Women have the right to live their own life the way that they please. Women are not properties, nor are they incompetent. Women have the same opportunities to thrive in society as does any male, but some customs and traditions of some cultures prevent women from soaring to such heights. Culturally traditional men want complete dominion over their women. But who can blame them, it’s how they were raised and these things have been rooted in them since they were young children. When one thinks of a culture’s virtue, they automatically think of women’s behavior within her family context. A woman is gold in any society but yet is treated as properties. It is safe to say that one’s honor depend on a woman.
“The United Nations estimates that as many as 5,000 women and girls worldwide were killed last year by family members” (Autumn, 2001). Crimes of ‘honor’ are acts of violence perpetuated typically against women who violate broader cultural standards against sexuality and marriage. When a woman violates the sexual or marital standards within a culture, her actions bring shame and dishonor and in order to eliminate the dishonor within the family, killing is the only way. “Honor killings focus on maintaining the sexual exclusiveness of women” (Barker et al, 1999). In most of the cases, honor killings are mostly present in cultures of the South Asian and Middle Eastern Islamic areas. Sadly, this culture is prevalent in some parts of the Indian society as well. “Offenses leading to ‘honor’ killings include leaving home without permission, rumors about premarital loss of virginity, accusations of flirting, and illegitimate sexual contact. These accusations also do not require the consent of the female in the act. Rape victims, for instance,...
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...ishonor can be brought about in the family. “Women who pursue their claims in court frequently lose because of the inherently male-biased judicial system. Victims of domestic violence are frequently told they will bring dishonor to their families by reporting such crimes and are discouraged from contacting the police” (Lasson, 2009).
If these happen in western countries, the perpetrator tries to claim cultural defense. Cultural defense is a defense to the prosecution for a criminal act which, according to the defendant, results from his/her cultural background. This defense can be used in cases concerning female genital mutilation, domestic violence, acid throwing, and honor crimes. “The idea of cultural defense violates principles of equal protection and the fundamental principle that society has a right to govern protection against crimes” (Morgan, Parker, 2009).
Honor killings are acts of retribution, frequently causing death. These acts are often committed by the male family members against female family members. Victims of honour killings are believed to have brought dishonor or shame upon the family. In 2007, a study by Dr. Amin Muhammad and his colleague, Dr. Sujay Patel of Memorial University, Canada, researched how the tradition of honor killings was brought to Canada The report highlighted that ‘’When people come and settle in Canada they can bring their traditions and forcefully follow them. In some cultures, people feel some boundaries are never to be crossed, and if someone would violate those practices or go against it, then killing is justified to them’’ (Leaders-Post, 2007). The Shafia family homicide is a perfect example of culture crisis leading to crime. The tragic murders really emphasize all the key aspects of how two cultures
National data gives us an indication of the severity of this issue. When 1 in 5-woman report being victims of severe physical violence (NISVS, 2010), we must ask ourselves if enough is being done to prevent this from occurring. From a historical point, there has always almost been a distinction from men on woman violence. Based on the disparity of cases reported, male inflicted violence on females is much higher and prevalent. When the perpetrators of DV, and IPV are predominately males, we can no longer dismissed this issue as a cultural, or
As a woman of new-found faith, I have found Immaculee’s journey transcendent in time. I am constantly dealing with sexism in my upcoming work field, and I must confess it is the devotion I have to pursue my happiness which makes me want to break tradition and demonstrate society my capability as a woman. It is mu cultures which have shaped my morals and molded my principles into the woman that I am today; those values are what have taught me the golden rule of “Do to others as you would have them do unto you”. As a woman we must live life with dignity and admire our self-worth and liberate our being from oppression. Society’s expectations should not define our purpose in life; better yet they should influence our accomplishments, fitting their norms into ours.
Often times, women are treated poorly or unequally. She brings up the issue of interfering with other cultures when we disagree with how they are being treated; it is difficult to interfere because we don’t want to “impose our will”.
... I think that women are the best at uprising children; especially a women elevated me. I think that women are very vital and are identical to men in many characteristics. Would women be clever to decide what they lack in vivacity? Yes definitely, because of equivalence. Would every women feel the need to practice to exist in an influential profession or place in society? To me I think if they need to, that is their worthy. The circumstance is that several women enjoy to yield on the usual masculinity responsibility. Is that an immoral entity? I don’t believe so, since overdue all perfect thoughts, there are influencers that target in manipulating their situation sanctioning them to triumph significance. So alongside that, women in both esteems, unceremoniously what responsibility they show in humanity, functions a vivacious segment in civilization and always will.
Gender-based violence has been recognized as a large public health problem as well as a violation of human rights worldwide. One out of three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in another way at least once in her life (www.infoforhealth.org). The abuser is usually a member of the family, introducing the difficult problem in that the abuse usually happens behind closed doors, and is often viewed by cultural norms and legal systems as a family matter rather than a crime.
Women in many societies have fought for obtaining their equal right to men for a long time, and the society where I’ve inhabited for 20 years are involved as well. It has been very tough circumstances for women to struggle since the society has been shaped by history how a woman should live and behave. Women were continuing to be oppressed and limited based on gender and class as they are regarded as inferior to men physically and mentally. This connection between class and gender of women still remain in this society even though many women got equal right as
Parrot is an expert in cultural practices and the risks encountered in attempting to change them. She is currently writing a book on the topic with Nina Cummings, health educator and victim advocate at Gannett University Health Services at Cornell. Forsaken Figures: The Global Brutalization, Oppression, and Violence against Women catalogues, describes, and analyzes all manner of violence, subjugation, and gendercide against women from a global perspective. Many practices and cultural norms around the world, such as female genital mutilation, sexual slavery, and feticide/infanticide of female babies, are perceived as wrong by outside cultures, Parrot says. She is interested in determining how outside policymakers might begin to address what they see as problems when their own cultural language is vastly different from that of the communities and countries in which the practices are tolerated or even supported.
Gender-based violence is made possible by the ideology of sexism in Indian traditional culture which argues that women are worth less than men in the sense of having less power, status, privilege, and access to resources that is more prevalent in middle class and low caste families.
Throughout history and even today women are regarded as inconsequential. They are chattels or servants, a person without rights. In some present instances, women are struggling to show that they do have rights and can make a contribution to society if given the chance.
Although, in today’s society women especially are increasingly sensitive towards, as well as offended by, gender roles. Ironically, women fighting for equal rights are also going out to dinners and more often than not, allowing their dates to treat them. In effect, such women are actually contesting their own values and weakening their voice of revolution. Lara calls herself out for falling prey to this double standard. After she tells her guy friend of a date in which a man asks her out to drinks and leads her off to a water fountain, her friend makes a thought provoking statement. He proclaims, “let me get this straight…as a woman you are so genetically precious that you deserve attention just because you grace the planet. So of course he should buy you drinks. He should also drive the car, open the door, ask you to dance, coax you to bed. And then when you feel properly pampered, you can let out that little whine about how he doesn’t treat you as an equal” (47). She then decides, “On second thought, I guess I’d rather buy my own drink” (47). By describing her own mistake, Lara warns women how easy it is to fall into the same trap. She stresses the importance of taking into careful consideration the implied meaning of their words and actions. At the end of her essay, Lara leaves the readers to come to the realization “that offering to help pay implies that the check is his responsibility” (47). She makes an example out of her sister who “gets angry when her husband offers to help clean the house” as if it’s solely her house. “As if it’s his check” (47). Lara makes a terrific point. It is hard to fight for women’s rights when the individual fighting for them continues to, whether intentionally or not, reinforce gender roles in some areas and expect equality in
To elevate women to pedestals is also, of course, to debase them; it makes them weaker than they are, it limits the range of their humanity, It assumes that it is for men, not for them.” (Burkhart
Women’s morality, Mill states, is “an eminently artificial thing” (Mill, p. 22). Mill argues that the only way to know the natural differences between men and women regarding morality is to allow women’s nature to develop organically without societal mandates and extend individual liberties so that they may choose what to think and do (“The Subjection of Women by J.S. Mill”). The continued progress of society requires that all humans are allowed to pursue and develop their talents. Not only will this benefit women by granting them autonomy over their own lives, the society will benefit. Overall, Mill argues that there is one, true human morality that men and women should aim to achieve.
Honor killings, human trafficking, and domestic violence are a threat to Iraqi women and girls because of misconceptions in traditions and cultural beliefs. According to the UN Iraq 46% of girls who were aged 10-14 had been exposed to violence at least one time by a family member and 46% of women who are currently married were exposed to at least one form of spousal abuse. Of those married women 44.5% were exposed to emotional violence, 9.3% to sexual violence, and 5.5% to physical violence. Surveys said that only 2.8% of women are even willing to report the violence because they fear it will danger their reputation.
Sexual violence has tarnished India’s image and has made it one of the most frowned upon countries in the world. Each year hundreds of cases are reported, yet those are a fraction of how many go unreported. The cases reported barely receive enough attention for the police to do anything about them. Many stories have inspired people all over the country to take action. Promila Das, a victim of rape, has expressed her story when she told her mother that she was raped by her uncle. A close friend, Jasmine Bala, listened to her. Her mother said, “so, you got raped by your uncle? I’ll just ask him to pay for the abortion if you get pregnant and you can go back to work tomorrow. We have not eaten rice in three days. We do not c...