Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Iraqi Women Fear Going Public in Elections


So Iraqi women are afraid to run for office? If Iraqi women lived in America, they'd be afraid to run for office too. Hell, after what they've done to Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, plenty of American women are afraid to run for office.

The Sarah Palin half of the photo here was featured on CNN's Reliable Sources shortly after she was declared as McCain's VP. Not a word was said about the fact that the photo is photo-shopped.

When this crap happens in the workplace, it's recognized by law as sexual harassment. We need to expand the definitions of legally actionable sexual harassment. Can you hear me, Catharine MacKinnon?

Think Progress:

“Under heavy U.S. pressure to promote gender equality,” Iraq has adopted rules requiring that women make up at least a quarter of provincial councils. However, rampant violence and lingering gender inequality has led to a shortage of women willing to run for public office in the Jan. 31 elections:

In the past elections, names did not appear on the ballot—only numbers and symbols identified with political parties. …. In the new vote, the names of candidates must be presented to voters.

The change to a so-called open list has scared some qualified Iraqis from running, particularly women. Activists are worried there won’t be enough women to meet the 25 percent threshold, or that the parties will just find women to act as figureheads to fill the quota.

via Make Them Accountable