Women in the Middle East Essay

     Despite their many restrictions, females in Iran are anything but fragile. Iranian women are proud, strong, and work at changing the society they live in. In Erika Friedl's book, Women of

There are 62 million girls, and counting, that are not in school; 3.2 billion including both women and little girls. Education is something taken for granted in first world countries, or countries in good development. Still, even in well developed parts of the world there is a huge hole between genders and what is to become of them. A big portion of this goes to the Middle East as we see that women do not have an appropriate part in society. Because of this we see billions of women and girls not going to school to continue their studies; it hurts a portion of boys and men too, but even far greater to the females of this earth. There are various reasons why girls are not allowed to go to school: poverty which leads to young marriage, violence keeps people scared, societies do not give women their respective place, and the countries suffer because they kill their dreams before they come to life.

Discrimination against women is common, not only in Iran, but in other countries as well. And the fact that the Islamic Republic, the result of the 1979 Revolution, oppresses and mistreats women as much as they do make the very few things it did in favor to women, negligible. While women are being abused and punished and oppressed, men are being given privileges. Men can have four permanent wives and unlimited temporary ones, the right to divorce, full custody of children, and sexual violence was a passing event. All of these cruel and unusual restrictions on women were a result of the insecurity and misogyny of the Islamic regime.

In the United States, what comes to our mind about the Middle East (Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran)? Do you think of unequal treatment for women? Do you think of terrorist? There a lot of stereotypes when we think about the Middle East. Sometimes, we cannot always believe what we hear on the news. The stereotypes that we commonly use is that women are being oppressed, and the whole country is filled up with terrorists.

In the US, we think that women are oppressed in the middle east. Some of the stereotypes that we use against the women who live in the middle east are that they are not given fair treatment from all men. Some men are do not think the same way.The men (in the middle east) treat them like slaves.For example, women should just stay at home and take of their children. This would be an accurate statement for some of the women ,but the women think that there is nothing wrong with staying at home. Another statement that we misinterpret is that women are not educated because they stay at home with their children. I found from CNN that two-thirds of women make up the majority population of Middle Eastern Countries when enrolling in college . Next statement,

Women all across the Middle East are treated differently depending on their country of origin. In some countries, such as Lebanon, women have equal civil rights and are able to attend any type of schooling institution they wish. If you then look next door to bordering countries such as Syria, you fall into a country deep in a civil war where women rights have declined significantly in the past years. Afghanistan is a country all too familiar to the rise and falls of gender equality. Governments are partially liable for the fluctuation but the true monsters are extremist groups such as the Taliban and ISIS. It is remarkable where women from Afghanistan are in relation to where they were 15 to 20 years ago. This change is seen in the main

Gender role goes beyond biological sex, it is more based to identify leadership as masculine and feminine gender stereotypes. In the middle east, women viewed as housewives, they can not be open with men, and they are not freely to wear what they want. That is because of the tradition, the culture, and the religion that everyone takes very serious. The patriarchy is well known in the Arab World It is getting better over time, but very slowly. Leadership, the final dissections, and all the power belongs to men. They have the freedom to do anything at any time. In the books of Season of Migration to the North and Miramar, genders play an important role in both of the novels.

The portrayal of women in the Middle East, specifically in Pakistan, women face discrimination on a regular basis and struggle to obtain equal rights in comparison to men in Pakistan. Some of the reasons women are oppressed in Pakistan because of the dominance and control men have over women. Since the government doesn’t utilize the opportunity to protect women and uses religious defenses as an excuse to treat women poorly, women continue to be treated like second class citizens. Oppression of Women in Pakistan began after independence in 1947 and continues to negatively impact women today. Women face inequality in being protected by the government, unequal education, and political representation.

People are fighting because they don’t want to be a slave or they want to have woman’s rights. Slaves should be free and women should have rights they should have equal pay than men and men shouldn’t get more opportunities than women, they should be equal they don’t get enough pay than other men they should have more opportunities just like men. Slaves should be set free and not have to work every day and not get a break or get whooped to death or not get to eat or drink anything they have to starve. Women and slaves don’t have the freedom they are compared to different people women get judged or they think that women can’t do it but we prove them wrong.

There are frequently references to legal provisions in Iran’s Constitution and criminal and civil codes but no discussion of how the authorities are implementing or complying with these provisions. The president, Hassan Rouhani, says he wants reforms, as do many Iranians, but “those reforms never come to fruition” (Alavi). Much of the country’s power lies with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader. This contradicts all of Rouhani promises to fix the civilians basic human rights and Iran will never stop causing controversy with United Nations if they’re human rights violation does not improve. A conservative newspaper that has often supported the Ayatollah described the notion of "gender equality" as "unacceptable to the Islamic Republic (Afary)." This is truly false as the Islamic religion, according to the Holy Book “The Quran”, believes with equality of

To tackle such a large question Moghadam makes it quite clear that the treatment of women varies immensely between countries, and time periods. Countries that once offered many freedoms and opportunities now enforce harsh laws and restrict women’s rights due to regime changes. Other countries where women used to be treated as second-class citizens now are offering more and more civil liberties. Moghadam emphasizes that women are not passive bystanders to their fate. They are at the forefront of many civil revolutions and have started grassroots movements to help win civil freedom and equality. The most successful

The omnipresence of the American and European culture in the countries of the Middle East is a universally recognized phenomenon. The culture, thoughts and status quo of the people have been and continually are being changed and challenged due the mass spread of American goods and ideas. The American national culture largely revolves around the wants, needs and goals of the individual. As the one of the greatest superpowers of the time, its influence on the global community towards the focus on the individual is nothing short of inevitable. The movies, clothing and new age mentality of America are sending all people regardless of age, upbringing and locale, into a grand scale social

In the memoir Things I’ve Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi, Azar effortlessly describes her life growing up in Iran while providing readers with significant information about the region she is from. Azar faced many difficulties in her life such as family issues, marriage issues, and the discrimination due to her gender. Through all these issues, Azar portrays many difficulties females living in Iran and the rest of the Middle East have faced as well. She also discusses various political aspects of Iran as well, such as various political revolutions, which led her to participate in protests as she got older. However, two central topics Azar immensely discusses to expand the reader’s knowledge of the region are marriage customs and the treatment of women, all of which she had first-hand experiences with.

Women’s rights have been a historically controversial issues around the world, which is no exception in Iran, where the struggle between modernization and keeping the old traditional Islamic values has been a main focus between political leaders. Throughout the decade’s, women in Iran have experienced many changes and challenges regarding their rights and freedoms. Women’s rights in Iran have varied with the changed in leader and regime for decades. Each regime has dictated every aspect of women’s lives, from voting to their daily outfit; without their contribution or approval. Women in Iranian society were demerit due to laws and legislations which affect their freedoms. In Iranian society women are at a disadvantage whether from the oppression from political regimes or from the society. The current situation and the crisis faced by Iranian women are led by the political regimes.

Upon review of Western opinion regarding the Middle East, there seems to be a number of inconsistencies. The United States during the Bush administration seemed to be invested in women’s rights in Iraq and Afghanistan right up until it was decided that the invasion of Iraq was more beneficial to the United States’ own agenda. During the invasion, violence and even death, but never emancipation, was the new fate of the women in those countries.