Women of the Middle East: oh those poor oppressed souls; forced to cover themselves from head to toe by their polygamous, blood relative husbands who consider them like a commodity. Or are they?
Here lies a huge misconception, problematic, and sadly concrete stereotype. The issue of religion is somewhat governed by the Western media to its audience with regards to woman. Of course, one cannot blame the media entirely, though the role it has played has not done females the justice they need. The Arab woman has become a distorted image. A passive, voiceless individual. It must be remembered that it is not solely the religion of Islam which resides within the Middle East and North Africa, but also Christianity, Judaism and the smaller branches of these faiths. Thus, for one to immediately point the finger and proclaim that Islam oppresses women is in fact ill educated.
At the personal front, an Arab woman is not the damsel who is chained to an arranged marriage and forced to obey her father and now her husband. Unknown to many, under Islamic law, women also have the right to divorce as that equally of men.
In every Middle Eastern and North African state in the region, women are acting as social entrepreneurs, setting up organizations to combat domestic violence, oppose government malfeasance, and increase educational opportunities for girls and advocating change. One does not have to stretch far but as recent as November 2011 where Tawakul Karman, a Yemeni Journalist, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize: the first Arab women and also first Yemeni to have ever received the prize.
Women are also using both established and new forms of artistic expression to throw light on the issues they consider most important, to critique their societies, and to point the way to their own visions of a more equitable life. Myriam Bouchentouf, otherwise known as Master Mimz, is of Morrocan descent having moved to London in the past two years. Her artistic form? Hip Hop. Myriam is utilising her love of the genre, with the current upsurge of the Arab nations of 2011 to drive home the message of rising up, even performing a song entitled "Back down Mubarak" prior to his resignation in Egypt. To add to this, she is also increasing the global voice of Arab women of today.
In order to ensure that women's rights frameworks are emphasised, gains made over the years are sustained, and momentum is gained from the unrest in the region. Arab women need to keep reminding regional and international authorities that women's issues and gender equality need to be doubly protected, especially in this transitional period. One has to remember that in some Arab states, such as UAE, women were not granted to vote until 2003.
New initiatives and enhancing programmes organised by the women of the Middle East have the important role of being increasingly responsive to the current situations: to seize the potential of new opportunities and situations presented.
The Arab Spring may have seemed like the perfect diving board for the women of the Arab world, heightening their agendas on the world front. However, this does not mean that the prejudice surrounding them has been eradicated and more over, the images presented of women has been either highly romanticised or, as regularly seen, exposed as overly oppressed.
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There is no denying the fact that Muslim women under Sharia Law are treated like dogs. They do not have equal rights with men, they don't get educated, they can be honor killed, beaten and raped by their husbands, etc.
Maybe Arab Muslims aren't forced to marry at age 12, like Afghani Muslim women are, but that doesn't change the fact that Islam is the reason so many countries are living in the dark ages.
I rest my case........
Are you aware the literacy rates for women are the lowest in the world in Islamic countries? Do you think that's empowering for women to be denied an education? And don't say it's not religious. Of course it is.
You must be one of those Muslim women practicing Islam Lite. You aren't living under Sharia Law where your man can kill you and get away with it, like this typical law:
Jordan: Article 340 “He who discovers his wife or one of his female relatives committing adultery with another, and he kills, wounds or injures one or both of them, is exempt from any penalty… he who discovers his wife, or one of his female ascendants or descendants or sisters with another in an unlawful bed and he kills, wounds or injures one or both of them, benefits from a reduction of penalty.”
In 1948, the OIC (Islamic nations) rejected the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Why? Because it was incompatible with Sharia, so they had to choose between Islam and human rights, and they chose Islam.
You also mentioned how Christianity and Judaism are prevalent in the Mid-east, so you think it’s unfair to point the finger at Islam for the problems. This is not very wise because these two groups are among the most oppressed in the region as well as women. How many Christian churches are in Saudi Arabia (one of the so-called “modern” Middle-east countries)? Answer: 0. Christians and Jews are persecuted, but it’s not reported as Islamic radicalism, it’s inaccurately reported as “a cycle of violence.” This cowardly article as well as the world’s media fail to acknowledge the truth because it’s politically incorrect (political correctness is anything that irritates the left).
Where? in London? try doing that in KSA or even Morroco, write a derogatory hip hop song about the King and we'll see what'll happen
"The issue of religion is somewhat governed by the Western media to its audience with regards to woman".
What are you trying to say that the audience can not do their own research?
When you read the story about Hamas threatening women who wanted to run in the marathon that resulted in the cancellation of the event by the UN, how do you expect people to react?
So, do these Palestinian women have a voice?
Islam is Islam and relatively similar from one nation to the next. What varies is the governmental infrastructure that establishes and guarantees civil rights. The UK and the US have their issues, but do fairly well to guarantee civil rights. With a few exceptions, most Muslim-majority nations establish civil rights for women and guarantee them at varying levels. The royal family of Saudi Arabia, Hamas, the Ayatollah... these are not entities that make these rights - nor their adherence to Islamic standards - priorities.
they practically corrupted the teachings of the prophet where you can see the influence of the wahhabism in some muslim majority countries in which they demand little girls even babies to wear hijab
A man can divorce his wife at any time and without having to state a reason while women must persuade a sharia judge (who is always a male) to grant her a divorce.