Women in Islamic Cultures
Allee Rodenbaugh
Florida Southern College
Women in Islamic Cultures In modern western culture many feminists believe that equality between men and women is unjust and favorites men in occupation, finances, and cultural respects. Although there is still a gender gap in terms of equality in the West, this separation pales in comparison to that in modern day Eastern cultures. Women in some Eastern cultures are regarded as the inferior gender and are treated as such physically, emotionally, psychologically and financially. Through compliance, obedience, and conformity women in these oppressive cultures are forced to accept their inequality and embrace their cultural position. The religions in Islam are a main factor as to why the gender gap is so prevalent. Compliance is the change in behavior due to a direct request from another person. In Eastern cultures it is expected that women are completely compliant (Erella, 2000). Sexuality is considered part of women’s core identity in most Eastern Islamic cultures (Engineer, 2008). Many women believe that if their husband is not completely pleased with them, they have no way of entering “paradise,” which is Islam’s version of the Christian Heaven. This leads wives to submit themselves entirely to their husband in hope that their husband will be pleased with them. Female circumcision has become a normal requirement for some Islamic cultures. A number of Islamic men’s groups believe that women deserve no sexual pleasure; therefore, incision in the women’s vagina takes place to remove any likelihood. This in itself grants men the social power that they are the only deserving gender. Psychological repercussions for the women are powerful and extreme. Not only are the women degraded physically, but emotionally as well (Saddawi, 2001). Polygamy is habitual for Eastern Islamic cultures (Engineer, 2008). Men are allowed to have numerous wives, while women are held to the standard of one husband only. There have been several instances where the Taliban have brutally murdered Islamic women for having an affair, although her husband had over 5 other wives. Most women accept this inequality in marriages because of the normalcy in their society. Islamic women conform to this norm and they justify their effort to make their marriage worth it to them (Ahmed, 2011). Conformity is the compliance with standards, rules, laws, or behavior in accordance with socially accepted standards.. In most Eastern cultures, Islamic women wear full burqas out of respect for their God and respect for their husband (Macdonald, 2006). The women believe it is imperative to cover themselves for modesty and to hide all of their beauty, because their father or spouse has ownership over it. These Eastern cultures have influenced women to believe their beauty is to always be hidden. Mindless conformity takes place for some Islamic women whose faith is not the core principal influencing them to wear one (Ahmed, 2011). These women wear full burqas in the hottest of seasons to avoid being seen as deviant. Education is another aspect of life in some eastern cultures that demonstrates the inequality between men and women (Macdonald, 2006). Groups of people, such as the Taliban Pakistan, who are so against the education of women that they will actually shoot or throw acid on a girl they see attending a school or university (Khan, 2012). According to CNN, "Acid throwing is frequently used as a weapon in Pakistan to punish women for acts that allegedly bring dishonor to the family, or just to enact revenge." This method is effective not only for punishing the woman, but also as showing others what horrible consequences there will be for violating their rule. Just recently, a school girl, Malala Yousufzai, who has been an activist for women's right in Pakistan, was shot in transit to school. In addition, the literacy level is higher for men in all countries in the middle east with the
Taliban Islamic Movement’s Impact on Afghanistan The Taliban is an organization of fundamentalist Afghani Muslims who first emerged in 1996, following the collapse of the Soviet-backed Afghan government. Among the lawless turmoil and civil war that dominated Afghanistan, the former graduates of Pakistani Islamic schools founded the Taliban Islamic Movement of Afghanistan and asserted revolution. After capturing the nation’s capital, Kabul, the Taliban initiated a version of proper Islamic social…
Jennifer Parker Professor Hudson Religion 100 2 December 2013 Women in Islam Islamic women are guided by primary Islamic sources of personal law (the Quran and hadiths) and secondary sources that include ijma (consensus of opinion), qiyas (deductive analogy), and ijtihad (deduction of divine laws) in a form such as fatwas (legal pronouncements). Besides religious guidelines cultural traditions also play a role. The laws and traditions impact many areas of a Muslim woman’s life including her…
Word count: 1,489 Throughout history, women have been victims of oppression no matter what religion or background they come from. They have learned from a young age, that their appearance is important to fundamentally be happy in their life. The topic of oppression in woman leads to controversial discussion not only to scholars but women of all parts of the world. How a woman presents herself through appearance and clothing targets her in a society obsessed with each other’s business. In today’s…
among Iran's educated youth has convinced many to seek jobs overseas, resulting in a significant "brain drain. A measure of Islamic fundamentalists’ success in controlling society is the depth and totality with which they suppress the freedom and rights of women. In Iran for 25 years, the ruling mullahs have enforced humiliating and sadistic rules and punishments on women and girls, enslaving them in a gender apartheid system of segregation, forced veiling, second-class status, lashing, and stoning…
can be so different that some facets I see are almost frowned up; such as the way women are seen in Islamic culture. Muslim women are vastly depreciated. It is seen in Islamic culture that women are treated as ventriloquist dummies; they are told how to behave, speak and to create this illusion that is expected of them by the Quran. I have done my research on what is considered “acceptable” treatment for women in Islamic culture. Why is it okay for a man to beat his wife in Islam? Is it because the…
Educational Elegance, Establishing Woman’s Rights Women have been taught that, for us, the earth is flat, and that if we venture out, we will fall off the edge. ~Andrea Dworkin Could one live in a culture where a woman could be stoned to death for revealing her face to a man other than her husband? Allowing oneself to be beaten for wandering from home without permission from her male guardian? Could one permit the acceptance of a husband’s right to lash his wife for arguing? These are the…
ID: 431806 SPO: #947 February 20, 2013 Rock The Casbah Critical Review Part I: Rock The Casbah by Robin Wright is about the Arab and Islamic World. The Arab world is currently in the process of a political uprising although it will take several years to complete. “The transformation did not happen suddenly. Stirred by the young and stoked by new technology, rage against both autocrats and extremists has been building steadily within Muslim societies. Technology is becoming more and more advanced…
including Muslim-majority nations in which Sharia Law was not in place. He accused the West of attempting to fix Jahilli problems with jahilli solutions and called for a “new leadership”. According to Qutb the West had developed a “hideous schizophrenia” as a result of the separation of religion from the social order, initially beginning with the misinterpretation of Jesus. The family unit was also another major issue for contention, especially the sexualisation of women. He saw illegitimate children…
sometimes treat some problems that happened in islamic countries or by muslim individuals as “problem with Islam”the religion, when the reality problems of a culture, traditions, tribal or ethnic codes the done by some muslim majority region. The religion of Islam does not condone and it actually condemns practices such as dishonorable honor killing, racism or tribalism, oppression of women, banning women from obtaining an education, and many other un-islamic practice that make its way to the sensationalized…
Middle East Book Period I Mesopotamia Major civilizations started to develop and become dominant around 3000 BCE, including Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia literally means, “land between the rivers”, the rivers were the Tigris and the Euphrates. A series of ancient civilizations thrived along their banks. Mesopotamia is part of a larger area of relatively arable land known as the Fertile Crescent, which extends westward from Mesopotamia toward the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, the flooding of the Tigris…