Heroine: Eman al-Obeidy

Libyan Woman Struggles to Tell Media of Her Rape

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Published: March 26, 2011

A woman burst into the hotel housing the foreign press in Tripoli Saturday and fought off security forces as she told journalists that she had been raped and beaten by Qaddafi militia members.

 

“They say that we are all Libyans and we are one people,” said the woman, who gave her name as Eman al-Obeidy. “But look at what the Qaddafi men did to me.” She displayed a broad bruise on her face, a large scar on her upper thigh, several narrow and deep scratch marks lower on her leg, and marks that seemed to came from binding around her hands and feet.
She said she had been raped by 15 men. “I was tried up and they defecated and urinated on me.,” she said. “They violated my honor.”
She pleaded for friends she said were still in custody. “They are still there, they are still there,” she said. “As soon as I leave here they are going to take me to jail.”
 

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/world/middleeast/27tripoli.html

Who are you calling past it? | Life and style | The Guardian

Who are you calling past it? | Life and style | The Guardian

Amal and Minna

Yet side by side with the ugliest of humanity, you find the best. The two sisters stood their ground. They explained calmly to the mob why they favored democratic reform and listened patiently to the screams of the pro-Mubarak mob. When the women refused to be cowed, the men lost interest and began to move on — and the two women continued to walk to the center of Tahrir Square.

Read the rest of this column by Nicholas Kristov

Watching Thugs With Razors and Clubs at Tahrir Sq. - NYTimes.com

Ask a Woman Who Knows - Ta-Nehisi Coates - Culture - The Atlantic

Excerpt:

Take a moment to consider this. We live in a world where it's okay to badger brilliant and accomplished human beings—who presumably have many, many fascinating things to talk about relating to their lives' works—about marriage and childbirth simply because they have female reproductive organs.

I'm not trying to be flippant about this, because really, it's depressing. And even more depressing is the fact that women have to be gracious while answering, because these questions assume that marriage and babies are ever-present, important issues on every woman's mind. Again, it's little wonder that women are making such small inroads in Congress.

Read the entire article (with videos) here:
Ask a Woman Who Knows

15 Good Things to Celebrate in a Bad Year - Including 3 Inspirational Women

15 Good Things to Celebrate in a Bad Year

By Medea Benjamin

This year was marked by turmoil at home and abroad, including a deepening financial crisis that continues to leave millions jobless and homeless, as well as ongoing and expanding wars. But despite the setbacks and disappointments, here is a list of victories to be thankful for, starting with three inspirational women.

1. On November 13, Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest. In 1990 her party, the National League for Democracy, won the elections but the military junta refused to let them take power. Instead, Suu Kyi was kept under house arrest for almost 15 of the last 21 years. Her release brings great joy and hope to millions of people in Burma and supporters of democracy worldwide.

2. Dilma Rousseff was elected president of Brazil and takes power on January 1. Dubbed by the media "the most powerful woman in the world," Rousseff was tortured and jailed for three years for opposing Brazil's military dictatorship. She later became Chief of Staff for the popular outgoing president and former metalworker, Lula da Silva, whose policies of growth with equity have helped pull millions of Brazilians out of poverty. While some worry about Rousseff's commitment to the environment (she was also Lula's Energy Minister), the fact that a progressive woman from the Labor Party will rule a powerhouse like Brazil is cause for celebration.

3. Elizabeth Warren became "consumer czar." After the financial meltdown in 2008, Warren was appointed Chairwoman of the five-member Congressional Oversight Panel created to investigate the banking bailout and oversee TARP. She won tremendous public support by sharply criticizing the banks and calling for greater transparency and accountability. Warren advocated for a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect borrowers from abuses in mortgages, credit cards and other consumer loans. On September 17 President Obama named her special adviser by to oversee the development of this new bureau.

Read article in full:
15 Good Things to Celebrate in a Bad Year |

Dr. Hawa Abdi - Heroic, Female and Muslim

'But there’s another side of Islam as well, represented by an extraordinary Somali Muslim woman named Dr. Hawa Abdi who has confronted the armed militias. Amazingly, she forced them to back down — and even submit a written apology. Glamour magazine, which named Dr. Hawa a “woman of the year,” got it exactly right when it called her “equal parts Mother Teresa and Rambo.”'

Heroic, Female and Muslim - NYTimes.com

Anuradha Koirala: CNN Hero of the Year

Woman fighting sex slavery named CNN Hero of the Year - CNN.com