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UNAIDS Ambassador Annie Lennox Speaks Her Mind To Business Leaders |
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Wednesday, 09 June 2010 |
Susan notes: In addition to being one of the most successful female performers of our time, as well as the mother of two daughters, the amazing, awesome, outspoken Annie Lennox is a passionate AIDS activist. Listen to what she said to world leaders at the recent Work Smarter Global Health Action GBC Conference 2010
Related links:
Annie Lennox on AWR
Artist, activist and UN ambassador, Annie Lennox
gives voice to women with HIV
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Afghan Women Still Fighting For Rights |
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Tuesday, 01 June 2010 |
 As Afghanistan's most powerful men arrive in Kabul for a major conference aimed at starting a peace process with the Taliban, many women are worried the event could lead to a compromise of their hard-won rights.
In an effort to end the nine-year conflict, Afghanistan is holding a peace jirga -- or an assembly -- of powerful leaders, tribal elders and representatives of civil society to consider President Hamid Karzai’s plans to open talks with Taliban. But even the remote possibility of a Taliban return has touched off concern about the fate of women who were banned from schools, the work place and public life during the Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001.
"I'm really tired of this strategy and plans and jargon. I'd like to see activists from all 34 provinces come to Kabul and plan a much deeper understanding of what should be done in the future for women," said Orzala Ashraf Nemat, a leading women's rights activist in Kabul.
Concerned activists also point to the fact that women are not adequately represented at peace jirga, in which they represent a very small number of the 1,400 seats. And although between 30 and 50 women are expected to attend, none is involved in its planning.
Some believe that women were only given a “symbolic” role to lure Taliban to sit at the negotiations table.
"The positions of women in high-ranking roles have been significantly overshadowed ... One could be cynical and say that the reason there are so few women is to encourage the Taliban to come," said Ahmad Fahim Hakim, deputy chair of Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission.
Click here for the full story:
MuslimsDebate.com
Related Links:
More About Afghanistan on AWR
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Iman ben Chaibah Sails Into Uncharted Waters With E-Magazine |
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Monday, 31 May 2010 |
 It was while listening to a lecture by a Kuwaiti comic book author that Iman ben Chaibah had a moment of clarity and decided that she had to do something.
Dr Naif al Mutawa was addressing an audience at Dubai’s Capital Club when he said he created the characters in his comic book The 99 to reclaim Islam from the “militants who took it hostage” on September 11, 2001.
“He said he began writing when he saw the way people were judging Muslims and the Middle East from a stereotypical standpoint,” said Miss ben Chaibah. “He wanted to redress the image that Islam was violent and hateful.
“It suddenly struck me that I was facing a similar problem. The idea most foreigners have of Emirati women is that we were rich and lazy, only interested in fashion and designer labels and not able read or think for ourselves.
“I realised I had to use my writing to change that stereotype.”
On March 1, two weeks after hearing Dr al Mutawa speak, the 25-year-old IT product manager launched her own e-magazine. The online publication - ww.sailemagazine.com - is believed to be only the second such entity in the UAE and the first to be set up by a woman.
“People said I wouldn’t be able to do it. They thought it would be too much work, but I was determined. I knew it was what I had to do.”
As the editor-in-chief of Sail Magazine, which is published online once a month in English, Miss ben Chaibah has three rules: no fashion, no celebrities and only content that provides “value” to the reader.
“By ‘value’ I mean I want people to be inspired and I want people to think,” she said.
Click here for the full story:
By Anna Seaman
The National
Photo Credit:
Nicole Hill / The National
Related Links:
More About Dubai on AWR
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Kidman Raises BIG Cash For UNIFEM |
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Monday, 31 May 2010 |
 United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)’s Goodwill Ambassador and Say NO Spokesperson Nicole Kidman raised more than US$175,000 today for programmes to address violence against women and women’s empowerment in China. Attended by more than 200 guests, the charity fundraiser took place during her first visit to Hong Kong, and was organized in cooperation with the luxury watch manufacturer OMEGA. The event also featured a private concert by Nicole Kidman’s husband, Grammy Award–winning singer Keith Urban.
“I feel passionately about support for UNIFEM because the work to empower women and advance their human rights is so important,” said Nicole Kidman. “Together with OMEGA we are in Hong Kong to raise awareness and also vital funding for UNIFEM’s projects in China.”
“This Hong Kong benefit for UNIFEM highlights what we can do together to build support for effective programmes that help women live free from violence and realize their rights,” said Joan Libby-Hawk, Public Affairs Chief, UNIFEM. “Together we can show what an impact a global community can make.”
Click here for the full story:
Say No To Violence.org
Related Links:
More About UNIFEM on AWR
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Two Young Women Build Middle East Bridges With Music |
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Wednesday, 26 May 2010 |
Susan notes: this article is about one of my favourite Twitter friends Uzm
Atcha (aka
@LHjunkie). She's a 21-year-old firecracker, blogger and activist
living in the UAE. She writes for Mideast Youth, manages the March 18 Movement campaign, and supremely commands Mideast Tunes, a
platform for regional underground musicians and the subject of this article. Find her on
Twitter or Facebook; read her recent AWR guest blog post here: Give Me Something To Defend. (And oh yeah, she's one of da
coolest chicas I know!)
A three-piece rock band from Dubai, a punk band whose lyrics deal with Islam and a Palestinian gypsy band who remix Arabic folk songs are just three of the groups on a new website set up by a student in Dubai to use the medium of music for social change.
 Uzma Atcha, 21 (pictured at left), a Pakistani living in Dubai, and Esra’a Al Shafei, 23, a Bahraini, joined forces to launch Mideast Tunes, a platform for musicians in the region.
“The Middle East is one of the most misunderstood places on the planet,” said Miss Atcha. “There have been generations of hatred and animosity between ethnic groups and religious sects so we wanted to try to break those down by using a language everyone can relate to – music.”
The site, launched in March, invites artists to subscribe and post their biography, photo and music. Before entries go online, they are vetted by Miss Atcha and Miss al Shafei.
“We don’t judge them in terms of our taste, we just want to make sure they are a creditable act,” said Miss al Shafei. “Also we tend to prefer underground acts who wouldn’t normally get any exposure, as well as those who deal with issues like religion, politics or society in general.”
The women said they wanted to recognise musicians who had something to say. “A lot of the music we hear on the radio or on TV is synthesised pop,” said Miss Atcha. “It has no meaning. Regional talent gets overshadowed by this.”
Mideast Tunes can be played through an online radio portal called Revolt Radio, based in Saudi Arabia, or downloaded with an iPhone “app”.
Click here for the full story:
By Anna Seaman
The National
Related Links:
Give Me Something To Defend (a blog post by Uzma Atcha)
More About Music on AWR
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Italy’s First Woman Priest |
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Monday, 24 May 2010 |
 THIS weekend in Rome a married teacher will become Italy's first woman priest when she is ordained in a church not far from the Vatican.
Maria Longhitano, 35, is a member of Old Catholic Church, an order that broke away from the main body of the Catholic Church in the 19th century.
The ordination will not be recognised by the Vatican. But Mrs Longhitano hopes it will help to shatter the stained-glass ceiling by breaking down "prejudice" in the Roman Church.
Having a woman ordained in Rome is interesting timing in what has become a fierce fight.
During the week, the Catholic archdiocese of Chicago denied burial in a Catholic cemetery to an American woman ordained as a priest. Janine Denomme was a priest for five weeks before she died of cancer. She was ordained by a group called Roman Catholic Women Priests.
The Pope is opposed to women as priests. Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, even banned official discussion of the issue.
But demands for equality won't stop. As more Protestant denominations ordain women - even homosexual women - the Catholic Church's teaching on the all-male priesthood has come under renewed attack, with some leading lay Catholics claiming the ordination of women is a matter of simple justice. They also argue banning women priests is against Biblical doctrine.
This month, a group of Austrian Catholic bishops urged the Vatican to rethink the issues of celibacy and women priests. They called for discussion of "broad reforms".
Bishop Pat Power, the Catholic auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Canberra-Goulburn, recently wrote that reform in his church would involve much more than just "tinkering around the edges".
Click here for the full story:
Sunday Herald Sun
Related Links:
More About The Catholic Church on AWR
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U.S. Moms Leave Jailed Kids Behind In Iran |
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Saturday, 22 May 2010 |
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The mothers of three Americans jailed in Iran for 10 months left for
home Friday, getting one last chance to embrace their children but
failing to secure their immediate release.
In a glimmer of hope, Iran announced that two of its nationals held in Iraq by
U.S. forces for years were freed Friday. The release raised the
possibility that a behind-the-scenes swap was in the offing or that
their release was a gesture of goodwill in an attempt to free the
Americans.
The Iranians' release "may have some diplomatic effect on this case,"
the Americans' lawyer, Masoud Shafii, told The Associated Press.
The U.S. has said it is not offering a direct swap, and Iranian
officials made no public connection between the freed Iranians and the
Americans.
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