m of the rape, she too had tarnished the family "honor.” Sirhan spent six months in prison, once again thanks to the Jordan Penal Code. (Goodnough)Also in Jordan, a woman rushed to a higher court, demanding justice. The woman was outraged that a court had just given her husband only 6 months in prison for killing their 15-year-old daughter. The court had sided with the father, who claimed that his unmarried daughter's pregnancy had dishonored him and therefore he had the right to take her life. What he did not tell the court, the mother said, was that he had raped his daughter and was the father of the unborn child. The woman told the judges that nobody would believe her and if they did, she would be killed for sure for shaming her husband. (Franklin 3)Before his death in 1999, however, King Hussein of Jordan spoke out and voiced his concerns about this problem. He was against honor killings, and did not believe them to be justified by the Islamic laws. (Franklin 7) They are working hard in Jordan to help create a more equal justice system between men and women. It seems unlikely, but the step is in the right direction. Iman Khader, a feminine activist and human rights lawyer in Jordan says, “I have faith that change will come. Some of that faith stems from the way women have been gaining a foothold in Jordan's daily life and business world.” (Khader 77-79)How does a ‘code’ that effects the lives of so many women, young and old, in such a negative way get destroyed? What should be the actions taken to assure that this will never happen to another woman, anywhere, again? The answers to such questions do not come easily. The first step is to remove the boundaries between men and women, to realize that a woman’s body belongs to no one but herself. She is not property; she is not an object. She is a woman. A woman with rights; a woman with honor; a woman who should be free to say and do as ...
