Sexism In Islam Essay

The Oppression of Women Due to Islam and How it Doesn’t Exist

Despite many women being faced with sexism and oppression every day, many people believe that certain groups are more targeted than others. While this may be true in certain cases, it is not true in the idea that Muslim women are among the most oppressed because of their religion. This is proven true because the sexism labelled as “Muslim oppression” is not limited to Islamic communities, men in those communities are often feminists alongside their wives and daughters, and the Islamic religion does not oppress women. Most of the sexism that Muslim women face in the Middle East began centuries ago because of the time period, not because of the religion that was developed in the region. During the 7th century when the Islam was founded, gender roles were prevalent. Women were meant to stay

Oftentimes, westerners will see women wearing a headscarf and automatically assume that they are being forced to do so. However, this is often not true. Even though it is part of the religion, it is a personal choice for women to wear the scarf and can opt out at any time. According to Laila Alawa, “I am greeted on a daily basis with passerby who tell me that i no longer need wear the headscarf because I am in America. In this exact statement supposedly freeing Muslim women from the clothes they seem ‘forced’ to don, there is a level of oppression being oppression being expressed, as though there is only way to be ‘free’” (Alaway, 2017). This quote from Laila shows that women are not being forced to follow their religion. It is a choice, similar to the way a Catholic nun dresses. Therefore, the Islamic religion cannot be the issue with sexism in the Middle East because it is each woman’s choice to follow the specific set of rules that may seem to oppress them even though it