Women's Rights and/as Human Rights
Author: MISTY STINNETT Date: Tuesday, April 1, 2008 6:27pm
In the articles this week, I was very intrigued by the idea of human/women’s rights and
religious rights. In Riverbend’s blog « Civilization… » on page 112, she writes : « Iraqis
have gotten accustomed to the ‘security checks.’ The checks are usually worse for
women than men, because we have to watch our handbags get rummaged through and
sometimes pulled out and examined while dozens of people stand by, watching. » This
brings up a point from the essay « Women’s Human Rights : An introduction » : « In
looking at the human rights framework from women's perspectives, women have shown
how current human rights definitions and practices fail to account for the ways in which
already recognized human rights abuses often affect women differently because of their
gender » (Bunch, Frost).
Riverbend goes on to describe how a soldier offended the people being checked because
he handled the Quran without cleansing himself for prayer, and even throwing it on the
ground. The woman who owned the Quran was handcuffed and a demonstration broke
out. Riverbend writes on page 113 « But that’s where the difference is : the majority of
Iraqis have a deep respect for other cultures and religions…. That’s what civilization is. »
In the Article « Whose Security ? » Susan Bunch observes « The perception created by
the Western media is that virtually all Americans support Bush's militaristic threats »
(Bunch), while Riverbend confirms at the end of the blog that this belief is so. Just a
quick quote from the readings that defines how religious rights and women/human rights
can sometimes conflict « For decades, work to transform practices which are physically
or psychologically damaging to women and that have often been "protected" under the
rubric of religion, tradition or culture has been particularly difficult, given both the
integrity of culture guaranteed by the Universal Declaration and the history of Northern
domination in much of the world » (Bunch, Frost).
In the articles this week, I was very intrigued by the idea of human/women’s rights and
religious rights. In Riverbend’s blog « Civilization… » on page 112, she writes : « Iraqis
have gotten accustomed to the ‘security checks.’ The checks are usually worse for
women than men, because we have to watch our handbags get rummaged through and
sometimes pulled out and examined while dozens of people stand by, watching. » This
brings up a point from the essay « Women’s Human Rights : An introduction » : « In
looking at the human rights framework from women's perspectives, women have shown
how current human rights definitions and practices fail to account for the ways in which
already recognized human rights abuses often affect women differently because of their
gender » (Bunch, Frost).
Riverbend goes on to describe how a soldier offended the people being checked because
he handled the Quran without cleansing himself for prayer, and even throwing it on the
ground. The woman who owned the Quran was handcuffed and a demonstration broke
out. Riverbend writes on page 113 « But that’s where the difference is : the majority of
Iraqis have a deep respect for other cultures and religions…. That’s what civilization is. »
In the Article « Whose Security ? » Susan Bunch observes « The perception created by
the Western media is that virtually all Americans support Bush's militaristic threats »
(Bunch), while Riverbend confirms at the end of the blog that this belief is so. Just a
quick quote from the readings that defines how religious rights and women/human rights
can sometimes conflict « For decades, work to transform practices which are physically
or psychologically damaging to women and that have often been "protected" under the
rubric of religion, tradition or culture has been particularly difficult, given both the
integrity of culture guaranteed by the Universal Declaration and the history of Northern
domination in much of the world » (Bunch, Frost).