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Stand Up for Iraqi Women
Target: Secretary of State Condoleezza RiceSponsored by: Womens Funding Network
Women in Iraq have more to fear these days than the horrors of war. As the August 15 deadline approaches for the completion of the new Iraqi constitution, women in Iraq fear that their hard-won rights could disappear.
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Iraq, January 30, 2005: Women waiting to vote in elections. (Photo courtesy U.S. Embassy Baghdad.) |
A renewed interpretation of Sharia law would turn back the clock on women's rights in Iraq. As the occupier of Iraq, the United States is obligated to uphold international law guaranteeing human rights for all Iraqi people, including the full range of rights for women.
Stand up for Iraqi women! Send a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today and urge her to advocate to protect the rights of women in Iraq by working with the Iraqi government to repeal Article 14 and guarantee women's rights under the law.
Please, PLEASE help these women. Remember our history, much too recent, of our fight for women's rights here in the U.S.!
Secretary Rice...It is so sad for me to think of women (and female children) living under the harsh and violent rules of the Taliban or any other rigid Islamic code. Please do all that you can for these people and call on me if help is needed. Thank you. Teresa Hurt
As with our own congress, once again we see the rights of women and the recognition of our equality to any man put on a back burner by politicians and religious zealots.
If you, ms rice, are a woman, then somewhere within you is the knowledge as to why you MUST advocate for ALL woman and at this juncture in time to stop religion from sending modern women back into the kitchen-barefoot and pregnant- with no means of being equal citizens to their male rulers and religious leaders.
WHY ONLY GIVE HALF THE POPULATION RIGHTS OF FREE SPEECH. IT IS A SYSTEM THAT WILL ULTIMATELY FAIL. FREE SPEECH IS A RIGHT, BUT ALSO A RESONSIBILITY AND EVERYONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO SHARE THE LOAD.
This proposed constitution, and the apparent decision by your government to allow it, indeed rather, to encourage its progress, goes against the fundamental American assertion that it has been motivated to war in order to install democracy in Iraq. It is pure hypocrisy to allow this constitution even the light of day.
If your government is truly claiming to have gone to war in Iraq to create a democratic society out of the horror that Saddam caused, one would think that such a democratic institution would, like the American, English, Australian, and most other societies', explicity legislate for the rights of women. As a woman who has been able to rise to the top of your field, and who no doubt is conscious of encouraging other women to do the same simply by your presence as such an influential figure, can you not empathise with the desires of these women for equal and fair treatment, and the same kind of successes as yourself? Can you in all honesty, not only allow for such to not happen, but moreso get so severely reversed in the current proposed constitution that America may as well have not bothered at all (at least, to claim that it was democratic ideals which led to the war)?! Immediate politics aside, you and your government really ought to be using this opportunity to make the future better and brighter for these people. Take the high road, Condoleeza, not the easy one!!
Is this our noble cause? Taking away women's rights and creating another Islamic fundamentalist state?
Sharia Law oppresses and endangers women. They have no rights under this form of law. All rights belong to the men.
Because of the deaths that have occurred under Sharia law in other Islamic countries.
All women everywhere should know that they are safe no matter where they are, or what their country is going through.
restore the rights your war took away from them
Please protect the rights of these much abused and ignored women
All women should have the equal rights of men. Under the Sharia law they would lose their hard won rights.
Goddes created both man and woman, not just man. So why should only men have the rights?
Educate a woman and society will benefit economically and politically.
Iraqi women had numerous rights under the old regime, in some ways better than in many arab countries. Do not betray their hopes for a real democracy
It is not just Iraqi women but all women in any civilized society that should be all-inclusive to seek a higher standard for its citizenry. Men and women should share in a common goal for the betterment of civilization per se.
Ms. Secretary Rice, I know that hard-won change in this country and others are becoming more progressive where women's issues are concerned. Atrocties are still being performed on women that we cannot turn a blind eye to what is happening; especially in Iraq. Are Iraqi women going to gather like the Suffragettes in order to protest what is going on before their eyes? Not with the current Iraqi Constitution as it is. Let's not have a "wait-and-see" attitude about this - action must be taken now to support the women in Iraq.
All people should be able to vote about matters which effect their lives.
It has been said: One can tell the advancement of a society by the position of its women.
Secretary Rice - Since you are a woman I think you can relate. Enjoy your rights now.
It has been said: One can tell the advancement of a society by the position of its women.
These are no longer the dark ages,this world has come a long way and so have women.Women have played a major role in the developement of the world and so be given rights to continue.These women have been through so much.., let's help them.
Women are women no matter what part of the world they live in.Women of the world are like a sisterhood..,so therefore we should stand together and stand as one.