Western Influence on Kuwait

In order for Saudi Arabian culture to have adopted such a mentality they must have had large amounts of people - particularly males - with the same belief in extreme modesty and male superiority. If at the inception of the Saudi Arabian culture individuals believed females were inferior to males, Saudi Arabian culture must have adopted policies that implied male superiority and misogyny. The means by which cultures create consensus upon shared beliefs such as male superiority and misogyny is to make the shared beliefs into a generally accepted ideology or law. Laws are made of rules; they determined “how the [ideology of gender roles] was formulated, applied and implemented” (Yahyaoui 38). In order to make particular gender roles a generally accepted Saudi Arabian ideology, the ideology must have been supported by laws both directly and indirectly. One form of direct control of women is religious police or vigilante. Women aren’t allowed to socialize, act, or dress in a fashion that isn’t considered appropriate. In order to ensure that no woman is behaving outside of what the culture condones, Saudi Arabian males created

In the United States in 2016, women were paid 80 percent of what men were paid (Kevin Miller, The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap). Women are still treated as second hand to men to this day, but we have come a far way since the sixteenth century European women. Women can go to school, work, and have lives in the United States. In other countries and cultures, however, women still have a long fight ahead of them. In Saudi Arabia, women were just recently granted the ability to drive (Nicole Gaouette and Elise Labott, CNN). This is a huge stepping stone for women in Saudi Arabia and many more countries. The guardianship rule in Saudi Arabia is still ongoing, stating that women cannot make any decision without a man or young boy telling her yes or no. Women have no freedom for making their own choices, but their chains will soon be loosened through newly imprinted laws. Just like in the home, European women and Native American women vary greatly in societal structure and cultures.

Accustomed to stereotypical depictions, Westerners are told that Middle Eastern women are passive, weak, and always veiled. It is often assumed that the severe conditions in Saudi Arabia—where women are not even allowed to drive cars—represent the norm for women throughout the Middle East and in the larger Muslim world. In reality, Saudi Arabia’s versions of both Islam and sexism are rather unique in their severities, although the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan is now emulating the sexist Saudi model. Women enjoy political and social rights in many Muslim countries, and Egypt has recently granted women the right to divorce their husbands. In Tunisia, abortion is legal, and polygamy is prohibited. Women have served as ministers in the Syrian, Jordanian, Egyptian, Iraqi, and Tunisian governments, and as Vice President in Iran.

Large busy markets, snake charmers, carpet vendors, and veiled women all invoke ideas of West Africa, the Middle East, and West Asia, but all these ideas come from Oriental fantasies from the nineteenth century. Edward Said the author of Orientalism said that “Orientalism was ultimately a political vision of reality whose structure promoted the difference between the familiar (Europe, West, "us") and the strange (the Orient, the East, "them").” The nineteenth century was a period of imperialism and tourism that led many western artists to visit West Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Orientalist paintings depicted two major effects, many artists often portrayed something “exotic,” which was racialized, feminized, and from a sexualized culture from a faraway land. Another effect that artists mainly like Jean-Léon Gérôme often showed was an authentic glimpse of a location and its inhabitants. Nochlin mentioned that many of Gérôme’s paintings worked to persuade their audiences by carefully representing a "preexisting Oriental reality.”

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

In the Middle East, each country has it’s own form of government. These forms of governments have been consistently changing throughout time. Throughout all the revolutions and overthrows, the national identity of the Middle East has slowly changed, some parts more than others. Over many years, overthrows in countries such as Egypt and Libya have led to a more democratic government. However, many other countries such as Iran and Iraq have remained more oppressive. The Middle East is still changing to this day. For example, Egypt recently overthrew their president Hosni Mubarak. There are also many protests currently going on in Libya.

Saudi Arabian women don’t have any privacy while they are out and about with their lives. They all must have a guardian with them at all times. For example, if a women wants to go out in public, she must be escorted by a driver because Arabian women aren’t allowed to drive. She also has to have a guardian with her where ever she goes. A grown women who is able to take care of herself doesn’t need to be chauffeur around 24/7. It’s not possible for a women to be independent with all the rules and laws that they are required to obey. In a piece “Under the Abaya” by an “American Girl” who lived in Saudi Arabia says, “In Saudi Arabia, women, regardless of age, are or marital status are required to have a male guardian. A woman cannot

Over time, soldiers in the war experienced many different challenges. Whether it was physical, mental or emotional, they all had some sort of long lasting effect on their overall well-being. Soldiers that served in the Gulf War in 1991 suffered from many of the same issues as veterans of other wars. Both medical and mental health treatment for veterans have improved over time, but due to the lack of technology not everyone received the care that they needed. Some of the ailments experienced by veterans after the war proved to be difficult for nurses to treat effectively. Thus, the different forms of medical treatment that were available at the time, were definitely a setback to achieve desired results. Some diseases

This academic journal is relevant because Lindsay Markle discusses the challenges women in the Middle East confront daily due to gender norms that are embedded in culture, religion, and family structure. These gender norms influence the way women are able to participate in their economy and in the public sphere.

In this University article I found how women in the Middle East are starting to gain more rights and respect which is what they deserve. There’s this new law about how family is the biggest priority for everyone there, but we also see the changes that happen with women. Some women in the Middle East are allowed to not cover their face or body, but there’s some that still do because they want to follow the traditions from their ancestors. The gender role I saw on this article is that, men are less dominant now days on the Middle East compared to back in the 1940s, the same way that it was in the US. It look longer for women in the Middle East to receive more freedom, because of all the wars that are going on, and because of the masculinity of

Imperialism began in the 1870s, European states established vast empires mainly in Africa, but also in Asia and the Middle East. Imperialism can be used as an act of expanding used as an act of developing a country’s empire through the use of force, colonization, or coercion. This method can be used to benefit one or both sides of the process. By means of benefiting one side would be considered as being a world bully because the nation is trying to expand or develop with the help of others without doing the other nation any good. As a result of advancing both nations can give a nation the name of a world leader with it helping both sides, everyone is developing in a way to help not just themselves, but others as well. America used imperialism for the good or bad as long as they got something out of it in some way. Many in the U.S. thought that country must be able to compete and saw the opportunity to take its own colonies before European countries got them all. Colonial powers often struggled with each other over the best potential features. These motives tend to believe its purpose is gaining additional wealth, power, and control. America used this approach as an intimidator to get economic growth, expand their political power, spread of the culture’s religion, and build military and naval bases.

Persian Gulf War, also called Gulf War, (1990–91), international conflict that was triggered by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, ordered the invasion and occupation of Kuwait with the apparent aim of acquiring that nation’s large oil reserves, canceling a large debt Iraq owed Kuwait, and expanding Iraqi power in the region1. The Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein claimed as a reason for the invasion a territorial dispute over the Shatt al-Arab, the waterway which forms the boundary between the two countries2. Saddam Hussein believed that Iran was in turmoil and that his forces could achieve quick victory3.

It was noticeable that Kuwaiti women in the media were attacked by some Islamic groups. Kuwaiti women who wear the hijab didn’t dare to study any subject related to media.

The diversities within North Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia (cultural, religious, political, etc.) play a crucial part in the status of women and the key features of gender roles in these particular geographic regions. The Middle East and North Africa share commonalities through Arabic and Islamic culture. Establishing equalities for women amongst the current social and political changes of Middle Eastern and North African societies stands as a difficult obstacle to overcome, but in spite of this, women’s rights efforts are still being made. While Islamic culture is dominant in Southeast Asia, the culture of Southeast Asian nations is diverse. Islam and gender in Southeast Asia have contributed to the continuing debate over Islam, feminism, and gender rights in the region. The cultures of North Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia are male dominated, but this cultural dominance might not sustain in the future. This essay will compare and contrast the current status of women and the key features of gender roles in North Africa and the Middle East with those of Southwest Asia. Examples will also be provided to justify any arguments that are made.

Every year, hundreds of expatriates arrive in Kuwait because of their poverty, and the reason behind that is that their governments’ economy is essentially weak. In addition, those people who live under poor conditions cannot earn their basic needs. For example, poor people cannot afford proper education and that would prevent them from getting a decent job to be able to provide their necessities. As a result, we have heard about those tragedies all over the years. Therefore, poor people leave their countries in order to survive through working outside their own country to ensure their needs and their family life. In the meantime, expatriates face a lot of trouble while working outside their country.