Women Roles in Near and Middle Eastern, African and European Societies - Research Paper Example

17 April Women Roles in Near and Middle Eastern, African and European (Greek and Roman) Societies INTRODUCTION The history of the progress of women starts from the same bleak stories in all the societies of the world. This paper is going to trace the roles of women in the different societies of the world and then hold out an analytical comparison between them. ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE NEAR AND MIDDLE EASTERN SOCIETY The Middle Eastern region refers to the countries of Western Asia and Northern Africa. These countries are predominantly Muslim states and Arab countries. Women of the Arab world experienced the same sort of discrimination in their history as the women in the rest of the societies. This discrimination is based more on the age old customs and traditions than on religion; Islam. The history of women here can be divided into women before the advent of Islam, after the advent of Islam and in the contemporary age. Prior to the advent of Islam, the role and status of women was dependent on the tribe and area they belonged to or e.g. the Bedouin, the tribes of the south of the Arabian Peninsula, the tribes of Mecca etc. But the overall condition was still very bad because of the prevalence of customs like infanticide and unlimited polygamy. Women had virtually no legal status and no right to either inheritance or to divorce. V. M. Moghadam studied their situation and argues that the position of women was mostly influenced by the extent of urbanization, industrialization, and the political ploys of the management (Moghadam 4-9). Women had no role in the politics and had no suffrage rights. They were good only for producing male babies; female babies were even buried alive out of shame. Women were sold into marriages by their guardians and the suitor could end the marriage whenever he liked. Hatoon al Fassi, a Saudi historian, studied much earlier historical origins of Arab women's rights by using evidence from the ancient Arabian kingdom of Nabataea. Her findings indicate that Arab women in Nabataea had independent legal personalities but they lost many of their rights through ancient Greek and Roman law prior to the arrival of Islam. Many of these constraints became the part of the culture and were retained even after the advent of Islam (al-Fassi 12-18). The advent of Islam brought a lot of betterment for the condition of the women. They were given the right of inheritance and their consent was made necessary in marriage according to the edicts of Islam. Female infanticide was strictly prohibited. Quran, the Holy Book of Islam, carried the instructions that made elevated the status of women in the society. Where women were previously not allowed to get a formal education, its acquirement was made mandatory for both men and women in Islam. Women were seen in many roles after the arrival of Islam, as educators, teachers, and scholars and even as businesswomen. Women were found working in a wide range of commercial activities and diverse occupations, for e.g. as farmers construction workers, lenders, dyers, spinners, investors, doctors and nurses, presidents of guilds, peddlers, brokers, scholars, etc. Muslim women also had domination over certain branches of the textile industry which was the largest and most specialized and market-oriented industry at the time, involving them in occupations such as dyeing, spinning and embroidery. In comparison and stark contrast, the property rights and wage labor for females were relatively uncommon in Europe until the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. Similarly, women started playing an important role in the foundations of Islamic educational institutions, such as Fatima al-Fihri's founding of the University of Al Karaouine in 859. This positive trend continued through to the 12th and 13th centuries, when one hundred and sixty mosques and madrasahs were established in Damascus out of which twenty six were funded by women through the Waqf (charitable trust or trust law) system (Lindsay 191-196). Women of the contemporary Arab world have varied roles in varied countries. Most of the nations have equal levels of education and number of institutions for both men and women. They participate in the socio-political and economic activities of their nations. But some countries like Saudi Arabia have very strict rules and regulations regarding women. The availability of sports facilities in schools and colleges is a relatively new idea their and women are not legally allowed to drive cars. Iran is also a relatively strict nation in terms of granting women many liberties. Polygamy is still very common and the going out of women is not considered good. Even then, we see that women are living a prosperous life in most of the well-off parts of Middle East. WOMEN IN THE ROMAN SOCIETYAND EUROPE Women in Roman society did not hold much power as Rome was a very much male dominated society. Powerful fields like politics and trades were the territory of men. Women who exuded power, like Queens, were resented and feared. For example, the Romans did not look favorably on Cleopatra as they thought that their Emperor Julius Caesar was under the spell of this foreign queen. Yet there were times when the women influenced the political process, for example, in the time after the assassination of Julius Caesar, the political leaders targeted fourteen hundred rich women to raise taxes for their war. Hortensia, who was the daughter of a lawyer, spoke out against the tax which forced them to tax only four hundred of the women (Burns 124-140). Probably the most influential woman of all time in the Roman Empire was Livia. She was politically very active having strong opinions about the political goings on and after she married Emperor Augustus, she was in a position to influence the way the empire was run. Some of the letters that the couple wrote to each show the important role Livia played in shaping much of the Roman Empire as we know. The lives of woman varied greatly according to their position in society. The women who came from the wealthy level of the society had man slaves who did most of their chores. A slave would help wash the female master's face and give her a rubdown with scented oils, spending hours setting her hair into curls. Many of the wealthy women would spend a greater part of their days socializing and planning their next entertainment with other women of the same status (Milnor 276-278). Not many women were fortunate enough to lead such a life of leisure. Women were mostly in charge of raising children and keeping house and that was seen as their primary duty. Men also had to work a lot to earn a livelihood but they had the facilities to relax like baths and public entertainment events. Women washed the clothes by hand on a weekly basis with a soap known as lye. It was considered derogatory for men to help around in the house. Women were expected to keep house and fire and oil for lamps were the women's responsibility as well as keeping and managing stock of fuel for the fire in the cold months. On top of these responsibilities, women were also responsible for spinning yarn and providing clothing for the family made by hand. Women were put in charge of making cheese, pickling and washing of wool as labor they could work in outside of their homes. Women worked with their craftsmen husbands in the cities helping them run the store. Using women as entertainers was a common norm; such women were not considered good in the society though. The woman of the contemporary Europe is very advanced in contrast. They form part of the most advanced regions of the world where women have equal opportunity and rights as that of men. She can file for divorce and has inheritance and suffrage rights. They form a significant bulk of the governments too in most of the European countries. Women have figured in many scientific and artistic achievements. WOMEN IN THE GREEK SOCIETYAND AFRICA The society of ancient Greece nurtured and cultivated a demeaning role of women. Most of the problems they endured were similar to the problems of the societies discussed earlier, like no recognition within marriage, inheritance and social life. The women were denied any freedom to choose whom to marry. Similar to the mid-eastern early customs, women were given in marriage by their male family members. Additionally, the issue of property aroused much conflict during marriages, supporting inequality between male and female. The distribution and right to inheritance was quite unjust and complicated just like the other societies. All efforts were made to make sure that the women were kept away from attaining positions of power and influence. This view was dominant as the Greeks considered women as the harbinger of evil and bad luck. The social life of women in ancient Greece was submissive a one. Women were restricted from participating in outside events as that would involve them in coming out of their homes which were considered the safest place the weak and vulnerable gender could be. The fact here can’t be ignored that women were often raped by their own husbands (Greece). Similar to the Romans, the Greek considered the primary duties of women to bear children and look after the house. Just like the Mid-Eastern customs, giving birth to a girl was seen as an embarrassment and disgrace. Fathers would not even consider daughters as their children and count them out while mentioning the number of his children. The custom of early marriages was disturbingly in vogue, with girls as young as twelve made to marry a man of thirty or forty. Such a mistreatment and transgression on the law of nature led to the deaths of many young girls during child birth (Graham). The current condition of the women in north and the rest of the Africa are not much praiseworthy even now. Women are mostly housewives with little access to education. Their political participation is negligible but they do play a part in the economy as they form a major part of the labor involved in livestock husbandry and agricultural department. CONCLUSION The early periods of all the above mentioned societies had the same dilemmas for women with little difference. The areas belonged to many different religions so we can safely assume that religion did not have much to do with their conditions. In the current scenario of the world though, it can be easily seen that the European women has fared the best as she enjoys the most freedom and equality. References al-Fassi, Hatoon. Women in Pre-Islamic Arabia: Nabataea. British Archaeological Reports International Series. 2007. 12-18. Print. Burns, Jasper. Sabina. Great Women of Imperial Rome: Mothers and Wives of the Caesars. Routledge, 2007. 124–140. Print. Graham, Casey. . 18 April 2012. Greece, Women in ancient. 16 March 2012. 18 April 2012. Lindsay, James E. Daily Life in the Medieval Islamic World. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005: 197. Print. Milnor, Kristina. Women in Roman Historiography. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Historians. 2009: 278. Print. Moghadam, Valentine M. Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East. USA: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1993: 4-9. Print. Read More