Afghani law explicitly discriminates against women

In a sad follow up to the March 3 post about domestic violence shelters increasing in Afghanistan, the NY Times ran a story today about President Hamid Karzai's disgusting support of a law that clearly limit the rights of Shiite women. The law, among other glaring problems, limits a woman's ability to leave the house, and obliges her to have sex with her husband at all times (unless "ill").

President Karzai's objection, a frequent one with non-western leaders, is that the western media has misconstrued the reality of the law. I call bogus. I cannot stand when discrimination against women is called a "cultural difference". I think when we started this blog, we hoped for a place where non-western and western feminists could convene and share thoughts, ideas and frustrations. Afghani, specifically Shiite women's voices are missing from this debate. If anyone reading this has any thoughts/feelings/connections with this debate, and feels like they lack the platform in which to express them, please do so.

For the full story, click here