Gender Roles

Only 18% of the workforce in Saudi Arabia consists of females, compared to 48% in Canada. For the 18% of females that do work, they are forced to work in certain shops, such as female clothing stores, where men aren’t allowed to go in. Also, the work they do can’t interfere with their housework, meaning that if their mahram see’s it is interfering, or he doesn’t approve of the job, he can stop the women from going to the job. Women are not allowed to work side by side with men, making it very difficult for them to get a job that they want, that they can manage with their time

But despite the stereotype, Islam actually “stresses education, including religious education for both men and women" (Megahed and Lack 407). While the male population is 17 percent more literate than the female population in Egypt, the numbers are increasing slowly for women (Hathcock 1). But it seems that women cannot break the habit of feminine stereotypes, because even when they are given the opportunity to study any subject, the majority of them go for traditionally feminine majors that include education and nursing (Megahed and Lack 413). Women also account for less than half of all students enrolled in Egyptian colleges (Megahed and Lack 412). Additionally, it can be shown that it is not the religion that is at fault, but the people that practice the religion who "often oppress women and deny them the equality and human dignity granted in the Qur'an" (Eft and Russ-eft 279). The Islamic law states that women have a right to an equal education as men, to vote, and to many other rights that allowed for women in Islamic countries today (Megahed and Lack 403). These rightsmight hold true, but some limitations are shown in the set roles that are established in village life for both the husband and wife (Reimer). The man does more of the manual labor, while the woman adopts a domestic role, even in the 21st century (Reimer). Marriage is even considered the best achievement a women can procure in their life, over an education (Megahed and Lack 408). In some places in Egypt, women are encouraged to be educated and refined so when they become mothers they will be able to influence their sons in respectable way (Megahed and Lack 405-6). Their customs come across in a different way, as in America; the people think negatively about the Egyptian women’s living style compared to their own (Eft and Russ-eft 282). But even in America, there is not

From the societies to the justice system, the world is not perfect. On the scale of perfection, the Middle East is far from. Considering the fact that it is the 21st century, a “modern” era, the world lacks basic human equality such as gender equality. Although in many countries in the world, women have achieved a great level of equality and freedom, in the Middle East in particular, women lack political and social equality, and basic human rights such as proper education and health. A form of gender inequality in the Middle East is socially. Men and women are not raised equally, women are not supported to work in the public domain but rather to become housewives. The Arab society encourages the concept of guardianship. This concept gives men

While women are a symbol of the clinging to a traditional state, through modernization and secularization, it is important to understand that “the status of women are inseparably tied to the status of the nation” (Amin, 165). Women matter to such an extent in the discussion and practice of modernization because they directly correlate to the status of nation. Amin focuses on the idea that “when the status of a nation is low, reflecting an uncivilized condition for that nation, the status of women is also low” (165). This echoes the idea that, while women have a child-rearing influence on the next generation, as well as that child’s education, it is important for there to be equality in the household between both genders. In order to maintain a middle class lifestyle and care for the remainder of the family, these individuals are realizing the economic realities. The need for two incomes, that the rest of the world functions in, is becoming even more of an oncoming reality for many Muslim families. It is not realistic to cocoon your community from the rest of the world, but rather understand how your community fits into the Westernized norms, in the sense of

She can argue more effectively with her husband by showing him that she can cook before she goes to her job, or work while her kids are at school. Another belief that many Middle Eastern men possess is that women would be more passive if they are uneducated. Hence, they invest a great deal of energy in ensuring that their women are out of school and uneducated. The cycle of oppression is sustained as the oppression of women continues; women are kept ignorant, while men continue to feel unthreatened by the possibility that their educated women might demand freedom and equality. The belief of Middle Eastern men viewing their women as nothing but servants, expecting them to clean, cook, and raise children seems to be the driving force behind keeping women from achieving their educational potentials.

A sufficient education is something that Westerner’s like myself, have taken for granted for a long time. It’s easy to, in all honesty, because we have been raised in a society in which education has been held at the utmost importance. In the United States women are held at an equal level with men, we’ve fought for this sense of equality for several years and unfortunately, not all women across the world have had that same success. Women from other countries do not have half of the rights that we do here in the United States, and this is something that we seem to never really think about. Saudi Arabia is just one of the many countries around the world in which the women do not have as many rights as men do. Being a feminist at heart with a hunger for education, it piqued my interest to research the rights of women and education in Saudi Arabia. If I’m being honest, I had expected it to be much worse than it is, yet it could be so much better at the same time. Saudi women should have every right to educate themselves in any aspect they want, and though they have fought their way to gaining some leverage, there are still necessary steps that need to be taken.

In the past few decades there had been in increase in women working to get an education. Women are looking for resources that they can reach, investing in a good education, not just for themselves, and for their futures. Women all around the world have always been placed at the end. Education is important for financial growth, yet, we don’t see equal educational opportunities everyone. Education is important all cross the board, some more developed countries are more educated then other. The women from developing countries like Afghanistan

They are given limited opportunities to create choices for themselves in order to change the realities of their lives, therefore strong gender disparities exist in educational attainment between rural and urban areas and among the province. In Pakistan the boys’ enrolment in school was not influenced by income while girl’s chances of attending school depended on the availability of additional financial

Saudi Arabia is one of the most conservative countries in the world and follows a strict patriarchal system. Indeed, women only represent 16% of the workforce and their main duties are towards their families. It is the only country in the world where it is forbidden for a woman to drive, vote or travel anywhere without authorization from a male guardian (father or husband). All of these aspects result in a mediocre gender inequality index rating (135 over 146) and global gender gap index (131st). In addition, women

Examples of gender inequality within education are in Pakistan and Yemen. In Pakistan the Taliban was restricting women’s education. 125,000 girls have had to abandon their education after 180 schools were torched and 900 school closed down. Taliban are brutal, they behead, assassinate political figures and destroy homes. A recent example might be the fourteen-year-old Malala who was shot in the head by the Taliban on her way home from school because she was trying to promote women’s rights. In Yemen being the lowest global rating of gender inequality means they’re heavily investing in this sector. The International Development Association (IDA) are working to increase access to and the quality of education, as well as promoting it to women nationally. They’re encouraging female teachers, which will increase ‘social acceptance’. 1000 new female teachers were introduced in 2008 alone, and they successfully attracted girls to schools. As well as 100- new female teachers, 4000 classrooms and 200 schools were built, and 80 of the original schools were repaired. All of these efforts have worked, as the illiteracy rate has halved from 90% in 1999 to 45% in

Around the world, women face discrimination whether it’s because of cultural or religious attitudes. In the Islamic faith, women are encouraged to learn however, out of the 24 nations with a primary

Many societies don’t believe that women should get to go to school because girls and boys don’t deserve an equal education in their culture. When women do not receive education, they are less likely to get their kids immunized and get their own medical care. Therefore, they are stuck taking care of sick children and they can’t leave the home because they are sick. They are also less equal because they are more likely to become sick from not getting the care they need. “The majority of the children not in schools are from just three regions of the world: sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. Girls’ education is particularly neglected in these regions” (367). Gender equality is also very low in these regions.

Women`s education is an international human right without any discrimination based on sex or gender. It is necessary for identity social development and a means for a prosperous life. Constantly, the United Nations emphasized women`s education and set goals for its success with gender equality. Empowering women`s education is an essential element in growing societies that seek democracy and economic advancement. For the last decade, Palestinian women education had been the concern for several reasons and a hot debate for many researchers. Palestinian women are known for their patience, determination and resilience in many hard life situations.

Employment, participation and poverty. Despite females attend high level education than males; there is no relationship between education and employment. Females have less chance to be labour force, especially in rural areas. Furthermore, females are more likely to live with poverty because of less working time in formal sectors and more responsibility for

Education system in the kingdom led to a lack of activation of the role of women and, it play the important role to prevent women their right of employment and active participation in the community. Women 's education in Saudi Arabia was limited to education women to fill the limited functionality in the field of education. There is a need to create a training program for the female unemployment to raise their skills to do various jobs like men in Saudi society.