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| Secretary Clinton in Saudi Arabia. |
Saudi women’s rights activists, seeking help from Hillary Clinton, report that not having the right to drive their own cars is exploited by abusive fathers, brothers, husbands and even hired drivers, one of whom recently raped a woman.
Laura Stampler at the Huffington Post has the story:
A consortium of Saudi Arabian women's rights activists have written an open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging her to publicly press the Saudi government to allow women to drive.
Penned by the organization Saudi Women for Driving, the letter has been endorsed by over 10,000 people from all 50 US states on Change.org. An almost identical letter has been addressed to Catherine Ashton, Secretary Clinton's counterpart in the E.U.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that bars women from getting behind the wheel of a vehicle -– bicycles included. The movement gained traction after 32-year-old computer-security consultant Manal al-Sherif, now dubbed the "Saudi Rosa Parks," was detained after she posted a video of herself driving in the conservative kingdom, urging other women to take her lead.
WARNING: Read the comments following this article at the Huffington Post at your own risk - a quick glance caused me to feel ill. A rough estimate indicates that about half the members of the Huffpo community are diehard misogynists. Supposedly the comments are moderated but evidently sexism and misogyny are still okay as was demonstrated in the 2008 Democratic primary.
Thanks for the warning. I think I'll avoid Huffpo like I always do.
ReplyDeleteWell, SYD, the sad part is that so many well known people, including Hillary, continue to write for the Huffington Post due to its millions of readers; there's some irony there, I suppose. And I hate to miss the good stuff just to avoid the yuck.
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