Judy Bachrach on the Horrendous Treatment of Women in Islamic Countries

An extremely interesting article by Judy Bachrach in World Affairs Journal on the appalling manner in which women are treated in Islamic countries. The terrible treatment of women is yet another reason for this country to reexamine, revise and redirect our policy on Afghanistan. Below is a short excerpt:

[I]n Turkey, a nation often cited as “moderate,” wife beating is so common that 69 percent of all female health workers polled (and almost 85 percent of all male health workers) said that violence against women was in certain instances excusable. In April, a new epidemiological study in the European Journal of Public Health revealed that one out of every five homicides in Pakistan is the result of a so-called honor killing. . . .

It was only when our steadfast ally Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed legislation legalizing the rape of his country’s wives by their husbands that a powerful Western leader actually expressed a view on the subject. “I think this law is abhorrent,” President Barack Obama acknowledged when queried at a press conference in Strasbourg, France. Yet, our president had to be asked about the rape-facilitation law before daring to venture an opinion. Nor is he alone in his bashfulness. All over the world, Western leaders have proven uncommonly demure on the subject of women in Islamic countries.

Check out the rest of this article here.