An International day

Just a quick reminder: Today, November 25, is declared by the United Nations as the 'International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.'

It could be interesting to note that the Taliban in Afghanistan may believe that they are passing a truly great gift to their woman. You see, they are discussing a change in one of their many strict laws and regulations.

At present, for a Taliban man to be found guilty of rape, the victim needs to have four male witnesses. Well, of course they have to be male, you can't trust a woman - we all know that ...

The wise, and heavily bearded leaders of the Taliban are talking back and forth if maybe - just maybe - one male witness is enough. As far as I know they haven't even begun to consider how many women would equal these male witnesses.

Boy, do we have a long way to go!

From thenews.com.pk: "When we talk about violence against women, the general notion is of physical violence, sexual or otherwise. But this is just one kind of violence that women all over the world are subjected to.

Violence takes different forms and dimensions. The psychological pressures that oppressive customs and traditions exert on women; lack of equal access to opportunities for self actualisation and economic independence; no control over reproductive choices etc. are all forms of violence that relegate that status of women second to that of men and restricts them from fulfilling their potential.

In fact all sorts of violence against women have their roots in the dynamics of gender relations that a society develops. And let's face it, gender relations have been historically unequal."