politicalviewssomalia

**Political Views on Injustices Toward Women in Somalia**
This country lacks a stable government so people like al- Shabaab who poses power over Somalia create bigger female rights issues, this causes the government to have even less say and women continue to suffer. It continues to get worse because people that think they can tell Somalia what is best rather than the government, since the government does not step in where they should. In some places in Somalia al-Shabaab requires women to wear clothing called an abayas, which covers the women completely from head to toe. Since the government does not step in and stop this women who are caught without wearing an abayas or are too poor to afford one are either prisoners in their house or they are whipped, arrested, or punished greatly. Alex DiBronco even said, "[This] country [is] lacking stable government..." in an article written about the abuse towards women in Somalia. Larisha Smith-Barney in a different article involving Women's Rights in Somalia wrote, "Women are not involved in the Justice System at all." This means that many women don't even have rights involving the law or legal system. They do not make any decisions in the government, legal system, or even individually for themselves. The government does not step in and make an act of some sort to help out the poor situation women are in. A law even states: 'If a women is murdered, under Shariah law the perpetrator's family is only expected to pay half of what they would have to pay if it was a man who had been murdered' (Helium 2). There is something else going on in Somalia that is very disturbing. Women all over have to go through something called Female Genital Mutilation. This procedure is widely accepted and promoted. This procedure is when a young girl, between the ages of 4 and 8, has their genital areas actually sown together to keep them practicing chastity, but it causes so many health issues that the girl may die before she can even get married. Anesthesia is barley even used for this and the shock and pain causes the young girl to die. This also creates numerous other health issues and when the girl starts menstruating even more issues occur. Larisha stated, "At one point this procedure was completely outlawed because of its cruelness to women, however with no government protection and no one to really stop it, it has become a wide spread practice." This statement and issue goes to show that because there is no government help towards Women's Rights they are going through mutilation and in turn killed because of the lack of care that goes into this already dangerous and risky procedure. Larisha Smith-Barney also said in her article, "The conclusion of the matter seems to be that women in Somalia have no rights at all, and with no stable government in place, they have little to no protection in their every day lives." This just goes to prove again that the government is so powerless that they can not even do anything to protect the women from their own country abusing them. Women in Somalia are scared for their lives every day. They can be arrested for walking out their front door with out a abayas, punished greatly for something a man would be let off with, and whipped for disobeying their husband. Somalia's government really needs to get its act together if they are going to do something to help their women to escape the abuse they go through in their own country every day.