NationStates Jolt Archive

I thought this might interest Congo--Kinshasa... if you haven't already seen it. ;)

The Parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has decided that women in trousers are a "distraction" to male MPs, and that it's not modest and decent enough. Traditional dress now compulsory for all women MPs.

There's a video report here (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/africa/20070204-Congo-women-pants.html) (the written article doesn't correspond; someone messed up there).

I thought this might interest Congo--Kinshasa... if you haven't already seen it. ;)

The Parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has decided that women in trousers are a "distraction" to male MPs, and that it's not modest and decent enough. Traditional dress now compulsory for all women MPs.

There's a video report here (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/africa/20070204-Congo-women-pants.html) (the written article doesn't correspond; someone messed up there).

Uh...what the fuck?

So...fucked...up.

So...fucked...up.

The sad thing is that some of the women MPs agree with the restriction.

I thought this might interest Congo--Kinshasa... if you haven't already seen it. ;)

LOL, it does interest me, thanks. :p

I haven't seen this.

Reminds me of Hastings Banda, except he banned trousers for ALL women, not just MPs.

Distraction? More like their excuses for slacking off :D

I'm pretty sure the DRC Parliament can think of something better to legislate on than trousers...

How are pants more distracting than dresses? I'm surprised they didn't just ban women all together... or men... that would be an interesting change.

I'm pretty sure the DRC Parliament can think of something better to legislate on than trousers...

QFT.

I thought this might interest Congo--Kinshasa... if you haven't already seen it. ;)

The Parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has decided that women in trousers are a "distraction" to male MPs, and that it's not modest and decent enough. Traditional dress now compulsory for all women MPs.

There's a video report here (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/africa/20070204-Congo-women-pants.html) (the written article doesn't correspond; someone messed up there).

Finally a country that is doing something right, this vital piece of legislation will later be looked back on as the point where DRC set down on the path that led it to be the World's only Superpower by 2020.

I thought this might interest Congo--Kinshasa... if you haven't already seen it. ;)

The Parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has decided that women in trousers are a "distraction" to male MPs, and that it's not modest and decent enough. Traditional dress now compulsory for all women MPs.

There's a video report here (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/africa/20070204-Congo-women-pants.html) (the written article doesn't correspond; someone messed up there).
That's stupid. Body language experts have found that when women wear trousers in business situations, their bodies are of the least distraction to male colleagues.

That's stupid. Body language experts have found that when women wear trousers in business situations, their bodies are of the least distraction to male colleagues.

Yea but this is how they got their pay raise ryder added on and passed without the constituents knowing about it.

They should have banned bras and panties, too.

They should ban men in parliament for being so easily distractable!

Although in fairness, the trousers most female MPs were wearing was the "Jungle Skank" line of crotchless trousers.

Afican goverments are just so fucked up...

A lot more serious now:


Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed nearly 100 people this week, including 87 in a government crackdown on members of a religious sect, officials and UN peacekeepers said.

[...]

The clashes began on Wednesday and followed allegations by the Bunda dia Kongo (BDK) religious movement that the recent first-round election of Bas Congo's governor -- a candidate close to victorious presidential candidate Joseph Kabila -- was rigged.

Bemba's opposition Congo Liberation Movement (MLC) said on Saturday that it had filed official complaints about the result in Bas Congo as well as in the capital Kinshasa.

Bemba, the former rebel turned vice president who lost to Kabila in landmark presidential elections last year, called for the election in Kinshasa to be annulled and for a second round to take place in Bas Congo.

"We will not stand by and do nothing while a dictatorship installs itself, especially after what happened in Bas Congo," Fidele Babala, MLC candidate in Bas Congo, told AFP.

Candidates from Kabila's political coalition, the Alliance of the Presidential Majority (AMP), won first round victories in eight of the nine provincial assemblies choosing governors last month.

The results cemented the political dominance of Kabila, whose camp already dominated both houses of parliament as well as seven out of the 11 provincial assemblies.

But his victory in Kinshasa -- a Bemba stronghold -- was a surprise.

The gubernatorial elections marked the final stage in what it is hoped will be a definitive return to multi-party democracy after four decades of kleptocracy and war that left millions dead and the vast mineral-rich DR Congo in ruins.


Full article here (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/world/20070204-congo-clashes.html).

A lot more serious now:



Full article here (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/world/20070204-congo-clashes.html).

This really breaks my heart. Won't the Congolese ever get a break? :(

This really breaks my heart. Won't the Congolese ever get a break? :(

Likewise. Just when they'd thought they might have a stable, democratic government... :(

Likewise. Just when they'd thought they might have a stable, democratic government... :(

On an unrelated note, does anyone know any humanitarian agencies working in DRC, and if so, how to join?