* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
I would like my full attention to be riveted on the Wisconsin protests and political maneuvering (where are those Democratic state senators?) over right of public employees to collective bargaining. Women are overrepresented in civil service jobs: they offer steady hours, steady pay, health benefits and even pensions. The outcome in Madison will clearly will spread throughout all the states facing budget shortfalls.
But I must turn away to catch up with the events in the Arabic-speaking world. I find little available, except on Women’s eNews, that discusses what the upheavals might mean for women in the region.
Burkas for all? Tunisia’s progressive family laws for all or at least more Arabic nations? Is there a women’s rights plank being written by the Google marketing director in Egypt that will include enforcement of the ban on female genital mutilation? Women in Bahrain have voted in 2002 and women are clearly part of the protests. What changes are they seeking?
Women’s eNews has an in-depth piece posted today on the Muslim Brotherhood and some of its members positions on women’s rights but I haven’t seen much else out there.
Again, though, I must turn away again to read the Breaking News section of Women’s eNews that has an absolutely startling list of anti-abortion initiatives now being considered by the states.
Three examples of the fierce political changes being demanded and equally strong responses sweeping the globe. The stakes are so high and the constitutions, laws and regulations now up for grabs will have enormous impact in the lives of women worldwide for generations. Through it all, I will keep my eye on the rights of women.
Too often women are not now part of the processes in which decisions are made—from Madison, Wisc. to Casablanca, Morocco; too often what is believed to be law is actually custom; too often the bias toward the status quo deafens decision-makers, preventing them from truly hearing the legal soundness of arguments on behalf of changing the laws specifically regulating women’s lives.
I am enormously proud that my job as editor in chief of Women’s eNews provides me the mechanism to Tweet the alerts and deliver the news, inform thousands every day about how, where and by whom women’s roles are being discussed and what is being said.
Now, thanks to the Word on Women, I will have an additional opportunity to spread the information further. I will use it to be best of my ability to keep the readers of this blog up-to-date on the whirlwind of legal changes and their repercussions for women.
