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NEWS & LETTERS, October 2001

by Mary Jo Grey

On Sept. 13, Lashkar-e-Jabbar, a right-wing fundamentalist group in Kashmir, threatened to shoot Muslim women and girls who do not cover themselves in the black head-to-toe burkah. They demanded that heads of colleges and schools enforce this rigid dress code. In August, the group claimed responsibility for acid attacks on two teachers and a student who
were not wearing the veil.

-Information from THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

***

With women's rights groups asking "what took so long?" the Brazilian Congress ended 26 years of debate, delays and political maneuvering in August to approve a legal code to make women equal to men in the eyes of the law. Among the changes, the measure will eliminate: 1) a provision allowing a husband to obtain an annulment if his wife was not a virgin at the time of their marriage, and 2) the concept of "paternal power" giving fathers unrestricted legal rights. However, abortion remains illegal except in limited circumstances. The law will not be in effect until 2003.

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