Articles in Category: Women In the News

Afghan Men May Lawfully Starve Wives Who Refuse To Have Sex With Them

afghan_woman_in_burqa.jpgAn Afghan bill allowing a husband to starve his wife if she refuses to have sex has been published in the official gazette and become law.

The original version, which caused outrage earlier this year, obliged Shia women to have sex with their husbands every four days at a minimum, and it effectively condoned rape by removing the need for consent to sex within marriage.

Women's groups say the new wording still violates the principle of equality that is enshrined in their constitution.

It allows a man to withhold food from his wife if she refuses his sexual demands; a woman must get her husband's permission to work; and fathers and grandfathers are given exclusive custody of children.

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By Sarah Rainsford
BBC Online

Afghan Women Fight To Be Elected Against All Odds

In a country where most women leave home only under the cover of a burqa, Shahla Atta wears bright pink nail polish, highlights her eyes with glitter and wants to be Afghanistan's next president.

Atta, 42, is one of two women among more than 30 candidates vying for the presidency — an uphill and even dangerous undertaking. Neither has much chance of unseating President Hamid Karzai in the Aug. 20 vote. But just the fact that they are running open campaigns, plastering photos of their uncovered faces around Kabul, is an accomplishment in itself.

Many Afghans, especially in rural areas, believe that a woman should not show her face to non-family members.

"It is difficult for a woman even to invite some people over for tea and tell them about her ideas," said Shinkai Kharokhel, a female lawmaker in Kabul.

AP

Aung San Suu Kyi's Trial Ends In A Conviction

aung_san_suu_kyi.jpgA court in Myanmar sentenced the pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to 18 months of additional house arrest Tuesday, drawing widespread condemnation from around the world.

Playing up a moment of suspense, the court first sentenced Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, 64, to three years of hard labor for violating the terms of the house arrest where she has spent 14 of the past 20 years.

Moments later, it reduced the sentence and sent her home from the prison where she had been held since the trial began three months ago.

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Seth Mydans
NYT online

Homeless Holocaust Survivor Leaves Half Her Fortune To University

A Jewish Holocaust survivor who later lived on the streets of New York City has left half of her $300,000 estate to Hebrew University, the school said Monday.

"It moved us very much," university spokesman Yefet Ozery said in a telephone interview from Jerusalem, where the school is based.

"Hebrew University has many, many donors and benefactors and supporters and many people remember us in their will, but I haven't come across such a person that lived actually as a poor woman who would give half of her bequest to Hebrew University," Ozery said.

The woman, who died two years ago in her 90s, has not been identified publicly at the request of her estate's executor, he said.

Sonia Sotomayor Appointed US Supreme Court Judge

sonia_sotomayor.jpgJudge Sonia Sotomayor has arguably lived the American dream.

She was born to a Puerto Rican family and grew up in a public housing project in the South Bronx. Her father was a factory worker with a third-grade education, and died when Sotomayor was nine years old. Her mother raised Sotomayor while working as a nurse.

And her amazing story goes on and on...

Sotomayor graduated as valedictorian of her class at Blessed Sacrament and at Cardinal Spellman High School in New York. She won a scholarship to Princeton where she continued to excel, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Related links:
Sonia Sotomayor: All You Need To Know