Many Afghans are rethinking taboos surrounding family planning and the use of contraceptives as pandemic stretches on -@RuchiKumar h/t @heatherbarr1 thenationalnews.com/world/asia/in-…
In a deeply conservative and patriarchal society like Afghanistan, families are traditionally large, with every new child seen as sign of prosperity and virility.
The subject of family planning and use of contraceptives is considered to run counter to religious beliefs,
Health concerns surrounding pregnant women and coronavirus have prompted the Ministry of Public Health to issue advisories encouraging Afghans to consider it.
"Studies have shown that pregnant women have a lower immune response to most infections...There is a release of a lot of oestrogen and progesterone, hormones that suppress the immune response in pregnant women. That means disease is about five times more severe."
The ministry launched an awareness campaign in the early months of the pandemic advising Afghan women to space their pregnancies, or wait till after the end of the global crisis to have their next child.
In a patriarchal society where few women have a say over the number of children they conceive, the campaign is falling short.

Dr Khatol Hamidi, who manages a small family planning centre in Kabul, said the decision is usually made by a husband or mother-in-law. #Afghanistan

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More from @monaeltahawy

10 Dec
I am honoured to join my sisters and comrades in @egnalegna in their call to #AbolishKafala. Egna Legna is a collective of Ethiopian domestic workers based in #Lebanon who advocate for the rights and dignity of other domestic workers. I send them my love and solidarity.
The Kafala system entraps migrant workers in Lebanon and the Gulf in contracts that bind them to their employers and creates conditions of enslavement which leave them susceptible to violence and abuse. #AbolishKafala
There are at least 250,000 migrant workers, mostly women from Africa and Asia, who work in Lebanon as housekeepers, carers or nannies. The economic crisis, #COVID19 pandemic, and the Beirut Port explosion have all compounded the already hellish conditions for them.
Read 4 tweets
9 Dec
A new bill to legalize abortion will go before parliament in #Argentina, a Catholic-majority nation and also the homeland of Pope Francis. The new bill has come as a proposal from President Alberto Fernandez — one of his campaign promises. theguardian.com/global-develop… h/t @SChenHayes
The push for reform in #Argentina is part of a pro-abortion “green wave” sweeping through Latin America, symbolized by the green handkerchief that has become the campaign’s instantly-recognizable flag across the entire region. 📷 REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian Activists wearing green t-shirts and bandanas participate in
Solidarity to #Argentinian friends fighting for bodily autonomy.This statement by #NiUnenos, (feminist collective that began amid protests vs gender violence & became major force behind bill to decriminalize abortion) has stayed w/me from 2018 when last bill was narrowly defeated
Read 7 tweets
9 Dec
In #Uganda, female political candidates face structural & cultural obstacles & are held to a different standard compared to male counterparts. The pandemic has also presented additional hurdles with the transition to virtual campaigns. stories4humanrights.com/feminist-and-r… h/t @SharingUbuntu
“Early on, one of the key questions that my campaign team and I toyed with was how I was going to present my single-motherhood status. I told them that motherhood was a good thing, however, singleness for a woman of my age can be used against me,” @drstellanyanzi
“I have had to deal with questions like, if she cannot manage a marriage, how will she manage a constituency?” @drstellanyanzi
Read 8 tweets
9 Dec
I have known foreignness most of my life. My parents knew a rootedness I have never experienced. I examine exile, nostalgia, and being at home in longing:
feministgiant.substack.com/p/essay-exiled…
Coming this week: FEMINIST GIANT’s Guide to Revolution.

The first in a series of articles and profiles as we approach the 10th anniversary of the revolutions that are known as the “Arab Spring. Sign up! feministgiant.substack.com/p/coming-soon?…
Revolutions must never be an exercise in cisgender dick-swinging contests.

FEMINIST GIANT has centered feminist uprisings & revolutions e.g. #Polish feminist uprising against abortion restrictions. It’s core message to the far-right government: Fuck Off feministgiant.substack.com/p/fuck-is-a-fe…
Read 4 tweets
7 Dec
An artist in Philadelphia has made a Christmas wreath inspired by the sins in my book The Seven Necessary Sins For Women and Girls and I’m an angel saying Fuck the Patriarchy! Ha! Check out and buy art from @phillyogart on Instagram A wreath, seven yellow hearts each with a word: Anger, AttenClose up of two hands with middle fingers up and an angel wiThe wreath hanging on  a door
Acquaint yourself with the sins and gift yourself or anyone who needs them The Seven Necessary Sins For Women and Girls penguinrandomhouse.com/books/609114/t…
And here is an excerpt:

How Many Rapists Must We Kill? by @monaeltahawy feministgiant.substack.com/p/how-many-rap…
Read 4 tweets
7 Dec
I had a great call with my parents this weekend and it made me miss them even more, so I write this about longing, nostalgia, and ways to let our hearts roam in lockdown feministgiant.substack.com/p/essay-exiled…
I associate that feeling of longing and missing something with this song by Abdel-Halim Hafez that my parents used to play during our weekends in London soon after we moved there from Cairo.
And I associate roaming and being a wanderer - the theme of the song - with this fantastic photograph by Maria Chabot of Georgia O’Keeffe hitching a ride to Abiquiu, Ghost Ranch, in 1944. Georgia O’Keeffe sitting behind a man on a motorcycle, bot
Read 6 tweets

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