Progress of Women in the Middle East - Essay Example

?Progress of Women in Middle East Just over 100 years ago, Qasim Amin, an Egyptian lawyer and judge who is considered the "father of Arab feminism," wrote, "The evidence of history confirms and demonstrates that the status of women is inseparably tied to the status of a nation." If that is true, then most of the nations in the Middle East are truly in bad shape (Women In The Middle East: Progress Or Regress?) Middle East seems to be the most underdeveloped region in the world as far as women progress is concerned. It should be noted that Islamic administrations are prevailing in most of the Middle Eastern countries and hence it is extremely difficult for the women in this region to develop beyond certain limits. 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 never got the custody of their children because of the traditional Islamic laws prevailing in Middle East. However, at present, many Middle Eastern countries started to honour the rights of women in keeping their children even after divorce. Uri Friedman (2011) mentioned that “women in Egypt organized a "Million Woman March" to demand equality, more say in constitutional reform, and more representation in the government, only to draw far fewer than a million women and clash verbally and physically with a group of men” (Friedman). It was unimaginable a couple decades before to think about such a public demonstration by women community in Middle East. Earlier, Middle Eastern women forced to limit their activities within the boundaries of their home, mainly because of the suppression they faced from male community. “Social change and societal development come about principally through technological advancements, class conflict, and political action” (Moghadam, p.2). The development of telecommunication and internet related technologies helped Middle Eastern women a lot in protesting against male suppression. It should be noted that mobile phones and social networks like Facebook, Twitter etc helped Middle Eastern women a lot in knowing more about the better conditions of women in other parts of the world. Earlier, Middle Eastern women failed to get access or exposure to the women progress in other parts of the world. They thought that the women conditions in all parts of the world are one and the same. But, the development of mobile phone technologies and internet helped them a lot to know more about the progress achieved by their women counterparts in other parts of the world. Thus they started to come out publicly against male domination in recent times. “Deeply entrenched societal norms, combined with conservative interpretations of Shari‘a (Islamic law), continue to relegate women to a subordinate status”(Kelly, p.2). Women in Middle East are facing lot of troubles because of their culture or religious beliefs. They are prohibited to do certain jobs and works. When Fatma Mohamed Haj, 21, decided she wanted to train as a radiologist, her family objected. She would have to touch men she barely knew, which is forbidden in the traditional Islamic culture of the United Arab Emirates. And she would have to work nights in a society where it is frowned upon for young women to be out after 10pm. But she argued her case and is now seeking her first job (Sharp). Even driving is prohibited to women in Saudi Arabia. Recently, a Saudi woman has shown the courage to drive her vehicle publicly. Even though the authorities arrested her, they forced to release her without punishment because of the fear of criticisms from all parts of the world. Two Saudi female activists have filed law suits against the government for refusing to issue them driver's licences and banning them from driving a car. Ms Sherif, who was arrested in May 2011 and detained for 10 days after posting on YouTube a video of herself driving, said she decided to file the lawsuit after having been denied a driver's licence. "There is no actual law that states woman can't drive" in Saudi Arabia and therefore "no justification for preventing them from issuing a licence," said Ms Sherif, one of the activists behind a My Right, My Dignity campaign aimed at ending discrimination against women in Saudi Arabia (Saudi women launch legal fight against driving ban). It should be noted that such things were unimaginable in Saudi Arabia a couple of decades before. Middle Eastern women in general and Saudi women in particular are getting more education nowadays. Earlier, the dominant community prevented them from getting proper education. Educational rights were earlier limited only to the male community in Middle East. However, the scenario has changed a lot in recent times. Majority of the Middle Eastern women are currently getting education and as a result of that they are getting increased awareness about the external world. Computers and mobile phones are household items nowadays in Middle East. Moreover, computer literacy among teenage Muslim girls is increasing day by day. Genetically or psychologically, women community is more interested in socializing than the male community. Social networks provide them ample opportunities to connect to the external world. “Women have played a vital role in all Middle East countries undergoing political transformations”(Marcus). “Nicknamed "Dr Germ" by UN weapons inspectors, Rihab Rashid Taha helped develop weapons-grade anthrax and botulinum. A microbiologist, Dr Taha was educated in England, earning a doctorate from the University of East Anglia, where she studied plant disease”(Iraq's women scientists). The above fact clearly suggests that women community in Middle East are currently actively participating in scientific works. Most of the wealthy Middle Eastern teenagers are currently getting US and UK education. In fact UK and US education is considered as status symbol and professional requirement in Middle East. So, majority of the Middle Eastern teenagers including the females are going abroad to get quality education. One country undergoing a major shift is Saudi Arabia, where the first private women’s college opened in the kingdom a decade ago, under the leadership of Queen Effat. Since that time Effat College, located in Jeddah, has become Effat University and launched a number of international partnerships, including a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering, established in conjunction with Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and funded through a grant from MEPI (Ladika, p.32). The above statistics clearly suggest that engineering profession is getting more popularity even in Saudi Arabia nowadays. Earlier, such things were not there even in the distant dreams of Saudi women. However, Saudi and other Middle Eastern countries started to realise that no country can develop properly with the help of the contributions of the male community alone. In fact women community in Middle Eastern countries are more than half of the total population size. Under such circumstances, contributions of women community in the development of Middle East cannot be avoided for longer periods. It should be noted that Middle East is a region in which rapid construction and other engineering works are going on. In fact Middle East is utilising the services of overseas engineers for developing infrastructure facilities. The rulers of Middle East realised only in recent times that women engineers can contribute heavily to the country’s economy, if they were given enough opportunities. In fact women engineers can perform better than their male counterparts in undertaking complicated works. “The number of females in electrical and mechanical engineering was quite low 25 years ago in Iraq. Now the percentage of female electrical and mechanical engineers is much higher, about 40-50 percent” (Iraqi Women Leaders in Engineering and Applied Sciences). To conclude, the conditions of Middle Eastern women are improving a lot as time goes on. Better exposure to external world with the help of modern technologies such as computers, internet, and mobile phones helped Middle Eastern women immensely in streamlining their progress in the right track. At present, many women scientists and engineers are working at different parts of Middle East. Moreover, Middle Eastern women started to protest publicly against the oppression they are facing. Even though the conditions of Middle Eastern women are improving, many people believe that it lacks momentum. In Western countries, women are enjoying similar status with men in the society. In other words the distance between men and women in the western world is comparatively less. However, in Middle East, the conditions of women are still pathetic. Middle East needs to travel a lot in quick time to keep pace with the improvements in conditions of the women in other parts of the world. Democratization is necessary in Middle East to improve the conditions of women. The over influence of religion upon politics is causing huge obstacles in front of women. Religion should stay away from politics so that women can come out from kitchens to the street and join hands with the men in the nation building process. Social evils such as women beating, divorce, asking women to cover the entire body with clothes, prohibition of driving rights to women etc should be eliminated from the social life of Middle East. Islamic communities in Middle East should realise that women are humans rather than commodities. They should also realise that women can contribute as equally as men in the nation building process. More educational opportunities should be provided to Middle Eastern women community to get awareness about their rights. Works Cited Friedman, Uri. “In a Changing Middle East, Are Women Making Progress?”. 2011. Web. 12 May 2012. “Iraq's Women Scientists”. Web. 12 May 2012. BBC News. Wednesday, 22 September, 2004 “Iraqi Women Leaders in Engineering and Applied Sciences”. 2012. Web. 12 May 2012. Kelly, Sanja. “Hard-Won Progress and a Long Road Ahead: Women’s Rights in the Middle East And North Africa”. 2010. Web. 12 May 2012. Ladika, Susan. “Women’s Work”. 2009. International Educator. September-October 2009. http://www.nafsa.org/_/File/_/sepoct09_womenswork.pdf Moghadam, Valentine M. “Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East”. 2003. Web. 12 May 2012. Marcus, Elizabeth. “Rape and the Arab Spring”. Web. 12 May 2012. Sharp, Heather. “Dubai Women Storm World Of Work”. BBC News. Thursday, 4 August 2005. “Saudi Women Launch Legal Fight Against Driving Ban”. 2012. The telegraph. 06 Feb 2012 “Women In The Middle East: Progress Or Regress?”. 2006. MERIA (Middle East Review of International Affairs). Volume 10, No. 2, Article 2 - June 2006. Read More