Through various detailed descriptions of household economics in Cairo, Egypt, Homa Hoodfar provides audiences with an opportunity to learn about Modern-day Muslim families. Living among her informants, she was able to capture the daily lives of low-income families over the course of a decade. She gathered extensive research and investigated the various social and economic survival strategies that these families utilized. In Between Marriage and the Market, Hoodfar aims to illustrate how the preexisting economic and social constraints in Egyptian society have a heavy influence over the household economy as well as the individual members’ survival strategies (5, 11, 16, 17). She is successful in providing ample evidence to support her argument. Hoodfar imparts exemplary with her discussion of gender roles and Egypt’s poor economic. …show more content…
Justified by tradition and religious beliefs, it is accepted that in this culture there is a sexual division of labor that places different demands on males and females (80-81). All of Hoodfar’s female informants stated that a woman’s primary duty was to “attend to her home, her children, and her husband” (133). Meanwhile, a great emphasis is placed on the men to be the breadwinners of the family, in addition to being good fathers and husbands (36). These rigid gender roles have a large impact on the household, affecting where and why women work. Women’s participation in the labor market was heavily influenced by their domestic responsibilities, staying locally in the informal sector where they can easily care for their children (140). Zayanab, one of Hoodfar’s female informants stated, “By selling soaked beans in the market, I can also look after my two little boys without having to take them to my
By her admission the women volunteers of the social welfare organizations were predominantly middle and upper-class. Deeb does not consider how women from other socio-economic groups pursue and engage in piety and modernity, and how they view “authenticated Islam.” As such Deeb’s description of an authenticated Islamic community in al-Dahiyya seems to represent the formulations provided by a privileged class of women. The absence of other socio-economic is coupled with a cursory description of the peripheries of the community. Less emphasis is placed on the inhabitants of al-Dahiyya who are marginalized and excluded from the enchanted modern. A greater study of how authenticated Islam is understood by member of other socio-economic classes and the more marginalized members of the community would have given a greater insight, not only into the development of the enchanted modern, but also the social dynamics which govern
Adely suggests that family’s reputation and geography can affects young women’s path in the modern Jordan. She points out the best private schools provided better education but majority of the poor couldn’t afford such luxury. Education is a big part of the development in Jordan since the very foundation of the nation but being educated will not automatically means successful as she writes, “with unemployment for Jordanians under the age of twenty-five over 60 percent in 2003, the return on education are not guaranteed.” However, families continue to hope education
...enging Myths of Muslim Women: The Influence of Islam On Arab-American Women's Labor Force Activity. Muslim World, 92(1/2), 19. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Although both the desert nation Miraji and the metropolitan United States of America possess a working-class, there are many differences between the two. In Miraji, the majority of the working-class either work in iron factories or in the mines. Whereas in America, nearly three-quarters of the working-class are employed in service jobs. The Miraji factory workforce is exclusively composed of men. Furthermore, this society’s role for women is to be a possession. Women are expected to wed and reproduce with men, some who already have numerous wives. In contrast, the American workforce is practically split evenly between men and women, and it is illegal to marry more than one person.
It revolves around the issues of gender oppression, sexual assault, and importance of social status. Alifa Rifaat manages to express her opinions towards these themes by writing about a typical Egyptian marriage. She puts in focus the strong influence that a patriarchal society has. She also manages to prove how important social status is in society. The uses of literally elements such as theme and irony help express this view. It shows that in a typical Egyptian society women are commonly oppressed by all males in society
Throughout most of documented history women of all cultures and civilizations have lived under patriarchal circumstances. In almost every religion and civilization women's status was not equal to that of a man's. Women in most cultures are looked at as subservient, obedient creatures that were put on this world for very few reasons, mainly to bear children and do what their husbands require of them. In fact, religions are a big part of the reason of this oppression due to the religion's reinforcement and justification of patriarchal conditions. In this week's selected readings from different aspects of Islamic, Byzantine Christian, and Western Christian cultures, it is very apparent as to how these three religions did reinforce and justify the patriarchal conditions in which women were struggling to live in. Also, by reading the selections one can see how different religions could make a difference for women and how they lived their lives.
These ‘roles’ are divided into six legitimate categories of Wives, Daughters, Aunts, Handmaids, Marthas and Econowives. Each category of women is required to perform their task properly, whilst obeying the rules set down for them by the patriarchal government. To illustrate, each group has different functions in the society, but still no one woman is able to act as an individual. The handmaids, for example, have been reduced to the ability to create another life, their fertility –
Initially going into reading this play, I thought it would just be a traditional telling of the environment, setting, and little information about our protagonist. However, I seemed a little odd that the setting was just describing the scenery of the play itself with curtains and we are introduced to the stage manager for the play. The Stage Manager explains significant parts within the play like, scenery, landmarks, and certain objects. Few pages in, we’re finally introduced to two actual character in the play itself. Joe Crowell Jr. and Dr. Gibbs are the characters we are introduced to. As explained by the Stage Manager, Crowell was a college graduate from Massachusetts Tech. However, there was “the war” came to France. This war being World
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.
The central Bosnian village Dolina is located in a valley north of the Bosnian-Hercegovinian capital, Sarejevo. From a very early age Muslim girls are taught that their role as a female is to assist their mother with household chores and to serve the men. While her male siblings, who spend most of their time playing and walking around the village, are not expected to work around the house (Bringa 106). Muslim boys were given privileges because they were male. Muslim women usually did not leave the household for employment because they maintained the household agriculture, however they could sew and knit for other villagers. Women’s work mainly consisted of tending to the garden where they grew the vegetables for household consumption. The women also did the milking and the processing of cheese (Bringa 52-4). The busiest part of a Muslim woman’s day was in the morning when she did the cooking and the cleaning. A women’s daily routine, which includes social calls to her neighbors, know as “coffee visits”, revolves around both her children and husband’s schedule. A woman was expected to be home whenever her husband was home (Bringa 87-8). The daily interaction between neighboring households occurs mainly through the women’s “coffee visits.” During the “coffee visits” the women are expected to uphold Muslim community values so as not to damage the reputation of their household (Bringa 91). Tone Bringa wrote: “as a wife a woman’s behavior was judged in relation to her behavior within the neighborhood and village, and in terms of her critical role as representative of the moral standing of her household on a daily basis”(105). Women determine and maintain the environment that exists within the household while the men are the providers of material substance (Bringa 86). The men spend most of their time working outside the village in nearby market towns or in the industrial suburbs of Sarajevo. Some of the most common jobs include bricklayer, welder, carpenter, electrician, car mechanic, warden, and lorry driver (Bringa 51). Fontana del Re is a poverty stricken neighborhood in Naples, Itlay. Just like in the Bosnian village of Dolina, the women of Fontana del Re, Naples tend to stay close to home while the men leave the area to find work. Life in Naples is focused on the mother. Thomas Belmonte wrote, the mother “is at the center because she controls and distributes the twin sources of human vitality, food and love” (89).
Toivari-Viitala, J. Women at Deir el-Medina. A Study of the Status and Roles of the Female Inhabitants in the Workmen's Community during the Ramesside Period. Leiden, 2001.
They are a major part of the society and they share in saving the balance between the society and families. To be a real and active member in a society, they are supposed to work, but unfortunately, they do not. They should work to engage in all the aspects of life. Society, especially men, have to encourage them to take control of their lives. Women can work as professional teachers. When they teach, they are more patient than men and they understand students’ problems. In addition, female doctors are more merciful, understandable and they are a good choice for women that are not be able to be examined by male doctors. Besides that, women and men are equal and they are supposed to have the same rights due to what is mentioned in the Islamic book “Quran”, so women should be given the chance to work in government offices, laws and politics. There are a few women who are working nowadays, but they are not enough to change men’s point of view towards women such as the Yemeni woman (Tawakkol Karman) who won Nobil Prize for peace. Additionally, some associations support Yemeni women that are especially poor and encourage them to work. According to Najmabadi Afsaneh and Joseph Suad, “The most common and sustainable form of women’s community-based organizations (CBOs) in Yemen are the microfinance associations, which target poor women with small loans to start small projects such as sewing, selling clothes, animal husbandry, or opening small shops” (70). Such associations give women the opportunity to work even if they are not qualified or they are not able to work as teachers or
Class and love and marriage are three of the themes that are portrayed in Naguib Mahfouz’s Midaq Alley. The era which the story takes place is an era where societal norms began shifting towards modernity due to the impact of western colonization. Midaq Alley was written to portray a society within a larger society, which allows for analysis and comparison of the two. Cultural norms are constantly challenged throughput the novel and what is and what isn’t socially accepted is a theme that is recurrent throughout the text. “Midaq Alley deals with themes which transcend the Cairene setting, and are of relevance to Egypt if not the Middle East as a whole” (Deeb 121-130.)
Marriage has gone through many changes throughout its history. It's earliest forms date back to the story of creation. It has developed a great deal since then. It is a simple fact that men and women can not survive without each other. Marriage is part of the created natural order, we were meant to be together.
Marriage a la Mode, by John Dryden, is an ode to the concept of marriage and love within the period of Restoration England. Dryden, presumably, presents two pairs of couples, Rhodophil and Doralice, as well as Melantha and Palamede, in a way that expresses an imperative tone towards marital relations. Throughout the playwright, he uses these couples and their mistresses to allocate the issue of broken, miserable, thorny marriages. Although marriage was common, there was a strong presence of moral emancipation, which Dryden presents through these relationships. These themes of dissatisfaction and obligation towards the concept of marriage are noted throughout the playwright, as Dryden uncovers how each character feels.