The original image, above, was digitally altered by two ultra-Orthodox Jewish newspapers. Yated Neeman daily newspaper replaced the women with two men in the lower image.
It was a grim week for supporters of women's rights in at least several parts of the world this week. The Associated Press reported on Friday that Israeli newspapers 'aimed at ultra-Orthodox Jewish readers' digitally manipulated a photograph of the new Israeli government, to remove two female cabinet ministers, Limor Livnat and Sofa Landver.
The AP explains:
Ultra-Orthodox newspapers consider it immodest to print images of women. The daily Yated Neeman digitally changed the photo, moving two male ministers into the places formerly occupied by the women.
The weekly Shaa Tova simply blacked the women out, in a photo reprinted Friday by the mainstream daily Maariv.
In Pakistan, the government has responded to news reports showing video images of the public flogging of a woman in the Swat Valley in January that have recently come to light.
The images, taken with a cellphone camera, appeared late last month in a video report by Britain’s Channel 4 News (embedded below), but circulated more widely this week in Pakistan.
Reuters reports that the woman was 17 years old and describes the scene shown in the video:
Grainy footage apparently shot with a mobile phone camera shows militants making the burka-clad girl lie on the ground on her stomach. One man holds her feet and another her head while a third man with a black beard and turban flogs her with a leather strap. Men can be seen looking on.
“For God’s sake, stop it … hang on, hang on,” the girl cries as the man beats her across the buttocks.
The Guardian reports that Pakistan has launched an inquiry amid public outcry led by President Asif Ali Zardari.
Sherry Rehman, a former information minister said "Our constitution allows no space for such public brutality, and our civilisation and culture have no tolerance for it either."
Also, this past week in Afghanistan, a blow to women and girls after President Hamid Karzai signs a controversial law into effect that among other items, essentially legalizes rape by a woman's spouse. The Guardian reports the pressure the Afghan president is facing, led by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:
At a conference on Afghanistan in The Hague, Scandinavian foreign ministers publicly challenged the Afghan leader to respond to a report on the new law in yesterday's Guardian, and the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, was reported to have confronted Karzai on the issue in a private meeting.
At a press conference after the meeting, Clinton made clear US displeasure at the apparent backsliding on women's rights. "This is an area of absolute concern for the United States. My message is very clear. Women's rights are a central part of the foreign policy of the Obama administration," she said.
The Guardian reported that Karzai had signed the controversial law last month. The text has not yet been published but the UN, human rights activists and some Afghan MPs said it included clauses stipulating that women cannot refuse to have sex with their husbands, and can only seek work, education or visit the doctor with their husbands' permission.
Reuters reports on Thursday:
One Afghan government official involved in processing the law, who declined to be named, said the only part of the law which was contentious in parliament was an article allowing Shi'ite men to take a temporary wife.
But Karokhail, who is among a group of women parliamentarians against the law, said it contained several articles that would seriously damage women's rights.
One would legalise the marriage of girls from the age of nine and another said a woman had to wear make-up if her husband demanded it.
"I cannot support this law, personally I really feel hurt ... it will really increase brutality in our lives," she said.
--Diane Sweet
Every single place republicans involve themselves gets fucked up beyond all recognition.
Wow... women are in the majority as far as worldwide population goes... why is this shit still going on?! Rise up Women of the World and smite the hand that harms you until we can have real and true equality.
I see there's more "enlightened progress" from the patriarchal one god worshippers...
Lord, spare us from your followers.
I love this bit too, "Our constitution allows no space for such public brutality". Yeah, keep your wife beating in private where it's traditional, and we can pretend this kind of arrogant, slimy behavior isn't widely accepted in Muslim households all across the region!
Considering that women are proven to be integral to the economic advance of a society, this new law in Afghanistan is tantamount to suicide. An entire country of insecure goobers abusing women, and not realizing that while they're doing it, they're actually shooting themselves in the foot too. What a moron-a-thon that entire country is.
And it's lovely to see the conservobot geniuses in Israel are so afraid of women, that hey can't even stand a PICTURE of one sharing equal power with a bunch of men. Lame. Severely lame.
I feel sorry for women in all three places, and would encourage them to escape the Iron Age dogma of these wacked-out old religions that treat them like cannon fodder.
You're welcome and free in the 21st Century. Leave those limp little boys in the 11th Century and come join us. If you have to pop a cap in your husband's arrogant ass to do it, I'll support that move whole heartedly.