Mali:Thousands protest move toward equality

Photo: The BBC

In the wake of a much smaller Malian protest against Female Genital Mutilation posted on the Missionary International Service News Agency, the BBC  report tens of thousands of Malian’s protesting new laws passed recently that give women equal rights in marriage.

Sadly, many of the anti- equality protesters appear to be women.  In fact the Beeb quote a female spokesperson, Hadja Sapiato Dembele of the National Union of Muslim Women’s Associations, who says it is un-islamic for a woman not to obey her husband.

She adds that “it’s a tiny minority of women here that wants this new law – the intellectuals. The poor and illiterate women of this country – the real Muslims – are against it.”

This continues a discussion started here, in which I wondered if we in the West can speak out against the choices of our sisters in other cultures in good conscience…Events like this muddy the waters somewhat.

The question of Female Circumcision, which in Mali is carried out by women often on their own daughters and granddaughters, is an incredibly difficult one to talk about in a little blog like this.  It is complex, emotive and incredibly sensitive and I feel certain there is nothing I could say here that wouldn’t in some way be too narrow, or even glib.

All I can really talk about is my personal opinion, which, should you require it, I would be happy to e-mail to you.

As for the female anti – equality spokesperson the Beeb dragged out for their little forray into Diversity reporting…one must call into question the way in which these events are reported by the Western, male dominated, anti-diversity, controversy hungry media.

Is it possible that this story has made it onto the BBC’s website, not because it is appaling that anyone should protest a group being legislatively returned their basic rights, or that they did not have access to those rights in the first place, but because it’s kind of whacky and novel that women should be the ones doing the protesting?

Ms. Dembele’s assertion that ‘real Muslim’ women are both poor and illiterate, and the corresponding inference that one cannot be both educated, wealthy and religious is provocative – it feeds directly into the prejudices of many in the West (myself included).  One may speculate that provocation was not Ms. Dembele’s intention – she is stating what she sees as a fact, airing her own prejudice and emotional response against a cultural and intellectual elite she sees as threatening her chosen way of life.

We are talking about a woman who is the head of a large, national, organisation of women’s groups – what is her background?  Is she educated?

I ask because we are not told if her quote was made in English, or if it is a translation – and therefore potentially different from the true intent of her words. We do not have her tone, or the full context of the quotes.  Care must really be taken.