Worldwide Wednesdays

Salam wa aleikum Athenites!

My name is Yamina. I am a second year journalism student. I will be one of Worldwide Wednesdays' weekly bloggers with my friend Hannah (you’ll meet her next week).

As a Canadian woman, I feel extremely privileged. Although, as women, we still continue to struggle in certain aspects of our lives, being a girl or woman in Canada is a lot easier than being a girl or woman in other parts of the globe. Having the privilege to wear what we want, go where we want and strive to be whoever we want to be can make Canadian women start to feel too comfortable. Complacent. It's when I catch myself feeling too comfortable in my life as a young woman that I think about other young women in the world who struggle for their rights

So with this blog we would like to see the world beyond our backyard. Each week we will post links to videos or articles that discuss women's issues in different countries across the globe. We will share our own views on the stories, but we would also love to get feedback from readers. We will show you women struggling, but we will also show you women rising up against all odds and succeeding.

You're probably wondering why I started my post with “salam wa aleikum”, which means “hello” in Arabic. It's because this week’s story comes to us from Sudan. It shows that in Sudan, the woman are the ones to wear the pants. It is the story of Lubna Hussein, a Sudanese woman who decided to defy the country’s so-called “decency” laws and wore trousers in public. Even against the threat of public flogging (whipping), she has stood her ground. She has become a sort of celebrity in Sudan. Check out the latest in the case here.

Ms Hussein, are thoughts are with you.

Ma’as salaamah,
Yamina