WFRT coordination course on rural women rights [Archives:2004/715/Community]

The Women's Forum for Research and Training (WFRT) is to organize in Taiz on 23-24 Feb. its 5th training course to help Yemen's rural women.
The course is on developing skills and coordinating ideas for action between coordinators of rural women rights programs, local councils, and international organizations working in rural areas.
The course is to be held in cooperation with the Canadian Program for Development of Local Self Efforts.
Suad al-Qadasi, director of WFRT, said the forum had since 2001 been seriously working in many rural areas in the governorate of Taiz.
Al-Qadassi pointed out that the woman in the rural areas were under a heavy burden of suffering, violence and social discrimination.
They are also suffering from great negligence by most civil society organizations and government authorities regarding adoption of their rights and eliminating all forms of violence and discrimination in all walks of life.
She said the WFRT had adopted that program despite the difficulties and impediments it had first faced. The WFRT had in the previous period managed to draw a map for the types and forms of violence against rural women and their different legal needs.
On the goal of the course, al-Qadassi confirmed it aimed at drawing up ideas and joint plans between the participating parties.
The course is to be attended by 30 participants, of both sexes, coordinators of the program, cadres of local councils and representatives of local and international organisations working in rural areas.
Meanwhile, the WFRT concluded on 17 Feb. a training course on the Islamic theory on woman rights as part of its program about women rights in Islam.
Zainab Radwan, professor of philosophy and Islamic Ideology, the dean of Dar al-Uloom, the University of Cairo and trainer at the course, said Islam had guaranteed women rights completely equal to those of the man.
After the end of the course in which more than trainees from various Yemeni governorates had taken part,
On the most important ideas the trainees had acquired from the course, the trainee Radiya al-Budani said the most important concept was the necessity of applying the scientific program in understanding provisions of the Islamic Law pertaining to women.
She said they had during the course been able to distinguish between what is traditional and inherited habit and the real Islamic viewpoint.
Trainee Intisar al-Hareth said ” We have to approach Islam more to understand it and form the correct ideas and general principles as stipulated in the Koran and the prophet tradition.''
Trainee Ghada Mustafa Mohammed said the ideas prevalent about woman were not Islamic, and some religious points of view were just opinions open to study and reconsideration.
When we interpret the Koranic text we have to do that within the frame of the basic Islamic principles, namely, freedom, justice, equality and social integration. Islam would not have incomplete provisions inconsistent with these principles.''
On the trainees impressions about the course, Wafa'a al-Salahi said the course was good because it had opened the discussion on important issues and stirred up what had been stagnant.
The trainees Khalida al-Badri confirmed that the course was enough to clarify for me my rights that are practically absent but genuine and present in Islam.
She called for the inevitability of changing some articles that contradicted the woman rights in Islam, especially those mentioned in the personal law.
Trainee Sahar Hazib said the course was distinguished in all aspects and Zainab Radwn managed to elucidate women's rights, and that the reality was the product of habits leaked to our societies.
It is worth mentioning that the trainees would attend in mid-March a training course on developing dialogue, decision-making and communication skills.
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