Thursday, 25 February 2010

Equal Rights for faiths but not women

The much-discussed Amendment means that the government's position on sex education in faith schools effectively amounts to saying,
"This is how you put on a condom, but you will go to Hell if you use one."
As ever, the right of same-sex partnerships to be given equal status to marriage in those lessons is regarded as a given by all civilised people, yet there is no mention of the rights of girls. It's girls who in the Catholic faith are solely responsible for the sin of fornication and what used to be called 'unwed motherhood', and girls born into Muslim families who can be forced to marry as young as twelve.
The now retired headmaster of my old school, a former grammar turned comprehensive, told me that during his tenure, thirteen and fourteen year olds were being taken back to the home country, typically Pakistan, to 'visit granny', and returning married.
Is this going to be covered in the new mandatory PSHE?
And is Ofsted going to be coming round to check?