A majority of women believe some rape victims should take responsibility for what happened, a survey suggests.

Almost three quarters of the women who believed this said if a victim got into bed with the assailant before an attack they should accept some responsibility.

One-third blamed victims who had dressed provocatively or gone back to the attacker's house for a drink.

The survey of more than 1,000 people in London marked the 10th anniversary of the Haven service for rape victims.

More than half of those of both sexes questioned said there were some circumstances when a rape victim should accept responsibility for an attack.

Less forgiving

The study found that women were less forgiving of the victim than men.

Of the women who believed some victims should take responsibility, 71% thought a person should accept responsibility when getting into bed with someone, compared with 57% of men.

Elizabeth Harrison from Haven said there was never an excuse for forcing a woman to do something she did not want to.

"Clearly, women are in a position where they need to take responsibility for themselves - but whatever you wear and whatever you do does not give somebody else the right to rape you.

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BBC News

"Allow me to choose four, five or even nine men, just as my wildest imagination shall choose. I’ll pick them with different shapes and sizes, one of them will be dark and the other will be blond. ... [T]hey will be chosen from different backgrounds, religions, races and nations.”

So reads the first paragraph of Saudi journalist Nadine Bedair’s controversial article, recently published in the Egyptian independent daily Al Masry Al Youm, that raised the question of why only men are allowed to practice polygamy in Islam but not women.

As expected, the daring article, entitled "My Four Husbands and I," has stirred the pot among various groups.

Comments and criticism on the article continue to trickle in at a steady pace nearly a month after its publication, especially in Egypt, from where it originated. There, some Muslim authorities and lawmakers have attacked Bedair, condemning her writings as inflammatory and sexually provocative.

One of those who reacted with fury to her reflections on the alleged unfairness of polygamy in Islam was Sheikh Mohamed Gama’i. He lashed out at the Saudi journalist in an article published on an Egyptian news site, saying that “no woman has the right to attack our traditions in this manner” and said that Bedair ought to be “stopped.”

The article has also irritated some in Egyptian political circles, with one member of parliament reportedly filing a lawsuit against Al Masry Al Youm on accusations of promoting vice.

In her argument, Bedair suggests that either both men and women be permitted to take several spouses or that it’s time to make the rules more fair and come up with a new "map of marriage" in which men can’t marry more women just because they’ve gotten bored with the old one.

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By Alexandra Sandels
Los Angeles Times

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After the success of the one-year-old Ewaa shelter in Abu Dhabi, organisers plan two new centres in Sharjah and the Northern Emirates for foreign women who have escaped forced prostitution.

The first shelters for trafficked women in Sharjah and the Northern Emirates will open by the middle of this year, according to officials from the capital’s refuge.

Sarah Shuhail, the executive director of the Ewaa Shelters for Women and Children, said two new facilities, in Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah, should be in operation in the next few months.

“Each shelter will be able to look after around 20 women,” Mrs Shuhail said. “We hope that more cases will come to light with the presence of these shelters.”

It is just over a year since Ewaa, “to shelter”, opened its doors in Abu Dhabi for victims of human trafficking. Since then, it has provided temporary refuge for 56 women, nearly all of whom had been forced into prostitution. The majority have returned to their home countries.

Mrs Shuhail said over the past year she had borne witness to the brutality of the trade in human beings. One woman taken to the shelter had the name of her trafficker tattooed on her body. “It was like she was branded, like an animal,” she said.

There are 24 women currently staying at Ewaa’s secure villa in the capital. It can accommodate up to 30. The centre takes trafficking victims from any emirate, but Mrs Shuhail said the long-term plan was always for a network of shelters.

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By Zoi Constantine
The National
Photo Credit: The National

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With tears in her eyes, the woman described the encounter that led to five weeks of “hell”. She was working in her village in another Arab country when she was approached by a woman who told her she could make five times what she was earning if she came to the UAE.

“I had never travelled more than 85 kilometres away from my village,” said the woman, who would be identified only as an Arab national in her 20s. “But I was desperate to make more money for my family.”

Despite some trepidation, she was told not to worry and that someone would be waiting to meet her at Abu Dhabi airport. As promised, a sign bearing her name greeted her as she arrived and she was driven to a flat in the capital. Then the nightmare began.

For three days, confused and scared, she was held under lock and key with a group of women.

Then she was told she could start work but it was not the cleaning job she thought she had been hired for. The women were told they had to work as a prostitutes.

“For a week I refused,” she said. “They started beating us and threatened to burn us with cigarettes. They told us if we spoke to the police they would cut off our hands and feet, and throw us in the desert, so no one would find us.”

The woman was one of 15, most of whom were trafficked from Morocco to Abu Dhabi by the capital’s largest known human-trafficking ring, which was exposed late last year.

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By Zoi Constantine
The National
Photo Credit: The Advocates

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Susan notes: a hopeful Huffington Post article by Sally Thorner...

It's not about abayas.
It's not about education.
It's not about employment.
It's not even about voting...

The women I talked with in Riyadh last week have adapted and believe change is coming. But they've hit a glass ceiling. Or, more accurately, a roadblock.

My first morning in Riyadh was spent in King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center. While my husband met with fellow doctors, I interviewed one of their few female colleagues (the disparity has decreased and is now only 4 to 1 male to female.)

Dr. Reem Maghrabi is sans abaya. She is an infectious disease fellow and chief resident in the most prestigious private hospital in the Kingdom where ALL doctors don lab coats. This makes it easier to do her job, and besides, she tells me her family never enforced the veil at home in Taif.

"The abaya is about religion and culture," she explains. Neither has a place in the ICU. In fact it was her father who pushed her into medicine. As the eldest child she is living his dream. At 30, Reem represents a new generation of Saudi women who are taking advantage of change.

"People are more accepting," she says. "From the top down, and the bottom up. We are so proud of King Abdullah. Because of him, the population is more open. "

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By Sally Thorner
The Huffington Post
Photo Credit: The Huffington Post