The debate over human rights rages on throughout the world, with the United Nations playing a critical role in the debate. That organization has largely been the group in charge of dictating to various nations what they can and cannot do in the human rights realm. Specifically, there have been a number of different international standards passed on how countries are to treat their women. Saudi Arabia has long been held up as an example of a culture that has not complied with these international human rights norms. They still largely discriminate against women in many ways, holding them out of business and making them answer to men before they can do most anything, including travel. Saudi Arabia has, however, provided education to its women, a strange contradiction to the country’s norms on the issue. It is clear that Saudi Arabia is a hold-out, but what is less clear is why. Through exploration of the country’s culture, one finds that a number of critical social and cultural factors keep Saudi Arabia from fulfilling its human rights duty in regard to women. INCORPORTAE THE QUESTION AND WHY IS IT WORTHY OF INVESTIGATION Universal Declaration of Human Rights: The general Human Rights principles are laid out in a document presented as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was implemented for all nations by the United Nations on the December 10th, 1948. Contrary to popular belief, not all of these rights have been implemented in some nations, with a prime example being Saudi Arabia. Human rights are often perceived as limited and constrained to “western normative societies.” To this end, Human Rights Education philosopher Jagdish Gundara claims, “Nor must human rights education be ... ... middle of paper ... ...n given as many opportunities as males in the educational realm. According to the Islamic law in Saudi Arabia, Works Cited Assembly, U. G. (1948). Universal declaration of human rights. Retrieved February, 22, 2010. Cook, R. J. (1989). Reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Va. J. Int'l L., 30, 643. Dewald, C. (1981). Women and culture in Herodotus' Histories. Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 8(1-2), 93-127. Donnelly, J. (2010). International human rights. ReadHowYouWant. com. Herskovits, M. J. (1972). Cultural relativism; perspectives in cultural pluralism. Renteln, A. D. (2013). International human rights: universalism versus relativism. Quid Pro Books. Steiner, H. J., Alston, P., & Goodman, R. (1996). International human rights in context (p. 1116). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
The place of women in Saudi society is determined by a deeply conservative culture, vindicated by a narrow interpretation of religion, and enforced by law. That place it would appear is at home, subservient to and legally dependant on their male guardian. Saudi society suffers from pervasive segregation along gender lines and women's freedom of movement is impeded, forcing them to rely on male chaperons.
Human rights are the rights in which all the human beings are entitled by virtue of their being as a human (Manchester University Press, 2001). The concept of the human rights itself is an abstract. However, when it is applied, it has the direct and enormous impact on the daily life of the people in the world. How the human rights applied in the broader circumstance is really having a long journey. Until in 1945, after the World War II, the United Nations (UN) was established as one of the effort to uphold the human rights to encourage the governments in promoting and guarding the human rights. Human rights are a central element of international law and also the UN Charter’s broad approach for the international peace and security
The Islamic Revolution of 1979 placed an ideological wedge that created an increasingly pervasive rift in gender equality that is now only gradually being successfully challenged and correct upon.
Saudi Arabia is commonly known for its strict moral values and customs regarding religion and women. Gender discrimination is a global conflict but it is prevalently seen in Saudi Arabia. Gender discrimination is so poignant in Saudi Arabia because there are strict sets of moral guidelines and ideologies that Saudi Arabian culture implements on its people. Although Saudi Arabian men impose restrictions on women for the sake of upholding their cultural beliefs and family’s honor, there is no doubt that Saudi Arabian culture is male dominated and holds misogynistic views on women, but progress is being made.
Before any legislation could be implemented, a definition of human rights had to be compiled and accepted. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was approved in 1948 by th...
"Universal Declaration of Human Rights." Amnesty International USA - Protect Human Rights. 19 May 2009 .
The mistreatment of women in Middle Eastern countries is an extremely disheartening and serious problem. According to the religion of Islam, "Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more (strength) than the other. As to women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish...
In the book, Women in the Middle East, a Saudi Arabian proverb states, "A girl possesses nothing but a veil and a tomb" (Harik and Marston 83). The key words, "veil" and "tomb" lend evidence to the fact that many Middle Eastern women lack identity symbolized by the “veil” and lack the right of ownership except for their veil and the tomb. This statement further enforces the notion that many women in the Middle East are expected to serve and tolerate the oppression of the men in their lives throughout their lives on this earth. Moreover, it confirms that many of these women do not get the opportunity to obtain education, join the work force, and even participate in the political affairs of the country. This arrangement further helps the Middle Eastern men to view women as their properties, servants, or even as slaves. Ultimately, there are three main reasons why Middle Eastern men engage in the act of oppressing their women.
There is a big problem nowadays that all countries, regardless of religion, culture or governmental system, are facing, and that is human rights. Human rights are moral principals that set out certain standards of human behaviour and are regularly protected as legal rights in national and international law.
The Arab world is traditionally and originally a male-dominated culture, where male authority is the norm throughout most Arab countries. Subsequently, even with the introduction of Islam and the acknowledgement of women’s rights coming about in the early 20th century, as will later be described, there still remain those traditional components that affect male-female interactions and relationships in Arab societies. Gender and gender inequality are present in Arab societies still today and are at the forefront of Arab societies. Aspects of gender inequality, for the most part, appear with respect to those of employment and education opportunities, political rights, and justices in marriage. As a starting point, one can stress that there is a general view, on a large global scale that Arab society is one where gender issues and gender relations exist despite the recent protests/riots.
On the cultural challenge for universal human rights, some claims historical root of human rights in Europe and America, where there are several declarations of rights and revolutions to claim a tradition of struggling for the right. Hence, the fulfill of universal human rights in other areas may come up with a significant challenge. (Kühnhardt 1991) Universal human rights also are seen as a newly formed capitalism and would intervene state sovereignty.1 Another middle approach is to search a reconciliation through cross-cultural or intercultural dialog and recognition of plurality. (Etzioni 2010; Yu 2005; An-Naim 1995), an even universality of human rights should be reached by cultural dialog.(Donnelly 1984) Back to the construction of United Nations and the tuning point of drafting the UDHR, it is a deep reflection to inhuman atrocities and moves forward to considering how to intervene states overpower to violate human rights. However, while debating human rights within cultural diversity, the issue of human wrongs disappeared.(Chen 2010) Either jumping into a linear historical prospect or
In today’s society, many people dismiss problems in third world countries. The oppression of women in the Middle East has declined in the past few years. The International Society for Human Rights published an advertisement that shows the oppression of women in the Middle East. They believe that the human rights situation is currently getting worse. This advertisement condemns the oppression of women located in Middle Eastern countries. They say that many women experience oppression in the Middle East, but I say that this oppression needs to end completely because this type of religious covering alienates and controls Muslim women in Islamic countries.
The Women of the Middle East have played substantial roles for their corresponding countries since the advent of colonialism in the region. Middle Eastern women have worked in all types of fields including medicine, education, agriculture, government, private sector, and even defense. They have kept roofs over their family’s heads while their husbands were away in wars, or even in foreign countries to work in jobs that they could not find in their own countries. The roles of women in the countries of Yemen and Oman are no exception, but while they still find ways to contribute to their country, they care constantly stereotyped, discriminated, and ridiculed by men who are known and unknown to them. This paper will discuss the individual contributions of the women living in Yemen and Oman, and will discuss in further state laws and cultural norms that are affecting the women living in these countries today.
This report draws from many publications written over the last twenty years exposing the unique situation in Saudi Arabia, while also utilizing recent headl...
On December 10th in 1948, the general assembly adopted a Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This declaration, although not legally binding, created “a common standard of achievement of all people and all nations…to promote respect for those rights and freedoms” (Goodhart, 379). However, many cultures assert that the human rights policies outlined in the declaration undermine cultural beliefs and practices. This assertion makes the search for universal human rights very difficult to achieve. I would like to focus on articles 3, 14 and 25 to address how these articles could be modified to incorporate cultural differences, without completely undermining the search for human rights practices.