Extract from Lords debate on International Women's Day - Mar 11
Friday, 12 March 2021 07:53
Lord Singh of Wimbledon (CB) [V]:...Before we can cure a malady, we
need to look at its cause. We should look particularly at the role
of religious texts in putting forward negative attitudes towards
women. Eve is blamed for the expulsion of the innocent Adam from
the garden of Eden. An ayatollah in Iran suggests that women have
smaller brains than men. Marriage vows remind us that women must
obey. In other texts, evidence, laws and rights to property
disadvantage women. Despite Sikh...Request free trial
(CB) [V]:...Before we can cure
a malady, we need to look at its cause. We should look particularly
at the role of religious texts in putting forward negative
attitudes towards women. Eve is blamed for the expulsion of the
innocent Adam from the garden of Eden. An ayatollah in
Iran suggests that women have smaller brains than
men. Marriage vows remind us that women must obey. In other texts,
evidence, laws and rights to property disadvantage women. Despite
Sikh teachings of the full equality of women, negative
subcontinental attitudes towards women percolate into some Sikh
homes...
(Con)
[V]:...There is perhaps no better example of the suppression
of women than the Islamic Republic of Iran. The
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has
wealth of over $1,000 billion, but only $500 million has been
allocated by the mullahs for tackling Covid. Buying American and
English vaccines is forbidden—and this at a time when hundreds die
each day...
(Con)
[V]:...As Ecclesiastes would doubtless have said if he
had been taking part in this debate, “Let us now praise famous
women, and our mothers that begot us.” I shall start with Margaret
Cavendish—born Lucas, my many times great-aunt—who hammered hard on
the doors of the Royal Society and was repelled by the men. When
Westminster Abbey celebrated the women who were buried there, her
name was left out, but she has the last word: she has been in print
ever since she died. There are not many who can say that over 400
years. I also celebrate Olympe de Gouges. To write as she did to
Robespierre, with the obvious consequences, is something one should
shout out in praise of, as one should for women in
Iran today who are doing much the same to the
ayatollahs...
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department
for Education and Department for International Trade ()
(Con):...I am sure that noble Lords are also looking forward
as I am to welcoming the new Bishop of Chelmsford to the House, the
Right Reverend Guli Francis-Dehqani, who is the first bishop of any
gender of Persian heritage. It seemed most appropriate to mention
her after the comments a number of noble Lords made about the
situation for women in Iran. Her family came to
this country during the Iranian revolution and
fled to the UK, so it is amazing to see, when we challenge, what
change is possible...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE
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