women in saudi arabia and afghanistan: they are ghosts

i mentioned the other day i watched the tail end of a documentary an islamic woman made on women in saudi arabia. i don't believe she herself was from that area. i think i found the title

Women of the Holy Kingdom

WOMEN OF THE HOLY KINGDOM marks Sharmeen Obaid’s Third Compelling and Personal Report for the Discovery Times Network
In Saudi Arabia, women need permission from their male guardians to study, work and travel. They are also forbidden to drive and to mix with men in public. Now, a growing number of Saudi women are challenging these traditions and are clamoring for more rights. In Discovery Times Channel’s world premiere documentary, WOMEN OF THE HOLY KINGDOM, filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid documents the emerging women's movement. Obaid also interviews religious clerics and young working mothers who denounce change and label the women's movement as immoral.
Obaid (Terror’s Children, Reinventing the Taliban?) travels across Saudi Arabiato explore why the Muslim religion’s holiest land treats half its population as second-class citizens. From segregated restaurants, to banks and shopping malls,WOMEN OF THE HOLY KINGDOM provides a rare look at the life of Saudi woman. From all-women factories to a women's conference and a gathering of intellectuals, the film also provides an unprecedented look at the faces behind the emerging women's movement. Obaid meets with Nadia Bakhurji, the first Saudi woman to announce her candidacy for the country's new local elections. She also gets access to young female students at an all-women's university who make it very clear what rights they want in the future. Obaid meets young women who embrace the Islamic traditions that so many in the West can’t understand and won’t tolerate.......

it was eye opening. most of the women ms obaid interviewed did indeed want change but many did not. many enjoyed seeking their husband's or male family member's permission to go to school or even just to talk to ms obaid. even women who work (outside of the home) must work separately from men.

Five years on, conditions for women in Afghanistan are still poor

Filed by Diane Sweet
Late in 2001, after the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, and the opening of that country's doors to the international community, the treatment of Afghan women almost overnight became a cause cйlиbre throughout the world. Organizations flocked to Kabul to open offices and begin projects aimed at the needs of women.
U.S. coalition troops moved into southern Afghanistan, and NATO countries offered the services of thousands more troops, who were deployed to provide national security. During this time in 2001, the opportunity was present to found a lasting peace in a nation that had suffered nearly a quarter of a century of violent conflict.
Women's rights were at the forefront of discussions of a new form of government for Afghanistan, and an amazing 102 female delegates participated in the Constitution Loya Jirga of December 2003. It appeared that progress was being made and women were occupying central roles in the country's political life........

...........In Sept.'06, Safia Amajan -- the head of the Department of Women's Affairs -- was shot dead outside her home in Khandahar by two men on a motorbike......
............It is estimated that between 60-80% of all marriages are forced, with 57% of girls married before the age of 16 and some as young as 6 years old. Many more, if not married during their childhood, are betrothed without their consent or knowledge..........
.........Still ongoing is the tribal practice of "baad," the exchange of girls or women as restitution for a crime or debt..............
..........Of the available schools, only 19% are designated for girls (there are no co-ed classes in Afghanistan), and 415 of the existing educational districts have no girls in school at all.Women also have limited accesss to higher education. Kabul University is only able to acept 10% of all applicants for entry, as they are under-resourced and in need of qualified staff, better libraries, and reconstruction of facilities. An additional barrier is the lack of dormitories for women or safe transportation. Aside from the normal tuition, bribery of school officials is commonplace.The educational process often ends altogether for girls and women upon marriage............

Tech Tags: Sharmeen Obaid afghanistan saudi+arabia women islam