I'm shocked that anyone could describe the article by Dr Jocelynne A. Scutt, Barrister and Human Rights Lawyer, as a "rant". It is a carefully worded article which methodically lays out and includes all instances of brutality against women - committed by men - and this justifies it being called a rant? Presumably the writer - obviously male - is also a highly eminent and qualified individual with multiple degrees who is informed and up to the minute about such events worldwide, thus entitling him to make such facetious comments.

Instead of continuing in such vein, let me just add that I fully endorse all comments made by the Hon Jocelynne Scutt, and am glad that someone has taken the time to fully document man's atrocities to women - worldwide and throughout history. I am so tired of reading about women deformed by acid, and killed by stoning, and raped, and sexually abused, and dominated in every possible way by males - the stronger sex - the one which is meant to be protecting the weaker sex. When god made women smaller and weaker than men, surely he meant for them to protect them, not take advantage of their smaller weaker size?

Guys guys guys, before you rush back defensively, please stop to think about it and ask yourselves, are you actually doing anything at all to join women in the fight to stop all indiscriminate killing of women? If not, why not? It's TIME!

Of course there is a lot of truth in what Dr Scutt writes. And since the position and treatment of women in Afghanistan seems to be the most urgent and salient at this time, the most pressing concern should be the protection and advancement of women in Afghanistan. And to a very large extent - since they have the power and the force - the work should primarily be done by men.

But it won't be done by Afghan men, it has to be admitted: those who benefit from the injustices of particular cultural practices are hardly likely to want to change the situation. So who is it up to ?

As it happens, there is an army in Afghanistan, and one of its roles is in fighting for the rights of women there. So, despite what wonderful people like Malalai Joya may assert, it is vital that that army stays in Afghanistan until the defeat of the reactionaries and until - paternalism notwithstanding - outdated cultural practices are smashed.

Afghan women are as entitled to the full rights of human beings as their sisters in Leichhardt or Carlton. Who is fighting for those rights if not the Coalition forces in Afghanistan ? Who is fighting for an Afghanistan in which a young woman cannot be machine-gunned, in the back, by some gutless wonder, with impunity ?

In this case, (although I never thought I would write this) the progressives are the US and its allies. So whose side are you on ?

Joe Lane

Look Sabra:

…All men are not evil of course. Take myself for example; in stoic refusal to be swayed by the rudeness of women in the modern world, I had a breakthrough only yesterday. In my usual compliance to the long lost art of manners, I stood aside (again) as a token of respect to women, at the top of a busy set of public stairs, to give-way to a young lady coming up from the street. I was shocked and amazed as she acknowledged my personal effort and compliance to an age-old norm of respect offered by a man towards the gentle-sex under such circumstances.

…It’s obvious to men, (as we move around in public), women generally fail to recognise these tokens of respect, made obvious by the likes of myself: How disappointing!

Two points - the NYP Women's Council tells us that women in the most traditionally minded Aboriginal communities in Australia are 60 times more likely to die from domestic violence than the national average. I have seen horrific violence against women in the last thirty years and have buried several loved ones who died this way. My wife's life has been directly threatened by Aboriginal men. And yet Australian feminists have to direct their concerns to the MIddle East to seek justice for women. What's wrong with starting with your own backyard.
I have a daughter and was very concerned about her rights being respected by the institutions she was involved with. She's doing really well at this point in her life. She has three sons. I am far more worried now about their rights as boys in the schools they attend than I was about my daughter at their age. It's time we got away from this idiotic blame game and started real problem solving without the shallow ideology. Siblinghood is Powerful. I'm a white man. I'm not copping the blame for other people's racism and the murderous behaviour of some Aboriginal men and I'm sure as hell not copping the blame for what the Afghans are up to. When are these people going to get it. We're already on your side you don't have to keep lecturing us on what a bunch of bastards we are. We care, we act, we teach, we suffer for our loved ones. We're not monsters. We know how to love. Let's get on with the real work.

That's exactly right Joe,
White Western Women and their Third World acolytes can rant about Human rights and pass all the resolutions all they want but the only thing that can bring it to fruition is if their White men go and kill a bunch of Brown men then stand over the rest of them so that they behave themselves...at least behave themselves while the Bushmasters are on the streets and the Drones are in the air, what happens when they withdraw is a foregone conclusion.

Might I also point out that as harsh as married life can be for women in the third world the lot of a widow is in many cases a fate worse than death.
While the Feminists beat the war drums and zero the cruise missiles on Iran and Syria they might want to consider that they are merely playing god on the basis of a choice between the lesser of two evils, as it is widows and orphans in those countries are still taken care of, when the state is destroyed and the militias and gangsters take over...well, god help them because the author and her friends are far, far away.