Progress of Women in Middle East - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... In fact Islamic culture never allows women community to develop as rapidly as the men community does. Even in the twenty first century, women in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain etc are facing huge challenges and oppression in their social life. In Saudi Arabia, women are not even allowed to drive their vehicles. The cases of women in other countries in Middle East are also not much different. Dominant male community is causing huge problems to the development of women community in Middle East. Many people believe that the living conditions of Middle Eastern women at present are far better than the Middle Eastern women in the past. The legal system, societal norms, development of science and technology, engineering etc are playing a vital role in the development of women any regions. The cases of Middle East are also not an exception. The call for democratization and the recent incidents in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia forced the Islamic dictators in Middle East to think seriously about democratization and giving more freedom to women. This paper analyses how legal system, societal norms, development of science and technology, engineering etc gave momentum to the progress of women in Middle East. In Kuwait, a decade and a half ago, the now late emir promised women suffrage. But that measure was defeated twice by the parliament, including by some liberals, and only passed late in 2005. It will likely take several years before any women actually get elected to the government (Women in the Middle East: Progress or Regress?). Many people have the illusion that the rulers (King or the Emir) are preventing women from getting freedom in the Middle East. In reality, even the so called liberal leaders are not much interested in giving enough freedom to the women community which is evident from the above facts. It should be noted that in most of the Middle Eastern countries, no woman yet to become a minister. In fact the legal systems in Middle East prevent women from securing top spots in the government. However, the scenario has been changed a lot in the recent past. Sincere efforts are currently made by most of the Middle Eastern governments to give enough participation for women in critical positions. The following statistics give us a clear idea about the developments in legal systems to contribute to the progress of Middle Eastern women. In Morocco, a new family law makes it easier for women to get a divorce, keep custody of their children following a divorce, and puts restrictions on polygamy. Two businesswomen in Saudi Arabia won election to the chamber of commerce. Women hold about 20 percent of the seats in Iraq's national assembly --that's a higher percentage than in the U.S. Congress (Women in the Middle East: Progress or Regress?). It should be noted that even in most important democratic countries such as India or America, women community failed to hold more than 10% of parliament seats. In India, the law enforcing at least 35% women participation in parliament is still under discussion. Under such circumstances, 205 women participation in Iraqi parliament is not a mean act. Even family laws are changing in Middle East at present. Earlier, it was easy for the dominant male community to marry as much as women and divorce them whenever they wanted to do so. The divorced women ...Download file to see next pagesRead More