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| Words in the News
Monday 04 March 2002
Vocabulary from the news. Listen to and read the report then find explanations of difficult words below.
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Women and Islam Conference
Summary: A world conference on women and Islam has ended in the Spanish city of Cordoba with delegates stressing that western society should change its negative image of the Muslim religion.
This report from Flora Botsford.
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| | The News | |
| | | The final statement released at the conference was really a summary of all the topics the speakers had touched on during two days of meetings in Cordoba, the historic capital of the western Islamic empire.
More than two-hundred delegates heard that the situation for Muslim women was full of difficulties, whether they be Muslim immigrants living in a western society or recent Muslim converts, mainly because of the high level of ignorance of Islamic customs.
The conference concluded that it was up to western societies to change the image of Islam they held and especially to counteract negative images of Islam in the media. Muslim women delegates said they were fed up of being portrayed as timid and downtrodden and of having the decision to wear a veil or headscarf portrayed as their central preoccupation when, in reality, there were many other subjects of concern to them.
There was a strong condemnation of domestic violence and, in the same bracket, female genital mutilation and a call for women everywhere to fight against discrimination in work, pay, health and education - regardless of race or religion.
Flora Botsford, BBC News, Cordoba
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| | The Words
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| | | touched on
if speakers have touched on a topic, they have spoken briefly about it
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| | | delegates
here, people attending the conference
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| | | converts
people who have changed their beliefs or religion
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| | | up to
if something is up to someone, it is their choice or decision
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| | | to counteract
to remove or reduce the effect of something unwanted by producing an opposite effect
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| | | fed up of
here, annoyed at being shown as timid and downtrodden
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| | | downtrodden
oppressed or unfairly treated by people in authority
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| | | in the same bracket
here, within the same theme of condemnation
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| | | female genital mutilation
also known as female circumcision or cutting, FGM is the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or any other deliberate injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural, religious or other non-therapeutic reasons
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| | | a call for
if you call for an action, you demand that it should happen
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