WOMEN ISSUES

THE BEAUTY OF WOMAN

THE BEAUTY OF A WOMAN The beauty of a woman Is not in the clothes she wears, The figure that she carries, Or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, Because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, But true beauty in a woman Is reflected in her soul.

It is the caring that she lovingly gives, The passion that she shows, And the beauty of a woman With passing years-only grows!

You don't stop laughing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop laughing

CURSE OF WOMAN

Being a woman in today’s world can be a joy, a challenge, a blessing and sometimes……….. Even seem to be a curse Wake up young women! The world's going to be in the dumps unless you do your part and help resolve major women's issues

THE BHOPAL TRAGEDY

THE EFFECT OF BHOPAL TRAGEDY ON WOMEN AND CHILDREN

ON DECEMBER 3,1984 A LETHAL GAS ESCAPED FROM THE UNION CARBIDE PESTICIDE PLANT IN BHOPAL, KILLING MORE THAN 2,500 PEOPLE AND SEVERELY INJURING ANTHOR 20,000. WOMEN CONTINUE TO SUFFER THE ILL EFFECTS THE GAS LEAK. HIGH RATES OF SPONTANEOUS BABIES WERE A DIRECT RESULT AND THE WOMAN OF BHOPAL CONTINUE TO BE PLAGUED WITH UNCERTAINTIES ABOUT PREGNACIES. TWO WOMEN DOCTORS CARRIED OUT A CLINICAL BASED SURVEY IN MARCH 1984. THEY SHOWED YHAT SINCE THE GAS EXPOSURE, AN EXTREMELY HIGH PROPOTION OF WOMEN HAD DEVELOPED GYANAECOLOGICAL DISEASES, SUCH AS LECURRHOEA

,PELVIC INFLAMMATORY DISEASES,

EXCESSIVE BLEEDING AND LACTATION SUPPRESSION. WOMEN HAVE BEEN DIVORCED BECAUSE OF THE FEAR OF CONCEIVING ABNORMAL BABIES, OR BECAUSE THEY CAN NO LONGER HAVE CHILDREN.

CHILD MARRIAGE AND DOWRY

Child marriage

usually refers to two separate social phenomena which are practised in some societies. The first and more widespread practice is that of marrying a young child (generally defined as below the age of fifteen) to an adult. Due to women's shorter reproductive life period (relative to men's), perhaps, the practice of child marriage tends to be of young girls to fully-grown men.

The second practice is a form of arranged marriage in which the parents of two children from different families arrange a future marriage. In this practice, the individuals who become betrothed often do not meet one another until the wedding ceremony, which occurs when they are both considered to be of a marriageable age.

A SURVEY OF GIRLS MARRIED BEFORE AGE 18

ISLAMIC MARRIAGE CONTRACT

An Islamic marriage contract is a formal, binding contract drawn up by parties involved in marriage proceedings Type and content While it is customary for marriage contracts to be written down, particularly when the bride and groom wish to make any stipulations, classical jurists required only oral offer and acceptance for the contract's validity. citation needed Among the stipulations that can be included in the contract is a prohibition on the husband marrying other women (a wife has the right to annul the marriage if her husband violates this condition), or other rules that can include giving up, or demanding, certain responsibilities.The contract may also be used to regulate the couple's physical relationship, if needed.

The marriage contract can also specify where the couple will live, whether or not the first wife will allow the husband to take a second wife without her consent, whether or not the wife has the right to initiate divorce, and other such matters. The marriage contract somewhat resembles the marriage settlements once negotiated for upper-class Western brides, but can extend to non-financial matters usually ignored by marriage settlements or pre-nuptial agreements.

Purposes One important purpose of the contract is that which makes sexual intercourse legal. This is supported by various Hadiths and quotations.

• • • •

Sati-the Burning of The Widow

. What is Sati? Hindu custom in India in which the widow was burnt to death on her husband’s pyre. Can be a voluntary choice or force upon a woman by her in-laws. II. Reasons for Sati A widow's status was looked upon as an unwanted burden that prevented her from participating in the household work. Her touch, her voice, her very appearance was considered unholy, impure and something that was to be shunned and abhorred. A woman was considered pure if she committed Sati. III. The History Behind Sati Sati, the wife of Daksha, was so overcome at the demise of her husband that she immolated herself on his funeral pyre. Sati was the consort of Lord Shiva. She burnt herself in fire as protest against her father, Daksha did not give her consort Shiva the respect she thought he deserved. IV. Theories of Origin Even though Sati is considered an Indian custom or a Hindu custom it was not practiced all over India by all Hindus but only among certain communities of India. Sacrificing the widow in her dead husband's funeral or pyre was not unique only to India. This custom was prevalent among Egyptians, Greek, Goths, and others. Ramayana- Sita walks through fire to prove her purity. Mahabharata Madri throws herself on her husband, Pandu’s fire.

DOWRY SYSTEM

•

A dowry

(also known as

trousseau

or

tocher

or, in Latin,

dos

) is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings to her husband in marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both dowry and bride price. Dowry is an ancient custom, and its existence may well predate records of it.

THE UNITED NATIONS AND WOMAN’S RIGHT

DECLARATION OF WOMAN RIGHTS

In 1946 the United Nations established a Commission on the Status of Women. Originally as the Section on the Status of Women, Human Rights Division, Department of Social Affairs, and now part of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Since 1975 the UN has held a series of world conferences on women's issues, starting with the World Conference of the International Women's Year in Mexico City. These conferences created an international forum for women's rights, but also illustrated divisions between women of different cultures and the difficulties of attempting to apply principles universally Four World Conferences have been held, the first in Mexico City (International Women's Year, 1975), the second in Copenhagen (1980) and the third in Nairobi (1985). At the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing (1995),

The Platform for Action

was signed. This included a commitment to achieve "gender equality and the empowerment of women".

INDIAN WOMEN'S ISSUES

•

INDIAN WOMEN'S ISSUES : INDIA has an elaborate laws to protect the rights of women, including the Prevention of Immoral Traffic, the Sati (widow burning) Act, and the Dowry Prevention Act. Women and children have figured prominently in the government's agenda of social reforms and initiatives .

According to a recent report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) up to 50 million girls and women are missing from India' s population as a result of systematic gender discrimination in India. In most countries in the world, there are approximately 105 female births for every 100 males. In India, there are less than 93 women for every 100 men in the population. The accepted reason for such a disparity is the practice of female infanticide in India, prompted by the existence of a dowry system which requires the family to pay out a great deal of money when a female child is married. For a poor family, the birth of a girl child can signal the beginning of financial ruin and extreme hardship. However this anti-female bias is by no means limited to poor families. Much of the discrimination is to do with cultural beliefs and social norms. These norms themselves must be challenged if this practice is to stop.

Diagnostic teams with ultrasound scanners which detect the sex of a child advertise with catchlines such as spend 600 rupees now and save 50,000 rupees later.

The implication is that by avoiding a girl, a family will avoid paying a large dowry on the marriage of her daughter. According to UNICEF, the problem is getting worse as scientific methods of detecting the sex of a baby and of performing abortions are improving. These methods are becoming increasing available in rural areas of India, fuelling fears that the trend towards the abortion of female foetuses is on the increase

ZAINAB SALBI-THE FOUNDER OF WOMEN FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL

Iraqi-American writer and activist Zainab Salbi, the founder of Women for Women International, delivering a briefing in New York on "Between Two Women: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam."

WEDDINGS AND DIVORCES AROUND THE WORLD

THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE MARRYING EVERY YEAR VARIES FROM COUNTRY TO COUNTRY. SOME ARE TROPICAL ISLANDS AND COUNTRIES THAT ARE POPULAR WITH TOURISTS WHO TRAVEL THERE FOR A ROMANTIC WEDDING. OTHERS HAVE CULTURES THAT PLACE A SPECIALLY HIGH VALUE ON MARRIAGE. THE NUMBER OF DIVORCES VARIES GREATLY FROM COUNTRY TO COUNTRY, ACCORDING TO THE LEGAL SYSTEM AND RELIGION.

10 5 0 35 30 25 20 15 NUMBER OF MARRIAGES PER 1000 PER YEAR COOL ISLANDS CYPRUS VIETNAM SEYCHELLES USA AUSTRALIA UK CANADA PANAMA FRENCH GUIANA VENEZUELA ANDORRA

3 2 1 0 6 5 4

NUMBER OF DIVORCES PER 1000 PER YEAR

RUSSIA ISLE OF MAN URUGUAY USA UK AUSTRALIA CANADA LIBYA MONGOLIA TAJIKISTAN

Victims of a 'victimless' crime: a composite photo of murdered prostitutes in the UK

Noted Harvard Law professor and civil rights activist Alan Dershowitz states emphatically that "prostitution is a victimless crime," and that millions of men regularly seek out prostitutes. Commenting on New York governor Eliot Spitzer's involvement with a high-end prostitution ring in March 2008, Dershowitz publicly announced he'd stand up to any feminist to argue on behalf of the 'victimless crime' concept. The opposing attitudes of men and women regarding prostitution reveal one of the widest gender gaps in the landscape of male-female relationships. Many men see nothing wrong with it and cite regions where prostitution is legal including several European countries and the state of Nevada

.

Let us pray for a world where women can live peacefully