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How does gender affect religion
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Do your parents force you to wear the hijab? Aren’t you allowed to choose whom you want to marry? Is there anything you do because of your free will or does anyone oppress you? These questions are some of many a Muslim woman heard at least two times in her life. Nowadays Muslims and especially Muslim women are faced with many stereotypes caused by media, Hollywood, books and other sources. This essay deals with some stereotypes and about how Muslims really are. All opinions are mine and based on my and my friends' daily lives.
The major believe today’s society has, is that women are oppressed by their family and by other people in their environment. For the society, women are victims of Islam. People also think that they are uneducated and do not know which rights they have. Nowadays media shows the hijab - a headscarf - as a symbol of the oppression towards Muslim women. Even if there are those prejudices, the hijab does not hinder women from achieving what they want. In Islam, women have the same rights as men and can live their life the way they want to. Wearing the hijab is a commandment of God. As well as Muslims have to pray five times a day, support the needy, have to fast the month of Ramadan and to pilgrim to Makkah, Muslim women have to wear the hijab. It rather protects women from the man’s gaze and leads them to
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The prejudices of the society towards Muslims have a negative impact on their daily lives. As a Muslim, you have the feeling of a second-class citizen, even if you were born in the country you are living. It is hard to find a job because job interviewers rather want to see a woman who is unveiled instead of one with a hijab. Strangers are insulting you in the streets and say phrases like “Go back to your Homeland” or “I don’t want terrorists like you in my
In conclusion, all in all, religion, culture, oppression, and commitment to God sum up to be misunderstood by many. Muslim women who wear the Hijab will love to be seen as pious, just as Nuns do, rather than oppressed. Muslim women who choose to cover themselves as a sign of chastity is not oppression. The culture of some Middle Eastern countries gives the wrong impression of the Hijab. Not only can culture have people misunderstand Hijab, but it can also send the wrong massage. Hijab and veils should always be looked at as a sign of piousness and their commitment to God, not oppression. Don’t be the one to judge but rather the one who seeks knowledge and the truth.
The hijab, while not always popular, has seem to be customary for most women to wear in the Islam world for good or for bad. Prior to the 21st century the hijab was not very popular and was looked as a rarity, but now most women adopted this clothing choice for a multitude of reasons. Many women choose to wear it because they feel god instructed women to wear it, to highlight modesty, to show faith in god, or to show Muslim identity. There are many reasons women wear the hijab, even if the veil is forced upon them because of family members; However, the sight of the veil concerns many women activists whose main priority is to insure equality for all women. Many women activists don’t like the veil to be forced upon women and the idea
The constant smear remarks from media headlines are chiseled into the minds of Westerners and no amount of “educated [and] articulate women fulfilling the modest conditions of the hijab can do little to dispel the myths” (Stacey). She writes how even when these women are simply placing their focus on the spiritually constructed values rather than socially constructed ones they still may be labeled as oppressed. Indeed, the majority of the women in the world have the free choice to where a hijab or not. The Gallup Poll mentioned earlier actually concludes that that “most women in the Muslim world are well aware that they have the same capabilities and deserve the same fundamental rights as men”
Fatemeh Fakhraie’s essay “Scarfing it Down,” explains how Muslim women suffer because of what they wear. Fakhraie blogs about Muslim women in her website she explains; “Seeing ourselves portrayed in the media in ways that are one-dimensional and misleading." Several people judge Muslim's by their appearance because they assume they're a bad person. The author of this essay wants the reader to know that Muslim women wearing a hijab are not a threat to the world.
The first religion and its views on women that will be discussed in this essay is Islam. Islam is a religions founded in Saudi Arabia almost two thousand years ago, by the prophet Muhammad. In fact, Muhammad dedicated much attention towards women in the Koran, the holy book of Islam. However, even though much was dedicated to women in the Koran, it was not dedicated to them in the sense of equality. Women in Islamic culture were apparently much lower on the totem pole than men, "The men are made responsible for the women, since God endowed them with certain qualities, and made them the bread earners...If you experience opposition from the women, you shall first talk to them, then [you may use such negative incentives as] deserting them in bed, then you may beat them (129)." Excerpt...
Since the September Eleventh attacks by Islamic extremists at the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, Islamic culture has come under scrutiny by Americans more so than at any other period in the history of the ancient religion. One area that is often criticized by the American main stream media is the role of women in Islamic culture; it is almost common knowledge now that Islam subjugates women to a degree not seen since the Medieval Ages, and is backwards in all aspects of gender relations. Like many stereotypes, this one is overblown, exaggerated, and often completely incorrect. Women have been a fundamental part of Islamic culture since the founding of the Muslim faith. Women have had tremendous influence in all areas of Islamic culture including education, politics, economic concerns, and religious interpretation; by examining each of these four areas, it become clear that women have tremendous opportunities within mainstream Islam. Of course, certain hardline regimes like the one currently holding power in Iran will always oppress women, as well as gays and other minorities. It is important to not focus on the few areas where Islamic culture is practiced and women are subjugated, but to look at the broader Islamic culture where women are a critical component.
Women who thoroughly practice Islam cover themselves because it shows dedication to serving their God. Wearing of the sacred fabric contains much more spiritual context than how social norms perceive it and how other religions and cultures dictate its physical meaning. The undeniable aspect of rules of any religion is their spiritual message. It is no secret that woman possess more visible attractive qualities to lust over than men do. There is also nothing wrong with realizing the self-worthy of your body and wanting to cover it. These women wearing the hijabs for the most part are not oppressed, they are liberated and free. In the Qu’ ran, it tells women to dress modestly but does not state that they must wear a hijab- they do so out of respect for their religion. Choosing to wear a veil or hijab does not mean you are stripped of your rights. Many Muslim women, who live in Western societies that actively participate in Islam, still have the same rights as others. They are allowed education, participation in sports, and other activities that other individuals are allowed. Even in other countries where Islam is the main religion, most women are not being oppressed- they have a voice. “Women always have the right to say no…” (Sloan. 220) It seems as though people seem to be stuck in old ways assuming Muslim women live domestically
Society in western civilization sees Islam's treatment of women as heinous, unfair, and typically cruel. How can one respect a religion and culture that makes their women cover themselves from head to toe in 100 degree weather, walk behind her spouse, enter separate doors of the mosque (if they are even allowed to enter), pray in an closed off area separate from the men, marry complete strangers, and receive little to no education. These few examples and a lot more can surely discourage anyone from even wanting to become a Muslim, especially women. These problems are particularly ironic due to the fact that Islam was the first religion to try to equalize men and women, which is truly hard to believe being that Muslim countries by far treat their women the most unjust. This paper will discuss certain hardships of the women of Islam and further discuss if this is truly a religion that discriminates women and if not where the problem exists. The topics that will be discussed are the problems for women in mosques, and common misinterpretations of rights of Muslim women vs. the laws they actually have.
It is important to keep in mind that each woman should be allowed to decide if she wants to wear a hijab or not regardless of her religion or culture. In a feminist perspective the hijab is seen as constricting and as a form of oppression to the female sex. However this feminist view exists in two forms, the Muslim form and the Western form. Western media and culture has constantly played off that the Hijab or any form of head dress is a form of oppression keeping women below the regular society, however not all Muslim women feel that way. Many wear their hijabs or other respective version of a headscarf as an identity, which is very personal and important to many of them.
has contributes to the issues that Muslim American experience, which are prejudice and discrimination. In the U.S. perspective, Islam–and therefore all Muslims–are associated with the stereotypical Western views. More precisely, stereotypes such as: representing Muslim women as being oppressed (Peek 281), associating Muslims as terrorists (Sethi 145-146), and categorizing them as “un-American” (Peek 278). For example, oppression is when several related forces conspire to immobilize, reduce and mold the lives of individuals (Frye 152). Muslim women are portrayed in the media as an oppressed victim by being forced to wear her headscarf, forced to be submissive to men, and forced to stay in the domestic environment while women in the west in the same situation are seen as choosing that lifestyle (Peek 281).
Many Muslim women feel that wearing the hijab causes political debate and controversy in the United States. Nadine Naber an Arab fashion and beauty blogger, had an interview discussing the topic of Arab women facing discrimination from western culture. Although she said that she has not faced a lot of discrimination she did say that “the women are under constant pressure to represent Islam in a positive light and against Western misrepresentations of Muslim women as oppressed and, often at the same time, hypersexualized.” (Peterson). With this being said, the controversy causes Muslim women to have to represent Islam in a positive light because western culture already has this idea of who Muslim women are can what they are going to do the the western society.
To begin with, the hijab is uncomfortable and impractical in today's modern society. The hijab causes more problems than it solves. Many people either are scared of someone wearing it or they hate the person wearing it. It is very difficult to
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.
Stereotypes will continue to follow Muslim women, but they just brush them off and continue doing what they’re doing, which is something every person should do.
Women who have the misfortune of living in predominately Muslim societies often are confronted with adversities concerning their rights in marriage, divorce, education, and seclusion. Consequently, many Westerners seeing a lack of equality towards women in these societies consider it as a confirmation of their own misconceptions about Islam itself. Islam is often rejected as being an intolerant and violent religion that discriminates against and subjugates women, treating them as second-class citizens. From a Muslim’s perspective, Islam’s stance on women can be approached by two opposing views. Scholars amongst the Muslim apologists have claimed, “The verses in the Qur’an represented Muhammad's intention to improve a debased condition of women that prevailed during the Jahiliya, the time of ignorance before Islam came into being.” (Doumato, 177) If inequalities still exist between men and women, they cannot be attributed to Islam, but are a result of the misinterpretation of Islam’s true meaning. Others have entirely denied the notion of inequality between men and women in Islam, claiming that the alleged inequalities “are merely perceived as such by foreign observers who confuse seclusion and sex difference with inequality.” (Ibid.) Many Muslim apologists defend the Koran as noble for the very fact that it raises women to an equal status of men despite their inferiority.