Tuesday, December 04, 2007

To The Point: The Status of Women in Islamic Countries and the US

The Status of Women in Islamic Countries and the US
Host: Warren Olney
KCRW: To The Point

A Bangladeshi woman was hounded out of her country for comments about the Koran and women's rights. Now she's had death threats from Muslims in India. In Saudi Arabia, a rape victim's sentence of 200 lashes has inspired international outrage. After facing a barrage of questions at last week's Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, promised the courts will review the sentence for the 20-year old woman who was raped—along with a male companion—by seven men. In the United States, women were not given the right to vote until 1920. Current law allows a woman to be elected President, but Hillary Clinton is the first to have a real chance. Misogyny, however, is by no means dead, as demonstrated by many Facebook headlines about her candidacy. Moreover, when a woman supporter asked Senator John McCain, "How do we beat the bitch?," he famously did not rebuke her for using that term. Is misogyny enshrined in Islamic law? What about the United States? We look attitudes toward women in religion and culture.


Guests:
Farida Deif: Women's Rights Researcher, Human Rights Watch
Laleh Bakhtiar: In-House Scholar, Kazi Publications
Bernard Haykel: Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University
Jonathan Tilove: National Correspondent, Newhouse News Service
Michael Kimmel: Professor of Sociology, State University of New York-Stony Brook

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