Girls' School Bombed in Pakistan

A Pakistani middle school for girls was bombed late last night near Peshawar, which is in the northern region bordering Afghanistan. No one was injured in the bombing, but reports indicate that the attack completely destroyed the girls' school building. According to officials, this is the third school bombing this month in the Peshawar region.

Local official Farooq Khan told Agence France Presse that "the girls' middle school was badly damaged because of the explosion, now the school building is almost out of use. The classrooms, desks and chairs were also damaged."

In Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, violence against schools that educate girls has been part of campaigns against the education of women. In Pakistan's Swat Valley, more than 130 primarily all girl schools have been destroyed in the past year, allegedly by the Taliban. In total, hundreds of schools have been destroyed in Pakistan's northwest region over the past several years. During the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which lasted until 2001, Afghan girls were forbidden to attend school. To date, approximately 1,000 girls' or co-educational schools have been bombed or burned in Afghanistan.

Source: Feminist News

Photo credit: Umair Mohsin on flickr.com

Afghan Election - High Stakes and Women Being Left Out

On Thursday, Aug. 20, the polls will open for Afghanistan's presidential election. This is the first election since the U.S. led invasion in 2001, to be primarily run by Afghans, and as you can imagine, in a country that's been the site of conflict for decades, the election process has many faults. The validity of the election is threatened by potential fraud, disenfranchisement of women, strict voting regulations and threats of violence from the Taliban.

Women's votes are at particular risk due to the fact that polling locations are sex-segregated, and the country's Independent Election Commission estimates that there is a shortage of approximately 13,000 female poll workers; meaning women who do intend to vote, will have no polling place at which to do so.

Additionally, immense voter registration fraud is suspected. While male voters' ballots must include an ID photo, women's are not required to do so. Sima Samar, Chair of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, is extremelely concerned by the unusually high number of female voter registrations coming from traditional and conservative regions, and suspects voter fraud.

Other threats to the general election, and even moreso, to women's ability to leave home and cast their ballot, are Taliban threats of violence. Despite a government-issued request that international media not cover any election-day violence so as not to further scare and deter voters, current President, Hamid Karzai, has urged voters to cast their ballots no matter what. Additional peacekeeping troops will be deployed to protect voters.

Photo courtesy of flikr.com

Feminist Friday Wrap-up: Love

Hello feminists! It's finally spring in Washington, and you know what that means. Love is in the air! Which is to say, we always love feminism!

Anyway, today's word is love. We applaud New York Gov. Patterson, who introduced a bill Thursday legalizing same-sex marriage in the state.

The Washington state legislature passed a bill Wednesday broadening the rights and benefits to which same-sex couples are entitled. The Washington governor has said she will sign the bill. Equality for same-sex couples is slowly becoming a reality, but much work remains to ensure we don't lose ground.

We hope a Colorado jury will deliver a just ruling in the murder trial of a young trans woman. The state is prosecuting her killer under a hate-crime statute, and it is the first case in which a state will argue trans violence is covered under its hate-crime law. Colorado is one of 11 states and the District of Columbia with hate crime laws that include gender identity.

We condemn the Taliban execution of a young Afghan couple that attempted to elope. The young woman's parents attempted to force her into an arranged marriage, but she fled to a neighboring village with her partner prior to the marriage. The couple's parents found them and reported them to the Taliban.

Love gets ugly when local and federal governments dispense benefits and punishment based on a narrow-minded view of love and marriage. Americans cherish the idea of equal opportunity, and we can hold our government accountable to this ideal.

Keep working with your public servants and campus community to create a safe, equitable, peaceful society. Have a good weekend, lovers!

<3,
FMF campus team