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Why the Middle East Is a Good Place For Women Tech Entrepreneurs
pbahra writes "Conferences for start-ups and entrepreneurs often feature 'pitch contests,' slots in which aspiring entrepreneurs take to the stage to sell their ideas to the audience. Last month's ArabNet conference, held in the Lebanese capital, was no different. What was different, however, was the number of pitches from female entrepreneurs. The stereotype has it that women in the Middle East are subjugated, oppressed and barely let out of their houses. But if that is the case, how come 40% of the pitches were from women—a higher percentage than is typical in equivalent conferences held in Europe? Nor was this closer-to-equal representation of women unique to ArabNet--other conferences in the region boast similar ratios."
How many of them still had their clitoris?
The opposite of progress is congress
The stereotype has it that women in the Middle East are subjugated, oppressed and barely let out of their houses.
In Saudi Arabia, that's *not* just a stereotype. Not to say that Saudi Arabia is representative of the entire region. But let's not pretend that more pitches from women at some conference makes it okay for one of the largest countries of the region to still tell women they can't drive, vote, show their faces in public, or even leave their house without male escort.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
Both may be true -- that this conference was friendly to women running startups, and also that women in many parts of the Middle East are drastically subjugated versus women in at last European and American countries. Who wrote this summary, anyway, and with what agenda?
I'll bet they'd be in an even better position if they were in countries/cultures where they didn't have to worry about being stoned to death and could drive themselves to meetings. But that's just me.
Correct. Islam is the main problem. The Qur'an says that beating women is a step in the process of obtaining obedience, and there are several references in the Hadith of women being inferior.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
The article stressed how the women in Saudi Arabia could "Work from home". It neglected to say that the almost have to since they aren't allowed in public without a male relative around.
1. Liberals don't want anyone to pay for someone else's birth control. We want women to pay for their own, through their insurance. Since shopping around for insurance is generally infeasible, we want to make sure that insurers do not discriminate against women's sexual health.
2. Liberals do not fall in line with Islamic radicals. Liberals denounce and campaign against many elements of extremist religions, including Islam. Liberals fight for women's rights around the world. However:
A. Liberals do not lump all Muslims into a faceless, extremist block. There are lots of Muslims that adhere to humanist views on gender, sexual orientation, politics, and religion. Yes, there are many extremist Muslims, and many poor and undereducated Muslims that are taken advantage of in extremist societies. But Liberals recognize that Islam isn't the root of these issues, it's just that in some cases is a tool by which its adherents are exploited. We would rather solve the root causes (poverty, inequality, inadequate education) than attack Islam itself.
B. Liberals do not believe that bombing Middle Eastern countries is the best way to address those root causes of extremism.
Would the person who modded me "troll" please point out where my information is incorrect? Read the sayings of Mohammed as recorded by Al Bukhari: "A nation headed by a woman shall never succeed"; "If I have commanded kneeling for somebody, I would command a woman to kneel for her husband", "Women lack brain and religion". And the Qur'an, I think it's in Sura 5, "As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them, refuse to share their beds, beat them; but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means (of other punishment)." Don't deny the truth.
You can split hairs about this all day long but in the end it is pointless to make fundamentalist arguments like "if the Quran tells you to do <some misogynistic act> all moslems must be following that instruction mindlessly". This is especially true because the Bible is full of similar misogynistic and inhumane crap. When was the last time you saw a couple guilty of adultery begin stoned to death at the city gates? (That little gem came from Deuteronomy 22:23-24) Both the Quaran and the Bible were written in very different times long ago and that fact should kept in mind when reading either text. If you really want to convince us that all moslems take every archaic passage in the Qaran seriously then we must by the same logic also argue that all christians do as well. Thankfully most moslems and christians (apart from some die-hard fundies) do not take everything written in the Quaran literally and implement every crazy thing that is written in scripture. Only brainless fundies do that.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
Female circumcision is an African tribal custom, not Middle Eastern. It is now associated with Islam since most of the area was conquered by Muslims,. Muslim rulers generally let the locals continue their customs, and a lot of conversion was a converted king who told his populace to convert, but didn't dare risk rebellion by abolishing popular customs such as this. Arguments still continue as to whether it's an acceptable practice under Islam.
First, we need to separate personal choice from law or enforced custom.
A tiny percentage of Christians still practice strict biblical Christianity (believe gays should be put to death, women wear head covering in church, etc.), and NONE of them are able to put that into law to force others to obey their interpretation. In fact, they're generally laughed at or condemned by the society at large -- see the Westboro Baptists.
A large percentage of Muslims still practice strict Quranic Islam, and many of them have it in law and enforced custom to force others to obey their interpretation. People are constantly jailed, beaten and even executed for violating these religious laws.
There is a BIG difference in practice between Christianity and Islam.
People have been studying the Bible with this view for quite a long time. However, this has only recently started to happen with the Quran and Hadith, and such a thing should not be done in a Muslim country if you value your life. The Quran is still considered the absolute, unchanging, infallible Word of Allah by most adherents. That and Hadith form their law. If gays were to be put to death then, they are to be put to death now. Allah's law does not change.
Your words would be commendable, but we have every day knowledge of how women are actually treated by proponents of the religion, in the current time. They would be more commendable if you didn't create arguments that no one has made - e.g "all moslems must be following that instruction mindlessly".
You are the only one making that argument, and you do it so you don't have to fact the actual reality of what is happening.
When was the last time you saw a couple guilty of adultery begin stoned to death at the city gates?
Well, they generally just stone the *woman* now, so that's ok?
You can claim the "no true scotsman" argument only up to the point you have actual governments that have implemented policies. It is then no longer just the die hard fundies - they have inculcated the society to accept their basic premises. This is easily seen by the lack of prosecution of people who murder their female relatives who have brought "dishonor" upon their house.
Sorry, but you are the one being the brainless fundy, making up your own toy arguments and vanquishing those wooden soldiers.
Regards.
I think the left tend to sympathize with the Islamist because they are the only other group that hate Christians as much as they do. Actually that's inaccurate, the majority of Muslims want to live and let live as much as anyone but there are so many extremists that are so full of hate and they have so much in common with the Hollywood left as far as hatred of Christians. It's funny to me because both sides, absent their common enemy, would despise each other totally.
Go to Jerusalem and piss on a Bible or a Torah, then go to Makkah and piss on a Quran.
Post results.
All superstitions are of course bad because they are nonsense, and because they are enemies of truth. Why we should respect anything thought up by people who thought the Earth was flat is highly questionable.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."