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Gender issues in the middle east
Gender issues in the middle east
Gender inequality in north america
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Gender equality is often ignored in many non-western cultures, but lately has been less overlooked. Women in non-western countries often do not have political, social, educational, or economic status. Recently the fight for gender equality in Middle Eastern countries has grown with the support and knowledge from western countries, such as the United States and Canada. In Canada, men and women are foreseen as equal, and no gender possess power over the other. Many Middle Eastern countries tend to praise their men, and belittle women and their rights to freedom of speech. With the support from western societies, women in Middle Eastern countries have adopted the form of gender equality. Western population was horrified after the story of Malala …show more content…
When living in a Western World citizens are protected by laws, and do not receive power by their class structure, although in Middle Eastern countries typically ones social structure depends on how protected one is in society. Due to the cultural hybridity of gender equality from western cultures to non-western cultures, there has been an up rise from women demanding an education, and rebelling against domestic violence. …show more content…
Women who are married to wealthy men in Pakistan still hold little to no authority, but still have more authority over men and women who are in poverty (Jamal, 2012). Cultural hybridity can be identified as a positive aspect in redeveloping the Middle Eastern countries by having western and non-western laws created to improve women’s livelihood. Gender equality amongst non-western cultures, specifically the Middle East, has slowly been adopted by women. Support from Western cultures has made this possible by educating women on their rights being abused. Women have adopted the belief that striving for gender equality and their right to freedom is not to be shamed. A new culture is to be reformed through the cultural hybridity that Canada’s legal system and Pakistan’s government could share. Gender equality does not only justify women, but creates a stable economy throughout the Middle East as a
The Islamic Revolution of 1979 placed an ideological wedge that created an increasingly pervasive rift in gender equality that is now only gradually being successfully challenged and correct upon.
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
Developed countries have often pride themselves as role models on issues of social equality to developing countries; however, gender, ethnic, and class disparity is prevalent in ‘wealthy’ countries. More importantly, it is implicit in that citizens believe that social equality exists, but in actuality disadvantaged individuals and groups still face several obstacles in reaching such equality. This paper will specifically focus on gender inequality in Canada. Canada is a country that has deemed itself as a progressive society due to its multicultural and hospitable character in which legislati...
The United States is a developed country that people are lucky to be able to live in. In the past however, not everyone was given the same rights. Through legislation and even war, people have fought for change so that we could live in the world that we live in today. Similarly, in Afghanistan people are fighting for their rights everyday. They have been through war and oppression to reach their goals of the freedoms that every person deserves. In this country, women and children are restricted from rights that every person deserves, though they have revolutionized into a country that is somewhat better than it was in the past, they can improve marginally.
Recently the concerns of women around their equality in society has become a hotly debated topic in the public spot light. Much of the debate concerns women and the ingrained sexism that permeates most cultures. Many women's activists feel that this ingrained sexism has widened the gap between men and women in a political, social, and economic sense. And for the most part they do have strong evidence to support these claims. Women have suffered through millennia of male dominated societies where treatment of women has been, and in some cases still is, inhuman. Women are treated like subhuman creatures that have only exist to be used for procreate and to be subjugated by men for household use. It has only been very recently that women have become recognized as equals in the eyes of men. Equals in the sense that they have the same political and social rights as males. While the situation has improved, women still have to deal with a male oriented world. Often women in the workplace are thought of as inferior and as a liability. This can be due to concerns about maternity leave, or women with poor leadership skills. But also in part it is due because of the patriarchy that controls all aspects and dynamics of the culture, family, politics, and economy. Even developed countries like The United Kingdom, United States, Germany, and France, could be classified as a patriarchies. These countries may not agree with this notion because of expansive, but not complete changes, that have gradually equalized women in society. However, there are developed countries that openly express a patriarchy and have enacted little societal changes to bring equality to women. Japan is one such country, and t...
Since the beginning of civilization, the role of men and women have been portrayed by their capabilities. During wars, men were asked to fight against enemies because they had the necessary strength to combat. On the other hand, women were asked to take care of the household chores and to give birth to increase the overall population of the country. This concept of roles has been highly present in our societies. Women fighting against the gender inequality have created a stir among the dominant group which are men. Since men are still more dominant and keep reigning in this world, often women are restricted from getting fair opportunities to achieve in their goals. Till now, women are forced to be obedient to men in certain societies. From past few decades, this perspective is slowly coming to an end in most of the society. Women are now being empowered by ideologies which is reshaping their identity in many societies.
Moreover, several court cases and laws are made to oppress women. In Afghanistan, women must please their husbands (Graham-Harrison). Forced marriages have been used to secure political relations and use women as pawns. Court cases passed to favor the rapist in rape crimes spreads rape culture. Laws are being made to prevent abortions even in the cases of rape and incest. “It is a travesty that this is happening” (Graham-Harrison). Women haven’t been president yet. One third of pregnant women are killed by their husband (Valenti). Shiite laws oppress women. They must have sex with their husbands (Gebauer). But no one talks about this because its not men they are affecting.
Gender stratification can be described as unequal power, wealth, and privileges between men and women. This stratification is more generally aimed at women who are oppressed in the work place, economic class status, and many other aspects of life because of their gender. We can blame this on the patriarchal culture that we prescribe too, where males hold primary power and privileges in our society. Two of the most common aspects of gender stratification that we see in the United States includes the wage gap between men and women and the violence that women face. There are many more aspects to gender stratification, however, these two topics seem to be a gender stratification problem all over the world.
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.
Progress and gender diversity varies significantly from country to country and tends to reflect how women are viewed in a region’s society. The gender gap index, which examines “the gap between men & women based on economic, political, education & health criteria”, is an effective measure to benchmark the national gender gap of each country. According to the Global Gender Gap report 2013 by the World Economic forum, the gap exists the most in Arab countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and many other countries. This paper will attempt to prove that this gap is mostly accounted to the prevalent cultural norms in the MENA region.
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.
The truth is, Islamic culture is highly misunderstood, and the customs within Islam are often misinterpreted by Westerners. Often we point to the Arab world as an example of poor treatment of women, without evaluating our own laws and practices. In an article in the Start Tribune published in 1989, Dr. Fatma Reda, a scholar from Egypt who came to the U.S. with her husband the year before, experienced some of the Western stumbling blocks for women and longed for her Islamic country. She decided to buy a parcel of land for herself, but in the U.S., she needed a co-signature of her husband. She had been used to more equality in Egypt between men and women. “Under Islamic law, women can own property independently of their husbands… in Islamic teaching, women are entirely equal to men… many times Muslim women make choices that look on the surface like we don’t have as much freedom, but it is just different” (p. 1).
In the United States, women everywhere fight for equality and fairness in the workplace, in the media, in education systems, and religious organizations. We fight for these rights as if our society and every-day function rely on these arguments and social stands, but I don’t believe we truly realize how fortunate we are with the social freedoms and equalities in society we possess as American women. A TED Talks seminar by a man named Ziauddin Yousafzai brought this realization to surface in my mind and nearly brought me to tears. He spoke in reference to the traditions and societal structure of Pakistan, where he is an educator and father of a remarkable young girl (Yousafzai, 2014). This is where the story of his daughter comes in, and where you start to question the validity of some so-called “realities” that have been imposed upon us.
According to Maguire (1995:1), “The inequality between the sexes is one of the most intractable features of human culture.”Frankly, it is undeniable that gender inequality exists in every part of the world. Macionis (2006:252) also admits that “In most aspects, men are still in charge.” Nowadays, women keep on fighting for their right, urging for equal opportunity and fair treatment. Gender stratification, which is the unequal distribution of wealth, power, and privilege between men and women, seems to be narrowed, but it actually remains its existence to some extends. (Macionis, John. J. 2006: 256)
Pakistan is one of the most dangerous place on earth for gender equality, and Canada is one of the best for gender equality. What I have suggested is to take example of the best countries in gender equality, but my research have shown me that not even the residents of the country of Pakistan are not willing to improve their country by having equality between gender. But no country are perfect, Canada’s women earn on average 0.79$ to every 1$ earned by men which is 79% for every 1$. Canada also struggle in their time, from 1916 to 1989, women have worked their way up to obtain the right to vote and having a place among the men in the house of commons. Briefly, I hope that the society will open their eyes and not only worrying about themselves but trying to make a change for other people around the globe that are not having the same opportunities as we do, even if this person is on another