On February 14th, Littleton High School welcomed panelists in association with the Denver Council for Foreign Relations (DCFR) to discuss women’s rights in the Middle East. Senior Noura Ali Abid was the student facilitator for the event, which took place in the forum.
Panelists began by each giving a five-minute introduction of their experience and research.
Dr. Nader Hashemi, director of DU Korbel School’s Center for Human Rights, discussed what framework one needs to have a serious discussion of women’s rights. A country must have a constitution and laws, an independent judiciary system to enforce the laws, a legislative body that represents the people, and a free independent press, in order for human rights to be preserved.
“How many countries in the Middle East today meet that framework?” Hashemi asked. His answer? Zero.
He also asked for American introspection into our role in supporting the Middle East. What should be the United States’ role? He went on to pose that U.S. citizens have a responsibility to protect human rights as the U.S. is at present a global superpower.
In addition to looking at the role of the United States, Azita Ranjbar, a Women and Gender Studies professor at CU Boulder, also asked the listeners to be mindful of the Western lens through which many people view the Middle East. She specifically addressed Western views of the hijab.
“In the U.S., we have a tendency to fixate on the hijab as somehow antithetical to human rights or women’s rights,” Ranjbar said. “I think the much more compelling question to ask is how to handle women’s bodily autonomy?” To Ranjbar, bodily autonomy is not just how one wants to dress, like whether or not to wear a hijab, but also includes the right to safety in a public space and the ways in which an individual wants to engage with political processes.
She also described times she spent in Kabul, Afghanistan, where she spoke with women judges. There she learned how the focus on hijabs overshadowed other prevalent issues such as food shortages and education.
“They don’t focus on whether or not we are starving under our hijabs,” said Ranjbar.
The next speakers were two sisters, Saba and Gualali Ismail, two DU students from Pakistan. Saba made a point to explain that Pakistan has a diverse and varied culture, and her experience only reflects one part of that.
Together, at the ages of 15 and 16, they founded Aware Girls, an organization aiming to empower women in Pakistan. They were inspired to create the organization after watching their 12-year-old cousin discontinue her education to marry a man 15 years older than her. They became determined to prevent other girls from similar situations. A notable person who trained with the program was Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai.
The panelists went on to answer questions regarding the present occupation of Afghanistan by the Taliban, the ongoing Mahsa Amini protests taking place in Iran, the role of social media in the absence of a free press, and thorough discussions on the role other nations should or should not be taking.
Ismail left us by encouraging us never to assume the needs of a community that we want to help. The best thing to do? Elevate the voices of Middle Eastern women and listen.