Suchergebnisse

In cooperation with UNIFEM, the National Committee for Lebanese Women's Issues implemented nine workshops tareted at defining the national strategy and the future work agenda for the Lebanese woman. These workshops, which were held in the Center for Continuous Care on June 26 and 27, covered a wide variety of topics such as women and the law, media, environment, economics, health, Israeli occupation and imprisonment, violence, education, and the decision-makingprocess.

One of the most alarming issues in Muslim societies appears to be gender-based violence. The violence directed at women linked to their womanhood is gender-based. It is violence intended to establish or reinforce gender hierarchies and perpetuate inequalities. Violence against women seems to be a cause and a consequence of gender perceptions. Gender-based violence affects men's and women's perceptions of each other.

The violence against women in former Yougoslavia is chilling. Below are excerpts from one of the many tragedies reported. These were transmited to Al-Raida from the International PEN Women's Committee and a Women's Group in Croatia. Women's groups all over the world are networking the news and planning for action and protest.

A Jordanian weekly recently reported that a man surrendered to the police and confessed to slaughtering his daughter 'like a sheep'. He killed her because she was pregnant, even though the lover was willing to marry her. As soon as the father found out about the pregnancy, he went home, asked the visitors present to leave, took a sharp knife from the kitchen and dragged his daughter to the roof where he slaughtered her.

This paper was presented in one of the panels of the conference "A Hundred Years since the Liberation of Women", the Higher Council for Culture, Cairo, 23-28 October 1999.

The Elimination of Violence Against Women