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The role of women in the Middle East
The role of women in the Middle East
The role of women in the Middle East
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Women’s rights in Iran or the Middle East has always been an arguable issue. Although there rights have been changed throughout the centuries they were never really compared equal to men or noone really accepted them. Specially for women in Iran, they barely had any rights in culture, marriage or other aspects of their lives. In the following essay you will read about the everday lives of Middle Eastern women.
During the Iranian Revolution in 1979 transformed Iran’s political,social,and economic structure. Secular Laws were replaced with Islamic laws creating an outburst. Women were often abused,raped,treated as slaves,and accused of false imprisonment. These tortures things that most women had to face are against the Islamic religion. For example, in the Quran it is stated “God treats men and women as spiritual equals”. Meaning that even though men and women are not created the same way with the same functions in how the body is they still have equal rights.
In society women have always been looked upon as housewives that cook, clean, and have children. They have no right of having an education,owning property, or being the leader of the family even if the husband dies. Men were allowed to hold 4 marriages while women could be only married once. Even the custody of the children was in the hands of the father and if he died the wife stil couldn’t have the custody it would go to the male relative of the father’s side.
Another thing that was required of women was there clothing. They had to wear loose clothing or a cloak so the non-marriagle men couldn’t see their bodies structure and a head scarf that would cover there hair fully. No part of ther hair was allowed to show and they had to be covered fully. Islam in general is ...
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...d equally. They could work outside there hometowns and take upon different types of work. They had more freedom than other women but they were still expected to follow the same rules as other women in the society. Even they had to cover themselves and wear the head scarf.
Works Cited
1)Fathi, Ashgar. Women and the family in Iran. Netherlands: E.J. Brill,1985.
2)Bodman, Herbert L, and Tohidi Esfahlani Nayereh. Women in Muslim societies. United Stated: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc, 1998.
3)Becky Lois, and Nashat Guity. Women in Iran from 1800 to the Islamic Republic. University of Illinois: Board of Trustees, 2004.
4)Keddie, Nikkie R. Women in the Middle East-Past and Present. United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 2007.
5)Joseph, Saud. Gender and citizenship in the Middle East. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2000.
With such a unanimous resentment, particularly in the dominating religious sect of Iran, it is important to address the ideologies within the religion enforce the country’s patriarchal social structure, i.e. the “form of social organization in which males dominate females” (text 38). Furthermore, with the Islamic Revolution of 1979, these attitudes were the driving force behind many of the discriminatory laws that confined women in Iran to a life defined by its limitations.
Men and women were seen to live in separate social class from the men where women were considered not only physically weaker, but morally superior to men. This meant that women were the best suited for the domestic role of keeping the house. Women were not allowed in the public circle and forbidden to be involved with politics and economic affairs as the men made all the
12 Nov. 2013. Tucker, Judith E., and Georgetown University. Arab Women: Old Boundaries, New Frontiers. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost).
The Islamically based conception of equality between men and women is “an equivalency of rights and duties so as to ensure complementarity” (Egypt’s reservations to Article 16, which regards marital law, of the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women). This ideology which appears in most religious doctrines (...
Women’s rights in the Middle East are being restricted, therefore there are many different reactions. Some people were in favor of women having equal rights while there are some who are against women to have the same rights. Since before times, many countries in the Middle East have been taking women for granted and minimized their rights by telling them they can't do something or selling them as if they were prized. When women were treated as prizes it was a practice in Afghanistan called Ba’ad that used women as the compensation, for example a story of a girl named Sakina. She was a consolation prize so that her brother could marry a woman and the Jirga system told her she had to marry a 80 year old guy when she was like 18. This tells me
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...
Middle Eastern women need to stand up for their rights and get educated to reverse the notion that they are servants and properties of their men. Furthermore, they need to rise up to their potentials and prove beyond doubt that they are equal to men. This practice would lead the path for future generations to follow and protect the inalienable rights of women. Finally, these women need to break the cycle of oppression by addressing these deeply rooted beliefs, gaining the tools to fight back, and joining forces to make lifelong changes.
The Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979 created a lasting affect on the societal role of women through modern day Iran. Women in Iran before the revolution were not entirely treated equal to men, but despite some cultural perceptions of women being inferior to men, they had made progress to become socially equal under the Shah. Several misconceptions and theories have been published and studied to show the inequality of women versus men because of Islam. However, contrasting theories have also been made to show that inequality has little to do with the religion, but instead with the forceful nature upon which it was implemented in the revolution. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the Islamic and political history of Iran and its social implications over Iranian women.
Stowasser, Barbara Freyer. Women in the Qur'an, Traditions, and Interpretation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Deeb, Mary-Jane. Freedom House. Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa-Oman, 2010. http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=179 (accessed August 14, 2010)
...cover due to the repressive society they represent. Nevertheless, this was before Islamic government form many religious customs into laws. The Iranian women before and after the 1979 revolution reflects that the advanced education of women has contributed to the urban frustration of a women’s place in Iranian society and that several intellectuals of Iranian women support feminist viewpoints. As it’s shown above, the case of women movements were involved in all the major political and social changes of modern Iranian history. This reflects the essential role of women as a fundamental topic among the Iranian society. The characteristic model of Fetemah that Shariati discussed as a symbol of liberated women accurately reflect the Iranian women pre and post the revolution. Till today, the spirit of the urban rebellious liberated women is formed in the Iranian women
You will realize the nationalists’ dream. You will learn foreign languages, have a passport, devour books, and speak like a religious authority. At the very least, you will certainly be better off than your mother.” Reading this masterpiece we can easily see the Middle East women’s dreams for education and freedom, things that we the women from the West taking as granted.
A woman’s desires, sexual and otherwise, seems surprisingly suppressed or not allowed in each novel. When it does emerge, it seems that too often one’s own desire is replaced with the need to be desirable for men, and so these women’s wants are placed aside in favor of the male protagonists’ wishes. I want to explore this topic in each novel, taking a look at when a woman is able to express desire, when it must give way and take second place to a man’s wants, and how, ultimately, it seems to free the women who chose to make their own path according to their wants, dreams, and goals. As we finish the semester and conclude our discussions on Arabic women, I think it’s important to note that though at times these women have agency in their lives, quite often, despite different upbringings, social/political/economic status, regions of habitation, and direct contact with Western influence, they are ultimately unable to take total control of their own lives. Obviously there are varying degrees to which this is applicable, and certainly some of the women are stronger than others, but overall, I think a very key message that all of these female authors are sending out is that women’s struggle for freedom and equality is still a battle that is being fought-- all over the world for sure, but certainly in the Middle East.
The Web. The Web. 7 Feb. 2012. Krause, Wanda C. "Gender: Gender and Politics." Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa.
In Saudi Arabia, mixing of genders “will lead to criminal charges being brought against both parties” (Eleven Things Women In Saudi Arabia Cannot Do). Religious views in the Middle East are the main cause of the oppression towards women. However, women played a prominent role in the rise of political transitions and now have fallen victim to the prejudice of Middle Eastern society. Women have endless amount of responsibilities within her family life and are expected to fulfill them all. They are denied equal rights due to the lack of respect from men and themselves. In the Middle East, women are treated more like slaves than equal members of society because the government does not recognize women as people, men have more rights, and there