November 23rd, 2012 at 11:44AM

lazersilberstein:

On November 23, 1909, over 20,000 Yiddish-speaking immigrants, mostly young women in their teens and twenties, launched a strike in New York’s garment industry. Known as the Uprising of the 20,000, the strike would last 11 weeks and was the largest known strike by women in history. The morning after the decision to strike, 15,000 shirtwaist (women’s blouse) workers began picketing. Later that day, there were more than 20,000 strikers, with men joining the strike as well — completely shutting down the industry.


268 notes Source: facebook.com #yiddish#strike#women#jewish#labor
November 7th, 2012 at 10:06AM

zaatardiva:

Watch: New DAM hip hop track with video co-directed by Jackie Salloum targets violence against women

Submitted by Ali Abunimah on Tue, 11/06/2012 - 20:28

Palestinian hip hop pioneers DAM (damrap.com) released a new song and powerful video today taking aim at violence against women.

In the track, “If I could go back in time” – featuring Amal Murkus – the group’s members Suhel Nafar, Mahmood Jrere and Tamer Nafar rap the story “backwards” from death to birth of a young woman murdered by members of her family for refusing to marry against her will. Amal Murkus sings the chorus.

Challenging “honor” crimes

“The song is not a specific incident but it describes the phenomena of honor killing in general,” Suhel Nafar explained at a launch event in Ramallah, according to the Wafa news agency.

One year ago, Palestinian Authority de facto president Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree canceling legal provisions that treated perpetrators of honor killings more leniently. However, that decree remains “ineffective,” according to a press release accompanying the new video, which noted that in the first eight months of this year, 12 women and girls had been killed in so-called “honor” crimes.

“Honor crimes” are crimes committed against women for “tarnishing the name and the honor of the family. There were 32 cases of “honor killings” in the occupied Palestinian territories between 2004 and 2006. Thirteen women were killed in “honor killings” in 2009, according to a report by UN Women (PDF).

Harsh economic and social conditions in the occupied territories have also contributed to violence against women.

A revolution so that women are one hundred percent equal with men

Laws that treat honor crimes more leniently – often a legacy of colonial times – remain on the books in several countries, including Jordan. DAM’s Tamer Nafar told The Electronic Intifada he hopes that this video will send a message “to the leaders in the Middle East so they can fix the law. Murder is murder, it doesn’t matter what is the cause.”

Nafar says the message is also aimed more broadly: “It’s a message to my people, to all Arabs, that our revolutions aren’t just against oppression from politics and leaderships. It must be a revolution so that women are one hundred percent equal with men.”

Produced with the support of UN Women, the striking and dramatic video was directed by Jacqueline Reem Salloum and Suhel Nafar. Salloum directed the acclaimed 2008 film Slingshot Hip Hop which helped introduce DAM, who are from the city of Lydd in an area of historic Palestine captured by Israel in 1948, and Palestine’s burgeoning hip hop scene to the world.

In May, Nafar and Salloum collaborated on a short film Yala to the Moon.

New DAM album

“If I could go back in time” is one of the tracks on DAM’s much anticipated second album “Dabke on the moon - Nudbok al Amar,” due to be released later this month.

Whereas DAM’s first album “Dedication” documented reality, according to a press release, the new album “is a feature musical based on reality, telling real stories though fiction” and is “more melodic and alive with Arab pop sounds.”

DAM is absolutely stellar.

(via zaman-al-samt)

35 notes Source: electronicintifada.net #DAM#Palestine#Palestinian#Israeli Arab#Israel#Women#Honor killings
October 21st, 2012 at 1:36PM
Ultra-Orthodox Filmmakers make Kosher films

thearcanetheory:

From the article:

Films for and by Haredi women were relatively unknown outside this tightknit faction until the director Rama Burshtein unveiled her feature “Fill the Void” at the Venice Film Festival last month. The film, which earned the ingénue Hadas Yaron a best-actress honor there and later played theNew York Film Festival, was praised by critics, who noted that Ms. Burshtein’s technical expertise belied her sparse résumé.

In fact, while “Fill the Void” was Ms. Burshtein’s first film for secular as well as religious viewers, she has spent nearly two decades making movies for the women of her sect — films featuring only actresses and without violence, sex and swearing. And she wasn’t alone: Ultra-Orthodox women in Israel have been making movies for some time now — about six a year — according to strict Haredi rules: Men and women may never be shown together on screen; plotlines considered subversive or counter to Haredi beliefs are forbidden; and when the credits roll, the audience must have a lesson or moral to take home. The rules also mean that audiences are strictly segregated by sex.

Click through to read more.

I would love to see these films.
10 notes Source: thearcanetheory #israel#haredi#women#judaism
October 17th, 2012 at 11:36AM
Anat Hoffman was arrested Tuesday evening for “disturbing public order.” The organization posted on its Facebook page Wednesday afternoon that Hoffman was in court. “She is being accused of singing out loud at the kotel, disturbing peace,” the post read. Two other members of the organization, Director Lesley Sachs and board member Rachel Cohen Yeshurun, were detained Wednesday morning by police for the same offense. They were released after being interrogated and fingerprinted at the police station in the Old City. According to the organization, the women admitted to wearing a prayer shawl at the Western Wall but not to disturbing public order. — Anat Hoffman, (Head of “Women of the Wall”) arrested for singing at the Western Wall (via JTA)

(via neonoa)
9 notes Source: jta.org #WoW#Women#Western Wall#Kotel#JTA#Anat Hoffmann#Israel
October 15th, 2012 at 6:31PM

Irresponsible Messages: Tale of an Aish Article Gone Wrong

girloverhere:

Beware: Incoming superbly long critique of a critique of a critique on Parents
I want to start out by saying I think that as an organization Aish does incredible work for the Jewish community and with helping BTs like myself get in touch with their Judaism. Furthermore I would venture to say that their website Aish.com is one of the most comprehensive websites for inspiring and practical(for the basics) articles relating to Judaism. This is the reason I feel like it is important to bring criticism in hopes of future improvement; It is NOT intended for malicious purposes.

Here’s the jist; In August, Aish.com posted the article entitled Holding Back Our Daughters?, a response to the article 7 Ways You’re Hurting Your Daughter’s Future published by Forbes. The original Forbes article talks about the pitfalls everyday parents make that negatively affect their daughters in the future. Gender homogenizing opinions aside-a lot of the points ring pretty true to me in both secular and religious contexts. The Aish article goes on to poorly criticize it and mock(for the most part) the idea that certain problems alluded to in the original article exist. Which for your information, they do.

As Jews, it is our responsibility to be a light unto nations(or at this point at least try…) Newsflash: You can’t replace the lightbulb until you realize the old one needs replacing. Acknowledging our pitfalls(not even particularly Jewish-specific) is necessary for improvement and change.This Aish article serves to turn a blind-eye to real issues affecting girls and in the future, women. Specifically I would like to set the record straight and bring out a important points of contention I have…

2. Gender specific toy issues
“Maybe we should blame the packaging. I don’t think (as the article seems to suggest) that more “male-oriented” toys encourage invention and creativity than do female-oriented ones.”

The Forbes article points out(based on a 2009 study) that 31% of “girl” toys are based on appearance. How the seemingly baseless opinions of the author factor into this equation I don’t understand. The fact of the matter is I actually have seen a great deal of frum families actively discourage the emphasis on these sorts of toys for their girls;these toys set the well decorated stage for issues relating to appearance in the future. This practice of giving a girl brains instead of barbies has always impressed me about frum homes I have had the pleasure of being welcomed into; It should be applauded and encouraged!!!

4. Issues relating to fairytale princess mind-set
But haven’t princesses and brides always been little girls’ fantasies? And have they really shaped their future goals and visions?

This was never an attack on letting little girls just be little girls or gone wild imaginations. Indoctrinating little girls with unrealistic expectations that a man(handsome and preferably wealthy) is going to swoop them off their feet and be the cure to all their problems in life is probably a bad idea… If there is a failure to see the problems in this scenario then hope is lost and y’all can move along now. I still like my princesses, but it would be a lie to say that after the fact of the bubble popping, that the bubble didn’t exist.

3 & 7. Emphasis on Appearance and Body Criticism
Let’s be real and not live in imagination land; Society(frum and secular) emphasizes “beauty” as a very important adjective to be attached to a girl. Most girls are constantly told through little comments, conversational jokes and stories about how important it is to be beautiful; sometimes they are told straight out. The best examples of this can be found whenever we talk about the “shidduch crisis” or related issues. Positive judgements are awarded; shidduch suggestions; friendships are made based on “attractive” physical appearance and image. Can we not deny this reality? I would appreciate it.

The idea that in this day and age it isn’t a perfectly acceptable and regular activity for women to sit around critiquing themselves and others seems to me a joke. Try sitting around a seminary dorm when girls start talking about how they need to lose weight for shidduchim. How about when they get ready to go to a wedding? The self abuse when girls get dressed and put on makeup can be staggering if you were to take it out of context for a second and actually pay attention to what is being said. Better yet: I was once in a room when a friend had to take a call as a shidduch reference for a close friend of her’s. She put the phone on speaker so I didn’t feel like she was just ignoring me to go take a call. The caller was the mother of a guy looking into his prospective date. One of the first questions this mother asked was “What is your X’s body type? Is she tall, short, thin, bigger? My son needs a certain type…”

My Point: Let problems be problems! Apathy can be lethal and it is irresponsible for a site seen(largely) to help Jewish growth should let this sort of dismisal to have credence! There is are so many women and body-positive articles in those archives and I can’t help but be sad to see this blemish. There are actually quite a few articles on the site that would combat many of the points made! Sticking fingers in our ears saying “la la la I can’t hear you” to reality doesn’t do anyone, Jews or Gents, any good.

8 notes Source: girloverhere #aish#kiruv#jewish parenting#judaism#women
October 15th, 2012 at 12:49PM
A Model of Inclusion for Muslim Women

muslimwomeninhistory:

…Among China’s 10 million Hui Muslims, [female] imams and mosques for women are flourishing in a globally unique phenomenon.

Female imams and women’s mosques are important because their endurance in China offers a vision of an older form of Islam that has inclusiveness and tolerance, not marginalization and extremism, at its core, the scholars say.

Exact numbers are not available, but Shui Jingjun, a leading scholar of women in Hui Islam (the Hui are scattered across China and are distinct from the Uighur Muslims of the far western region of Xinjiang) estimates there are hundreds of female imams leading mosques around the country, educating boys and girls, and organizing social services in their communities.

Female imams and women’s mosques are not “a new thing here. It’s just a cultural tradition that was never interfered with,” Ms. Shui, an author and researcher at the Henan Academy of Social Sciences in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province, said in an interview….

Muslims arrived in China during the Tang dynasty, more than 1,000 years ago, and their numbers swelled during the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century. Mostly from Persia and Central Asia, though some were Arabs, they brought with them traditions that had always emphasized women’s education, said Ms. Shui. But women’s status really took off in the early Qing dynasty, more than 300 years ago, when the numbers of Hui declined as they were absorbed into the majority Han Chinese culture, she said.

By then, she said, “most Muslims couldn’t read or speak Arabic. So they relied on women to spread the word, to educate. It wasn’t possible to rely just on the men. There weren’t enough of them.”

Far away, in the Arab world, Wahhabism began spreading.

“About 300 years ago, there were changes in Islamic education” in the Middle East, said Ms. Shui. “In other Islamic nations, what men said was decisive. But that wasn’t going to work here.”

Read More

(via wewanttobe)
33 notes Source: muslimwomeninhistory #Islam#China#Hui#Hui Muslims#Women#Feminism
September 20th, 2012 at 2:50PM

Can someone do my RS homework for me please?

runawaysnake:

“The Reform view of the roll and status of women is the best way forward for Jewish Women today. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answer showing that you have thought about a range of viewpoints.”

So I need 2-3 points FOR and 2-3 points AGAINST. 

Anyone? Someone? Please? You can just give me bulletpoints and I can expand if you want!! I really need some help asdgasdsfsd

Obviously, I am not going to do your homework for you, but here’s something to think about:

Women are individuals and different women can be trusted to make their own decisions about their own roles.  Reform Judaism can be right for one individual and wrong for another.

3 notes Source: serpenscape #Judaism#Women
September 10th, 2012 at 12:06PM
youngerjewishatheist: I have a feeling i’m going to start unconsciously seeing this pic in my head whenever i hear a jewish girl say “i follow the laws of tzniut and it doesn’t burdern how i dress. All i have to do is wear clothes that cover my skin!”. The women in the ultra-orthodox communities dress how the men who made the laws of tzniut had pictured it. That’s the reality. Anything short of it is not tzniut, but rather, just an inner desire for dressing modestly. Please stop telling women what tzniut (modesty - the Jewish equivalent of hijab) is.  I am so tired of hearing secular and religious men saying the same thing:  we know what modesty is, we know what your religion is, we know what you should dress like. Trust us.  We are capable of dressing ourselves and we are capable of following our own religion.

youngerjewishatheist:

I have a feeling i’m going to start unconsciously seeing this pic in my head whenever i hear a jewish girl say “i follow the laws of tzniut and it doesn’t burdern how i dress. All i have to do is wear clothes that cover my skin!”. The women in the ultra-orthodox communities dress how the men who made the laws of tzniut had pictured it. That’s the reality. Anything short of it is not tzniut, but rather, just an inner desire for dressing modestly.

Please stop telling women what tzniut (modesty - the Jewish equivalent of hijab) is.  I am so tired of hearing secular and religious men saying the same thing:  we know what modesty is, we know what your religion is, we know what you should dress like.

Trust us.  We are capable of dressing ourselves and we are capable of following our own religion.

(via youngerjewishatheist-deactivate)

21 notes #Judaism#Islam#Tzniut#Tznius#Hijab#Sexism#Women
July 19th, 2012 at 12:33AM

Stupid practices. 1- Sheitels

youngerjewishatheist:

This and WDNR will be my two (and only two) series. Of course these are series b/c there is so much to talk about in these areas. In this part, i will talk about sheitels. All that one really needs to know, is that once a woman gets married, she must cover her hair when amongst people who aren’t her husband (yes, even her own children). 

Jetzt kommt der spaßige [Now comes the fun] (German, for those of whom are curious). Women need to cover their hair in way possible. This includes baseball caps, bandanas, and even a small rag on top of their head. Most women, however, choose to wear the sheitel. The best part is, most of these sheitels look even better (and sexier) than the woman’s natural hair. This, in turn, defeats the whole purpose of covering one’s hair. 

This post is relatively short, but there will be a larger one at Rosh Hashona and/or Yom Kippur to call out bullshit. Especially the pagan rituals that the Jews participate in. 

The purpose of a married Orthodox Jewish woman covering her hair isn’t to look undesirable or ugly for the rest of the world.  It’s to preserve a part of herself (in this case, her hair) for only her husband to see.  So it isn’t hypocritical for her to wear a lovely sheitel or a stylish tichel/mitpacha (head scarf).  Only her husband sees her true hair and choosing to cover it becomes a sign of devotion to both her husband to G-d.  Don’t assume that just because you might find a wig more attractive than her actual hair, that the woman is dressing for you and to look attractive. 

And some women believe it’s fine to show their hair to their children and others don’t.  There are many opinions on this and practices differ according to the minhags of different groups and families.

Lastly, it is incredibly disrespectful for the OP, especially since you are male, to tell the millions of Orthodox Jewish women out there that their religious choice to cover their hair is “stupid.”  In another post you wrote that you “agree with women and girls dressing modestly and not like sluts.”   Please remember that women are intelligent enough to choose how they want to dress and they don’t need your help in deciding.

(via youngerjewishatheist-deactivate)

9 notes #judaism#tzniut#tznius#modesty#tichel#sheitel#women
June 21st, 2012 at 7:31PM

yehudim:

“The Jewish woman has a unique mission specific to her special qualities and sensitivities. The very future of the Jewish people depends on her success.”

Guess who don’t need seculars to come and rescue them from the big bad oppressive religion they choose to follow and feel empowered by?  Orthodox Jewish women.  (Muslim women too, but I’ve written on that before.)

(via chamiebear)

14 notes Source: yehudim #Judaism#Women#Chabad#Lubavitch#Lubavitcher Rebbe