The Importance Of Gender Equality

In many places women throughout history have wished that they would not be considered inferior to men. It is a significant struggle in the world today, in some countries great strides have been made, and in others nothing has changed. A prime example of a country that has dealt with, is still dealing, with and will deal with women’s equality is Saudi Arabia. Women in this country are subject to harsh rules, put upon them by men. For a long time, women were not even allowed to drive in the country, but the women of the country decided to protest. “Fawziah al-Bakr, a Saudi university professor who was among 47 women

Although the issue of women’s rights has attracted international recognition and support, women still face many inequalities and barriers. Gender-based violence and economic discrimination are problems in many parts of the world.

In the world today, women have a say in what they want to do and things that they desire to do. Back in the day, before the 1800’s, women had to be submissive to their male counterparts and do according to what was required of them. In the end, this led to the demeaning of the woman and the concept that women were inferior to men. Even though this concept and perception changed, there have been some countries and regions of the world that have not yet recognized the equality that women deserve. Such areas do not allow women to vote, attend school, have a say in the community, and the women are at the mercy of their husbands, fathers or male superiors (Hartmann, Susan M).

Throughout centuries of human existence, women have been deemed as inferior to men in multiple different cultures and religions. Men have developed a norm to be the individual who carries out duties to help maintain a stable life for himself and the family in which he is providing for. Because of this fundamentalist approach towards how society should be, women’s rights have been suppressed throughout political, social, and cultural actions. The Islamic religion in particular, is fond of abusing the rights of women and empowering the rights of men in such a way that it has created a permanent existence of conflict within countries who follow Islam. In fact, in the Quran it states that women must have lesser authority than men, therefore their

With the advancement of suffrage to equal pay, over the last century, women’s rights have progressed immensely. Through historic marches and demonstrations across the United States, women protested for their equal place in politics and social progress. Despite the fear-mongering components used in achieving these rights, women’s rights are still thoroughly debated within society today. Over the last century, incredible and unreachable goals have been fulfilled for women, such as the right to vote and a sense of equal state in the “Free World,” and can only improve in the years to come.

A common misconception is that Muslim women are oppressed all around the world, but this is a fallacy created through the use of propaganda and misinformation. The so-called "oppression of women" is not a characteristic of Islam at all and to say otherwise would be out of ignorance. Reza Aslan (2015), a scholar of all religions, makes it clear that oppression of women is not related to Islam but to particular countries. A common propaganda technique is to use Saudi Arabia as the standard of Islam. This could not be further from the truth, as many Muslim countries view women equally if not beyond that. There are dozens of Muslim countries who have had more female heads of state than the US; Algeria, Turkey, Sudan, Senegal. There are a handful of Muslim countries around the world, who mention women's equal rights in their constitution, whereas the U.S is one of 32 countries who does not include an explicit gender equality guarantee (Ravitz, 2015). Using an uneducated generalization, that holds no merit, causes inconsistencies and mistaken impressions of a particular

Women are denied many basic human rights, along with the ability to partake in many activities that us as Westerners would consider to be rights, simply because of their gender. The most infamous example is Saudi’s ban on women driving cars. This takes away a woman’s independence and therefore makes her further dependent on males. The stratification doesn’t stop there however; the enrollment in academic institutions is strictly contingent on the approval of the male guardians. This means women can be denied the basic right to an education if their male guardian so chooses, with no ability to protest. Women are then further marginalized in the work force. According to the Saudi labor code, “women shall work in all fields suitable to their nature.” Although this law is vague in terms of what these fields are, it is clear that this piece of legislation further restricts women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. Women also have severe restrictions on their legal rights. Females in Saudi Arabia must be granted permission from their male guardian in order to sue or take a case to court. This makes it virtually impossible to prevent domestic abuse, as the perpetrator is the one who must grant permission to get the legal procedures started. This puts women at a seriously compromised and defensively position creating further stratification between males and

With the advancement of suffrage to equal pay, over the last century, women’s rights have progressed immensely. Through historic marches and demonstrations across the United States, women protested for their equal place in politics and social progress. Despite the fear-mongering components used in achieving these rights, women’s rights are still thoroughly debated within society today. Over the last century, incredible and unreachable goals have been fulfilled for women, such as the right to vote and a sense of equal state in the “Free World,” and can only improve in the years to come.

The Qur’an and the practice of the Prophet Muhammad seem to recognize the different functions and mutually supportive roles of men and women, encouraging an equal and balanced social and family life. In seventh-century Arabia, the Qur’an extended the right of property ownership and financial independence to women. It prohibited the practice of female infanticide and other abuses, and significantly modified marriage and divorce practices. While many Americans consider Islam to be an “oppressive religion” with regard to women, Muslim women often comment on the liberty and dignity they extract from their faith. Many Muslim women say that true Islam is often compromised by oppressive practices that have their roots in cultural differences or political expediency; general ignorance and lack of engagement with the diversity inherited within the tradition contribute to the continuation of these

In 2001 women declared a separate entity from her male guardian. In 2002 women started receiving secular education. In 2011 women received the right to vote. All women are well educated and now have the right to vote, but they are still subject to male dominance under extremist view of Islamic law. They still have to be escorted by a male guardian in public. Women are not allowed to interact with men they aren’t related to. The main problem they fact today is sexual exploitation from being sold into prostitution or human tracking for cheap labor in poor working conditions. It’s almost as if they went backwards all the rights women had well before western countries, has been taken away and now they desire to gain them

This article, by Elizabeth Segran explores how many women faced inequality in the Islamic world but started to acquire their power through the Qur'an and their religion. The author states “For decades many women believed they had to choose between their Muslim identity and their belief in gender equality so they made a global movement called Musawah, which means equality”(1). This movement is powered by the ideals that Islam does not favor men as many have thought to be the case. However, because patriarchy has had a strong stance in Muslim countries these females believe it is due to the way they have interpreted and read Islamic texts. As we have learned in this course so far, there are numerous ways to interpret Islamic texts. It just so happens that gender has a great effect on how it is understood by individuals.

Women are subject to inferior treatment in almost every aspect of life throughout the world, whether it be in the workforce, in the household, or even in the eyes of the court. However, one of the most prominent and shocking aspects that most individuals believe treat women as the inferior sex is through the eyes of religion. Many believe that the religion with the most extreme treatment of women is Islam. Though, the majority of religions today and throughout history have viewed women as the lesser sex, Islam is categorized as the religion with the top maltreatment of women, which is not true and the treatment of women varies with country. Unfortunately, Egypt has been named one of the worst countries for women, which happens to be a country with a high concentration of Islam population. Within the country many feminist have sprung up, most notably the radical Aliaa Magda Elmahdy.

As a woman, I have witnessed the progress that American women have made and continue to make, in fighting for women's basic human rights. However, the road has been far more difficult for Muslim women in the Middle East. Muslim women in the Middle East are currently being oppressed. They don’t have the liberty to freedom of speech, and choice of marital status/marital spouse. They are also prone to violent crimes, and sexual assault. All under a systematic government that is dedicated to dominate women. (CNN Wire) The Islamic religion does not oppress women, men within their patriarchal society do.

Gender inequalities, which have become more and more dominant in societies, have affected women all across the world. In relation to Middle Eastern countries, there have been rules that women must oblige by constituted along with their religion. Whereas in the United States religion isn’t as dominant, but rather the thoughts and gender microaggressions when compared to male counter-parts are more significant. The misogyny in both regions consists of the deprivation of gender rights that are given by their government, such as the Women’s Suffrage movement in the U.S. Middle Eastern countries have a similarity in which the Quran acts as the law towards Muslim women. Even though there have been acts like the Equal Pay Act created in the U.S, the

The rise and expansion of Islam has had a significant impact on the role and rights of women throughout history. Since its origin in the seventh century until modern times, the Muslim faith has somewhat broadened, but has mostly restricted women’s rights in numerous Islamic communities. The history of Muslim women is complex, as it involves many advances and declines in numerous locations, such as Egypt, Afghanistan, and Iran, concerning several subjects, including both civil and social rights. Thus, in general, the rights of Islamic women did not improve significantly over time, instead, conditions remained the same or became worse for women as Islam evolved and spread as a world religion.