Out complaining that Bush Administration is the focus of evil in the world, no doubt. Certainly too busy to be concerned about this new report from Freedom House.

Women face a pervasive lack of freedom in the Arab world and no country in the region meets international standards for protecting their rights, human rights activists charged on Saturday.

Freedom House, a U.S.-based group, said a study of countries in the broader Middle East and North Africa had found that women were disadvantaged in nearly all areas of society, including justice, the economy, education, healthcare and media.

The study, which was distributed at a World Economic Forum regional meeting in Jordan, called for Arab governments to eliminate discriminatory laws and remove barriers to women participating in politics and business.

Sameena Nazir, editor of the report, said such moves were necessary both as a matter of principle and in order to make moves towards democracy in the region meaningful.

"Women are half the population of the Middle East," she told Reuters in an interview. "If they are not part of the democratisation process in a full capacity, the process will be incomplete.

The study ranked 16 Arab countries, the West Bank and Gaza on various areas such as access to justice, economic rights and social and cultural rights.

Only three countries -- Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria -- scored at or above a level described as reflecting "imperfect adherence" to universally accepted rights standards in more than one category.

Many countries, notably Saudi Arabia and some fellow Gulf states, had very low scores.

So while the supposed crusaders for women's rights are out here complaining that there are folks here who want a minor child to get parental consent before an abortion (just like she would need for any other surgical procedure), women in Saudi Arabia cannot even get medical treatment at a hospital for life-threatening emergencies without the consent of a male relative.

But I guess the NOW hags have their priorities -- consequence-free sex for children matters so much more than the lives and health of women.

Posted by: Greg at 04:42 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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