On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2020, Musawah Executive Director Zainah Anwar released the following statement:
This year, we are celebrating International Women’s Day amid many urgent global challenges, which are highlighting inequalities and weaknesses in our socio-political systems, but also reminding us of the power of collaboration, mobilisation, and information in solving problems that affect us.
This IWD we reiterate the obligations that States and citizens have to uphold human rights for everyone, and to promote gender equality. At Musawah, we strongly believe that there can be no equality in society without equality in the family, and as the needs and realities of today’s families change, so must discriminatory family laws and practices.
Happy International Women’s Day 2020, and solidarity to my sisters and family-in-arms as we fight for our human rights!
وسط العديد من التحديات الطارئة على مستوى العالم، والتى بدورها تُبرز الظلم والضعف اللذين تنأى بها أنظمتنا الاجتماعية والسياسية، ولكنه أيضا فرصة تٌذكرنا بقوة التعاون، والحشد، والمعلومات في حل المشكلات التى تؤثر على حياتنا.
في هذا اليوم، نجدد تعهدنا بأن الدول والمواطنين عليهم احترام حقوق الإنسان لكافة الناس مع تعزيز المساواة الجندرية. في مساواة، إيماننا راسخ بأنه لا مساواة في المجتمع بدون مساواة بين أفراد العائلة الواحدة، فمع تغّير واقع العائلات المعاصرة، فإنه صار لزاما تغيير الممارسات وقوانين الأحوال الشخصية التمييزية.
عيد مرأة عالمي سعيد في 2020، و كل التضامن مع أخواتنا والأسُر في نضالهن من أجل حقوق الإنسان!
As our Secretariat is located in Malaysia, we marched with hundreds of people with the Women’s March Malaysia/Perarakan Wanita Malaysia, under the banner of ‘Hentikan keganasan, hormati perempuan!’ (End violence, respect women!). We share below some of our favourite signs from the #WomensMarchMY. The organising committee prioritised seven simple-yet-crucial demands for the new government:
- End all violence based on gender & sexual orientation
- Ban all child marriages
- Ensure our rights and freedom to make choices over our own bodies & lives
- Equal pay for work of equal value
- Legislate the Gender Equality Act
- Declare climate crisis & formulate national plan to mitigate climate crisis
- Equal public and political participation
We offer our heartfelt solidarity with women’s movements around the world, such as the Aurat March in Pakistan, and the Women’s Global Strike, which brought together women around the world, across many languages, hoisting their red signs and shirts with the clarion call “If women stop, the world stops.”
Musawah also introduced our brand-new Instagram account, @MusawahMovement, where we hope to feature shareable knowledge products from our research and the activism of our Advocates around the world. Please follow us, and let us know how we can produce knowledge on gender and Islam that would be useful in your daily research and activism!
