Women in a patriarchal society - Essay Example

We all are living in the patriarchal society. This is the world created by men and for men. Women are often left little space for freedom and independence here. The situation is not new. The history of patriarchal society takes its origin in the ancient world. Women of the Ancient Greece and Rome had little rights. They could not make arrangements of their lives and possessions. They were to marry men chosen by their families and were considered belonging first to their fathers and then to their husbands.

They could not determine the destiny of their children, all the decision being made by males. In the epoch of Christianity the situation did not change much. Females have been viewed as an inferior sex, prone to sins and temptations. Women have been deprived of numerous rights, like those for education or voting. They have been considered good only for cooking, washing and raising children. Devoting their lives to their husbands, women have not been protected by the law in cases of divorces and abandonment.

Having no education and profession, women have often been left below the line of poverty, being made to survive from hand to mouth. Feminist movement has partially changed the situation. However, gender discrimination continues being a reality even in the Western world. Women have fewer opportunities for promotion. They get smaller wages in comparison to males in the equal positions. Women, sacrificing their careers in the name of their families, often have no chance to restore their positions, notwithstanding better education and qualification.

Many males express their contempt to females. Having more physical power and getting higher wages, husbands often humiliate their wives. Meanwhile, the official church is still against divorces. Women are usually counseled to be patient and continue caring of the men, who beat and taunt them. The Muslim world is even more conservative and cruel. Misinterpretations of the Quran also result in men feeling superior. Muslim women are often deprived even the rights and freedoms viewed as essential in the Christian world.

Women can easily be killed by their fathers or husbands in case they are considered to bring ill-reputation on their family. Though is it forbidden by law nowadays, such cases are not rare. The Girls of Riyadh is a book revealing some truth of life of females in the modern Muslim world. Written by a woman and about women, the novel narrates of lives of five girls, studying in the capital of the Saudi Arabia. Almost each of the stories serves as an example of the distorted life and relationships, which is caused by the conservative morale of the patriarchal society.

For instance, Qamrah marries a man chosen by her parents, the one she has never dated and spoken with before her marriage. Though the couple moves to Chicago, Qamrah continues observing the norms of the Muslim society. Her husband doesn’t show any interest to Qamrah, who feels a kind of love to her husband (she has not seen many men in her life, so she strives for love with her legal husband). Eventually, the couple starts quarrelling, and Rashid declares that he hates his wife and doesn’t find her attractive.

Trying to arouse at least some desire in himself, Rashid forces Qamrah to give up wearing hijab, hiding her body from feet to the top of her head, and revealing only hands and face. However, as he sees Qamrah without hijab he finds her ugly. Soon Qamrah learns of Rashid’s affair with an American-Japanese woman, and losing her mind she insists on meeting her husband’s lover. However, the result is wretched. Carry humiliates her ever more, by calling Rashid in Qamrah’s presence. Qamrah stops taking her contraceptive pills and gets pregnant.

This makes Rashid awfully angry and he sends her away, back to Riyadh, with a divorce paper following. Neither Rashid, nor his family cares about the child born. Qamrah has to live in isolation, hidden in her father’s house. She is prevented from going out, while being a divorced woman she is to feel ashamed and stay in isolation till the end of her days. Being divorced she is unable to have any normal relationships, while she is believed to bring misfortune and ill-reputation to a man who dares to marry her after she has been abandoned by her fist husband.