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The story can be found here
In a country where this type of treatment for a 10-year old girl is not extra-ordinary, doesn't it say something when there are people who will go against culture and tradition to make a change and to shed light on the cracks in society?
picture taken from: ( http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/07/15/yemen.childbride/index.html?eref=rss_topstories )
4 comments:
When I heard about this I was very surprised that the judge granted the divorce. I recall reading many stories of women being denied justice by judges in the Middle East.
Nujood is my hero for seeking a divorce, despite all the forces against her. I am so glad that she was rewarded for her efforts. I'm also glad that she wasn't forced to resort to violence to protect herself. This is truly great news.
I'm at a loss concerning how her parents could do that to her, though. Who but a pedophile would want to marry a child anyway? Nujood's father was outraged that Nujood's husband didn't keep his promise not to rape Nujood until she was older, yet her parents did, and continue to do nothing to protect their daughter. If that was my daughter, almost nothing could stop me from protecting her.
I wonder if the large number of Nujood's siblings have anything to do with that attitude. When one has 14 children, does one start fo care about the individual children less? Perhaps there is some relevance to the fact that about 45% of the women in the capital of Yemen, where Nujood lives, are subjected to Genital Cutting as infants, and most of them are the poor tribal Yemenis who have immigrated to the capital, like Nujood's family.
I applaud Nujood for standing up for herself and demanding what justice she can get, despite all the abuse she has experienced. I am heartened that there are still people like this - it gives me hope that we will succeed, in the end.
Christopher,
You wonder whether the large number of Nujood's siblings makes her parents love her any less. I don't believe that is so in any society. I think these lines from the original article are telling: "According to tribal customs, the girls are no longer viewed as a financial or moral burden to their parents [once they are married]." The financial part is self-explanatory, but the moral burden stems from the "fear that the girl will do something to dishonor the family: She will run away with a guy, she will have relations with a boy."
I also think it is counter-intuitive for a society to hang so much worth on a daughter's moral character, and then endanger it so often. But as much as a chaste girl is valued, it is so easy for her to be tainted, therefore tainting the whole family. But I don't doubt that Nujood was loved. It does take a strong girl and family to speak out against these horrific conventions.
I think this reflects a difference in how we define love, Heather.
I define love not by the feeling of love, but by the loving actions that it motivates. For instance, an abusive husband can assert that he loves his wife, but if he abuses his wife then as far as I am concerned, he does not love his wife. The same goes for any other non-loving actions.
Perhaps love means something different for you. That's OK.
This is why I say that Nujood is not loved. Nujood's parents did nothing after their daughter told them that her husband was abusing her sexually and physically - a situation that they created! These are not the actions of a loving parent. How could Nujood's mother not accompany her to the courthouse? I say that Nujood's parents abused her by proxy. They created a situation where she was abused, and then they endorsed the abuse by washing their hands of the whole affair. Sure, they feel bad about it, just not enough to do anything. These are not the actions of a loving parent.
This discussion reminds me about that scene in "The Joy Luck Club" when the mother left her daughter with her husband's family and ran away crying. The mother loved her daughter and didn't want to see her go, but she had to because that's the way things were. I don't think that the little girl's family doesn't love her but are bound by the tradition of their country.
In a lot of places, tradition trumps the love for a family.
You have to also remember that Yemen is still a country where women are still considered property. While their heart may have hurt for their daughter, by tradition they were not allowed to interfere.
The part of the story where Nujood was married off young, abused and raped by her husband is not uncommon in Yemen. The unique part of the story is that Nujood went to a lawyer and was granted a divorce by a judge.
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