Good move... A giant leap needed

boko haram

Boko Haram, which roughly translates to 'western education is forbidden or a sin,' is an Islamist group active in Nigeria. The violent group has killed thousands of people since their formation in 2009 in efforts to forcefully impose Islamic law in Nigeria. 

death penalty and civil society

Iran has executed a woman who killed a man she said was trying to sexually abuse her: http://bbc.in/1rxP7kc

Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26, was hanged in a Tehran prison despite an international campaign urging a reprieve.

marriage - the dictator

swap marriages in Yemen

- to the perverted: no it's not what you think, so rein yourselves in - don't get excited

it's a traditional practice - thankfully dying out now.

1 a brother and sister marry another brother and sister
2 if all goes well, no problem
3 But if couple A have problems  and want a divorce- then couple B MUST divorce even if they are perfectly happy together.

it has caused many a woman great pain because they often have to leave their children behind and go back to their parent's home

FASHION AND FREEDOM IN IRAN

In the latest case of Iranian authorities cracking down on fashion they deem “un-Islamic,” a famous clothing design institute called “Khaneh Mode” or Mode House was shut down last week in Tehran. The fashion designer had caused a controversy last month when it held a show with models wearing coats which appeared to be made of the Iranian flag—minus its religious symbols. Nor did it help that the show had allowed men among its audience, which violates conservative Islamic taboos.

even in squeaky clean singapore

An independent study of sex trafficking victims has shed some light on the murky world of the unregulated sex trade here.
It found that victims from the Philippines were lured to Singapore by friends and acquaintances on the pretext of jobs such as waitressing and hostessing, before ending up in nightclubs.
Some Indonesian victims, meanwhile, were already prostitutes in Batam before coming here to ply their trade on the streets and budget hotels, under the watchful eyes of local pimps.
The 144-page study, released last week, was conducted by Singapore-based academic Sallie Yea, an assistant professor of geography at the National Institute of Education, who interviewed 87 women tricked into coming to Singapore.

Background story

Slightly more sex trafficking reports last year
THE police received 53 sex trafficking reports last year, up slightly from 52 in 2012 and 43 in 2011.
While the rest are still under investigation, five have been dealt with in court.
One of them involved a 17-year-old from China, who was beaten and drugged before being brought here last May to work as a prostitute.
The minor was made to serve 150 clients in 15 days.
Her pimp from China, 37-year-old Tang Huisheng, was sentenced to six years in jail last October.

gender justice

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has named Iceland as the country with the smallest gap between the sexes, for the fifth consecutive year in a row. Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Philippines make up the top five of the gender gap index while the UK ranks 18 out of 136 countries. The index assesses four key areas – health (life expectancy, etc), access to education, economic participation (salaries, job type and seniority) and political engagement.

Singapore is 58th in the world in terms of gender equality, slipping three rungs from its 55th place last year.


Not surprisingly, Singapore scored 12th highest in economic participation. It also ranked 85th for health, 90th for political empowerment and a surprising 105th for educational attainment, below countries like Sri Lanka (48th), Malaysia (73rd), Vietnam (95th) and Indonesia (101st).

However, overall, Singapore comes sixth in the region for Asia and the Pacific, coming in after the Philippines (5th), New Zealand (7th), Australia (24th), Mongolia (33rd) and Sri Lanka (55th).

How'd the rest of our neighbours fare? Thailand's 65th, Vietnam's 71st, Indonesia is 95th and Malaysia is 102nd.

At the top of the rankings in terms of gender equality is Iceland, while coming in last is Yemen.


http://www.theguardian.com/news/womens-blog/interactive/2013/oct/25/world-gender-gap-index-2013-mapped-iceland-uk

Milky Way founder: being a mother has made me a better businessperson

If there’s one thing you need to know about e-commerce in Singapore, it’s definitely booming in the past few years. Blogshops are hot, local labels are bringing it international, and some e-stores are taking it further via collaborations with international designers.
Milky Way founder Kay Wong (pictured right) is in the midst of this e-commerce battle. She runs an online store for maternity clothing while juggling three children. She says it’s important to have a mentor that comes from a traditional business background – in Kay’s case, her father.

laws are changing - not quickly enough for some

Germany on Friday became the first European country to allow babies born with characteristics of both sexes to be registered as neither male nor female, but advocates urged further reforms.

Under the new legislation, the field for gender can be left blank on birth certificates, effectively creating a category for indeterminate sex in the public register.
Activists promoting the rights of so-called intersex people said they hoped the creation of a third gender option would open the door to broader changes that would limit genital surgery on newborns with both male and female characteristics.

But Veith said leaving the gender undefined on birth certificates was never the main lobbying point for the Association of Intersexed People in Germany, or others in the intersex community.
"That we forbid cosmetic genital surgeries for newborns, that is our first demand," said Veith, who leads the organisation.
The organisation calls for a ban on medically unnecessary surgeries until the child turns 16, so the intersex individual can decide for themselves whether to live as a man, woman, or neither.

worth a thought

should women be fighting for equality?

IS IT STILL A MAN'S WORLD?

When Ertharin Cousin, the newly appointed executive director of the World Food Programme, graduated law school in 1982, a professor pulled her aside and told her she needed to look like a man because it was important she not let being a woman hurt her ability to represent a client. So for years she wore gray and black shapeless suits, bowties and little to no jewelry.

you go girl!!!

Malala Yousafzai attracted public attention in 2009 when she published a blog telling of her life in Swat, in an area under Taleban control. She then became an activist campaigning for the rights of children and girls.

On 9 October, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head as she travelled home from school in a bus in Swat, in north-eastern Pakistan. According to media reports, the Taleban have claimed responsibility for the attack during which two other schoolgirls were injured. Malala Yousafzai was transferred to a British hospital on 15 October for prolonged medical treatment. 

The day following the attack, on 10 October, the Director-General of unesco issued a press release denouncing the attempted murder. She wished to express her support for the Pakistani schoolgirl, who became a symbol of the struggle in favour of the right to education

she is in a hospital in the UK 

suggestion for poverty reduction

When Uganda cut school fees by $16 per year (60 percent), enrollment nearly doubled, with most of the increase in enrollment being girls. Smith pointed out that research shows that educating girls increases average productivity more than does educating boys. The cost for this proposed solution is $5.4 billion per year.

women - may your future get brighter

Afghanistan is the most dangerous country for women, an international poll of experts on gender issues says.

High levels of violence, poor healthcare and poverty make Afghanistan the worst place for women, the study by the Thomson-Reuters Foundation says.

The survey places the Democratic Republic of Congo and Pakistan in second and third positions.

India is rated the fourth most dangerous country due to high levels of female foeticide and sex trafficking.

Somalia ranked fifth in the survey.
'Hidden dangers'

"Ongoing conflict, Nato airstrikes and cultural practices combined make Afghanistan a very dangerous place for women," said Antonella Notari, head of Women Change Makers, a group that supports women social entrepreneurs around the world.

"In addition, women who do attempt to speak out or take on public roles that challenge ingrained gender stereotypes of what is acceptable for women to do or not, such as working as policewomen or news broadcasters, are often intimidated or killed," she added.

The poll asked 213 experts from five continents to rank countries on issues like overall perception of danger, access to healthcare, violence, cultural discrimination and human trafficking.

"This survey shows that 'hidden dangers' like a lack of education or terrible access to healthcare are as deadly, if not more so, than physical dangers like rape and murder which usually grab the headlines," Monique Villa, chief executive of Thomson-Reuters Foundation, said.

Pakistan was included in the list for having "some of the highest rates of dowry murder, so-called honour killings and early marriages".

India ranked fourth primarily due to female foeticide, infanticide and human trafficking, the report said.

A BBC correspondent in Delhi says India's inclusion among the worst five countries in the world is bound to raise eyebrows here.

The report quotes some experts as saying that "the world's largest democracy was relatively forthcoming about describing its problems, possibly casting it in a darker light than if other countries were equally transparent about trafficking".


mag - wonder what i would have been doing if i had been born in india
cecelia - working as a maid in singapore?
sane thomas - no comments

OBEDIENT WIFE CLUB????

1
Malaysian women launch ‘The Obedient Wife Club’
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: A group of Malaysian Muslim women say they will fight divorce, domestic violence and other problems - by appealing to wives to be more obedient, one of the organisers said Friday.
Maznah Taufik said "The Obedient Wife Club" being launched Saturday is aimed at drawing women who will be taught how to please their husbands better to prevent them from straying or misbehaving.
"We just want to ask all the wives to be obedient wives so that there will be fewer problems in our society," such as infidelity, divorce and domestic violence, she told AFP.
"Obedient wife means they are trying to entertain their husbands, not only taking care of their food and clothes," Maznah said. "They have to obey their husbands. That's the way Islam also asks."
Malaysia is a Muslim-majority country, with some 60 per cent of the population practicing the religion, alongside large ethnic Chinese and Indian communities who are mostly Buddhist, Hindu and Christian.
According to local media, the country's divorce rate doubled from 2002 to 2009, with rates higher among Muslims than non-Muslims.Maznah said it was also the men's responsibility to teach their wives to be obedient.
2
KUALA LUMPUR - A Malaysian group urging wives to avoid marital problems by fulfilling their husbands' sexual desires like prostitutes has angered politicians and women's rights groups, the New Straits Times reported on Sunday.
The Obedient Wives Club, which was set up by a group of Muslim women, said domestic violence, infidelity and prostitution stemmed from a lack of belief in God and a failure of women to satisfy their husbands.
The club's president, Rohaya Mohamed, said it was open to women of all religions and would conduct seminars on how to be a good wife as well as offer marriage counseling.
"A man married to a woman who is as good or better than a prostitute in bed has no reason to stray. Rather than allowing him to sin, a woman must do all she can to ensure his desires are met," Rohaya told the newspaper.
Females outnumber males in Malaysian higher education institutions, comprising 65 percent of the intake at public universities last year, according to government data.
But rights groups say women are still often victims of gender bias, and have protested what they considered the club's demeaning portrayal of women as a cause of social problems.


MAG - SPEECHLESS
CECELIA - PREPOSTEROUS...WHAT WE NEED IS AN OBEDIENT HUSBAND'S CLUB - TO KEEP MEN FROM STRAYING...BUT THAT'S NOT GOING TO STOP THE LIKES OF GIGGS!!!
SANE THOMAS - WHAT'S THE FUSS MY CHILDREN...THOSE WHO WANT TO, JOIN THE CLUB..THE REST JUST GO ABOUT THEIR DAILY LIVES... LEAVE THEM TO THEIR BELIEFS - IF IT WORKS FOR THEM, GOOD FOR THEM...AS LONG AS THEY DO NOT FORCE THEIR IDEAS ON YOUNG INNOCENT MINDS...

Online petition against PAP’s Tin Pei Ling

An online petition calling for the People's Action Party's (PAP) youngest candidate, Tin Pei Ling, 27, to be fielded in a Single Member Constituency (SMC) instead of a Group Representative Constituency (GRC), has surfaced online on Tuesday.

The petition, created by a person named Ti Kiang Heng on Monday, has gathered over 1,200 signatures. It requires users to submit a name and email address and included a special request for non-Singapore citizens to not sign the petition.

In the post, the petition originator said 'Singaporeans are genuinely concerned about undeserving candidates being inducted into parliament, not on their own merit, but rather on the back of established MPs of the ruling party in some GRCs'.

Ti also expressed 'deep concerns about Ms Tin Pei Ling's credentials and quality to stand as a PAP candidate for the upcoming election'.

The petition originator emphasised that it was not representative of an opposing view, but one that stems from concern for the quality of election candidates, citing the example of Tin's lacklustre performance when she was interviewed during her introduction as a PAP candidate.

It said, 'when she was asked by a reporter what her greatest regret was, Tin replied that her greatest regret thus far was not being able to bring her parents to the Universal Studio. We were appalled by her poorly conceived response that lacked judgment, perspective and discretion'.

Among the people who signed the petition was Eric Lim, who said, "Place her in SMC and let the people decide. $15,000 a month for this kind of standard?"

pl read the comments too - singaporeans are funny

Added Wong S. K., "Please let Ms Tin stand on her own two feet. If Singaporeans pick her, then she is worth the $15,000 salary."

However, on Tuesday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong defended the party's decision to field her.

Speaking at the Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum 2011 at NUS, PM Lee said, "As far as the Web is concerned, all the flaming, that's the way it is but unfortunately in Singapore, people get carried away. Vitriol....doesn't add anything, no credit to debate, to people doing that or raise quality of debate."

"As for Tin Pei Ling, we first noticed her in this (NUS) hall in 2007 when we had a party convention. She was one of the speakers and she impressed the audience. We made the right decision. It looks like she's going to MacPherson and she'll be a good MP in due course."

LOL haven't vote already saying she'll be a good MP in due course.

We are not dismissing Ms Tin's experience, but her ability, PM Lee.

Ignoring our doubts and opinions, you make it feel like our votes won't count. Remember who it is you serve and not who it is who serve you.

oh no! i live in macpherson! i'm not going to vote for someone my age to manage this place! plus it's absolutely not suitable bcos this estate is mostly old people. they need someone who can relate to their problems & not some young girl. is she going to bring all of the old folks to universal studios?

Dear PM Lee .... I've been a strong supporter of PAP since Day 1 because Singapore would not be what it is today. Have you asked yourself Sir ... why Singaporeans are against Ms Tin and not the other newly elected candidates of PAP?

Per what I have read here, Ms Tin impressed you and the audience in 2007. But Sir, we are talking about now, in 2011 and we are talking about Singaporeans (much much bigger audiences) and honestly, I shared my fellow Singaporeans' views ... I am not impressed either. She needs to prove herself in SMC instead of in GRC. Thks. We really don't need another MBT or GKY.

Now, majority Singaporeans are worried with the spiralling costs of living, jobs lost and wages/salaries due to .... . Shortsighted, poor housing policies and policies on foreigners were the main causes of our high costs of living.

Sir ... the success of Singapore should be 2-sided ... Internationally and Domestically. We can only see one-sided Internationally success which we Singaporeans are all proud of... but not so on Domestically. Sir ... in the past, we don't see many Singaporeans needing financial helps as compared to now. Hope, if PAP is being elected again ... please sincerely review those policies that are affecting Singaporerans as a whole. In the past, I thought having Opposition Parties (like in other countries) is not a necessity in Singapore. But ... . Thks

When Mat Kastari escape, insteading of admitting their mistakes. He brushed it off and said the infamous phrase "it was an honest mistake". Now, he adds"all the flaming. Vitriol....no credit to debate". PAP never listens, they do not care what is on the ground. They are frivolus in spending the nations' money.
VOTE WISELY or you will have no say later.

women, move over...men need to prove their METTLE too!

Since we were discussing this topic, thought you might be interested....

DISCLAIMER - there is no suggestion here that you contemplate fatherhood at this tender age...so do not read too much between the lines....


"Dads for Life is a national fathers movement that seeks to inspire, mobilise and involve fathers to become good influencers in their children's lives... for life."


http://dadsforlife.sg/

can we even imagine the pain this teen must have gone through?

THE disfigured Afghan teenager whose photo was featured on a Time magazine cover has arrived in California, where a foundation has arranged for reconstructive surgery.

The Grossman Burn Foundation in Los Angeles said on Friday that 18-year-old Bibi Aisha arrived on Thursday and is staying with a host family.

Ms Aisha says her nose was cut off as punishment for running away from her violent husband

Activists and human rights workers say they are glad that Ms Aisha is getting treatment but thousands of other women are victims of domestic violence in Afghanistan

the plight of women...will it ever end?

YOUNG female refugees from North Korea are increasingly becoming a commodity in China, where they are sold to farmers for up to US$1,500 (S$2,070) a head, according to a Seoul campaigner.

The human trafficking is far from new but has become more prevalent as prices soar amid a shortage of Chinese women in the countryside, said Reverend Chun Ki Won, head of the Durihana Association, which offers aid to refugees.

North Korean women who escaped the sex trade in China said brokers there treated them like livestock, selling them on to one or more 'husbands'

a race to change their race...why is categrising so impt for us?

EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD student Sarah Lin Ting Al-Idros, classified as 'Arab' on her identity card, bristled at the suggestion that she might change her race to 'Chinese' for pragmatic reasons.

'I'm proud of my ancestors,' said the daughter of a Saudi Arabian father and a Singaporean Chinese mother.

Instead, with a new proposal to allow double-barrelled race classifications, Ms Lin will change her race to 'Arab-Chinese', putting 'Arab' before 'Chinese' for alphabetical reasons.

'It's only fair to reflect both parents in the same identity card,' she said.

Children of mixed marriages will soon have greater flexibility over how they want their race to be recorded on their identity cards, where before they had no choice but to take their father's race.

However, for a double-barrelled race classification, they and their parents must decide which race is listed first. Administratively, the child will then be identified with that race, Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Ho Peng Kee told Parliament on Tuesday.

More details will be announced later.

Sociologists interviewed say it will be difficult to choose which race comes first, as the child is more likely to identify with both his parents' ethnicities, or see himself simply as 'Singaporean'.

Practical considerations like which mother tongue to take in school could be the deciding factor in the choice.

In successive years, one unintended consequence could be 'an increasing amount of negotiation and challenges by parents and their growing children seeking variously to get out of any constraints resulting from this policy, or to extract the maximum personal advantage from it', said Nanyang Technological University sociologist Geoffrey Benjamin.

Sociologist and Nominated MP Paulin Straughan, however, welcomed the option as a mark of Singapore's 'appreciation of cross-cultural and inter-ethnic identities'.

It also signals a shift away from a paternalistic notion of race as something inherited from the father, said Associate Professor Straughan, a Chinese married to an American.

Her view was echoed by Mr Silva Nathan, 46, parent of two teenage daughters who are one-quarter Indian and three-quarters Chinese.

He liked the idea for being 'more equitable across gender and race', and will leave it to his daughters to decide if they want a double-barrelled classification.

Critics, however, say the move is an exercise in futility. With growing intermarriage, the multiple ethnic identities cannot be captured sufficiently even in double-barrelled race classifications.

In Singapore, mixed marriages made up 16.4 per cent of all marriages in 2007, compared to 8.9 per cent a decade earlier.

Analysts believe a good number of these parents are likely to adopt a hyphenated race classification for their child, as a better reflection of his heritage.

Singapore Management University (SMU) assistant professor Hoon Chang Yau, who studies ethnicity, argued that race and ethnicity can never be 'neat and watertight categories'.

'Especially with globalisation, we shall see more and more mixing. The CMIO model seems too restrictive to accommodate the proliferating complexity,' he said.

CMIO refers to Chinese, Malay, Indian and Others, the four race categories used widely in government administrative measures.

Mr Edward Zaccheus, a counsellor of Indian ethnicity who has a Chinese wife, said the identity of his two teenage daughters is not based exclusively on race.

'Our religion, Christianity, plays a part in shaping their identities,' he said.

'Moreover, when curious Chinese aunties and uncles ask them for their race in public places, they describe themselves as Singaporean, rather than Indian or Chinese,' he added.

Doing away with racial categorisation will be a more accurate reflection of diversity in Singapore, he said.

For the record, however, his 21-year-old daughter Melody would like to change her racial identity from 'Indian' to 'Indian-Chinese'.

'It would be more accurate,' she said. 'People keep asking if I'm Malay.'

Other observers are concerned that the flexibility that children of mixed parentage enjoy may create envy in those whose parents are of the same race and thus cannot 'pick and choose' their race.

National University of Singapore (NUS) sociologist Tan Ern Ser gives an example of a Chinese-Malay child. 'If Chinese is considered a more difficult language, and he is allowed to choose Malay as a second language, would his 'Chinese-Chinese' friends feel unfairly treated?'

And for the adult Chinese-Malay, 'what if he chooses to be Chinese to maximise his chances of buying a flat in a particular HDB precinct?'

Other analysts think, however, that these concerns are overblown. They believe that the authorities are likely to restrict the number of changes a person can make to his race classification, and that once decided on, that classification will have to be used for all situations.

On ethnic quotas in Housing Board estates, NUS sociologist Chua Beng Huat thinks those with a double-barrelled race classification should not be given a choice. For example, a Chinese-Indian should be placed on a Chinese quota, rather than given a choice to use 'Chinese' or 'Indian' to purchase flats, which could give him a strategic advantage over others.

What of candidates in a general election in a group representation constituency (GRC)? The law requires at least one to be from a minority race. Will a Chinese-Malay count as one, or will he be considered a Chinese?

SMU law lecturer Eugene Tan believes the first listed race will continue to undergird the GRC policy.

Overall, the debate stirred up by the change is healthy, Associate Professor Tan Ern Ser believes.

'It forces us to think about whether race is indeed something we should continue to emphasise,' he said.