Discrimination Against Islamic Women Essay

Gender segregation is still common in the Middle East and both genders are expected to fulfill their designated roles within society. There is a lot of pressure for both genders to marry and to not do so is considered “social disaster”. Arranged marriages are not uncommon, especially among the more traditional families (Whitaker) and in this relationship, men are generally considered the “active” partners while their wives are the “passive” partners (Tolino 5). These ideas are prominent throughout society in the Middle East and create problems for individuals who do not conform to their assigned roles, specifically members of the LGBT community. LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, although all gender and “sexual minorities” are considered part of this community (Human Rights Watch 69). LGBT individuals face struggles all around the world, but their problems are more pronounced in the Middle East, where the concept of homosexuality is vastly different than in the West. People in the Middle East generally view homosexuality as a “Western invention” and there is no clear distinction between “sex” and “gender”. The classification of an individual as “gay” does not always relate to “a physical act with someone of the same gender”. A male could be considered “gay” simply for not conforming to gender roles or acting feminine (Simmons 1). In the Middle East, members of the LGBT community face extreme inequality, primarily in the form of homophobic laws with

While growing up in the twin cities, and living in Fargo for the past three years I’ve noticed a sudden increase in Muslim population. This community has become more diverse due to the government benefits available to people from impoverished nations. Freedom of religion, better career paths, and higher education also offer a more promising life than that of the Country they originate from. In the Islamic culture, women are still looked at as less important than men. Muslim women are in need of higher health literacy and they need to know they are just important as anyone else in The United States. Many factors have put Muslim women at risk in the past including fasting, lack of health resources, cultural traditions, religion, and poverty. My mission as a future nurse is to make sure Muslim women have better health resources, and health care while being able to be comfortable in the process.

In recent years, America’s attention has been gripped by stories of women who have escaped from the Middle East. Each has a unique story, but they all have the same themes of oppression, abuse, and domination. Americans rushed onto the scene ready to “save” Middle Eastern women and many of the activists are now been highly praised for the influence they made in the region. Others, however, have come to question whether the Muslim women in the Middle East really needed the U.S. to rescue them from Islam. *Insert Thesis*

Gender inequality is a social problem that is widespread in society. It is referred to as the unfair treatment of individuals based on one 's gender. Historically, laws have opposed women to go to school, access certain jobs, and purchase property. Gender inequality has been experience through culture – honor-killing, sex-selective abortion, and society – occupation, gender roles, and education. The social expectations of men and women differ between cultures that are constructed socially and culturally. These expectations are displayed in roles, and behavior believed both by men and women and their interdependent relationships. Gender inequality can be further understood through the structure of sexism. Discrimination takes place in gender inequality for the reason that men and women are treated on the basis of gender alone (Amjad, R., Ashfaq, M., Kousar, R., Saghir, A., 2010).

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 society, whether we can help it or not, men are treated differently than women. There seems to be different “rules” associated with the acceptable ways they should dress as opposed to the strict rules that apply to women. Women who are westernized

Since Muslim Americans were now facing discrimination and violence in their every day lives, they felt the need to hide the fact that they were Muslim for their safety and for their sanity. As Shawna Ayoub Ainslie, a Muslim woman, says “I hoped they wouldn’t even remember that I was Muslim” (Blumberg). She was terrified that her friends, classmates and teacher would treat her differently after the attack on 9/11. She did not want to be associated with the terrorists depicted in the news, so she stopped reading the Qur’an between classes because she did not want to be seen in public practicing. She not only altered her religious practices after the attack, but she changed what she wore so she was not perceived as Muslim to the public eye. Ayoub

In Khaled Hosseini’s novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, women live in an oppressive, discriminatory Afghan society in which they are deemed useless and obtain little to no rights, yet still manage to endure the burden that falls upon them. After the immensely false interpretations of her father and the bitter fatality of her mother, Mariam’s father demands she marries a stranger considerably older than her at the age of fifteen. Rasheed prays daily in hopes for Laila to produce a male offspring and is exceedingly unappreciative and disrespectful when Laila produces a female instead. Rasheed and the Taliban claim it is extremely blasphemous and embarrassing for a married Afghan woman to look directly into a man’s eyes, wear makeup, or display her knees so Rasheed asserts Mariam and Laila wear burqas. Women’s diminished rights and limited input in society is evident when youthful Mariam unwillingly marries an outright stranger because her father and wives demands she do so.

The term sociological imagination was a concept constructed by the American Sociologist C. Wright Mills in 1959 to describe the ability to understand how our lives are affected by the historical and sociological changes around us. In order to possess the knowledge of sociological imagination, we should be able to pull away from the current situation and be able to look and think from a different perspective. C. Wright Mills defined his concept of sociological imagination as “...the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society”. We need to be able to grasp the connection between the society which is shaped by the historical events and how our personal biography is affected by these events take place everyday. To further reiterate this concept, I will attempt to discuss how social issues surrounding my gender and my religion as a Muslim woman living in the United States have changed my sociological imagination and I how I was able to shift my perspective by thinking from a different point of view thus applying the C. Wright Mills’ concept of sociological imagination in my personal life. by making references to articles, “Gender as Structure” (Ferguson, 291) and “Muslims in America” (Ferguson, 519). I will also attempt to explain the how knower and known is related to the social issues of gender and religion.

Sexism is the ideology that maintains that one sex is inherently inferior to the other. Sexism or discrimination based on gender has been a social issue for many years; it is the ideology that one sex is superior or inferior to the other. Sexism does not only affect females, but also males. Men are very often victimized by social stereotypes and norms based on gender expectations. Sexism has appears in almost all social institutions including family, the media, religion, sports, the military, politics, and the government. However, although both genders are affected, men have benefited from sexism the most (Thompson 300-301.)

Sexism, is a prejudice plain and simple. One of the earliest forms of violence directed toward women was the Witch Hunt Trials of the Middle Ages. Bishops debated whether a woman was really human at all. If her nose were too long, she had red hair, a humped back, or if she was exceptionally beautiful, she was thought to be a witch and was burned at the stake. There was an estimated nine million women burned during the Witch Trials. During the “Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1960’s, feminist theorists explained that oppression of women was widespread in nearly all human society, and spoke of sexism instead of male chauvinism. Male chauvinists were usually individual men who expressed the belief that they were superior to women” (Napikoski). By the mid 20th century sexism was established and began to appear in advertising. Between the 1970’s and 1990’s women began to feel more equal to men until the 1980’s where they were portrayed as sex symbols on national television (The Origin and History of SEXISM). There are two main types of sexism, benevolent and hostile, and their definitions are opposite from one another. Hostile sexism is what most people perceive as sexism today as it seems sexism is occurring more and more often and is, notably, more vulgar. It is the notion that women are inferior or not as worthy; a belief that males are intrinsically superior. For many years women have been degraded and looked down upon with the idea that their place is in the kitchen with

Another example of the unfairness to women is that fact, that men are also abusive to them. Being a man, means they have all the power. They make all the decisions and what they want to happen happens. Early in the book, Jalil, Mariam’s father, chooses a random suitor for her to marry. He forces it on her just to get her as far away from his family as possible. Her suitor ended up to be an abusive husband. Just in a matter of seconds, Rasheed, their husband would flip and turn abusive. As depicted early in their marriage, Khaled Hosseini wrote, “He was like this, sneering, tightening the belt around his fist, the creaking of the leather, the glint in his bloodshot eyes. It was the fear of the goat, released in the tiger’s cage, when the tiger first looks up from its paws, begins to growl” (216). Another time when Laila and Mariam try to escape Rasheed’s grasps, they both get caught and get sent back to him. Mariam took most of the punishment for leaving. “There was a sound now like a wooden club repeatedly slapping a side of beef.” His abusiveness led them to leave but only brought them back to it. As women they have no power in the relationship. Eventually Rasheed’s abuse came back to bite him, and it led to his death. Mariam had enough of his abuse. “Mariam brought down the shovel. This time, she gave it everything she had” (310 Hosseini). Rasheed tried everything in his power

In the book, Women in the Middle East, a Saudi Arabian proverb states, "A girl possesses nothing but a veil and a tomb" (Harik and Marston 83). The key words, "veil" and "tomb" lend evidence to the fact that many Middle Eastern women lack identity symbolized by the “veil” and lack the right of ownership except for their veil and the tomb. This statement further enforces the notion that many women in the Middle East are expected to serve and tolerate the oppression of the men in their lives throughout their lives on this earth. Moreover, it confirms that many of these women do not get the opportunity to obtain education, join the work force, and even participate in the political affairs of the country. This arrangement further helps the

Islam is the fourth largest and fastest growing religion in the United States (U.S.), which means there is a great amount of Muslim population (Ali, Yamada, and Mahmood 2015). However, after the attacks of September 11, religious discrimination against Muslims has been increasing in the workplace, especially, against Muslim women due to their religious attire (Ali et al. 2015). Since workplace discrimination toward Muslim women has been extended, many researches focus on the issue. My research problem is impacts of wearing hijab in the workplace and relationships between the practice of hijab, discrimination, job stress, and job satisfaction among Muslim women in the U.S. Research questions are differences and relationships between two groups

Women's Status in Islam In Islam, women and men are equal in terms of their relationship with Allah. It can be clearly seen that Allah has created men and women differently, this is so that they may fulfil different purposes in life. It is not a question of the superiority of one gender over another, rather it is a matter of role differentiation. Islam teaches that men and women complement one another and are both equally important.

          The role of woman, her position and status in society, and her nature have been issues of debate and discussion informed by religion, tradition and culture, misogyny, feminism and - many times - downright ignorance and bigotry.