Democracy and Civil Rights for Iraqi Women

Since the last few posts are focusing on women's civil and human rights, I might as well keep up the trend for another post and refer you to Kat's post and further explanation on her blog. It is a call to arms to help Iraqi women who are demanding their rights be protected under the new Iraqi constitution.

Kat has said it way better than I could and I don't feel like doing more research right now... I will just add that all you have to do is look at the modern history of Afghanistan or The Handmaid's Tale to see which way this could go.

I know that many Americans are under the impression that "this is their culture." Well, Kat has the right of it when she explains that this was not the culture in many nations and many cities in the Middle East and Central Asia before Cold War politics destabilized the region.

About the subject of women's rights, I also want to clarify:

I am not one of those don't-hold-the-door-for-me, women-are-just-men-without-penises types of gals.

I don't think it is inconsistent to demand human and civil rights for women and still celebrate the differences between the sexes.

My husband is very masculine and I am very feminine. With the exception of dealing with electronics (my specialty), we tend to take on very traditional gender roles in our relationship. That is our choice. Everyone should be able to make that choice for themselves.

All should be equal under the law. There is no biological basis for not allowing women to testify in court or treating them as sub-human.

Equality under the law does not make us all equal in fact, however. Some are smarter, larger, stronger, nicer, luckier, etc. That shouldn't mean they have fewer (or more) "rights" than the rest of us.