Womens Rights

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The number of women and girls jailed by Afghan authorities for "moral crimes" has risen by 50% in the last year and a half, an alarming statistic that reflects the Afghan government's need to step up efforts to protect women's rights, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. The New York-based rights group cited Afghan Interior Ministry statistics showing a sharp increase in the number of women and girls imprisoned for "moral crimes," from 400 in October 2011 to 600 in May 2013.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The number of women and girls jailed by Afghan authorities for "moral crimes" has risen by 50% in the last year and a half, an alarming statistic that reflects the Afghan government's need to step up efforts to protect women's rights, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. The New York-based rights group cited Afghan Interior Ministry statistics showing a sharp increase in the number of women and girls imprisoned for "moral crimes," from 400 in October 2011 to 600 in May 2013.

A judge ruled Friday that a tribal clan, not the widow, should bury a prominent lawyer whose remains have been the focus of a legal wrangle that aroused tribal tensions and became a test case for women's rights. Tribesmen had argued that they would be haunted by ghosts if not given the body. The widow immediately blocked the burial by applying for an injunction. Chief Justice Cecil Miller said he would hold a hearing Monday on her request.

Downtown Los Angeles has seen its share of pop-up art galleries and restaurants. On a recent afternoon, it saw its first pop-up burka fitting. "Excuse me, ma'am, I'm working on an art project," said Marie Rim, a soft-spoken 33-year-old artist from Philadelphia. She went table to table at Grand Central Market carrying a flimsy, full-length mirror from Target under one arm and a hand-painted, black-and-yellow sign in the other: "Burka Fitting. See How It Feels to Wear One. All Welcome.

A Washington women's rights organization that regularly critiques the portrayal of women on national TV, slammed ABC's "Mr. Belvedere" and NBC's "The Hogan Family" in its latest report focusing on the television image of teen-age girls. "The overarching theme on television programs is that your looks count a lot more than your brains do," Sally Steenland, author of the study called "Growing Up in Prime Time," said in a phone interview on Wednesday.

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev said Tuesday that women in the Soviet Union have even more rights than men but that their burdens as wives and mothers have increased. He made the statement in a speech opening a world congress of women attended by more than 2,250 delegates from 154 countries. The theme of the congress is "peace, justice and equality."

South Africa gained its third first lady on Monday when President Jacob Zuma married Tobeka Madiba, his fifth marriage and third concurrent spouse. With another fiancee in the wings and rumors about a possible future engagement, the country may have five or more first ladies before Zuma's presidency is over. Zuma's polygamy sits uneasily with the ruling party's commitment to gender equality and has been criticized by women's rights and AIDS activists. But despite the disquiet in some quarters, Monday's wedding passed without media controversy.

In a year of intensified interest in the issue of abortion, "pro-choice" churchgoers looking for moral encouragement are finding little leadership in mainline Protestant congregations. Leaders of Operation Rescue quote the Bible as they blockade clinics and defend their civil disobedience in court. The Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archdiocese observed "Respect Life Sunday" throughout the region Oct. 1 with homilies on the urgency of protecting the unborn.

Dr. Kenneth C. Edelin, formally named Sunday as the new national chairman of the Planned Parenthood Federation, says he is prepared to do political battle with what he views as an escalating effort by anti-abortion rights "terrorists" intent on limiting women's reproductive rights. "I've seen this before," Edelin, a Boston physician, said after the national organization's board ratified his appointment at its annual meeting. "They took their shots at me, and they lost."

A Long Island woman, Nancy Klein, who underwent a controversial abortion to help her chances of recovery from a coma after a car accident in 1988, is now able to talk and recognize family members and is looking forward to the day when she can return home, her doctor said Friday. "She's come a very long way," said Dr. Caroline McCagg, medical director of the New Jersey head injury center where the 32-year-old woman has been undergoing treatment.

Minutes into the third presidential debate, a theme emerged: Lessons have been learned. Don't be rude to the moderator, don't be afraid to call on the fact-checkers, and don't forget to mention women's rights as often as humanly possible. Held on the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's televised announcement of the Cuban missile crisis, Monday night's discussion was supposed to be about foreign policy, and for the most part it was - save for when both candidates strong-armed the narrative back to domestic shores to reiterate central arguments (Mitt Romney: I can fix the economy; President Obama: I am fixing the economy)

There goes Madonna, classing up the joint again. To show her support of Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year-old Pakistani girl shot and critically wounded by the Taliban because of her advocacy for girls' education, the Material Girl (a.k.a. Madge, Esther, the Queen of Pop, the Hottest Bod in the AARP) took the opportunity during a recent concert at L.A.'s Staple Center to pull her pants down and reveal a (fake) tattoo of the girl's name inked across the small of her back. Take that, Taliban!

WASHINGTON - Leading Republicans sought Monday to pressure Rep. Todd Akin into quitting the U.S. Senate race in Missouri, fearing his ill-considered remarks on abortion and rape would cost the GOP its shot at controlling the chamber and damage the party's presidential ticket. Democrats, eager to capitalize on Akin's comments, issued a burst of fundraising appeals - subject line: "Legitimate rape" - and even President Obama weighed in, saying the congressman's statement was hard to comprehend.

The Republican nominee for a U.S. Senateseat in Missouri on Sunday advanced the theory that the female reproductive system can shut down during what he described as a "legitimate rape," thus preventing conception in most cases. Rep. Todd Akin, a tea party candidate who is challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri's closely watched race, was asked in a local television interview about whether he supported access to abortion in the case of rape. "If abortion could be considered in the case of, say, a tubal pregnancy [which threatens the mother's life]

KWAMPUNGOSE, South Africa - As a child, Nike Dlamini grew up under a rule: If anything happened in the family or the village, you went straight to the head man. Quarrels, problems, births, deaths: All had to be reported. In some cases - a child born out of wedlock - there was a fine to be paid. When Dlamini was 11, her older brother made sexual advances, forcing her to undress and stroking her. Dlamini and her sisters went to the head man, the village representative of the traditional king, or chief, for help.

Down on Deasy Re "On a mission to change school district's culture," April 8 In the 1980s I was a teacher in the L.A. Unified School District's Incentive Substitute Teacher Program, which was meant to ensure good instruction and classroom oversight in hard-to-staff schools. I can assure readers that "subbing" is one of the least-empowered positions in the district. That L.A. Unified Supt. John Deasy would walk into a classroom unannounced and criticize "well-regarded" substitute teacher Patrena Shankling as she "carried out the assignment left by the regular teacher," and then the next day send her a letter of termination, is nothing more than bullying.

When I went to see Lorraine Rothman earlier this week, she was still a little jetlagged after a flight from Spain. She and another woman from the Federation of Feminist Women's Health Centers had been the guests of the Spanish government at the State Congress on Family Planning in Seville--the only Americans there. The Europeans, Rothman says, were extremely receptive to what she had to say about redefining women's sexuality and empowering women to care for themselves.

The battle over abortion moved Wednesday to a Los Angeles fast-food restaurant--a Carl's Jr. outlet--where 100 pro-choice picketers protested the financial support that the founder of the Orange County-based chain has given to anti-abortion efforts. The picketers described the late-afternoon action as part of a national strategy to fight back against major funders of anti-abortion organizations, including Carl's Jr. founder Carl Karcher and Domino's Pizza magnate Thomas S. Monaghan.

The Lives of Margaret Fuller A Biography John Matteson W.W. Norton: 510 pp., $32.95 Margaret Fuller didn't need to wear a meat dress to attract attention. This socially awkward New Englander, this unabashed questioner and critic, this woman of not just her time but every time since, was an individual of such soaring intellect and opinion that her contemporaries - Emerson, Thoreau, Greeley, Poe and Hawthorne among them - regarded her with varying degrees of respect and antipathy.

Battle of the sexes Re "Israel women fear setback," Nov. 13 Why is it that ultra-conservative religions, no matter which one, always get around to deciding that women need to be controlled? A caption for one of the article's photos reads, "Ultra-Orthodox leaders say segregation of the sexes in public places is needed to protect women from exploitation and men from temptation. " Conservative Muslims give the same reasons for forcing women to wear burkas; other religious groups here offer similar reasoning for insisting that women wear strange garb.