And yes, using the excuse of liberating Afghan women is just sick, especially after we funded and armed the Taliban!

I don’t agree however with your statement “This happened BECAUSE of Islam”. To me , it is not about Islam. Islamic countries were some of the most enlightened in the world in times past. It is about the way that Islamic countries are governed – I think this is a distinct difference. And when I find out more and more about how repressive and fundamentalist regimes were financed and supported (and still are) by countries such as the UK and the US it makes me despair.

I actually wrote about Zambia’s/Chansa Kabwela’s situation on Equal Writes last week — http://equalwrites.blogspot.com/2009/09/pain-and-porn-zambian-news-editor-on.html — so I’ve been thinking about it a lot and the variances in coverage of this story and that one, and how we should best address issues surrounding maternal and infant mortality. Naturally, they’re not at all the same situation, but I was wondering if the difference between Muslim country and Christian country made a difference. It seems there could be a racist element, too — a Middle Eastern girl who dies in childbirth being viewed as a delicate, exotic flower and stirs up outrage, while Sub-Saharan African girls dying in childbirth is largely ignored.

Amelia, I’m so glad you wrote about this — I read about it yesterday morning and felt sick all day. Especially after reading and writing about the horrifying situation in Zambia I didn’t have the emotional energy to even process it, let alone write. Thank you, too, for including the link to the Foreign Operations Bill — I often feel completely helpless in the face of situations like this, given their religious, economic, cultural, and diplomatic complexities. Supporting family planning seems like a positive, constructive step — I’m going to read more about it and probably call my Congressman’s office.

It is always good to see a single case with a name being reported as it means so much more than a statistic, but I also came to the conclusion that the only reason that the death of Fawziya Ammodi was being reported was as a stick to beat Islam. Don’t get me wrong, I too find many aspects of Sharia law are obscene towards women, but it seems to me that the only way they will be countered is by enabling a full education for all thereby empowering women and girls to know their rights as human beings, and also to counter and question the misogony that boys and men grow up with as the absolute norm.

Thanks for posting the link to Dr. Ana Langer’s piece – she focuses on developing countries, which is very worthy and absolutely necessary, but I won’t hold my breath that the G8 will do anything to help women. I was pleased to see that EngenderHealth have an office in the US as I do read of many strange forms of sex education and reproduction control which are (as yet) alien to what I see here in the UK. And the simple fact that birth control is dependent on income is also alien as it is free in the UK. Obviously the UK also fails in areas of sex education and access to healthcare too!

You are right – there are many varied discussions that can come from this tragic story and I could go on and on…

It is a women’s rights issue. not poverty. and not maternal healthcare.

It’s sort of repulsive to suggest that Yemen get better materalcare so that men can keep their sex slaves for longer. gross