Religion is supposed make people feel good about themselves emotionally and spiritually and lead them on the right path, but yet some religions devalue women. Women have been struggling to be treated with respect and equality, but it does not help if religion, the one thing that people actually call on for guidance, puts women down and take away basic rights. Religion expresses that women are beneficial, but also that women are secondary to men. Yes, there are many different types of religions out there in the world, but in the various types of religious scriptures, it is conveyed that women will never be equal to men.
It all started with women being portrayed as evil and gullible in the Bible. Take into account the story told in Genesis about Eve and the Serpent. God forbade Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but let them eat from every other tree. The Serpent convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, and then she convinced Adam. God realized that Adam and Eve disobeyed him , so he punishes Adam and Eve with exile from The Garden of Eden and also punishes Eve with painful childbirth. From that story people can formulate ideas about how weak Eve was. The Serpent approaches Eve, because of course Eve, being a woman, was more spineless than Adam and thus more vulnerable to temptation. Woman was considered inferior to man when Eve surrendered to the temptation of Satan in the Garden of Eden. She ruined the rest of womankind and caused Adam to fall; she was responsible for ensuing evil in the world. Woman could only be viewed as dishonest, undependable, and seductive. Men use Eve’s actions as a way to justify the oppression of women.
The Bible has a lot to say about how marriages should wor...
... middle of paper ...
...e and in there he will find how to “tame” his wife. Men have power over women because God has made men superior. It is clearly stated in the Islamic religion that women will be beaten if they are defiant.
In the Muslim religion, women are not to be thought of as a piece of meat. That is why their bodies and head are covered by clothing. The main reason for this is so the women do not tempt men if they are married. However, the responsibility should not fall on the woman’s shoulder just because the man cannot control himself. This shows that instead of the women, the men are the weak ones if they can fall into temptation so easily. Women are not even allowed to pray with the other men in a masque, because they will distract the men from praying. Women have to change so much for men so that men can function in society without being tempted and without any trouble.
Women have always been seen as being the weaker gender, especially during Puritan times. “Women were more likely to submit to satan. A woman’s feminine soul, jeopardized in a woman’s feminine body was frail, submissive, and passive” (Reis 16). Due to this idea, women were more than a majority of those accused of witchcraft. Puritan’s believed that since women were weaker, they would not be able to fight back if satan assaulted them. “Puritans believed that Satan attacked the soul by assaulting the body, and that because women’s bodies were weaker, the devil could reach women’s souls more easily” (Reis 15).
Contrary to popular belief, Islam is a religion that respects the rights of women. I was raised in a devout Muslim household, and I was raised to believe that women in Islam are amazing and powerful creatures that deserve respect, and this has had a massive impact on the woman that I aspire to be.
Women of these times were obviously not equal to their male counterparts. In modern days however, women are thought of as equals in society. The problem is that they are still not being treated as equals in a religious aspect as well as many other aspects. Elizabeth A. Johnson draws attention to how, despite being considered equal in Genesis, women had their worth ignored “Consistently subordinated and demeaned in the theories, symbols, rituals, A large wave of pro women thinking has arisen in the form of feminist theology. This line of thought draws from Genesis and the idea that men and women were created equally.
The religion of Islam has obtained the reputation of violence and misogyny in recent decades due to radical sects in the international spotlight. Although violence has been limited to radical groups, many people outside of the religion view Islam’s law, Shari’ah law, to define the status of women below men. However, from the original holy text, the Qur’an, and the Prophet Muhammad’s Sunnah, a framework of equality and mutual respect across sexes is evident. Although the Qur’an is the unadulterated Word of God, it is interpreted by Muslims in many different ways. It has been through these patriarchal interpretations of the five schools of Islamic law that the status of women has been impinged upon (Barlas, 2002). The Qur’an itself contains versus which demonstrate the equality of men and women, but also seemingly contradicts itself by undermining the status of women. These contradictory phrases have recently been interpreted by female scholars differently than the original schools to support the equality of sex. Muhammad’s life also displays his affection and respect for his wives as opposed to a lifestyle of misogyny. In the end, the status of women in Islam has been largely degraded by human interpretation of the text to create a power dynamic between a husband and his wife, or wives. Although a woman’s status has been lowered in the eyes of many Muslims, recent civil rights movements and women activists are challenging these emboldened concepts to achieve social and political leadership.
INTRODUCTION Most religious traditions have subjugated womankind (Hawthorne, 2011; Armstrong 1986). All in accordance with holy texts, religious laws and guidelines, the different religion have place restrictions and taboos on womankind, which ranged from the openly oppressive and inhumane, to subtle limitations. Women have been barred from leadership, land ownership, prevented from religious learning and even secular education, forbidden to hold power, denied fair inheritance and land ownership, denigrated, physically dominated, and sometimes even forbidden to speak (Ruthven, 2007). No religion is exempted from these religious restrictions and taboos, the monotheist religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have been worse; but
As people of the Islamic culture, women are devoting themselves to a religion that they know of, and know well. They understand what is to be done, and not done, and know what it is that the religion asks of them. Women know their part in society, and it is up to them to decide how they want themselves to be treated. If they obey their religion, they will be treated well, but if they go against their religion or their husband, they will be punished. On the other side, Muslim women are respected overall as well looked after, and protected. They are not treated as some women all over the world are treated; like objects. They are treated as women should be treated and seen as women should be seen. They are not belittled but uplifted by both society, and their religion.
Violence against women is prevalent throughout the Islamic world. The Middle East is one of the many areas that continue to oppress its women. Countries such as Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia still believe in a patriarchal culture; so, many of the people living there have an extreme traditionalist perspective. Women in the Middle East face many hardships, such as polygamy, sexual and domestic violence, forced marriages, strict dress codes, and so on. The Muslim women who acknowledge this inequality and seek to balance it—identify themselves as Islamic feminists. Islamic feminism is a new generation of feminism that has surfaced during the past two decades, as women's issues became an integral part of the modern Islamic discussion. The women involved with this movement seek to challenge and change these outdated perspectives by attacking the root of the problem: the verses in the Quran—which were interpreted solely by men. It is not just the verses, it is also everyday Arabic words that have different meanings, but they also hinder the progression of women—because Muslim men think that only their definition applies. By re-analyzing the interpretations of this religious text and Arabic words, Islamic feminists believe that their perspectives on these things could change the patriarchal culture that exists in Muslim societies.
The Koran makes it very succinct and specific about how men are to deal with their wives. The Koran says that men have authority over women for two reasons. The first reason is because God has made men superior to women. This reason is an absurdity to any reasonably educated person living in the 21st century where women, at least in the Western world, are capable of anything that a man is capable of. We have a society filled with women teachers, doctors, lawyers, politicians, astronauts, and, generals as well as women who play football, weld steel, author books, and do research. Women are not inferior to men. We are all human beings. The second reason is because men spend their money on women. Even though men spend money on women that does not give a man the right to control a woman and have authority over her actions. This reasoning is essentially a belief in slavery. Women have no rights because they are bought and paid for.
105). There is a single deity, a male, that is at the head of the religion. Women are made to have secondary status as they are made to be less important than men. Women are in the “old-time” religions made to look like temptresses and vixens, that all they want is for men to just give them whatever they want. In these religions, however, men believe that women are their property and that they are theirs and theirs
While people in the west think that women in Islam are oppressed, they do not know that Islam liberated women from oppression. There are many people who have opinions about the religion of Islam, but mostly about the women who follow it. Westerners have this idea that women in Islam are disrespected, mistreated and oppressed. In actuality, these allegations are incorrect. Women in Islam have rights and are not oppressed. The veil is widely misunderstood and many do not know what it represents. In many ways, men and women are equal as much as they are not; and this is in every religion.
Initially, Old Testament describes women as the corrupter of man. However, through interpreting the action of Jesus Christ, we see that he holds women in equal roles as men, to include mention of female apostles. The New Testament does not promote equality but does mention the acts of Jesus. Finally, the Qur'an places women in a subservient role allowing men to keep their under control, by any means. Interpretations of the Gods word under the disguise of organized religion are the product of the gender discrimination of the time and continue to paint women as lesser creatures in the eyes of God.
A. The United Kingdom is full of organizations that provide help to women around the world. The Women’s National Commission is the official and independent advisory body giving the views of women to the government. This organization is in charge of taking in account (by the Government) women’s points of view and needs. This also involves taking all of these opinions to a public debate. The Women’s National Commission (as well as many organizations in the UK) is aware of the problems around the world and how rights of women are violated in many ways. Since there job is to inform the government and the public, they do, and the government has taken time and money to invest in women’s well beings. But also, the UK has a group called Womankind Worldwide that is dedicated to raising the status of women around the world. They work with 20 countries in Africa, South Asia, Western Europe, Central and South America. The Womankind Worldwide organization, works to achieve an improvement in women’s lives – socially, financially, in terms of health and participation in society. Religion and gender-based violence is a very important issue for this group, which is why they created a special project (called Body Literacy) that focuses in helping women understand and confront the taboos of their society. This organization works directly with women and men internationally with the hope of transforming communities and achieving equality between women and men.
First of all, women have equal rights in Islamic world. Islam highly encourages to give women their equal rights. This includes all types of rights, spiritual, economic, social, education, legal, and political rights. According to Islamic concept, men and women are created equal. They have spirits given by God. Neither man has superiority on woman nor has woman. The duties assigned to both are same. The same five prayers a day are obligatory for women which are for men. Everybody will get the reward for his own deeds on the Day of Judgment. If muslim women are supposed to fulfill their duties then why not their rights are equal in the eyes of western world. According to Zakir Naik: “In terms of moral, spiritual duties, acts of worship, the requirements of men and women are the same, except in some cases when women have certain concessions because of their feminine nature, or their health.” (Naik).
The attitude of the Qur'an and the early Muslims bear witness to the fact that woman is, at least, as vital to life as man himself, and that she is not inferior to him nor is she one of the lower species. Had it not been for the impact of foreign cultures and alien influences, this question would have never arisen among the Muslims. The status of woman was taken for granted to be equal to that of man. It was a matter of course, a matter of fact, and no one, then, considered it as a problem at all.
Today, people think that women were liberated in the west and that the women's liberation movement began in the 20th Century. Actually, Islam preceded all the existing systems in introducing women's rights more than fourteen centuries ago. The women's liberation movement was revealed by God to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the seventh century. A whole package of new rights was given at once to women by their creator without their having to strive to get them. The Qur'an and the Traditions of the Prophet (Hadith and Sunnah) guarantee every Muslim woman certain rights and duties.