women's rights

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090430/od_nm/us_childmarriage_2

Hamid Karzai has been accused of trying to win votes in Afghanistan's presidential election by backing a law the UN says legalises rape within marriage and bans wives from stepping outside their homes without their husbands' permission.

The Afghan president signed the law earlier this month, despite condemnation by human rights activists and some MPs that it flouts the constitution's equal rights provisions.

The final document has not been published, but the law is believed to contain articles that rule women cannot leave the house without their husbands' permission, that they can only seek work, education or visit the doctor with their husbands' permission, and that they cannot refuse their husband sex.

A briefing document prepared by the United Nations Development Fund for Women also warns that the law grants custody of children to fathers and grandfathers only.

Promoted to the front page

If I'd been in an actual classroom, I would have walked out in protest. But as this is an online class, I'm trying to distract myself in the hope that I'll be able to listen without wanting to scream at my computer. The insanity being peddled as fiqh sets my teeth on edge sometimes, and it makes me even crazier when it's insanity I paid to hear.

Muslims for Progressive Values has an online petition calling for action "Against Domestic Violence, Acid Attacks, Honor Killing, Female Genital Mutilation and Forced Marriage."

The petition is available here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/mpv-dv

Go and sign it. More voices against this sort of thing is never a bad thing.

Disclaimer: I do some volunteer work for MPV.