Teen dies after being refused life-saving medication

23/12/2013

A young teen in Ireland has died after a chemist refused to give her life-saving medication without a prescription.

Emma Sloan was suffering from an allergic reaction to peanuts and needed an EpiPen, but was refused one in a law that says they cannot be obtained without a prescription, the Daily Mail reported.

The 14-year-old then died on the street just minutes later without the life-saving adrenaline shot.

"I couldn’t get it [the EpiPen] without a prescription. He told me to bring her to A&E I left and I knew we’d have to run all the way to Temple Street Hospital," her mother Caroline Sloan told the Herald.

The girl found it hard to breathe after she ate satay sauce at a Chinese restaurant in Dublin.

She reportedly thought she had ordered a curry, and missed the sign saying that the satay sauce contained peanuts.

Ms Sloan told the Herald newspaper: "I’m so angry. I was not given the EpiPen. I was told to bring her to A&E."

She described her daughter a s"beautiful, smart and funny" and urged all parents with a child with allergies to carry an EpiPen with them.

"Emma was allergic to nuts and was very careful. How could a peanut kill my child?’ she told the Herald.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland was reportedly examining the case, while Ireland's Children's Minister Frances Fitzgerald called for an inquiry into the tragic death.

A statement from the manager at Jimmy Chung’s restaurant, Tony Shek, read: "The staff are often asked by family members if foods contain nuts. But nothing was mentioned to any staff yesterday."

A staff member also said there was a sign at the restaurant that said "Satay sauce. Nuts contained".

Woman loses eye after jealous husband attacks in China

23/12/2013

In a shocking case of jealousy gone too far, a husband has gouged out his wife's eyes after finding out she was seeing another man and wanted a divorce.

The woman, named only as Li, had reportedly already left the man earlier after months of abuse, the Want China Times reported.

Despite the relationship starting out well, after a mere few months the man, only known as Long, changed and became aggressive and demanded she pay her family's debt.
The report said the woman was beaten and stripped naked when she refused to pay the debt.
Long threatened to harm his ex-wife's family if she left him, and later intimidated the woman into marrying him.
Finally, Li fled to her hometown of Yulin and met a new man through a friend.
However, Long managed to find them and attacked the new boyfriend. He also gouged one of Li's eyes out with his bare hands.
He later called police to hand himself in and has been in custody since.
The chinese report said doctors were unable to re-attach Li's eye.

From Refugee to Rap Star: Soosan Firooz, Afghan Woman Rapper

Oct2013

Soosan Firooz is every inch a typical 24-year-old woman.  She has chunky silver rings on her fingers, chains on her hipster jeans, and a fastidious devotion to her musical heroes – in her case Shakira.

But, unlike most girls her age, she has had to contend with fame, prejudice, and, even, death threats.

“The people who threaten me say they will kidnap my brother or they will kidnap me, or assault me, or throw acid at me. And I thank them for it because their threats motivate me to work even harder,” – she says defiantly, as she sits in her Kabul studio.

Soosan is one of Afghanistan’s first female rappers. Her family fled after the Taliban assumed power in the late nineties. They emigrated first to Iran and then Pakistan, where they hoped to find sympathy and acceptance. But like many Afghan refugees at the time, they were met with prejudice and discrimination.  It is these experiences that provide the basis for Soosan’ rap music.

“I remember I was waiting in a queue to get bread from the bakery. We gave the baker the money but he didn’t give me the bread. People in the queue were hitting the Afghan kids. Through rapping, I could describe the problems I was going through, and also the problems we face today in our society.”

In a country where both women’s rights and music have been suppressed, Soosan points toward a future in which Afghanistan’s youth openly express their hopes and fears without reprisal.  She is emblematic of a new generation of Afghans with access to the Internet and social media who want the same freedoms and opportunities afforded to people in other countries.

“One day I was walking down the street and I saw three schoolgirls at the bus station. One of them walked up to me and asked me whether I was the female rapper. When I told them I was, they hugged me and told me that I was their idol. “

For many Afghans, following their dreams is often not easy. Young men are frequently encouraged to take over the family business or learn the same trade as their fathers. Pride is taken in skills passed down from one generation to the next. Breaking out of this cycle can be viewed as an act of rebellion.  For young women, opportunities are even more limited. Most women are actively discouraged from pursuing a career of any sort.

Women, like Soosan, in the public spotlight can face threats from strangers who consider their work anti-Islamic. These are not idle threats.  In October 2012 Afghan actress Sonya Sarwari was lucky not to be blinded when a stranger threw acid in her eyes as she left an awards ceremony in Kabul.  In August of the same year, 22-year-old actress Benafsha was stabbed to death as she walked to a bakery in the capital. And in 2007, 22-year-old television presenter Shakiba Sanga Amaj was shot and killed by her own father for refusing to quit her career. These are just three cases of many in which prominent Afghan women have been attacked.

Soosan acknowledges that without the help and support of her family, particularly her father Abdul Ghafar Firooz who left his job as an electrical engineer to act as a bodyguard for his daughter, she would not be where she is today.

“They have supported me a lot. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be sitting here today. In my household I am the only one who brings in money. My father can’t work because he is too busy being my security guard.”

Despite the death threats and the risks that her fame brings, Soosan has no intentions of quitting.  She has a growing fan base. At a recent concert in Kabul, Soosan attracted a large crowd of both sexes—a testament to the changing attitude toward female entertainers.

“I am a female rapper sitting in this studio. But if this were the past regimes, then I would probably be dead right now, so there have been some positive changes. There are lots of girls in school. Women now feel secure going outside their homes to work. And women are now in the media and on television showing their faces.”

Although the situation for women is improving in Afghanistan, cases of violence against women are still extremely high. Soosan is helping to challenge the status quo and prove that Afghan women can leave the home and pursue their own careers.

Watch Soosan’s new video (with English subtitles) on YouTube.

Women’s Rights in Egypt: the Anti-Sexual Harassment Movement

Dec2013

A study published by the Thomson Reuters Foundation on November 12 lists Egypt as the worst country in the Arab world in which to be a woman. While some may expect the report to generate shock waves, many of us in Egypt are all too familiar with this reality, which includes high rates of female genital mutilation – an illegal but still widely-performed practice – general lack of access to adequate healthcare and education for many girls, especially in rural or impoverished areas, child marriage, and the predominance of sexual harassment and violence against women.
For activists and women’s rights organizations in Egypt, these are some of the most critical issues consuming their work.
The Thomson Reuters Foundation Study: An Accurate Reflection of Women’s Rights in Egypt?
While the absolute standard of living and human rights for women in Egypt are certainly not worse than in places such as Iraq or Yemen, in recent years the circumstances facing women in Egypt have notably and rapidly deteriorated. This will have terrifying implications for the country’s future, unless something is done to stop it now.
As critics of the study have remarked, any survey of women’s rights in a region long defined in relation to, and according to the terms of, the Global North, is inevitably fraught with complications.
In a recent article about the report, H.A. Hellyer claims that “all too often, Western observers, as well as Westernized elites in the Arab world, make claims and arguments that are based on assertions and assumptions that talk about Arab women, as opposed to letting them speak for themselves.”
This is not merely problematic as an analytical approach, but also potentially misleading for advocacy and intervention efforts guided by these assertions.
Unless these initiatives are led by and based on the needs of women in the region, as identified by the women themselves, well-meaning people determined to contribute to their empowerment may expend a lot of energy without attaining real results. At worst, they may engage in misguided efforts that could potentially direct energy, focus, and resources away from where they are actually needed.
The Rise of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Movement
As change continues to sweep through the region, an increasing number of organizations have recognized the need for multi-stakeholder collaboration in order to effect genuine progress.
The 2011 Egyptian revolution marked a turning point in the breakdown of traditional power structures, at least to the extent that people from all sectors of society felt emboldened to take to the streets and make their voices heard.
That energy and realization of collective power has transformed into a cultural paradigm that has taken root deep in the country’s consciousness.
In the last three years, people have publicly mobilized to advocate for their rights at demonstrations and sit-ins in now-iconic environs including Tahrir Square, Itahidayya Palace, and Rabaa Adawaya Square, as well as through million-man marches and countless protests outside various government buildings.
The surge in anti-sexual harassment movements, which began in late 2012 and early 2013, was a response to the increase in the worrying phenomenon of mass sexual assaults during protests in Tahrir Square.
Evidence suggests these assaults and rapes were part of a planned process instigated by counter-revolutionary forces to undermine and discredit the revolution. Nevertheless, the frequent occurrence of sexual harassment in Egyptian society cannot be discounted as a factor contributing to the vicious nature and regularity of these crimes.
Tahrir Bodyguard was founded in November 2012 to take action against the threat of sexual assault during protests.
Tahrir Bodyguard grew exponentially as a result of the burgeoning threat of sexual assault and the hard work of a small group of committed volunteers – including those who risked their own safety and wellbeing to intervene and remove women being harassed or assaulted during protests. These interventions were vital during periods of weekly, large-scale protests in Tahrir, which were invariably accompanied by horrific attacks against women and girls.
There are no words, other than “hero,” to adequately describe the brave women and men who risked their lives to intervene in these assaults.
In terms of both strategic planning and on-the-ground interventions, Tahrir Bodyguard has regularly worked with other like-minded groups, such as Operation Anti Sexual Harassment (OpAntiSH), HarassMap, Shoft Ta7arosh (I Saw Harassment) and Nazra for Feminist Studies. All these organizations have done important work and in several cases, without exaggeration, have saved lives.
It is clear, though, that problems of gender inequality and violence against women, in all forms, run far deeper than even the ugliest incidents of mass sexual assault.
Widespread sexual harassment, lack of access to education and health care, and high rates of FGM, child marriage, and infant mortality are all the result of myriad social, cultural, economic, and political factors that must be addressed if there is to be meaningful change.
Deep-rooted discrimination has led to a lack of equal opportunities throughout Egyptian society, examples of which are manifold, with cumulative effects that are devastating for the country.
Creating equal opportunities for women is not merely a moral issue, but rather has an enormous practical impact on the growth and development of the country in both social and economic terms.
Prioritizing the education of boys over girls has, for example, contributed to many women experiencing unhealthy pregnancies, high rates of child mortality, as well as rapid growth in Egypt’s already unsustainable population. Educated women are more likely to have fewer, healthier children by spacing out their pregnancies and getting adequate rest and nutrition. They are also better able to make well-informed choices about their bodies, reducing the risk of sexual and other health problems; to decide to work if they wish, giving them the opportunity to contribute economically; and to help reduce the instances of sexual violence by instilling in their sons a fundamental respect for women and teaching their daughters about women’s rights.
Dignity Without Borders
Our new initiative, Dignity Without Borders (DWB), was established three months ago as a separate and fully independent group with the aim of extending the work done through Tahrir Bodyguard. Dignity Without Borders was co-founded by Egyptian and non-Egyptian women, including myself, as well as Egyptian men.
Our founding team reflects the group’s conviction that Egyptian women are active agents and leaders in the fight to secure their rights and that support and collaboration between gender equality defenders of all genders and nationalities is a crucial part of this process.
Dignity Without Borders is focused on tackling the root causes of harassment and assault: a lack of education and awareness about the extent of gender inequality in Egypt and its far-reaching effects; the lack of empathy felt toward women by many men, and belief that girls or women are not worthy of the same rights, opportunities, and privileges as boys or men; the pervasive virgin/whore binary, in which women are either regarded as modest, chaste vessels of family honor, or creatures with loose, easy morals to be objectified for men’s pleasure.
We absolutely reject the idea, whether overtly presented or implied through convention, tradition, commonly-held attitudes, or popular culture, that women exist only in relation to men, and that a woman’s value lies in her appearance, sexuality, or so-called “purity.”
We defend women’s right to be valued equally to men in all spheres. We push for their access to comprehensive, high quality education and healthcare. We insist on their capacity to make their own life choices with regard to their careers, prospective marriages, bodies, clothing, and social activities. We challenge any belief that women are not autonomous human beings who have value in and of themselves and whose choices should be respected.
We stand for full gender equality and against all forms of discrimination.
As reflected in the Dignity Without Borders mission statement, we have adopted a participatory approach and collaborate with organizations and individuals who share our aims, to ensure that women have all possible resources and opportunities at their disposal to be aware of, access, and raise further awareness about their own rights.
Full Participation through Collaboration
Despite Egypt’s unquestionably patriarchal society, Egyptian women – long accustomed to bearing the brunt of decision making within the family unit and striking a careful balance between relinquishing (or being seen to relinquish) their autonomy to men in many matters, while simultaneously assuming much of the responsibility for men’s choices – are natural leaders.
Dignity Without Borders recently interviewed one woman about the need to include a specific quota in the new constitution for women representatives in the Egyptian Parliament. She clearly stated that the quota system was key for guaranteeing women’s full participation in parliament and political processes in the country.
In commenting on the constitutional committee’s work on this provision, she demanded to know, “what does it mean that the quota for women in the Egyptian Parliament has now become a ‘reasonable percentage?’ What does it mean to say ‘reasonable?’ How can they waste our right to that extent? Are we supposed to move forward or regress? Why would the Committee of 50 [responsible for amending the constitution] accept this humiliation for women? Why? Didn’t we serve them? Didn’t we offer our services to Egypt? Aren’t we Shajar al-Durr? Aren’t we Safeya Zaghloul? … Why would we go back? Why?”
She went on: “I do not accept [the marginalization of women] and we will not give up our right within the constitution, our right in local councils, our right to hold leading positions. What does it mean [to differentiate between] a woman and a man? We want our complete rights. Is the Kuwaiti Parliament better than us? Why should this be? This is Egypt. We are the mother of the world. Why should we decline? We will not accept any decline of women’s rights and roles. The Committee of 50 has to take into consideration that we are strong women and we will claim our rights. And if we do not [succeed in this struggle] we will hand it over to our children. Believe me, we will never be silenced; we will never give up our rights… It is the woman who is truly able to fight for the family’s rights – not only the rights of the family but also the rights of the man because she is the one who has studied the man; she is the one who has raised the man. There is no evolution of a society without women. Whoever votes for something else is the one who does not understand!”**
The rapid growth of the anti-harassment movement is due in large part to outstanding Egyptian women like this individual who have initiated and led these efforts, alongside like-minded Egyptian men and non-Egyptian men and women.
As the founders and volunteers of Dignity Without Borders, we do not believe the deterioration of women’s rights in Egypt, highlighted by Thomson Reuters, is inevitable or irreversible. Guided by this conviction, we are continuing the movement to catalyze change, through an advocacy campaign that will stimulate dialogue and discussion by posing controversial questions and challenges about sexual harassment to different people and groups within Egyptian society.
Dignity Without Borders has already released the first in a series of videos asking people to define their understandings of harassment. A forthcoming video includes interviews with a group of young primary school children, already inculcated with discriminatory gender views and accustomed to using obscene or vulgar language to address women, to explain why they consider their behavior acceptable.
Our photo campaign “Women Can’t Be Silenced” aims to prompt discussion and debate about ways of ensuring women’s voices are heard and fully acknowledged.
Eventually, Dignity Without Borders hopes to engage in broader community outreach efforts, by working with local organizations on education initiatives. This will take time and, as a new movement, we still have much to learn. We recognize that we are at the beginning of a long process. Our goal in collaborating with other organizations to build a movement for comprehensive change cannot happen overnight.
The Future of the Women’s Empowerment Movement in Egypt
On November 13, the same day the results of the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s study were circulated around the globe, Dignity Without Borders participated in a peaceful demonstration outside the Shura Council (the upper house of parliament) calling for the rights and demands of women to be integrated into the new constitution.
Through our participation, we were joining and supporting various groups that had organized the demonstration, including Shoft Ta7arosh, Fouada Watch, and the Parliament of Women.
Azza Kamel, President of ACT (Appropriate Communication Techniques for Development), one of the event organizers, explained her motivations for participating in the action:
“We are here today to demand a quota of women’s representation in the Parliament that is no less than 30% … We are here to tell [the members of the Commission for amending the constitution] that Egypt is considered today to be one of the biggest culprits worldwide in terms of violence against women. In whose interests are women being excluded from Parliament, the constitution or any position that provides us – women – with power?”
A representative of Fouada Watch outlined the situation in even starker terms. “Up to this point, there is still no reference in the constitution to women’s issues. Not even the article we demanded to be integrated into the amendments, on the State’s obligation to respect international conventions on human rights or violence against women, has been mentioned there.”
Hala Mostafa from Shoft Ta7arosh underlined the determination among all participating movements and members involved in this call for women’s rights to take whatever peaceful steps were necessary to ensure their voices would be heard and their opinions considered and respected:
“The constitution has to include women’s rights as equal to other rights … A woman is like a man [in value]. Women carried the revolution upon their shoulders; women are responsible for their families; a woman shares everything with a man. It is therefore a woman’s right that the constitution ensures her rights as equal to those of men … We expected that the Committee of 50, which includes the so-called “civil state’s symbols,” to work on a constitution suitable for Egypt and Egyptian women and men. In the past month and a half, we have communicated our demands clearly to them and a hearing was scheduled for us, which we attended but there was no response to any of our demands. We are here today to object, protest and tell them this is not right. Women’s demands should be integrated into the constitution. This protest is our first escalatory step and if women’s demands are not integrated into the constitution, we will work on a campaign calling for a boycott of the referendum or a negative vote. And if the constitution is still passed in spite of this, we will work on withdrawing it.”***
Dignity Without Borders does not see the battle for gender equality, full participation, and freedom from sexual violence as political issues, despite its frequent politicization.
We believe women’s full participation in the social and political life of Egypt – through activism, advocacy, education, awareness, and debate – is a chance to secure dignity for all Egyptian citizens. Now more than ever, seizing this opportunity is crucial.
 To reach Dignity Without Borders, contact them at: dwbegypt@gmail.com; on Twitter @TahrirBG_DWB ; or on Facebook at Dignity Without Borders

*Lucy Marx is a co-founder of Dignity Without Borders. She has been based in the MENA region for four years and during this time has embarked on freelance writing projects and worked for Ashoka Arab World and Save the Children, as well as with the Tahrir Bodyguard movement. She holds a postgraduate diploma in Arabic language and has previously worked in France and for development organizations and publications that promote freedom of expression in the UK.
**See Dignity Without Borders’ full interview in Arabic with this extraordinary woman.
***Full interviews in Arabic with organizers of the November 13 demonstrations quoted above can be viewed here.

Multani little girls playing kokla chupaki

Multani little girls playing kokla chupaki

Cholistani Woman

Cholistani women working in home to perpair meal

ITALY: Failing economy pushes young women into global webcam sex industry

2013

(WNN) Rome, ITALY, WESTERN EUROPE: In Italy prostitution is not illegal. What is outlawed is the exploitation of prostitution. Many sex workers on the street deal with pimps and the harshness in the physical realities of the industry. Women working as virtual prostitutes though have a different and invisible enemy to fight: the economic crises in Italy.

Desperate Italian women, faced with unemployment and rising costs of living, on the backs of government austerity measures, are now turning to ‘virtual sex’ work to fight the Italian credit crunch. In an exclusive investigative undercover report WNN – Women News Network discovered the harrowing stories and struggling lives that outline how normal existence can change into a shame-filled life in only one day.

While Italy is facing economic recession and austerity measures, numerous people have cut back on spending as they begin to wonder where their next meal is coming from. Increasing numbers of women have turned to lives as webcam girls (also known as webgirls or camgirls) as a last resort to support themselves and their families.

Recent figures from the popular Italian magazine, Pianeta Donna, (Woman Planet), show a sharp increase in the number of women currently working inside the sex-industries in Italy. While exact figures are hard to access the number of cyberporn sex-workers appears to be rising.

Cyberporn is defined as: all pornography that can be accessed online via the internet. Webcam cyberporn is the part of the online pornography industry that is usually delivered live person-to-person. Generally one person is the ‘viewer’ and the other person is the ‘performer’. Key to the element of degradation for camgirls is that those who perform sexually via webcam must also respond and follow every sexual whim and direction their viewer gives them.

‘The Internet has become a site for the global sexual exploitation of women,” outlines Donna M. Hughes in her acclaimed academic report ‘Men Create the Demand; Women Are the Supply’, published over a decade ago in November 2000. “In the past five years, sex industries have been the leaders in opening up the Internet for business,” continued Hughes. “The Internet is almost without regulation because its international reach has made local and national laws and standards either obsolete or unenforceable,” Hughes continued. “With new types of technology, pornographers have introduced new ways to exploit and abuse women. With the techniques of videoconferencing, live sex shows are broadcast in which men dictate the performances of the women.”

Women face increasing humiliation at their time of  financial crisis

Investigating the issue of Italian unemployment and its true impact on women in the region, WNN used an undercover identity to reach out to numerous women working in the cybersex industry. In the investigations we interviewed 15 different Italian women, all who have drastically changed their personal lives to become webcamgirls in order to fight their own adverse living conditions. In the process we discovered a number of webgirls who shared with us dramatic stories that began as the economic crisis in Italy intensified, and also spread throughout Europe.

“It is hard to say, but if worse-comes-to-worse you must put yourself beyond your women’s dignity and find out a way to feed your kids.” This is the first statement made by a woman sex-worker who currently works for a popular Italian live-sex web portal. She is a 30-year-old single mother with two daughters using ‘Susanna’ as a her cover name.

“There is no kind of harassment that a man may not inflict on a woman with impunity in civilized societies.” – Dennis Diderot

In a candid talk she told WNN she used to be an independent woman who had a well paid job as a chef in a posh restaurant in Pisa. But as soon as the economic crisis hit Italy she lost her job.

“Before the economic crisis the restaurant I worked for was always fully booked, especially on the week ends,” shared Susanna. “After 2008 customers became less and less, so I was fired,” she explained.

Trying her best to get another job no one was willing to pay Susanna even a minimum wage salary. Even when she told perspective employers she had two children to take care of no jobs became available.

“When I put my daughters to bed I usually tell them a fairy tail. It is hard to end up with a happy ending and then become a ‘virtual prostitute’ to assure them a house and food,” added Susanna. “I couldn’t find any other way to survive,” she continued. “…I hope one day to come back to my old life.”

Swimming through a spiraling financial crisis in Italy

As the close of 2011 fell on the European financial markets, “the center of the debt crisis shifted to Italy,” says an April 2013 comprehensive report from the Council on Foreign Relations.

Job loss for women often comes with increasing compromise and exclusion. But the difference in handling loss between men and women inside Italy may be a bit more obvious. What some Italians call the ‘sucker-punch’ for women in the down-spiraling economic climate has been driving them from every part of the country to jump into an online industry that makes their physical bodies available to men for a fee as women “just try to survive.”

“Women are generally the first to be dismissed, especially in times of crisis,” says the European Psychology Association. This may put them in the face of danger as a study inside the U.S. shows: that unemployed women are more likely to experience domestic abuse than employed women.

“The fear of job loss or being unable to successfully provide for one’s family is ever present,” outlined UNICEF – The United Nations Children’s Fund, in a 2005 report covering masculinity and gender-based-violence. “Meanwhile, the impact of unemployment can be devastating. Job loss can be emasculating, rendering men depressed, overwhelmed by feelings of worthlessness… …Men may consequently seek affirmation of their masculinity in other ways; for example, through irresponsible sexual behavior or domestic violence.”

In 2010, women represented 47.8 per cent of Italy’s labor force, a slightly larger share than at the start of the recession in 2008. Overall in that year 70 thousand women became unemployed or were looking for work, representing 50.2 percent of all women in Italy aged 16 and over, according to research issued by Istat – Italy National Institute of Statistics last March 2013.

But the burgeoning financial crisis for women living inside Italy’s economy and throughout Europe didn’t stop there.

In early 2012 with a focus on ‘cautious growth’, the new Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti began to push policies that included billions in tax increases, along with spending cuts in the region, as pressures on the ground for Italians increased to the boiling point and Italy’s government reeled from mounting fiscal challenges.

Struggling in life to survive

At 22-years-of-age Cristina was forced to get a job as a ‘sexy web girl’ whether she wanted to or not. Only one year ago she was a student at the prestigious Bocconi Universty – School of Economics in Milan. As the only daughter of a rich building contractor her father had given her a house in the center of Milan with money to live on and a comfortable life.

When the global credit crunch in Italy affected the the home building field, especially as her father’s construction business fell to never before lows, Cristina decided to give up her university studies to look for a job. But the outcome was not what she expected.

“Nobody wanted to hire someone who had no experience at all, so to help my father’s business I decided to get this humiliating job,” said Cristina during her interview with WNN, as she explained why she became a camgirl.

In her interview she revealed she “deeply hated” the webcam work she felt she has been forced to do, but this was the only way she felt she could help her father pay back his debts.

“I cry every night,” outlined Cristina. “My parents don’t know who I’ve become. I’ve lied to them. I said I got a well paid job as an academic researcher,” she continued. “I feel so bad for what I am doing. But at least with my job I am able to help my Dad,” added Cristina.

Like Cristina, other students in Italy have been forced to quit their path of University studies under growing and deteriorating economic circumstances.

This is not the case with Ramona though, a 20-year-old who comes from a family with tight money constraints who live in Southern Italy. Ramona is still a student at La Sapienza, the well known Italian University based in Rome. Almost exactly one year ago she earned a full scholarship to go to school. Now she is eager to pursue a degree in Political Science.

Despite Italian government cuts drastically reducing Italy’s education funding for students in need, Ramona made the tough decision to carry on with her academic studies, whatever the cost.

“After four badly paid jobs, and sometimes not even getting paid at all, this was the only solution I found to make ends meet,” outlined Ramona describing her own reasons for jumping into a secret life as a webcam girl.

Susanna, Cristina and Ramona, along with the other 12 camgirls interviewed by WNN, have also conveyed they too feel like they are hiding a ‘life of shame’. But the trade-off with no job is not an option for any of them. The pay-offs keep the young women at their jobs.

The payment for Italian webcam girls is high compared to any other  jobs they can get. All of the 15 interviewees claimed a medium salary of 3,000 euros ($3,988 USD) or more per month. But the adequate money is definitely not always worth the degradation.

“It is true, I earn a lot of money. But money can’t give me back my dignity as a woman,” Ramona added.

55-year-old Mrs. Oria Gargano is president of the Be Free Cooperative Society, an Italian NGO based in Rome that focuses on women rights and women’s protection from violence. She is also an Italian representative for the European Women’s Lobby, a wide umbrella organization of women’s associations working within the European Union.  In a phone interview Gargano underlined how historically women in Italy have always been affected by economic crisis, since as far back as the Middle-ages.

The current credit crunch in Italy is following the trend, Gargano conveyed. “Economic impoverishment can reaffirm and harden gender inequities by increasing women’s financial dependence.”

Gargano also pointed out that in the ever-growing Italian sex market, it’s the male customers who are destroying their own lives, trapped inside the industry as cybersex addicts.

“I believe men who benefit from virtual sex tend to sharpen it [down] as a private vice, splitting their personality between [being] a family man and a man who can impose his sexual perverse desires on woman…using [the] internet,” continued Gargano.

In Italy 2011 unemployment for youth up to 25-years-of-age was tracked at an alarming figure: 29.1 percent. These figures indicate that those youth who have been thrown out of the labor market, especially young women, have little-to-no chance these days of pulling out of poverty when it hits in Italy.

A resolution passed and adopted with a final 23 to 1 vote in the European Parliament in January 2011, recognizes that “‘the feminization of poverty’ means that women have a higher incidence of poverty than men, that their poverty is more severe than that of men and that poverty among women is on the Increase.”

It’s obvious that being a camgirl inside Italy can come with a lucrative potential to put more than just a ‘meal-on-the-plate’ or pay the rent. But it also means that from the depths of this lucrative career an old saying resurfaces: ‘Women are driven to prostitution by economic misfortune’.

Maryam Jamshidi is founder of Muftah

2013

Maryam Jamshidi

Maryam Jamshidi is founder of Muftah, a magazine focusing on the domestic issues confronting countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The magazine was established in order to provide Western audiences with insight into the local factors that shape the lives and realities of individuals living in the region, as well as

regional governments. Headed by a board of advisors comprised of well-respected academics and experts on the Middle East and North Africa, Muftah primarily publishes pieces by scholars, students, and members of the diaspora. Since its establishment, Muftah has received favorable attention from a number of media outlets, including Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, PBS Frontline's Tehran Bureau, and the Atlantic Council.

Islamic Extremists Alarm Secular Women in Tunisia."My body is mine, not somebody's honor."

April 2013

"My body is mine, not somebody's honor."

Nineteen-year-old

Tunisian feminist Amina Tyler wrote these words in Arabic across her breasts and stomach to defy growing Islamism in her country, and then posted topless pictures of herself on the Facebook page of the organization Femen Tunisia.
The images went viral on March 8, International Women's Day, and unleashed a month of online debate and some calls by Islamic extremists for her to be stoned to death. Tyler went into retreat but last week broke her silence in an interview with the French magazine Marianne.
"My family accepts me, but not my action," she is quoted as saying in the magazine. "I am tired, I am being given anti-depressants . . . I want to go back to school, I don't feel free. I want to be free to call my friends again, to go on the Internet."
Femen and other feminists called for April 4 to be "International Topless Jihad Day," as it coincides with Tyler's birthday, the French newspaper Liberation reported.
Tyler is an extreme example, but tensions between secular women and political Islam are growing in Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab uprisings.
On Feb. 6, the high-profile secular Tunisian politician Chokri Belaid was killed in what authorities said was an assassination by Salafi Islamist militants. The slaying collapsed the government of Hamadi Jebali, of the ruling moderate Islamist party Ennahda.
The new government, also led by Ennahda, expresses no outright intention to rule the country according to Sharia, or religious law. But its ability or willingness to control a minority of Salafists who want to impose Sharia and create an Islamic state by violent means if necessary is in doubt.
"There is a pressing problem of insecurity in Tunisia with the birth of militia and armed Salafists who attack people without hearing any reaction from the government," said Saida Rached, secretary general of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women, a group that was banned under the ousted regime of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. "Tunisians are starting to suspect the current regime and especially the Ministry of Interior of complicity."

Increased Fear

Because of the insecurity "women are afraid to go out," Rached added, recalling a few incidents in which violent Salafists attacked people, including women, who disagreed with their ideas. Rached spoke with Women's eNews in March, on the sidelines of the U.N. annual meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women.
The attacks have given Salafists a violent reputation, but the majority of adherents seek to establish an Islamic state through legal means. One apolitical faction takes no interest in the modern state and devotes itself to living as much as possible as the prophet Muhammad and his followers did in the 7th century.
Although women have not lost any legal ground, Rached said they are suffering a "social regression" that began with the start of the global economic crisis in 2008 and worsened after the ousting of Ben Ali.
Islam was the religion of the state under the previous constitution adopted in 1959 and the draft version of the new constitution, now being written, reasserts that. Secularists now wonder whether the official religion will overtake state functions and international treaties that sometimes oppose the cultural norms of conservative Islam.
Last year, an article in a draft version of the constitution expressing the "complementarity" between men and women brought protesters into the streets. The word was eventually dropped and replaced by "equality." In the latest draft of the constitution, wording about equality between the sexes appears in the preamble, Article 5, Article 7 and Article 37.
Rached draws little comfort from such concessions. "It is still the Islamist party that is in power and decides who should be ministers and how the country should be ruled," she said "There is no room for the opposition and women to participate in building the country we want."
On March 29 dozens of angry people in Tunis brandished shoes and demanded the resignation of Sihem Badi, the minister of women's affairs, for her slack response to the rape of a 3-year-old girl at a nursery in a Tunis suburb. Badi said a member of the girl's family was to blame and that no measures against the nursery were needed.
Yesterday, a no-confidence motion against Badi was submitted to the Tunisian Parliament. Seventy-eight lawmakers signed the document, exceeding the 73 signatures required for a motion to be discussed. The signatories are demanding the dismissal of Badi from the government.

Polygamy Rumors

Rumors of legalized polygamy recently spread online to the point where a lawmaker named Karima Souid felt compelled to reassure followers on her Facebook page that no such bill had been submitted to the assembly.
Public discussion of female genital mutilation is also on the rise. A few weeks ago, Habib Ellouze, an Ennahda member, sparked outrage after he stated in a newspaper interview that female genital mutilation is "an aesthetic surgery." The president of the Islamist party Ennahda, Rached Ghannouchi, expressed his disapproval for such a practice and was quoted in press accounts as saying that it "goes against Islam and that doesn't belong to the Tunisian culture."
There is no legal ban on female genital mutilation in Tunisia and the practice is uncommon. Article 17 in the draft of the constitution says "the state shall guarantee the physical and moral sanctity of the human self and shall prevent all forms of physical and/or moral torture."
"Ellouze's remarks on the excision are disgusting," said Sophie Bessis, a research fellow at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations in Paris, in an email interview. "FGM has never really existed in North Africa. Ellouze wants to import a barbaric practice."
Bessis, author of the 2007 book "Arabs, Women and Freedom," added that "Tunisia has today a government dominated by conservatives and women are paying the price of it."
She criticized the current draft of the constitution for continuing to affirm Islam as the official religion. "This might lead to abuses and in particular depending on the interpretation of Sharia," Bessis said.
In January, Eric Goldstein, deputy director of Human Rights Watch in the Middle East and North Africa, sent a letter to assembly members saying the latest version of the constitution "is more respectful of the freedom of expression and women's rights than the first draft." However, he expressed concern about provisions such as judicial immunity for the head of state, lack of sufficient guarantees for the independence of the judiciary and ambiguous formulations that could threaten rights and freedoms.
Bessis said the current draft "is not good neither for women or democracy."

Hajer Naili is a New York-based reporter for Women's eNews. She has worked for several radio stations and publications in France and North Africa and specializes in Middle East and North Africa.

21 Women Punished to 11 Years in Prison in Egypt

28/11/2013

An Egyptian court has handed down heavy sentences of 11 years in prison to 21 female supporters of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi for holding a protest, Yahoo News reported. The court in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria issued the ruling Nov. 27, weeks after the women were arrested during a protest demanding the reinstatement Morsi, ousted in a July-3 coup. The women were convicted on multiple charges, including holding a demonstration, sabotage and using force. Seven of them are under 18 years of age.