THE APPALLING ABUSE OF WOMEN

I have been reviewing my blogs and I stick by what I originally wrote - that this is probably the most serious blog I have attempted to write.

I have been horrified this past few years by the incredible number of reports from all over the world in particular Asia and Africa, but by no means only in those continents, of the appalling abuse of women.

We read in horrific disbelief of a 23 year-old girl and her boyfriend who were attacked on December 16, 2012, she was viciously raped on a private bus and subsequently died of her injuries. This case generated widespread national and international coverage and condemnation. Major public protests took place throughout India and especially in New Delhi against the government for not providing adequate security for women. It was reported that rape was the most common crime against women in India and that marital rape for some extraordinary reason was not a criminal office.

Of course similar crimes sadly take place all over the world not only in India but we are seeing month after month more and more stories of abuse and of what I can only call “cultural abuse”. Arranged marriages that go horribly wrong, beatings, savage attacks on wives, so called "honour killings" that are a crime against humanity – we read of female genital mutilation (FGM) with horrific statistics in particular Africa, but spreading to many countries.

The way women are treated in countries like Saudi Arabia also in Afghanistan & Pakistan with the Taliban and other fundamentalist sects stoning women to death even if they have been raped and sexually assaulted – anyone would think we were living in the worst of the dark ages – indeed it seems that at one level we are heading into a dark and deep place for the human race.

It has been reported that more and more women in India are finding the courage to report sexual violence. But most of those affected still live in fear. Many women keep quiet because whom do they turn to? – their culture and local communities are often against them and unwilling to see only the male dominated perspective that the women must have encouraged the man or whatever. I read of a case of a women who had faced 15 years of violence at the hands of her husband culminating in an acid attack needing urgent hospitalisation – she was afraid to go to the police but in the end did so and the husband is now in prison – but why did this poor women have to put up with 15 terrible years because of cultural and religious beliefs – it is outrageous.

A recent article in an Islamic journal (Islamic Horizons) reported: “Wife abuse has hurt numerous Muslim women, destroyed many Muslim families and weakened the entire Muslim community – how much longer can Muslims afford to look the other way”?

“I recommend that you treat women with goodness. The best of you are those who treat their wives the best” (The Prophet Mohammad) and yet these kind and wise teachings are so often completely ignored.

The article went on to say: “Physical, psychological and/or sexual abuse in the home is rampant – how can this be the case? The most common form of abuse is emotional and mental abuse – intimidation, degradation, humiliation, insults, false accusations, dismissing and ridiculing her needs, telling her she is a failure - twisting Islamic teachings that make her feel worthless because she is a woman”. I am not personally reporting this – these words come from a respected Muslim Journal. “This is completely contrary to the example of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him)”.

Why does this happen? “For cultural reasons some Muslim men accept the idea that its normal for a man to hit his wife and that she is no more than a piece of his property”.

“Some abuse their wives and daughters because they want to dress more modern and removing the Hijab – tragically Islam is often used to “justify” their abusive behaviour – often wrongly using Qur’anic verse that says men are the protectors and maintainers of women to go on power trips, demand total obedience and order their wives around”.

The article goes on to say that “Abusive men are completely disregarding the Islamic teachings of kindness, mercy, gentleness and forgiveness, just as they are disregarding the example of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) who never hit a woman and was extremely gentle and compassionate with his family”

The purpose of this blog is not to attack Islam; the tragic abuse of women is global and occurs in many societies and must be stopped at all costs. We read of members of ISIS praying before raping a non-muslim girl as though it is some God given right! This sickness has to stop and stop now before we sink so low that the human race will never rise up again in decency and kindness.

I have never understood this absurd male dominated concept – if anything women are more important than men – that’ll surprise most men! But without the female there is no life – no reproduction of life – OK you need the male too – but in an all male society – it wouldn’t last long – think about it! We are talking about our mothers, our grand mothers, our adorable sisters, our sweet daughters, our lovely wives - being hurt, abused, raped, killed by rampant men out of control and in the name of desire, anger, pride, abuse, religious indoctrination of the most evil kind - enough is enough - STOP THIS NOW.

Female Genital Mutilation:

There is a significant campaign throughout many parts of Africa to stop Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) – I was horrified to read it is estimated that more than 100 million girls 10 years old and above have undergone FGM. How can this be happening in the 21^st Century?

According to official reports on FGM:

(1) There are no health benefits for girls and women whatsoever

(2) Procedures can cause severe bleeding, infections, infertility and all kinds of serious complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths

(3) FGM is a fundamental violation of the human rights of girls and women and must be considered and treated as an extreme form of discrimination.

(4) This practice also violates a person’s rights to health, security and physical integrity. The right to be born free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment - and the right to life when the procedure results in death.

(5) It is currently estimated that 140 million girls and women worldwide are living with the health problems and day to day consequences of FGM

(6) FGM is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy & age 15

(7) This reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women.

(8) The practice also violates a person’s rights to health, security and physical integrity, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and the right to life when the procedure results in death.

These are powerful words and the strongest possible condemnation of this appalling and utterly barbaric procedure of Female Genital Mutilation and must be stopped at all costs.

What are the reasons for this suffering and misery?

The reports state that the cause of Female Genital Mutilation includes a mix of cultural, religious and social factors within families and communities.

Where FGM is a social convention, the social pressure to conform to what others do and have been doing is a strong motivation to perpetuate the practice.

FGM is (incredibly) often considered a necessary part of raising a girl properly and a way to prepare her for adulthood and marriage. A way of stopping the women having any sexual pleasure or having any out of marriage relationships, which would possibly result in stoning or death sentence.

FGM is often motivated by beliefs about what is considered proper sexual behaviour, linking procedures to premarital virginity and marital fidelity.

Though no religious scripts prescribe the practice, practitioners often believe the practice has religious support.

Local structures of power and authority, such as community leaders, religious leaders, circumcisers can contribute to upholding the practice.

International Response:

In December 2012, the United Nations General Assembly accepted a resolution on the elimination of female genital mutilation.

In 2010 the WHO (The World Health Organisation) published a “Global Strategy to stop health care providers from performing FGM and the in 2008 the WHO together with 9 other UN partners issued a new statement on the elimination of FGM…

Governments are responding some quicker than others – there is a determined campaign in many African countries to stop FGM – but there is a massive amount of work to be done – with more than 100 million young girls and women suffering FGM in Africa alone we are a long way off solving this ghastly problem.

Forced Marriages of underage girls:

When I started to research the information and statistics of forced marriages of underage and indeed all girls of any age I was horrified at what I discovered.

Let me begin by saying that a “forced marriage” is not quite the same as an “arranged marriage” although the difference between the two can be indistinct.

The UN views forced marriages as a form of human rights abuse since it violates the principle of the freedom and autonomy of individuals. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that a woman’s right to choose a spouse and enter freely into marriage is central to her life and dignity, and equality as a human being. Indeed a forced marriage is a criminal offence in many countries including the UK, Turkey, Austria, Germany, Denmark and Belgium.

Research shows that forced marriages under Sharia Law are taking place all the time. According to the Hanafi School of Sharia Law every wali, who is a blood relative, can force an underage virgin in marriage without her consent. But such a forced marriage by a wali other than her father or the paternal grandfather can be demanded to be declared void (faskh) by the qadi, when she “comes of age”.

As forced marriages are allowed under certain circumstances by orthodox Shari’a “Campaigners and support groups say forced marriages by young Bristish Muslims is becoming a bigger problem every day”.

Forced marriages can be made because of family pride, the wishes of the parents, or social obligation. For example, according to Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood, many forced marriages in Britain within the British Pakistani community are aimed at providing British citizenship to a member of the family currently in Pakistan to whom the instigator of the forced marriage feels a sense of duty.

In June 2012 the British Government declared that forced marriage would become an illegal 

offence in the United Kingdom.

Statistics:

Percentage of girls who were forced to marry before a certain age:

South Asia before the age of 18 – 48%

Bangladesh before the age of 15 – 27.3%

Africa before the age of 18 – 42%

Niger before the age of 15 – 26%

Kyrgyzstan before the age of 18 – 21.2%

Kazakhstan before the age of 18 – 14.4%

These figures are horrific and show the level of abuse and degradation so many young girls face in these regions.

A headline appeared in the UK’s Daily Mail on October 7, 2013:

“Clerics at 18 mosques are caught agreeing to marry off girls of 14: Four imams investigated after undercover operation”

The legal age for marriage in the UK is 16 – the same for sexual consent – but under Islamic sharia law, girls can marry once they reach puberty.

Campaigners claim that thousands of girls are being forced into illegal ceremonies every year, in a boom fuelled by the ‘moral blindness of cultural sensitivity’.

This reveals a complete contempt for English laws on marriage and indeed imams have been filmed and exposed on camera by reporters openly mocking English laws.

As another example a report by As-Safir in Lebanon for the Al-Monitor Journal reported that: “

Underage Marriage of Iraqi Girls rises”

This report stated that since the establishment of the Iraqi State Iraqi girls were betrothed to a stranger or a relative at the request of her father, who considered his daughter a sort of gift to offer to the suitor. They were also married off to other tribes as “blood money” in an attempt to settle disputes between the two tribes. I both types of marriage the girl has no right of separation or divorce!

There have been efforts to improve this situation but as long as politicians depend upon tribal sheikhs to drum up support for their electoral campaign little changes and the girls continue to suffer.

There are so many examples on-line that I could report in this blog but I will finish with a report of an Indian woman who chronicled Taliban abuse of women and who was shot dead in Afghanistan – this is in memory and tribute to a brave and courageous women who wanted the world to know about the appalling abuses carried out by the Taliban:

Rob Crilly, Islamabad and Zubair Babakarkhail, Kabul reported on September 5, 2013 that: “Sushmita Banerjee, who only recently moved back to the country to be with her husband, was killed by Taliban gunmen outside her home, according to police in Paktika province”.

“Her body was riddled with more than 20 bullets and some hair had been ripped from her head”.

The report continues: “it is the latest in a string of attacks on prominent women. The Taliban and other militant groups have kidnapped high-profile politicians, murdered female police officers and killed campaigners as they try to enforce their brutal form of Islam.

Mrs Banerjee 49 became well-known after writing A Kabuliwala’s Bengali Wife, an account of her life in Afghanistan after marrying an Afghan businessman in 1989. At first life was tolerable, she wrote but a Taliban crackdown in 2003 soon meant she was no longer allowed to run a dispensary or leave home without her husband.

It describes how she fled to Pakistan when her Afghan husband was away on business in India but was forcible returned by relatives.

She was kept under house arrest by her in-laws before she escaped by burrowing through the walls only to be caught and interrogated by the Taliban.

“Many of them said that since I had fled my husband’s home I should be executed. However, I was able to convince them that since I was an Indian I had every right to go back to my country,” she wrote in a magazine article, detailing the terrors of life under the Taliban.

Mrs Banerjee had lived in the provincial capital Sharana, employed as a health worker, since returning.

The Police Chief of Paktika said “Taliban fighters arrived at her home on Wednesday night, tied up her husband and other members of her family, before marching her outside” – “Her body was dumped at Madrassah with some hair ripped out”.

This killing is murder – and a reminder of the ruthless tactics by the Taliban to impose their violent and abusive form of Islam – its of course all about power, control, money, male and tribal domination – an outrage and appalling abuse of life and human rights.

Conclusion:

There are so many global examples of the abuses of women in today’s world that as I said earlier – it is hard to believe we are in the 21^st Century. Approximately 50% of the world’s population are women, although if the one child policy of the Chinese Government continues the male population will exceed women bring all kinds of additional horrific social and sexual problems to this troubled world of ours.

It is hard to truly understand from any intelligent perspective why this abuse is escalating in an age when equality and human rights are supposed to be respected. The problem is that whilst many countries have high standards of living with quality education for men and women the illiteracy and lack of any proper education in many African countries, the Middle East and parts of Asia, are abysmal.

The rise of fundamental Islam is also undoubtedly playing its role in this domination and ultimate abuse of women in direct contradiction of original Islamic teachings and the hundreds of millions of moderate Muslims who do not agree with this fundamental creed.

We live in a world that is increasingly being torn apart by the collosal movement of cultures and mass immigration clashing with established laws and customs of old democracies.

We are witnessing the clash of Sunni and Shia branches of Islam throughout the Middle East, in the tragic war in Syria, Iraq and other parts of the globe – just as Christianity tore lives apart with  appalling breaches between Catholicism, Cathar, Orthodox, Protestantism and of course the Crusades, destroying millions and millions of lives. The human race learns nothing it seems.

Women are our mothers, our grandmothers, our aunts, our sisters, our wives and girl friends – we would not be alive without our mother – women provide life and sustain life – and they represent around 50% of the world’s population.

It is beyond any reason to consider a woman less important than a man – indeed as I stated earlier – if anything women are MORE IMPORTANT and need to be protected, valued and nurtured as the only provider of life.

Education, literacy and a complete change in thinking has to be achieved if we are to protect women from this tide of hate and suffering that swarms all over us as fundamental religious, tribal and cultural illiteracy, ignorance and hate consumes so many of us – and sends millions of girls and young women into the hell, purgatory and suffering of a forced marriage or the horror and degradation of female genital mutilation – or the imprisonment of all women in a Taliban vision and life of misery and suffering – all in the name of God who cannot answer back – very convenient – its called power grabbing and abuse of the very worst kind.

Solution:

As I have written previously we need to go back to the basics of human love, caring, kindness, compassion and decency

We have to teach people who should know better that:

We are all equal

No one is better than anyone else

Nobody has the right to hurt anyone

No one has the right to cause pain and misery

We must learn to give help and caring for people less fortunate than us

We must provide quality education where none is available

We must bring in laws and sustain them to stop forced marriages and female genital mutilation

We have to change people’s ignorant views on how to treat women

Women are not chattel to be disposed of by fathers or family members

Women cannot be used as gifts to settle disputes

Women are not sexual objects to be used at will by men to satisfy their lust

It always comes down to the ultimate human mantra:

LOVE, KINDNESS, COMPASSION, CARING brings HAPPINESS

HATRED, VIOLENCE, ABUSE, JEALOUSY, PRIDE, IGNORANCE and INDOCTRINATION all bring SUFFERING

Until people realise that all humans and animals suffer there will never be peace and harmony – we all feel pain – we all die – we all become sick – we all want to be happy

We have no right to hurt anyone

We have a right and duty to do everything we can to make people happy and to avoid suffering

I hope this blog will make people think and to ultimately bring happiness and most important awareness of what is happening here and now.

Thank you for reading