“Treated Worse than Animals”

Abuses against Women and Girls with Psychosocial or Intellectual Disabilities in Institutions in India

Vidya, a 45-year-old woman was alone at home in Mumbai one night a few years ago when three people knocked on her door. Posing as government health workers conducting vaccinations in the area, they ignored her attempts to resist them, sedated her, and took her away. The next morning, she awoke in a private mental hospital, where she was forced to stay against her will for over a month with virtually no contact with her family or friends and medicated against her will. Without her consent or knowledge, she was also forced to endure electricity passing through her brain in order to induce seizures, a process known as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). "I was like a vegetable,” she said. “It was only many years later that I found out that I was being given ECT.”

Vidya is perceived as having a psychosocial disability, or mental health condition. She later discovered that her husband had institutionalized her, which he was able to do under the terms of the Mental Health Act without the need for a court order. Even after she was discharged from the mental hospital, her husband continued to take her to a local private clinic where she received electroconvulsive therapy under anesthesia without her knowledge or consent. Vidya claims that her husband wanted to label her as “insane” to be able to get a divorce without paying alimony. Her mother finally managed to get her discharged from the hospital over a month later.

More information on : https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/12/03/treated-worse-animals/abuses-against-women-and-girls-psychosocial-or-intellectual

women's contribution to raise their status in society

- most of the women's work is considered household work without any moneytary
-violence against women continues
-BBS study shows that 87% of married women experience some kind of violence and 65 % of these victims experienced physical violence.
-According to Mohila Parishad , from January 1 to June 30, 2028 women were victims of violence out of which 431 were raped, 38 were gang raped, 45 were killed after rape.
-Most recently, a UNICEF study revealed that Bangladesh tops the list in abuse of adolescent girls.
-Manusher Jonno Foundation along with its partners and the government have launched a campaign titled “Equality through Dignity”. The campaign aims to show society the many contributions of women.
-Getting women and girls valued as much as men and boys by society on the basis of their acceptance to participate equally in the economy and the leadership role is of course a fundamental issue in human rights
-Many women who do not work outside want to work and more than 50% women want to work for getting respect from family apart from supporting the family

Middle East Suffrage Timeline

	Right to Vote	Right to Stand for Election
Afghanistan	1965*	1965*
Afghanistan Notes	*Revoked during Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001.	*Revoked during Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001.
Algeria	July 5th, 1962	July 5th, 1962
Armenia	February 2nd, 1921	February 2nd, 1921
Azerbaijan	May 19th, 1921	May 19th, 1921
Bahrain	October 24th, 2002	October 24th, 2002
Comoros	1956	1956
Cyprus	August 16th, 1960	August 16th, 1960
Djibouti	1946	1986
Egypt	June 23rd, 1956	June 23rd, 1956
Eritrea	November 4th, 1955	November 4th, 1955
Iran	September 1963	September 1963
Iraq	1958*/ February 1980	1958/ February 1980
Iraq Notes	*Government “overthrown during the summer of 1958, before any elections with female participation” (p. 188).
Israel	May 15th, 1948	May 15th, 1948
Georgia	November 22nd, 1918	November 22nd, 1918
Jordan	1974*	1974*
Jordan Notes	“Women actually exercised the right to vote and stand for election for the first time in 1989” (p. 206).
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan	June 1918	June 1918
Lebanon	1952	1952
Libya	1963	1963
Mauritania	May 20th, 1961	May 20th, 1961
Morocco	May 1963	May 1963
Oman	1997	1997
Pakistan	1947	1947
Qatar	1999	1999
Saudia Arabia	2015 Municipal Elections (expected)	2015 Municipal Elections (expected)
Somalia	1956	1956
Sudan	November 1964	November 1964
Syria	September 10th, 1949*	1953
Syria Notes	“women who had reached a sixth-grade educational level; it was then extended to all literate women, and in 1953 all educational restrictions on voting were lifted for women” (p. 371).
Tajikistan	1924	1924
Tunisia	1957 (“municipal elections”)/ June 1st, 1959	June 1st, 1959
Turkey	April 3rd, 1930	December 5th, 1934
Turkmenistan	1927	1927
United Arab Emirates	2006	2006
Uzbekistan	1938	1938
Yemen	1967 (People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen)/ 1970 (Arab Republic of Yemen)	1967 (People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen)/ 1970 (Arab Republic of Yemen)

- Women Involvement in Politics in Arab Countries since 1930

Women's Right in Malaysia

https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-11-13/lets-tell-obama-whatobamashouldknow-about-women-malaysia

Malaysia's women's right based on an American public radio organization

Contribution women to society

http://www.thedailystar.net/highlighting-womens-contribution-to-raise-their-status-in-society-43

Successful women
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/geristengel/2013/02/20/8-strategies-successful-women-entrepreneurs-share-with-their-corporate-counterparts/amp/

Background

As we witness a pattern of sexual violence against women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially in Egypt, it is pivotal to assess whether the Arab Spring has brought real change for women in the region. Is the violence a symbol of the region's failure to advance women's rights? Women played a crucial role in uprisings across the region and hoped that their efforts would ultimately improve their social, political, and economic standing.

Tahrir Square, at the height of the 2011 protests, not only symbolized the struggle against autocracy in the MENA region but also a glimmer of hope for a more equitable society, as men and women protested together for weeks. Hundreds of women slept in the square during the Egyptian revolution to preempt a takeover by regime forces.

In Yemen, women were active participants in the protests against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Female Yemeni journalist and activist, Tawakkol Karman, became one of the faces of the Arab Spring and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011.

At the start of the Syrian uprising, women actively organized protests, provided basic supplies to affected families, and spoke out against the regime. Women in Tunisia joined male protesters in efforts to oust long-standing ruler Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. Equally, women were also victims of the former regime's crackdown.

Apart from the general demands for a more inclusive political society and enhanced socioeconomic justice, female protesters in many Arab countries, where gender inequality was a prevailing feature before the uprisings, hoped to enhance their status in society. Thus, in the words of Yemeni political activist Afrah Nasser: “I wanted it to be a double revolution; a political one to topple President Saleh and a feminist one to ensure that women have equal rights in what Yemenis hope will be a new Yemen.”

More information on https://www.fairobserver.com/region/middle_east_north_africa/middle-east-fighting-for-womens-rights/