Women as equals

Kuwait: “Several Islamist MPs walked out of parliament during its opening session to protest the appointment of two female ministers – one for education, the other for housing.” LA Times 06/17/08, CS Monitor 06/18/08

The way women are treated in the Middle East is unbelievable and shameful. As the following short list illustrates women being recognized as equals is a recent phenomenon even in the western world. This was pointed out recently on the news by an Iraqi delegate to the UN in response to criticism of how women are not respected in the Middle East. Women received the unconditional right to vote in these countries on these dates:

Isle of Man 1881
Canada 1918
Germany 1918
US 1920
England 1928
Ireland 1928
France 1944
Quebec 1944
Bulgaria 1944
Israel 1948
Greece 1952
Switzerland 1971
Iraq 1974
Portugal 1976
Liechtenstein 1984
Kuwait 2005

Women have limited or no rights to vote in:
Vatican City
Lebanon
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates

I list these facts not as a criticism but as a means of illustration. I want to show that freedom, as women know it now, is a thoroughly modern development and should not be taken for granted. Equality is relative. And the battle – the war - for equality continues particularly here in America.

Twenty nine years ago England had a female Prime Minister, in the form of the Iron Lady, Margate Thatcher. In 1969 Golda Meir became Prime Minister of Israel. Sirimavo Bandaranaike was the Prime Minister of Sri Lanlka from 1960-1965. Indira Gandhi, India Prime Minister, 1966-77. Maria da Lourdes Pintasilgo, Portugal’s Prime Minister, 1979-1980. Isabel Peron, Argentina’s President, 1974-1976. Vigdís Finnbogadóttír, Iceland’s President, 1980-96. Mary Robinson was the Irish President from 1990 to 1997.

On the other hand Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, The Vatican and the UAE have never had a female president. Nor has the leader of worldwide democracy, the United States.

Article on Kuwait: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0618/p01s07-wome.html