BLOGGER TEMPLATES - TWITTER BACKGROUNDS »

Wednesday 31 January 2007

Passing judgement


I wasn't really surprised by the fatwa issued recently in Egypt that a woman can't be president. I can't really say I expected otherwise. Let's just ignore the fact that muslim nations have had female leaders before and that the whole "has to lead muslims in prayer"thing is kinda weak, I mean when was the last time we were collectively led in prayer by our president? What about our christian population?
Besides the fact that beyond religion, for people who say that women can't be political leaders because they lack good judgement or some other crap along those lines, history disagrees with you (Elizabeth I, anyone?).
What surprises me more, is the reaction a lot of ppl had to women being approved as judges. I hear a lot of "What is this nonsense?Women aren't emotionally/mentally capable of doing the work of a judge!". What saddens me is I've actually heard this from women, one of which is a friend (who just got a display of what I look like when I'm trying to talk while I'm gritting my teeth---not a pretty sight) , this is a prime example of course of how women can be sexist against other women.
First of all, does anyone actually believe that a woman is going to be picked off of "tesht ghaseel" or a washing basin and be appointed judge?
Newsflash : being a judge is like reaching the crowning moment of your legal career, not just anyone -male or female- is appointed judge.Do I think that women in general are more emotional than men? Well, of course. However, generalizations don't work here because we aren't talking about women in general, we're talking about very specific types of women who have a career background that differs from every other woman. And haven't there been female judges all around the world for YEARS now? But we're just sooo much wiser than just about everyone, aren't we?
It's not like any man can be a judge, either. It's not like we can pull a guy off of "3arabeyet robabekya" , appoint him a judge and call it a day. Besides the fact that I've seen men who've put women to shame in the "emotional/temperamental" department, so don't go using that as an excuse either, you hear me now?
I wish ppl who are sexist would just come out and declare themselves as such instead of hiding behind their religion. At least have the decency of doing that, dammit!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On a lighter note, this song is awesome !

3 comments:

grey said...

that song really IS awesome...you've good good taste in music:)

about people being sexist in egypt:
yep, you're absolutely right...but i think it's going to be a looooong time before we have a female president or at least have a constitution or fatwa saying it's possible...sad but true.

spellz said...

Puff I'm sick and tired form all of this.. I really want to understand those sexist minds

Gayyash said...

hi, this is my first visit to your blog; i linked over here from forsoothsayer. there's a correction re. the women presidents fatwa over at arabist.net. you might want to check it out. keep on posting! cheers.