Can you imagine a woman getting in trouble for wearing pants?
That's right. Pants.
And what if the punishment for wearing those pants was 40 lashes?
This is no fiction. This is what journalist, Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, is facing in a courtroom this week in the Sudan.
According to AFP, she has been charged with violating public decorum and indecency for wearing pants.
Now Hussein was among a group of women caught wearing pants at a restaurant in early July. So far 10 of those women were punished with 10 lashes.
This is unbelievable. But Hussein is fighting the charges and could get more lashes than the other women as a result.
She has decided to stand up against this absurdity. She could have
sought immunity because in addition to writing for the leftist
Al-Sahafa newspaper, she works for the media department at the United
Nations Mission in Sudan. U.N. workers get immunity.
But Hussein is trying to make a point that the law should be changed.
"This is a case about annulling the article that addresses women's
dress code, under the title of indecent acts. This is my battle. This
article is against the Constitution and even against Islamic law
itself," according to a story by the Associated Press.
As a journalist and blogger in the United States, I appreciate how much freedom I have to say what I think and wear what I want. It's important to stand up for the rights of other women around the globe.
I admire Hussein for taking a stand and for insisting that women should be able to wear the pants.
Filed under: women
Tags: 40 lashes, journalist, Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, pants, Sudan
