Intercultural Communication - Essay Example

The face of poverty and oppression is a woman and a child. Women around the world are more alike than we think. They are united by gender and oppression. It is of common knowledge that although some countries are more liberated than the others, still, a form of discrimination between genders unites every woman. Take for instance, in a traditional Muslim country, even if their political, civil and economic rights are not as good as other Western countries, there is unity between women, regardless of nationality.

In “Under the Veils of Casablanca”, Laura Fraser took us to the other side of a Muslim woman’s life. Although in public it seems that Western women are separated by tradition, in their private lives, every woman is just a woman like any other. They are by means of their needs, interests and being, simply a woman. A woman has always been regarded as the weaker sex, to be controlled and guided by a man. Many western countries have tried to break the biases, but even the most liberated countries such as the United States, is left with prejudice.

Discrimination is created not by religion, but by the culture and belief, as instigated in every man from the day they were born. It is the lack of education that creates a certain form of prejudice that is quite hard to break. On 1995 the United Nations hosted the Fourth World Conference for Women in Beijing. A platform was created, focusing mainly on implementations which require a change in attitude, values and practices around the world that perpetuate practices that promoted inequality and discrimination against women.

Women’s rights are more protected than that of a man’s rights because of the inequality that is prevalent in the world and the lack of respect that is given to women. You will not hear a story of a man being abused or rape; unless he was discriminated upon such as if he was gay. But as numerous U.N. Women’s Conferences have tried to discuss, the usual oppression revolves around “women’s human rights, women and poverty, women and decision-making, the girl-child, and violence against women” (1997).

Women has been for centuries, part of the under privileged and under represented, it is only during the 20th century that the world begun to give the respect and the rights that is due to each women. But the fight for equality has never ended. Although media may have given more focus on the Muslim woman’s fight for equality, several countries, regardless of religion, are in constant fight for equality. It is not religion that only creates inequality, but the culture that is instilled in each family.

In the article Women in Islam: veiled oppression or stigmatised misconception, it is well to note how the misinterpretation of Muslim teachings have lead into women’s oppression in Muslim countries like Pakistan, Iran, Egypt and many others (2005). In each Muslim country, women’s rights are quite different from each other and mostly depending on the political structure of each country. As mentioned in Women in Islam, the differences between tribes within countries such as Pakistan give way to more oppression.

Also, the number of interpretation of the Quran given by Muslim leaders lead to either a more liberal or extremely traditional way of treating a woman. The problem is not a specific religion, but the lack of education and awareness by every woman of the rights that they should be entitled to. Even Christian countries have their own prejudice for women, an example is how most Roman Catholic dominated countries condemn laws in favor of contraception. Discrimination is not limited to religion or culture, it is through self-serving leaders that lack vision and progress that prejudice is kept.

It is the fear of change that leaves man in the dark, and the lack of awareness to the most fundamental human rights that women are left in continued oppression. References Fraser, Lauren (2000). Under the viels of Casablanca. Retrieved 3 April 2011 from Salon.com: http://www.salon.com/travel/wlust/2000/04/21/casablanca Bailey, Rik (2005). Women in Islam: veiled oppression or stigmatised misconception?. Retrieved 3 April 2011, from BBC Online-h2-g2: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A6359123 The UN Women’s Conference (1997).

Fourth World Women's Conference. Retrieved 3 April 2011 from www.un.org: http://www.un.org/geninfo/bp/women.html