GENDER GAP

ICELAND BECOMES FIRST COUNTRY TO MAKE ITILLEGAL TO PAY MEN MORE THAN WOMEN 

Iceland has passed radical new legislation to become the first country in the world where companies must legally prove they are not discriminating on the basis of gender.

The new law - effective from 1 January 2018 - requires all private and public employers with more than 25 staff to obtain government certification of their equal pay policies – or face fines and auditing.

Brynhildur Heiðar- og Ómarsdóttir, the managing director of the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association told HuffPost UK: “We are absolutely delighted with this new legislation.”

Iceland already uses the Equal Pay Standard, a set of rules and regulations which companies use to measure the gender pay gap within their establishments. The new law means they are now mandated to undergo certification every three years based on this standard.

Heiðar- og Ómarsdóttir warned: “But of course, the Equal Pay Standard is not a cure-all. That is, it only tackles one part of the problem of gender pay discrimination. To completely eradicate the gender pay gap, we need to tackle larger social issues such as making sure that professions which are mostly female are paid equally to professions that are mostly male, and we need to ensure that men and women are equally responsible for families since today women are more likely to work part-time or take time off work to take care of families.”

Iceland, which has a population of about 335,000 and where 38 per cent of parliamentarians are female - above the global average - including Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, wants to eradicate the gender pay gap by 2022.

The North Atlantic island nation was ranked first in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2015 Global Gender Gap Index, followed by Norway, Finland and Sweden. But Icelandic women still earn, on average, 14% to 18% less than men. The United Kingdom ranked 18th out of 145 countries.

The WEF reported last year reported an economic gap of 58 percent between the sexes and forecast women would have to wait 217 years before they earn as much as men and have equal representation in the workplace.

“Iceland is ranked as world’s most gender equal country by (the World Economic Forum) ... Clearly Iceland is very serious about gender equality,” former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark wrote on Twitter.

“The new law by Iceland can help change attitudes to women in business as well as in politics, and inspire other countries to do the same,” said Virginie Le Masson, a research fellow at the London-based Overseas Development Institute.

“Ample evidence shows that women work as much as men and are still paid less,” she added.

US independent Bernie Sanders, a leading liberal voice in the Senate, called on the United States to follow Iceland’s example.

“We must follow the example of our brothers and sisters in Iceland and demand equal pay for equal work now, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexuality or nationality,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

News of the new law was first announced on International Women’s Day in March 2017.

That month, Equality and Social Affairs Minister Thorsteinn Viglundsson said “the time is right to do something radical about this issue”.

“Equal rights are human rights,’’ he said. “We need to make sure that men and women enjoy equal opportunity in the workplace. It is our responsibility to take every measure to achieve that.’’

In October thousands of Icelandic women left work at 2.38pm and demonstrated outside parliament to protest the gender pay gap. Women’s rights groups calculate that after that time each day, women are working for free.

THE GENDER PAY GAP ISN’T A MYTH 

One of the most common arguments made about the gender pay gap is that it simply doesn’t exist.

Pay gap deniers love to dispute the claim that, on average, women in the United States make 79 cents for every dollar a man earns, arguing that it is a misleading oversimplification. “Few experts dispute that there is a wage gap, but differences in the life choices of men and women — such as women tending to leave the workforce when they have children — make it difficult to make simple comparisons. That’s what’s so facile about repeatedly citing ‘78 cents,’” argued a 2015 Washington Post article. (Since that piece came out, the figure increased from 78 to 79 cents.)

But the argument that “life choices” made by women are the real reason behind the gap is, in itself, an absurd oversimplification. Sure, many women choose to stay home or cut back their hours after having children. But many others don’t opt out. They’re forced out because they cannot afford child care, or find a full-time job that affords them any kind of flexibility. And, culturally, Americans remain ambivalent about women working outside of the home. A little more than 30 percent of Americans still believe women should stay home full-time to care for young children. These biases, which play out both in the workplace and outside of it, affect how much “choice” some women feel they actually have, and speaks to the types of judgments women face for making said choices. Plus, women face a well-known “motherhood penalty.” They’re less likely to be hired for jobs once they have children — unlike men, whose prospects improve.

Another beloved means of dismissing the gender pay gap is to point out that women tend to work in lower-paying (i.e., traditionally “female”) fields, like teaching, nursing and social work. And yes, that’s true. “Women, as a whole, continue to work in lower-paying occupations than men do,” Pew says.

But research has shown that even when women enter traditionally “male” fields, they make less. In fact, research looking at pay changes over decades has shown that when more women enter a traditionally male field, pay within that field begins to decline. As The New York Times reported, when more women began working in parks or running camps, for example, median hourly wages declined by 57 percentage points. Same goes for fields like design, housekeeping and biology. Conversely, when more men enter a traditionally female field, wages go up.

“It’s not that women are always picking lesser things in terms of skill and importance,” a researcher told The New York Times. “It’s just that the employers are deciding to pay it less.”

WOMEN IN SPAIN EARN 13% LESS THAN MEN FOR SIMILAR WORK, NEW STUDY SHOWS 

Men and women who perform similar tasks in the workplace do not earn the same in Spain. Women’s hourly earnings are 12.7% lower than men’s, according to a study that is based on statistically adjusted EU data from 2014.

This figure is lower than in 2002, the first year covered by the research, but it still evidences “some worrisome dynamics.” The gap exists across variables such as age, education, years of service, occupation, type of contract, length of working day, activity and company size.

Gender pay gap deniers have long claimed that these differences in earnings stem from the fact that women tend to work fewer paid hours, have more precarious jobs, perform lower-paid work and have fewer job responsibilities. Yet this claim now appears to have been debunked by the adjusted figures, which emerge from a research project funded by the Foundation for Applied Economic Studies (FEDEA), and to which EL PAÍS has had access.

The study was headed by José Ignacio Ruiz-Conde, a Spanish economist who teaches at Madrid’s Complutense University and is deputy director at FEDEA, a think tank that conducts research on economic and social issues affecting Spain.

The project used data from the EU’s Structure of Earnings Survey for 2014, the most recent available year, which show that a woman’s hourly earnings are 14.9% lower than a man’s. But this figure is unadjusted and does not necessarily mean that the jobs are similar, or even comparable. In order to achieve a more homogeneous comparison, FEDEA researchers adjusted the figures according to impact on wages caused by variables such as age, experience, contract type and others.

But researchers note that the Eurostat survey “does not contain information about the number of children or the socioeconomic traits of people who could have joined the workforce but didn’t.”

The result of this research is a pay gap of nearly 13%, compared with nearly 15% in the EU survey. If annual earnings are considered instead – and these are what really determine a person’s quality of life – the gap reaches 23% (€20,051.58 for women versus €25,992.76 for men).

Paying a woman less than a man for the same position has been illegal since 1980. These statistical analyses do not claim that this is happening, since the data is not detailed enough to know whether two individuals are performing the exact same job in the same company and with the same collective bargaining agreement. Instead, these studies “measure whether men and women are receiving similar pay for similar tasks.” And that is where a pay gap shows up across variables.

“Worrisome dynamics”

The FEDEA report notes that “significant progress has been made, adjusting for all observable characteristics, as the gap has shrunk by a third since 2002,” the starting year for the analysis. This progress is tied to “education, experience and average years of service.” However, the study adds that “we are still far from gender equilibrium, and a few worrisome dynamics persist.”

One of these is the fact that “the gap increases with age.” Women under 30 earn 4.7% less, and this percentage rises progressively to 17.2% among women over 59. Maternity could be an explanation, but researchers warn that the survey does not contain information about personal family circumstances, and so “it is not possible to estimate the effect” of child-rearing on pay gaps.

Researchers also suggested, based on an analysis of other studies, that the pay gap could also be influenced by the fact that “women tend to be worse negotiators than men when they are negotiating something for themselves.”

FURTHER READING

THE GENDER NO-PAY GAP: WOMEN IN SPAIN DO TWICEAS MUCH UNPAID WORK AS MEN 

92% OF SPANIARDS BELIEVE GENDER INEQUALITYPERSISTS, POLL FINDS 

FIVE REASONS TO BAN THE BURQA

Belgium and France have banned the Burqa and the new Dutch government is considering doing the same.  Critics have charged that the ban is religiously intolerant, some even claim that it’s intolerant of women, but the truth is that the Burqa is dangerous to women. Both those who wear it—and those who don’t.

1. The Burqa Covers Up Abuse

Countries where the Burqa is commonly worn also have higher rates of domestic violence.  In Afghanistan 87 percent of women reported experiencing domestic violence. In Pakistan that number goes as high as 90 percent. Domestic violence is also a major problem in Saudi Arabia.

In cases of domestic abuse, the Burqa doesn’t just isolate the woman, it also covers up evidence of the abuse. It gives the abuser the freedom to brutalize his partner without worrying that anyone will even notice.

This is an especially vital issue in Europe, where spousal abuse is a serious crime, and the abuser has more motivation than ever to cover it up. The Burqa successfully isolates abuse victims, cuts them off from any prospective support networks and prevents anyone on the outside from even realizing what is being done to them.

The Muslim community has been in denial about its rates of domestic abuse. The Burqa is one reason why. It’s easier not to see abused women, when they are segregated and the marks of their abuse are kept out sight.

2.  The Burqa Justifies Sexual Assault on Women Who Don’t Wear It

In response to a gang rape, the Chief Mufti of Australia said, "If she was in her room, in her home, in her Hijab, no problem would have occurred." By wearing the Burqa or Hijab, women participate in a narrative that gives rapists a pass for sexual assaults on women who don’t dress the way the Mufti or Imam says they should.

The Koran gives a similar justification for a head to toe covering for women, “O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies that they may thus be distinguished and not molested.” (Koran 33:59)

This distinction between women who can be ‘molested’ and those who cannot is what makes the Burqa such an explosive addition to Europe—which is already suffering from a high rate of Muslim sexual assaults on non-Muslim women.

The Burqa divides women into “good girls” and “whores” and gives potential rapists, religious ammunition for their crimes.

Banning the Burqa protects women who choose not to wear it from being assaulted because of their perceived immodesty.

3.  Civic Participation

The essence of a modern society is that it extends civic participation to everyone. Deliberately preventing an entire gender from participating in society as identifiable individuals is an assault on the democratic character of the state.

Individuals are recognizable through personal attributes. Remove those attributes and you remove the individuality as well. The Sahih Bukhari relates that one inspiration for the Burqa was that one of Mohammed’s followers was able to recognize one of his wives at night. The implication is that the Burqa is meant to prevent such recognition from taking place. Women are not meant to be recognized as individuals. Or to be empowered to make their own decisions.

The Burqa is designed to impede interaction outside the home. The failure to be recognized as an individual is dehumanizing and deprives women of their role in civic life.

Countries where the Burqa is in wide use, have low rates of female civic participation. In Saudi Arabia women are not allowed to vote. In parts of Pakistan, women are not allowed to vote as well. In Afghanistan women were shunted into female only polling stations, or forced to vote by proxy through a male family member.

The rise of such segregation in Europe would threaten the democratic character of the society.  But should the Burqa become widespread, the status of some European women living in national capitals would begin to resemble those of Saudi and Pakistani women.

4. Segregation is Discrimination

Purdah segregates women at homes and the Burqa segregates them in public. While the authorities cannot interfere with what people choose to do in their own homes—the public wearing of the Burqa is a statement that women are unequal and must be segregated.

Such an attitude is an assault on the legal place of women in society. It imposes the norms of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on the streets of Paris and London. Like a Klan march, it a dehumanizing and intimidating statement of bigotry against a segment of society.  While in the United States, such marches are legal, in much of Europe they are not.

If radicals are prevented from making public statements about the inferiority of races, why should they be permitted to assert the inferiority of a gender.

“Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the other,” the Koran asserts. Replace ‘women’ with any race or religion, and a public assertion of such a thing would be cause for criminal proceedings.

Imposing the segregation of the Burqa on women in an assertion of a bigoted creed that dehumanizes an entire gender. While Muslims are free to believe what they do, a public display that dehumanizes women as a gender by treating their faces as obscene, is an intolerant violation of the norms of civil society.

5.  The Wearing of the Burqa is Enforced Through Violence

“More often the girls were under orders from their fathers and uncles and brothers, and even their male classmates. For the boys, transforming a bluejeaned teen-age sister into a docile and observant "Muslim" virgin was a rite de passage into authority, the fast track to becoming a man, and more important, a Muslim man.... it was also a license for violence.”  (Jane Kramer, Taking the Veil, New Yorker)

In 2003 a French survey found that 77 percent of girls who wore the Hijab did so because of threats. Women in the Muslim world have been punished by having acid thrown in their faces for not complying with similar demands. There is no way to break through this climate of coercion except by giving women and girls immunity from such demands by banning the source of it. The Burqa.

The Burqa also exposes women to blackmail and intimidation when they deviate from the standard of full body covering. There is a rising number of cases in which women and girls who posted Facebook pictures of themselves in normal clothes have been blackmailed and threatened for it.

As long as the Burqa remains a threat hanging over the heads of Muslim and non-Muslim women alike, no woman in Europe can truly be free from its implied threat to her person and her political freedoms.

Author: Daniel Greenfield

Source: http://www.frontpagemag.com

DOES DISCRIMINATION STILL EXIST? OF COURSE IT DOES

DISCRIMINATION EXISTS If you don't believe that discrimination exists, here are some facts that prove my point. 

Race/national origin discrimination: As of July 2011, 13.9 Americans were unemployed. 6.3 million of them were unemployed over 27 weeks. While 8.3 percent of whites are unemployed, compare that to 15.9 percent of African Americans and 11.3 percent for Hispanics. The use of credit history to screen applicants, which is still a widespread practice, can have a disproportionate impact on minorities and women. While some states are making moves to limit discrimination against the unemployed and those with poor credit, we have a long way to go before these practices are eliminated.

The chance of an African American male born in 2001 of going to jail is 32%. Hispanic males have a 17% chance and white males have a 6% chance. With the extreme disparity in arrest and incarceration rates among the races, EEOC has acknowledged that using arrest and convictions to exclude people from employment may have a disparate impact on minorities. Yet most states still allow criminal records to be used to exclude otherwise qualified applicants, even if the crime had nothing to do with their ability or qualification to perform the particular job.

Sex discrimination: The wage gap between men and women still stands. Women earn about 77 cents for every dollar men earn. The numbers drop even lower for African American and Hispanic women. Bad attitudes about working mothers abound. Once women have three children or more,they are way less likely to make it back into the workplace. Judges who are supposed to apply the law on pregnancy discrimination describe these cases as "work-life balance" issues and toss them aside. No wonder women who expect they will be easily able to balance working and having kids are suffering from depression.

While there was an outcry about Jeremy Irons' comments to the effect that women don't mind being pawed at work, the sad fact that this attitude still persists in the public at large. I've seen way more blatant sexual harassment recently, and I think it's because harassers like to exploit women's fear of losing their jobs in bad economic times to their advantage. Sexual harassment is more about power than sex. A harasser is just like a rapist -- if they aren't stopped, their behavior will accelerate. So why is it getting even more difficult to bring and win sexual harassment cases in court?

Age discrimination: The people I see in my office to go over severance agreements tend, overwhelmingly, to be over 40. The recession is hitting boomers hard and fast. The EEOC reportsthat age discrimination complaints went from 19.6% of all charges filed in 1997 to 23.3% in 2010. My post on AOL Jobs, 9 Signs of Age Discrimination, had 239 comments, many of them with heartbreaking tales of jobs lost after years of dedicated service. It was emailed to friends and family members 1362 times - a sign that many of us know someone we think was an age discrimination victim.

Katherine Kores, District Director of the Memphis Division of EEOC, testified that she has noticed these trends in the age discrimination cases filed in her office:

• Denied entry level positions to older workers, claiming that older applicants were over-qualified (even when they had not previously worked in the field) or that the jobs were being saved for high school and college students;

• Failed to hire older workers because they assumed older applicants would not possess the requisite technological skills;

• Failed to hire older workers because they believed the older workers would not remain on the job for an extended period of time.

I see the same trends in my practice. We make assumptions about older workers that simply aren't true, and it's forcing them to gut their 410Ks, cash in their life insurance and sell or lose their homes. Their retirement safety net is gone.

How Can You Stand Up For Yourself?

Many people tell me, when I ask if they reported discrimination to Human Resources before they were fired, that they didn't want to "go there." Instead, they tip-toed around the issue and reported unfairness, favoritism, harassment or hostile environment. Then they wonder why they were retaliated against. The problem is, complaining about any of those things doesn't protect you from retaliation. Bullying isn't illegal in any state.

Harassment: If you think you're being singled out due to race, age, sex, religion, national origin, disability, genetic information, or any other protected status, and you haven't been fired, demoted, denied a job or promotion, or suspended without pay, the discrimination is considered harassment. You have to report it under the employer's harassment policy first and give them a chance to correct the situation before you can file with EEOC or sue. That's the Supreme Court's rule, not mine, so complain to them if you don't like it. (No, not really. They won't take your calls and the Secret Service frowns upon showing up and knocking on their doors.) Put your complaint in writing so HR can't deny it later. Call it "Formal Complaint of [Race, Age, Sex, etc.] Discrimination."

Retaliation: If you're retaliated against for making your discrimination complaint, then you're legally protected.

Termination: If you're handed a layoff or exit package, severance agreement or other document to sign when you're fired/let go/laid off, read it carefully. If you think you've been singled out due to your protected status, go talk to an employment lawyer in your state. You might have leverage to negotiate a better package. If you sign, you're probably giving up any discrimination claims you have.

Don't buy into the attitude that discrimination doesn't exist, that it's all in your head, that you shouldn't "go there." Discrimination is real. Don't be a victim. Stand up for yourself.

TYPES OF DISCRIMINATION IN THE WORKPLACE

Types of Discrimination That Exist at the Workplace

Discrimination in the workplace is an unfortunate reality for many workers. Whether it is based on hostility or ignorance of co-workers, or on the intransigence of outmoded infrastructure or company policies, discrimination can lead to various difficulties for its victims, ranging from unfairly low pay to fear of reprisals to discomfort in the presence of employers or co-workers who are prejudiced against them. 

Race

Racial discrimination occurs in the workplace whenever an employee is treated differently because of his race. This can include lower pay, denial of promotion, assignment to less desirable jobs, harassment or inappropriate humor. While some behaviors or policies are clearly discriminatory, acts, comments, or decisions that are more subtle are often more problematic. It is quite possible, and even common, for racially tinged acts and comments to be couched in good-natured banter or hidden in acts that seem perfectly acceptable. Sometimes people act in discriminatory ways without even being aware of it. Training in the problems of racism in the workplace can sometimes help to make employees more aware of its insidious effects. 

Sexual Orientation

Discrimination against individuals for their sexual orientation is common both in the workplace and out. It is particularly ironic that this should be such a problem in a workplace, since by definition a person's sex life should not be part of a workplace, unless they are working in a very unusual workplace. Until quite recently, it was perfectly legal and even acceptable to mock people for their sexual orientation. Laws and times have changed, but many people's attitudes have not, leading to a cultural gap between people of differing sexualities who are insisting, sometimes quite loudly, on their rights, and another population who believes that they are "wrong" or "sick" due to their personal lifestyle choices. 

Gender

Gender discrimination usually takes place against women, although it can occur against men as well. Women are frequently underestimated and under-appreciated in the workplace, and in particularly egregious cases of discrimination can be mocked, insulted, and even physically attacked and raped. Like racism, the more mild forms of sexism are not always evident, and may be camouflaged in the guise of humor. The role of women in the workplace has been revolutionized over the past half century. It will no doubt continue to change, and certain people will continue to resist that change. 

Age

Age discrimination is less well understood than many other forms of discrimination. Because some areas still have mandatory retirement ages, and because it is widely understood that everyone, at some point, will begin to slow down with age, discrimination against someone based on her age is not taken as seriously as it should be by many people. Education is still required to drive home the message that in the workplace a person should be judged based solely on her ability to do the job, and not on how many years she has been on the planet. 

By Jagg Xaxx, eHowContributor 

The Issue of Discrimination in the Workplace

Though our society has improved by leaps and bounds over discrimination regarding women, ethnic minorities, physically challenged individuals, and other people who have been prone to discrimination, it does unfortunately still exist in today's workplace. There are imbalances in the higher positions, the pay received for doing the same tasks, and other important gaps that still exist, based on nothing greater than discrimination. For example, in 2002, it was reported that the average female's salary was a mere 77 percent of what males were earning. With such statistics, it is impossible to deny that many forms of discrimination, including sexual discrimination, are still very present in today's workplace. There are many different ways that discrimination may show it's ugly head on the job. It can start as early as the hiring process, where one person is hired over another without justification of abilities or experience. It may also go so far as sexual harassment, where one person is not taken as seriously as another, and is seen only as a sex object. It can even impact the employment benefits received when hired for a position, such as the training received and the vacation time permitted. If discrimination is to be stopped, however, it cannot be ignored. Action must be taken against it. Successful efforts against discrimination often consist of the following: Document the events If you are a victim of discrimination, begin writing down the time, date, and description of the event as soon as it happens, just in case you need to take it to the company, or to the law later on. It will provide you with a written record of everything that has gone on. Make it as detailed as possible, including when it happened, the details surrounding the event, what was said, and if there were any witnesses. Keep the book safely at home - not at your place of work. Begin smallTo resolve a situation of discrimination, you don't necessarily need to storm off to your lawyer. It may be something that can be solved much more quickly and easily. Start at the lowest level you can, for example, to your direct supervisor, and explain your concerns to him or her. Provide specific examples of the discrimination when you can. Provide this communication in writing, and keep your own copy of the complaint. Ask to review a copy of the company's discrimination policy, and look into the company's methods of internally resolving discrimination issues. Get the law on your sideThough this should not be your first step, if you fail to see results within the company, you must recognize that there are many laws out there to protect you from discrimination, and it is your right to apply them. If the company does not resolve your situation, or did not take you as seriously as you see fit, take your complaint to a government agency. Do it as soon as you discover that the company will not be solving it themselves, because there is a deadline of 6 months in many states. You are not alone if you are experiencing discrimination at work. However, it is up to you to tell people about it, and have the company, or the law set things right.

Disability Discrimination Act

  

Most people take it for granted that they can go to the shops, get an education at school or college, and use a bank or library. But for the large numbers of people with disabilities, using services like these things can be very difficult, or even impossible, so Britain has taken action with some new guidelines. Since October 2004, disabled people in Britain should have better access to services such as shops. The Disability Discrimination Act is designed to give disabled people equal rights to use services and businesses. It means that service providers will have to make changes to allow people with disabilities to use their facilities. Some of the people specified in the Act are those who have difficulties with movement for example, people who use wheelchairs, or who have sight or hearing problems, and sufferers of mental illness. The law was originally passed in 1995, but has been rolled out in various stages. Ever since 1996, it has been unlawful to discriminate against somebody applying for a job because of their disability. But from October 2004, businesses and organisations are required to make reasonable physical adjustments to their premises to assist disabled users. The businesses and organisations affected include shops, banks, libraries, places of worship, restaurants, and schools. They may have to make changes like building ramps to replace stairs, widening door-ways, or having Braille signs or menus. However, public transport is currently exempted from the law. This has angered some disability groups, who say that public transport is very difficult to use. For the London Underground and rail companies the problem is that many stations were built decades ago, and would be very difficult to change. However, the government has said that all buses, trains and taxis should be accessible to wheelchair users in 13 years' time. Vocabulary take it for granted : to know or believe you can do something without thinking about it. Disabilities : health problems which affect someone's ability to do things that other people can Disabled : unable to do some things that other people can. to discriminate : to treat someone differently, usually in a bad way, because of their skin colour, sex, age, religion, ability etc. service providers : any organisation or business offering something to people (e.g. help, education, things to buy, information) specified: named, included passed: agreed by the government, became legal to suffer from: to be ill with, to have an illness rolled out : gradually established unlawful: illegal, against the law adjustments: changes places of worship : religious buildings like churches, temples, and mosques. Ramps: smooth slopes (which can be used instead of steps) Exempted: excluded from, not included in the law Angered : made someone angry Accessible : possible to access or use DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION ACT

BEYOND THE VEIL (VIDEO)

WATCH THE VIDEO AND TRY TO COMPLETE THE SENTENCES

After the US invasion of Afghanistan, the world had a first time look at   ________1____________

Women are encouraged  _________2__________  to _________3 _________ , not only  ____________4_______________but also as a religious requirement   ________5________ All Mighty.

Are women wearing the veil in democratic societies like Canada oppressed or was it their freedom of choice?

She says it is a symbol of her   ________6_______  and that she is basically following what her  _____________7___________________.

When she wears the veil she can walk  around  ______8________she does not have ________9________ ,and she doesn't have to care about men  _______10______ at her   or  ________11_______ at her  or _____12______ comments .  When she gives speeches wearing this, it forces people to  _________13___________. People don't judge her __________14__________  ,  ______15______  or by the way she looks.

She says women are not forced  into _________16____________ they are not   ________17____________. It does not symbolize  __________18_________ The veil, on the contrary is   _________19___________.

Now, as her family cannot see her, it’s a great opportunity  ______20_____    and ________21________  She’s wearing it regardless  of _______22_______  of what is happening and   ______23_______________ people get.

People in the campus have learnt that weating this doesn’t mean she can’t do this or that. She wasn’t   _________24________  and they get to  ___________25__________ .

AFGHAN WOMEN'S RIGHTS ( VIDEO )

Sixty-year-old Ghoma is sitting in a classroom for the first time in her life. These women are ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_______1_____ age, but that isn’t stopping them from learning how __________2____________.

Sherifa grew up in a home __________3_____________   didn’t believe  girls should have an education, but her husband doesn’t feel the same, _______4_________    she is now able to attend this class.

Because of our age, we cannot go to regular schools, that’s why we’re here. We came here so that __________5_________and get an education.

Women are slowly becoming more vocal in a culture _________6__________ any real power, education, they believe, would give them just that.

I want to become a teacher ________7____________  teach other women. I’ll encourage other girls to study and have an education because it will play a beneficial role in our lives.

Thousands of women in this province have had to ________8________ themselves after losing their husbands during the wars. These are some of them. Maybe they aren’t lucky enough _________9_________  literacy classes, but at least, they are learning crafts.

Over one hundred women are benefiting from this local project making just enough money ________10_________   their sewing and embroidery.

It is a big _________11____________improving the lives of the women of Kandahar. Just a few years ago, they weren’t able to venture __________12____________ without a male escort. Today things have changed. They come to bazars and some are fighting back. This woman is one of them,  her predecessor was gunned down __________13___________ last year. Ronata Ree knows she could be next, but it is not the Taliban _________14___________, but a culture which ___________15______________ women. The Taliban is not the ________16___________, the biggest problem for women is Pashtun culture, which doesn’t believe in __________17____________. A generation of women may have never had the chance to change their lives for the better, and for those who are now trying, it may be ___________18____________ before conservative traditions are locked away.

DISCRIMINATION

• LESBIAN CUSTODY FIGHT LISTENING WITH SCRIPTS AND VOCABULARY
• TRANSGENDER TEENAGER SUES MACDONALD'S LISTENING WITH SCRIPTS AND VOCABULARY