Tel-Chai Nation

There are still some sites in the world today where, due in part to ludicrous religious beliefs of males, females are not allowed to visit. These include some rather predictable locations:

Saudi Arabia: If you’re a solo female traveler looking to visit Saudi Arabia as a tourist, you’ll have an easier time booking a trip to Mars. As of 2010, tourist visas to Saudi Arabia don’t exist, and visas for business and to visit family are notoriously difficult for Americans to obtain. On top of that, women who do travel to the country must be accompanied by a male relative in order to be granted entry. And even then, Saudi Arabia isn’t exactly a welcoming destination for females. Women need a man, or government permission, to do just about anything – Saudi Arabian women aren’t even allowed to drive.

“We hear nonstop all this bad press about Iran and how terrible Iran is, but Saudi Arabia is much more oppressive of women,” notes Michelle May, a San Francisco-based journalist who has traveled extensively to Middle Eastern countries. “Their human rights record and their treatment of women are far worse than Iran.”

I would just note that to say Iran isn't just as bad is foolish. I'd say, based on Iran's own human rights track record of late, that it's equally repugnant. In any case, the House of Saud is not a place where any civilized person should go, male or female. Any country that's going to take such horrifically sadistic positions on women as they do does not deserve to receive our hard earned money. They also forbid Jews entry, another reason to stay away.

And even in India, there's a problem along the same lines:

Haji Ali Dargah Shrine, Mumbai, India: One of Mumbai’s most iconic landmarks, which is dedicated to a 15th-century Sufi saint Pir Haji Ali Bukhari. The site, which also holds the saint's tomb, draws between 15,000 and 20,000 daily visitors of all castes, creeds and religions, according to the organization that runs it. But in July, a women’s group visited and found the Dargah’s most sacred area, called the sanctum sanctorum, had been barred to females. The shrine’s authorities claim that it is "un-Islamic under the Sharia Law" for women to visit graves and that they were rectifying a mistake that had allowed women to enter this area.

By November 2012, news of this development had spread, sparking outrage among many women’s rights groups that say the ban represents clear discrimination of women and that it damages the reputation of Islam in India. The state government has refused to intervene in the issue, which it claims is a religious matter, so at least for now, the shrine’s sanctum sanctorum remains off-limits to women.

I don't know who those rights groups are, but they're deluding themselves about Islam all the same, since they - and definitely FOX - have failed to cite any verses in the Koran to back themselves up.

There's some more examples cited related to other religious affairs, and all worth reading on how equality for women sadly has a long way to go before it can be fully obtained.

Labels: Asia, dhimmitude, House of Saud, India, iran, islam, misogyny