Women Erased in Israel, Flogged in Pakistan and Restricted in Afghanistan

[bemildred]

Updated | 7:42 p.m. The news this week has been bad for supporters of women’s rights in at least three parts of the world. On Friday, The Associated Press reported 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 photograph was taken at an official ceremony welcoming the new Israeli leadership on Wednesday at the residence of the president of Israel, Shimon Peres.

As The A.P. explained:

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.

Neither newspaper responded to the news agency’s request for comment.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/setbacks-for-women-in-israel-pakistan-and-afghanistan/?ref=world

[applegrove]

1. At least they got caught doing it.

[bemildred]

2. Public flogging. It's not just for women anymore. nt

[applegrove]

6. Apparently people in Pakistan saw that TV footage and people are outraged. Thank

you to whoever risked their life to film that.

[bemildred]

7. Public scrutiny is the best medicine.

Spread it around the world.

[LeftishBrit]

8. Agree!

[BrklynLiberal]

3. IT seems that misogynism is an integral part of Fundamental Religion..no matter

what religion it claims to be a part of.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5383648&mesg_id=5383850

[bemildred]

4. It's all about power.

The expectation of obedience. Fundamentalist religion is one pretext. Nationalism is another. Join them together, and watch out.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. Yep...as Sinclair Lewis knew all too well.

“When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”

[oberliner]

9. A 17 year old is woman? Isn't this child abuse?

Does the NY Times always refer to a 17 year old as a woman and not a girl?

In either case, disturbing to say the least.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

10. More shocking is that there were only 2 women in the cabinet!

[Neo Atheist]

18. And how many women hold positions of power in Hamas?

In Lebanon? In Egypt? How many women have driver's licenses in Saudi Arabia? How many women are stoned to death for adultery in Muslim countries?

I wouldn't cast stones about misogyny...

[IndianaGreen]

11. Misogyny is at the core of the beliefs of all monotheistic religions

and until people of faith disavow, condemn, reject, denounce, and renounce the remnants of patriarchy, there is little hope that we will bury misogyny for good, together with its twin homophobia.

[Sezu]

12. And yet there are religious people of ALL types

who NOT practice such things as they can reconcile their universal right to believe in a diety with an appropriate social contract. You may want to not sterotype whole religions for the acts of fundalmentalists. The former have evolved in their beliefs.

And this comes from an unbeliever.

[Neo Atheist]

19. The liberals you speak of seem to have no power over their faiths

If they did we wouldn't see women stoned to death for adultery in countries like Saudi Arabia, women excommunicated from the Catholic Church for letting their nine year old daughter get an abortion after the poor little girl was raped by a relative, or protestants coming out en masse to prevent gays from getting married.

The evolved thinkers in faith are greatly outnumbered by the primitive thinkers.

[number6]

13. Geez , what if Hillary had won

she be erased from all Photos

we'd have an invisible President.

[LeftishBrit]

15. Yes, a few religious extremist groups might have done this ...

but hardly the main media in America or Israel or anywhere else?

Was Tsipi Livni invisible when she was Acting Prime Minister? Is Golda Meir's memory blotted from the history books?

Is Hillary an invisible Secretary of State now - in America or in Israel?

[GoesTo11]

14. Israeli women are forced to be modest, reserved, and subservient.

That is why so many downtrodden US men seek them as mail order wives.

[Vegasaurus]

16. At least orthodox women won't be stoned to death, aren't covered from head to toe

restricted from going out in public.

They can drive, go to school, and have jobs.

There is no cultural equivalency here.

[Violet_Crumble]

17. The women erased from the photo aren't ultra-orthodox....

You do comprehend the misogny involved in erasing them, don't you? Yr post comes across like yr excusing this sort of sexist behaviour...

[Vegasaurus]

20. No excusing misogyny at all

But there is a difference between erasing a face and flogging or stoning a woman to death.

Let's not equate the two, as if both are equitable human rights abuses.

[IndianaGreen]

21. Like wearing a burqa, its purpose is to make women invisible.

Thank you for your support of misogyny!

[Violet_Crumble]

22. There should be care taken not to minimise any form of misogyny...

See, the point of the article wasn't to say that any of them are equal. Though this whole pointing out that some things aren't equal to others could have come in handy when all those Palestinian civilians were being killed in Gaza and someone would invariably pop up in a thread going: 'But what about the ROCKETS?'