Women are treated fairly in most countries and religions, but in Islam, they are not. For centuries, the Muslim society have treated women as second class citizens. Women are treated this way for many reasons, but it is all leads back to the Qur’an. Women are considered inferior to men, are treated unfairly in marriage, and are even oppressed legally, but seem to be approved of in the Qur’an. This book describes in detail the way a woman should be treated and the way she should treat her husband.
some people would say the the reiligion is offensive and opressive towards women. some would say that the religion is even slave like towards women. however the women and men that particepate in the islamic religion would say that islam for women has been viewed wrong and that actually egalitaran, specially on its veiws about the sexs. some of the islamic followers would say more than Judaism and or Christianity. conventional veiws suggest that the west sees women of islam as a opressive object instead of a counterpart , in the islamic movement.
Leila Ahmed’s The Discourse of the Veil explores the real source of women’s struggles in Islam versus the purely symbolic ones that the West concentrates its critique on. Since before the 17th century, the West has been forming opinion of the Middle East, depicting what makes it so different. Most of the ideas were focused on women, because they were the most visibly different to “western eyes.” Travelers and crusaders made uninformed assumptions about how women were dressed and how that reflected upon Muslim society. “The thesis of the new colonial discourse of Islam centered on women was that Islam was innately and immutably oppressive to women, that the veil and segregation epitomized that oppression, and that these customs were the fundamental reasons for the general and comprehensive backwardness of Islamic societies” (Ahmed 152). The idea that the veil is holding Islam back as a civilization was greatly encouraged by writer Amin, and
Sexism is defined in our textbook as any attitude, action, or institutional structure that subordinates a person because of his or her sex. What this is basically saying is that someone who is sexist will think differently and act negatively towards the opposite sex. Sometimes an individual can be sexist towards their own sex. Most western societies have minimal sexism and more racial hostilities. In other parts of the world sexism is more prominent because males have dominant roles over women and therefore look down upon them.
Based on Entry Denied, “Communities often focus on preserving cultural tradition through controlling the gender and sexual behavior of the women. At the same time, outsiders judge immigrants through stereotypes about the sexuality of the community’s women. Thus, immigrant women find themselves caught between the racism of the dominant society and the sexist expectation of their own community”. This is true for many immigrant communities such as the Arab-Americans. For instance, even though many of the Arab American women are required to cover themselves, almost all of them cover their bodies because they choose and not because they are forced to.
However, scholars noted that there are many inconsistencies concerning this, seeing that though the Bible did say this, women were still treated as inferior to men, and that women were limited to the home. They still were seen as a means to produce children, more of an object for sexuality, and be silent while serving her husband (Ellwood 325). Some Christians even blamed women for “the sin of humanity that necessitated the death of the savior,” and they were referred to as “the devil’s gateway.” Celibacy soon became a choice of women because it soon became more holy than marrying someone (Ellwood 325). Because of these views of women, they became the popular blame for many problems, villages and towns were suspicious of women. This was seen in the Witch Trials of Salem, and these women were a woman who sinned or stepped out of their place t hat was put upon them.
Political status for women was possible, but only for those who were in the upper class and were important to society. Islamic and Christian women were viewed very similarly though they were from different religions; however, Islamic women were treated better. In Christian Europe, around 1000 B.C.E until around 1200 B.C.E, it was the dark ages. Because of educational and religious traditions, women had restrictions on entry and participation in the workforce. Women’s restriction in the workforce was also because of their forced dependency on men and poor socio-economic status of women.
Is it fair for women to have the same rights as men? Some people would think so. Some cultures have strict rules where the women are not allowed to play the roles of men. Sometimes there is a society that men actually play the role of a woman. Just depends where in the world you live.
Assess the view that the main role of religion is to promote patriarchal ideology and maintain the oppression of women (33 marks) According to feminists there are countless examples of patriarchy which have been used to control and later oppress women. Places of worship show this as they often segregate the sexes. An example of this is the Jewish synagogue in which women are placed behind screens separated from the men who in turn are situated in the main centre space. This highlights the marginalisation between the men and the women. However if this was the case surely women would recognise that they are being treated unequally.
The way an Iranian man and women communicate is much different from the way Americans communicate with their wives. In America the relationship between husband and wife usually is a based on mutual agreement and “equality”. Where as in the Muslim religion the “belief” is that women should be dominated by their men. Their belief allows them do such things such “As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them first, next refuse to share their beds, and last spank them lightly…” (Sura 4 Verse 34) , as stated in the Quran men are allowed physically discipline their wives. This belief is not shared by most Americans, but is shared by many Iranians as away of life and last resort mean.