AS MORE than 80 young women arrived amid great fanfare in the Nigerian capital to take part in the Miss World contest, an illiterate 31-year-old woman sat in a stark room a few miles away contemplating a very different fate. Amina Lawal has been sentenced to death by stoning.
Isn’t this an issue that the National Organization for Women should be on like ugly on an ape? You would think so, but other than a press release, not a peep from the NOW gang, as they have much more heady issues to tackle. Weighty, deep issues, with much more urgency, like:
Trying to force Augusta National to admit womyn members.
Combatting the Bush/Cheney “weapon of mass distraction” by stepping up voter mobilization for 2004.
Promoting accurate and diverse portrayals of womyn and girls in the media.
Keeping on top of judicial nominations.
A full plate, indeed. The tragic thing is that NOW will probably spend more time and energy fighting the swimsuit portion of the Miss World contest than they will fighting for Amina Lawal. Maybe if they just pretend that Miss Lawal is a fetus, they can then live with themselves.