The Women of the Middle East have played substantial roles for their corresponding countries since the advent of colonialism in the region. Middle Eastern women have worked in all types of fields including medicine, education, agriculture, government, private sector, and even defense. They have kept roofs over their family’s heads while their husbands were away in wars, or even in foreign countries to work in jobs that they could not find in their own countries. The roles of women in the countries of Yemen and Oman are no exception, but while they still find ways to contribute to their country, they care constantly stereotyped, discriminated, and ridiculed by men who are known and unknown to them. This paper will discuss the individual contributions of the women living in Yemen and Oman, and will discuss in further state laws and cultural norms that are affecting the women living in these countries today.
Women’s rights in Yemen have not changed since (or before) the unification of North and South Yemen in 1990. Since the unification, new laws and a constitution (that are still placed on Islamic Shari ‘a law) that are in place unfortunately hold these statements to be true. According to Amal Basha some of Yemen’s laws that stereotype, discriminate, and demeanor women include: the value of the life of a woman, or girl is equal to half that of a man or boy and if a man performs a “honor kill” the maximum punishment he can face in prison is one year, compared to women who face death if they dishonor their husbands, women cannot leave the country without permission from a male relative, if women are imprisoned and do their punishment, they are not allowed to leave prison unless a male relative approves of it, there are no lega...
... middle of paper ...
...ese deeds may be, the women of these two great nations will always be treated like second class citizens. Progress has been made to change this mindset, but change is slow in the Middle East, and when it comes to changing women’s rights, this will always be the slowest of changes to occur.
Works Cited
Basha, Amal. Freedom House, Women's Rights in the Middle East and North Africa - Yemen, 14 October 2005. http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/ docid/47387b712f.html (accessed August 14, 2010)
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)
Embassy of Yemen-Human Rights and Women’s Issues. Congressional, Democracy, Human Rights & Gender Office. Embassy of Yemen. http://www.yemenembassy.org/issues/democracy/index. php (accessed August 14, 2010)
The place of women in Saudi society is determined by a deeply conservative culture, vindicated by a narrow interpretation of religion, and enforced by law. That place it would appear is at home, subservient to and legally dependant on their male guardian. Saudi society suffers from pervasive segregation along gender lines and women's freedom of movement is impeded, forcing them to rely on male chaperons.
Through the article “Saving Amina” the writer Alison M. Jaggar has tried to address the issue that when it comes to violation of rights of women only culture cannot be blamed as root cause rather there are other factors as well. She has tried to identify those factors by raising following issues:
Saudi Arabia is commonly known for its strict moral values and customs regarding religion and women. Gender discrimination is a global conflict but it is prevalently seen in Saudi Arabia. Gender discrimination is so poignant in Saudi Arabia because there are strict sets of moral guidelines and ideologies that Saudi Arabian culture implements on its people. Although Saudi Arabian men impose restrictions on women for the sake of upholding their cultural beliefs and family’s honor, there is no doubt that Saudi Arabian culture is male dominated and holds misogynistic views on women, but progress is being made.
Trofin, Liliana and Madalina Tomescu. “Women’s Rights in the Middle East”. Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice Vol. 2(1). 1948-9137 (2010): 152-157.
"Report: The Women in the Middle East Workplace 2011 - Survey." National Council for Research on Women. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
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
Under the current conditions women could redefine their roles in the family and community in ways that improve both their and the nation’s lives.” (Ghosh, 1) Women are becoming more liberated than before. They can maintain their lives without the support of men. Due to Habibullah’s wife Asma, Habibullah opened school for girls but the priests were very upset because of religion and traditions. According to Moghadam, under the Taliban regime women rights were restricted. Afghan women rights have been constrained by the patriarchal society and by the existence of the weak central state. For more women to take a part in politics, they need to attain education. “Protection of Women’s Rights (Anjoman-i Hemayat-I Neswan) was established to help women fight domestic injustice and take a role in public life.” (Moghadam, 21) Men in Afghanistan look down upon many women upon because they perceive women as being housewives. Islamist say that women are not supposed to take a part in making decisions. Household rules restrict women from traveling and compulsory veiling has to be done. In order, for Afghan women to be modernized they need to be allowed a place in the government. According to Moghadam, Valentine M Afghanistan and Iran both have conflicts when it comes freedom for women. The social structure of Iran is more modern middle class and Afghanistan has more of a tribal social structure. Iran has had women modernizing around the government but Afghan women are not permitted to be modernized around
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.
In the Middle East, Arab uprisings that included many women activists made a major impact on their society. According to the Washington Post, “The Arab uprisings of early 2011 disrupted virtually every dimension of Arab politics and societies, forcing a systematic reevaluation of many long-held political science theories and assumptions. The place of women in politics and the public sphere was no exception.” These uprisings were just the beginning to long road on the way to women’s
Ibnouf, Fatma Osman. “Women And The Arab Spring.” Women & Environments International Magazine 92/93(2013): 18-21. MasterFILE Elite.Web.31 Mar. 2014.
In today’s society, many people dismiss problems in third world countries. The oppression of women in the Middle East has declined in the past few years. The International Society for Human Rights published an advertisement that shows the oppression of women in the Middle East. They believe that the human rights situation is currently getting worse. This advertisement condemns the oppression of women located in Middle Eastern countries. They say that many women experience oppression in the Middle East, but I say that this oppression needs to end completely because this type of religious covering alienates and controls Muslim women in Islamic countries.
In this incredible and most beautiful interesting video, Houda al-Habash a Muslim scholar and with a secularists mentality about the critical state of affairs of the Muslim women throughout the world but particularly the young women of Syria. She founded a Qur’anic memorization institute for young girls to be educated in the Islamic faith and at the same time instill in them the belief in their fundamental human rights protected by the religion of Islam. It’s obviously for far too long women in majority strict religious conservative and patriarchal societies have been denied an equal representation and participation in the day today affairs of the running the affairs of their respective regions. This type of man-made system of dominant mechanism
Farooqi, Dr. M.I.H. “Status of Women in Islamic Societies: Past and Present”. Counter Currents. 9 March 2011. http://www.countercurrents.org/farooqi090311.htm
“Women’s human security rights in the Arab world: on nobody's agenda.” 50.50 Inclusive Democracy, 2 Dec. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
The role and place of Women in Islam has changed drastically, in a positive way, over the past millennium: the changes can be greatly attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, and the Qur’an. To understand the changes in women’s rights and freedoms, one must understand their role and place before Islam was created, which happened in the Arabia Peninsula, now Saudi Arabia (Angha). Before Islam was formed women lacked many of the basic human rights, and they were treated as more of a burden in their culture then someone who should be respected, but that is not the case today. Though women in Islam have gained many rights, there is still some controversy over whether or not women are still being oppressed and treated like second class citizens compared