATS project and database, which contains more than 148,000 data points and includes more than 375 variables for 175 countries. It is the most comprehensive bank of data on the status of women in the world today, including information about everything from domestic violence, maternal mortality and rape to education and women’s political participation.

The very clear thesis of the book is that the very best indicator and predictor of a state’s peacefulness is not wealth, military expenditures, or religion; the best predictor is how well its girls and women are treated. 

Read more: What Does Sex Have to Do with World Peace? : Ms. Magazine Blog

How France Shaped Three Powerful American Women - by Debra Ollivier

Long before French women became the marketing phenomenon they are today, American women of all stripes quietly made their way to France and were shaped on a deep level by their experiences abroad. They returned to America imbued with, as Alice Kaplan put it, "a kind of confidence in themselves that they might not have gotten at home."

Kaplan is a professor of French at Yale University and the author of several books, including the recently released Dreaming in French: The Paris Years of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Susan Sontag, and Angela Davis. In this brilliantly written and well-researched book, Kaplan explores the lives of three radically different, influential American women who had an enduring bond with France -- and vice-versa.

For more: Debra Ollivier: How France Shaped Three Powerful American Women

Italy's Economic Overhaul Marked by Women Wrestling Over Labor - by Alessandra Migliaccio and Chiara Vasarri

In a country that for almost a decade was led by a man who publicly referred to his passion for female conquests, Italy is now relying on three women to help overcome the European debt crisis.

Less than four months after the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister known for his "Bunga Bunga" parties, new Italian Labor Minister Elsa Fornero is mediating between Emma Marcegaglia, head of the employers' lobby, and Susanna Camusso, leader of the biggest union.

At stake are changes to labor laws to make it easier to hire and fire, a highly-charged issue in Italy, where previous attempts at an overhaul have been marred by protests, violence and even murder. The reforms aim to bring down a decade-high jobless rate of 8.9 percent and are central to Prime Minister Mario Monti efforts to convince investors he can revive Italy's economy and trim its 1.9 trillion-euro ($2.5 trillion) debt.

 For more: Italy's Economic Overhaul Marked by Women Wrestling Over Labor

In Yemen, A Woman Leads The Call For Revolution - by Kelly McEvers

Tawakkol Karman lives in a tent in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen.

Every day and every night, she sleeps on the ground, eats on the ground, and works on the ground. Her husband and three children visit on the weekends. And Karman is also known as the woman behind the revolution.

Of all the Arab countries that have erupted in protest this year, Yemen has been at it the longest. The country is now in its seventh month of turmoil, with no end in sight.

For more: In Yemen, A Woman Leads The Call For Revolution : NPR

EU Observer: EU's most powerful women take aim at male elite - by Honor Mahony

For the complete report from the EUobserver click on this link

EU's most powerful women take aim at male elite - by Honor Mahony

EU's most powerful women take aim at male elite - by Honor Mahony Some of the most powerful women in the EU are discussing how to bring gender equality to European politics, an arena that continues to be overwhelmingly dominated by men. A who's who of women politicians in Brussels met on Wednesday (16 September) to see how they can better promote women in the EU capital, where women's names routinely fail to be mentioned for the top jobs.Danuta Huebner, the head of the parliament's regional development committee and a former EU commissioner, also stressed the importance of women supporting one another. "We should do more about networking - that's where we're extremely weak. If we start some networking of women in European institutions, this could have some impact. If you are alone, you just behave as those around you," said the Polish politician.