Feminist Looking Glass

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is the most prominent son of Libya’s 40-years-in-charge leader Muammar Gaddafi (spellings change according to the news source).  The son is supposedly a “liberal” and “reformist” who is looking to increase his profile so he can become Libya’s leader when his father steps down. One of the steps for which he is trying to gather support is the need for Libya to have a formal constitution. So far so good.

But he is also talking about the need for Libya to become more “efficient,” stating that “[w]e need to have an efficient government system. Sometimes we run after fantasy and romantic ideas (but) we need to be serious. We have to be realistic.”

And what does he think will lead to greater efficiency? Well, he wants to stop spending resources on women who prefer to get married and stay at home rather than work. This is what South Africa’s The Star quoted him as saying:

“Women don’t face any kind of discrimination in Libya. Women and men are equal,” Kadhafi told students, academics and dignitaries at the American University in Cairo.

“Women are very powerful in Libyan society. They are in the army, they are pilots… women are taking part in every company, any ministry,” he told the packed auditorium, adding “they can drive” in a dig at Saudi Arabia, with which Libya had tense relations for years.

“The problem in Libya is that they waste the resources of the society… the state spends a lot of money to educate women and then they get married and stay at home.

“This is the problem in Libya – the women.”

Let’s hope that the women of Libya show their disgust for this kind of thinking.

Filed under: International, Marriage Tagged: | Gaddafi, Gadhafi, Libya