Mali madness and the need to fight loudly for women's rights.

Mali makes a great example of the problems we all face. The country had started to take steps to improve matters for women in the nation.

But as BBC tells us, they have taken back those steps.

After pressure from religious groups, in Mali this means Islam, the president has returned the bill to improve the rights of those in families. While a supporter of the changes, he had been driven back by the rancor.

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President Amadou Toumani Toure said he was sending the law back for the sake of national unity.

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What kind of rights? Like women not needing to obey husbands, but both need to be loyal to the other. Women get better rights to inherit. And instead of marrying girls off younger, the family must wait to 18. How horrible.

In relation to business here in the U.S., the story from BBC notes that the president of Mali believes that a lot of misinformation was spread about the law...Not like we have experience with that here in the states.

But I find the comments in that the end instructive. Some old school sort get on to proclaim their disgust...at women. I really love the one that equates women's right to destroying a nation's constitution. And the one who says giving women reasonable rights is too far and too fast just reminds me of so much we deal with today here as well.

I think the president is in the right position to put this law under serious review. Its true women need the right but not to this extent, this right has to be checked. They still remain a man's responsibility and despite all efforts there is something about their position in the society that cannot be changed.

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I think these whole thing about 'women's right' is just an attempt to turn the order things upside down. if they say that a woman does not need have to obey her husband, then it is like saying the citizens of a country do not need to obey the constitution of the country as symbolised by their leader. in a place when there is no need for someone to obey the other, chaos is the result. Islam does not oppress women so they don't need freedom!

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I'm very please for the refusal of the President, because it is not allow in Islam, woman shouldn't equal to a man rather as her husband, in Islam religion a woman is always behind a man.

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I think this law is so controversial that it must be abandoned because you can not jump so high with very traditional and almost uneducated society with very high illiteracy especially among women the supposed stake holders. By trying to adopt such law the parliamentarians and the human rights activists are provoking the sentiment of Muslim and playing in the hands of the fundamentalist groups. I am afraid this law to back fire and results in creating more conservative groups on the edge like (boko haram) of Nigeria. Changing society is not an easy thing and can not be done through jurisdiction only and the very positive thing in Mali that it is a democratic country and change can come by time when these values of human dignity and equity regardless of the gender are deep rooted in the society and when more enlightened interpretations of Islam are given chance.NO easy walk to society change.

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This law really needs to be amended. Women were created to be a support of the man hence they need to accord them with the maximum respect no matter who they are. It is very wrong for women to be given the right to disobey their husbands. Any woman who thinks she cannot obey her husband should remain unmarried.