Honor Killings

The argument is being made that women are being treated fairly in the Muslim world. I wish it were so.

The practice of 'honor killings' speaks against it, however. Several days ago, three sisters were murdered, probably by their own father and brothers, for allegedly inappropriate intimate behavior with males that may not have included actual sex.

The Wikipedia says that "The United Nations Population Fund estimates that the annual worldwide total of honor-killing victims may be as high as 5,000 women."

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From the National Geographic:

"'In countries where Islam is practiced, they're called honor killings, but dowry deaths and so-called crimes of passion have a similar dynamic in that the women are killed by male family members and the crimes are perceived as excusable or understandable,' said Widney Brown, advocacy director for Human Rights Watch.

The practice, she said, 'goes across cultures and across religions.'

Complicity by other women in the family and the community strengthens the concept of women as property and the perception that violence against family members is a family and not a judicial issue.

'Females in the family—mothers, mothers-in-law, sisters, and cousins—frequently support the attacks. It's a community mentality,' said Zaynab Nawaz, a program assistant for women's human rights at Amnesty International."

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There is a lot that is good about Islam. But condoning this kind of behavior is not. And we must be honest about that.

There's a very interesting blog called "Or Does it Explode?: Inside the Struggle for Civil Rights in the Middle East" that covers a lot of women's issues.