Iraq to lower the ‘age of consent’ for girls to nine

[Waitingforfriday75]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/iraq-poised-to-lower-the-age-of-consent-for-girls-to-nine/

Posted here as it gets the most traffic. This is by far the worst news I’ve heard all year. Imagine at the age you were meant to start secondary school instead being forced to marry and have sex with an older man. Completely disgusting!!!

Apologies then! Yes, you are right, there are various parts of each religion and obviously they are not perfect.

For example, hospitals can refuse women admitted for childbirth without a marriage certificate.

^

What a way to lead a society.

Absolutely despicable.

We really are going backwards as a humanity.

An example of this is that nobody as yet has managed to show me the place in the Bible that says women can never be priests, yet many Christian sects still ban women from this.

^

Not comparable with allowing nine year olds to marry.

It didn’t. I live in Iraq. There were large protests and public backlash

^

Can you tell us more, especially how you feel in regards to women's rights??

No of course, It’s more just a point of fact - as so many posters seem rightly angry, to just highlight that the original article is misleading in terms of the timing, not other content as Iran heavily influences politics in Iraq.

I remember when it was announced here at the time I was thinking “Where is the international outcry!”

Who on earth told you that? The age of consent in Germany is 14, but even then, not under all circumstances.

Exactly - you were talking a load of rubbish.

There’s still a really long way to go - politically as other posters have noted, Iran holds a lot of power and provides support for some of the biggest militia, which still de facto “control” some places.

Your family / community and tribal affiliations will hold more power over what you can do than what’s in the law.

For example, legally women work, travel, access education - however if you happen to be from a family that don’t want you to work, travel or access education they hold a lot more power over you than the law.

I have female friends who do “whatever they want” I.e work, socialise, live alone, aren’t fearful of their day to day safety, dress how they like etc however I also have friends whose family enforce more rigid gender stereotypes, which always end up as controlling for women.

I write from a European perspective, which is generally pragmatic rather than ideological - we don't care how democratic places we trade are and are generally happy with whatever colour government is in power. Saddam Hussein was secular in the sense that though outwardly religious he was not an Islamist (and of course an opportunist) but he also protected the Christian and Jewish minorities in Iraq (the people of the Book) - most of whom have now fled the country they had inhabited for hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of years. The US wanted Hussein out and to get its hands on Iraqui oil. Doubtless worthy reasons, but the removal of Hussein has done ordinary Iraquis little good.
NB I don't blame the West for everything. On the contrary, it seems to me that the West - due to the Enlightenment but also to the prevalence of Christianity - has been the driving force for reform and human rights across the world.
Thanks for link, interesting.

What's your point exactly?

Except Israel are horrible terrorists.

The lowering of the age of consent to 4 was an aim of PIE - the Paedophile Information Exchange - in the 70s. Some Labour politicians supported it (no, they were not Muslims).

Why are you still engaging with me?

You responded to one of my posts with a ridiculous statement. When I asked you to clarify you made another ridiculous post and now a third?

Go out for a walk and get some fresh air.

The problem is that the aid agencies who go in to help in Gaza report seeing absolutely no evidence of Hamas in these areas. Where is the proof ? There is a definition of what constitutes a human shield under international law. Several agencies have said that there is no evidence that Hamas meets this definition. Whereas there is evidence of Israel doing exactly the same with kidnapped Palestinians. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

And if you think ‘normal life’ will ever be resumed while Israel continues its’ occupation and apartheid policies, you’re deluded.

You started it with your own comment which brought nothing to the conversation. Mine was a point made from personal observation despite not being able to quote figures.

You don't and didn't have to engage with me. You're capable of ignoring me.

Agree. This poster was answering me. Those who see the abortion laws in the US as a result of rescinding Roe v Wade in black and white aren’t grasping the issues. It’s not about protecting the unborn. It’s an attack on womens’ rights, which if allowed to run its’ course will result in many states treating women like walking incubators with no rights above those of their unborn child, at risk from second rate health care because many obstetric procedures are outlawed and medics are in fear of losing their licences/imprisonment.

You can go down that route on either side as far as you want. It doesn’t help the women and girls involved does it ? The Palestinian civilians themselves are being blamed on some threads for ‘electing’ Hamas to power. Despite the fact that no free elections have been held in Gaza since 2006. And only Israel is guilty of genocide. Which is what this is.

What Hamas did to Israel was inhumane and terrifying. That cannot stand.

Don’t compare me with the way Muslims treat women, thank you - I’m not picking and choosing anything and if you read my post very carefully you’ll see that at no point did I say I agree with any of what I posted. I was simply answering a poster who said that the Bible didn’t provide a basis on which the case for prohibition of women priests could be made. Like it or not, these are some of the scriptures on which swathes of the Christian church rely to exclude women clergy. And on which fundamental Christians judge those churches who do include women in the clergy. Didn’t say I agree with it.

I agree that the IDF & Israeli government have shown themselves no better than Hamas. Israel will carry a heavy stain on their reputation for decades over what they've done to Gaza.

It worries me that places like Afghanistan, libya, and Iraq are trying to apply more and more restrictions on women and girls liberty. It feels like parts of the world are going backwards. The abortion bans in the USA were appalling enough. It feels like a war on women. I truly fucking hope no other countries decide to follow suit.

The lower age for marriage in Iran is 13 for girls and 15 for boys and lower with the consent of parents. But lets be honest it’s mainly going to be little girls getting married isn’t it.

It’s fucking foul.

Racists never like being called out do they?

He had particular views on Islam though, he thought you couldn’t be a proper muslim if you weren’t an arab. He was definitely a believer (though as you said not an islamist, that would be too universal for him, he was a bit of an arab supremacist) . Though the whole blood quaran (he has a quran written in his own blood, most likely mainly other peoples blood) thing was quite dodgy and I imagine most believers would be horrified by that and not sure how that fits with his personal beliefs.

I don't understand the reference to the Bible?
In medieval times the European countries were wedded to Christianity and Catholicism and then protestant and off shoots.
But, we then went through the enlightenment.

We became enlightened and the strangle hold of religion fell away as new ideas and philosophy came to the fore.
Of course many millions of people see themselves as Christian and practise but that all encompassing strangle hold on every moment of life through the state, kings, devine right and so on has gone.

We are ruled by ourselves in a free and democratic way.

We are light years away from this strangle hold in counties that simply haven't been through the enlightenment so trotting out what some evangelical nutters do in some provincial backwater USA town to try and compare to great swathes of fhe middle East seem utterly irrelevant to me??

Ok I think it's useful on any topic to split out the countries as you have

Although I did wonder whether you thought the rights of women and girls were equitable in Islamic countries to western countries?

Taking a pp quote

It worries me that places like Afghanistan, libya, and Iraq are trying to apply more and more restrictions on women and girls liberty. It feels like parts of the world are going backwards.

Do you feel that is the case?