Violence against women regretted

Violence against women regretted

YOGYAKARTA (JP): First Lady Sinta Nuriyah Abdurrahman Wahid
bemoaned on Thursday the continuing violence against women,
saying that no religion condones oppression or duress against
women.

Speaking at the opening of a seminar on religion and violence
against women at the Century Hotel here on Thursday, Nuriyah said
that religious teachings -- as most teachers have interpreted
them from the various holy scriptures -- in patriarchal societies
tend to benefit men.

The seminar was organized by the Center for Women's Studies of
the state-run Sunan Kalijaga Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN).

Citing the 34th verse of the An-Nisa in the Koran, the First
Lady said Islam recognizes men's predominance over women.

She said, however, that this a verse was, sociologically
speaking, a contextual one which requires very careful and
prudent interpretation.

"The 34th verse of the An-Nisa was conveyed (by Allah to the
Prophet Muhammad) at a time and in a society where no single
woman was responsible for making ends meet. However, nowadays,
many people tend to ignore the context when interpreting the
verse," she said.

She added that (Indonesian) female workers now outnumber male
workers. "Therefore, there is no reason for anybody to interpret
the verse in a rigid way."

A former activist, the First Lady has been demonstrating her
concern over oppression against women.

On Wednesday, speaking at the launch of a book on trafficking
in women and children in Jakarta, Nuriyah deplored the export of
female workers.

"This is a modern form of slavery and thus must be stopped,"
she said. "Exporting workers has become an important source of
state income, but has occasioned numerous disasters to the
workers concerned."

"Using the argument of national development program
imperatives, women's slavery found justification and was
developed into a sophisticated new form through the export of
female contract workers," Nuriyah remarked.

She said a national commitment was needed to stop exporting
female workers due to the continuing violence being perpetrated
against them.

There have been around two million Indonesian female contract
workers sent abroad over the last five years, with the 239,000 of
them who work in Saudi Arabia managing to raise around US$1.12
billion in income for the state. (44/dja)