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NEWS & LETTERS,
AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2003
Women World Wide
by Mary Jo Grey In Nairobi, Kenya, where widows are shunned, revolutionary
feminist activist Wambui Otieno, 67 years old, sparked huge controversy by
marrying Peter Mbugua, 25. In the 1950s she fought for Kenya’s independence
from Britain as a Mau Mau scout, was imprisoned, raped and impregnated by prison
guards; in the 1960s she married out of her tribe; in 1987 she fought her first
husband’s tribe over where he would be buried, arguing that women should make
that decision despite tribal customs. While headlines proclaim “Granny’s toy
boy scandalizes Kenya,” and men are quoted saying, “She’s disgusting,”
Otieno proclaims that “Women must rise against the attitude that only older
men can marry younger girls.” * * * The U.S. Supreme Court upheld--by refusing to hear an
appeal--a lower court decision ruling that “wanted posters” with pictures of
abortion doctors are illegal threats of violence (not free speech). The American
Coalition of Life Activists must therefore pay damages under the Freedom of
Access to Clinic Entrances Act. * * * Police in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, forced the cancellation
of a planned march, July 20, to protest a rising number of sex crimes. About 25
activists from the All Women’s Action Society showed up anyway and, despite
police harassment, unfurled a 12-foot long banner which read: “Citizens
Against Rape: Towards a Violence-Free Community.” They attached notices to the
banner charging “Cancelled! Our rights to peaceful protest denied.” * * * The ruling Christian Democratic Party in Slovakia is threatening to throw out Cabinet members who voted, in July, to extend abortion rights to allow pregnancies to be terminated up to the 24th week if the fetus might suffer genetic defects. The right-wing coalition government in that heavily Catholic country is said to be in crisis. |
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