
Originally Posted by
HoreTore
The point was about PJ's talk about a "muslim culture", Adrian. He talked like every muslim from Morocco to Bangladesh had the same culture, and that's just plain wrong.
PJ was right about the larger frame of things.
Here is what a 2005 UN report has to say about women in Bangladesh:
As a South Asian country, Bangladesh is no different from its neighbors. Violence
against women is amongst the most serious threats to overall development and
progress in Bangladesh. Widespread violence and repression in numerous forms puts
women’s lives at risk in almost all parts of the country. This is further compounded by
the gender bias against women in the society. Before discussing the nature and extent
of violence against women it is important to focus on the general socio-economic and
legal rights of women in Bangladesh. [..] Despite constitutional guarantees of gender equality and legislative and other affirmative interventions, the status of Bangladeshi women is on the whole dismal.
Women are subjected to discrimination and violence within the household, at the
workplace and in the society. Their inferior status can be traced to the patriarchal
values entrenched in the society which keep women subjugated, assigns them a
subordinate and dependent role, and, prevents them from accessing power and
resources. Men hold the power and resource within families and control any property
and family income. Women are considered as men's property, their sexual activity,
income and labor being systemically controlled by the men in their family. Social
expectations still pivot around child rearing and household management. The practice
of Purda (seclusion), although changing, is still socially valued. Social norms,
education, employment and legal rights and gender inequality in Bangladesh are all
perpetuated by patriarchy. From their childhood, women are forced to live in a
culture, which tolerates and even permits inhuman treatment to them.
And here is what the World Organisation Against Torture had to say about Morocco in 2003:
Nevertheless, domestic and sexual violence still continue to be regarded
as a private sphere phenomenon which does not constitute a human rights
violation or a veritable social problem that merits investigation, research
and analysis.35 As has been described above, the low status of women in
society as well as the actual state of gender relations make it difficult to
collect data and information on the prevalence, forms and manifestations
of violence against women, its causes and consequences. Violence against
women continues to be surrounded by a culture of silence. Furthermore, as
many laws in Morocco discriminate against women, it is hard to distinguish
which type of discrimination is legal and which is a crime.
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