Women's Rights in the Muslim World - Essay Example

? Muslim Women Affiliation) On the greatest of forums of religion and theology, Islam has often been criticised for delivering unequal rights to the genders; women being given less than that to men, and it is also frequent that various scholars have advocated for and against the issue. It is a matter of worthy attention that throughout the last fourteen centuries of Islamic law in this world, the issue of women rights and inequality with regards to society, politics and cultures as compared to the opposite gender has been a constant target of numerous media dialogues. The cause of this constant criticism is not difficult to notice; the issue remains intact even in the presence of defiant or defensive responses from Muslim clerics regarding women rights in Islam. It is rather difficult to find instances where Islamists do not exhibit a patriarchal tenor. While most countries with Muslim majorities are members of international agreements for women’s rights like the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and other relevant agreements (Heyzer, 2007), there exists a substantial disparity between the rights proposed by these universal agreements and the Islamic rule of law. Pro-Islamic propagators either defy the clear differences in the unequal offerings of rights to the genders or they glorify the idealistic society governed by Prophet Muhammad in the past and blame the lack of leadership and governance as the cause of the current time’s inequality. However, the orders of unequal treatment of men and women in the sacred texts can neither be defended nor defied. Through the simple conception that the Man is the ‘provider’, Islam portrays women as the inferior gender, having the primary role of subordination. It, thus, becomes a case of transparency whereby Islam fails to offer equal rights to men and women. Then, of course, most scholars ponder if Islam really is a religion of equality and peace, why is it that Islam treats women as second-class citizens and places them under men’s domination (Mir-Hosseini, 2006). Women constitute a group whose rights are systematically violated around the world (Arat, 2000). A holistic look at an average Muslim woman’s life can help determine the allocation of inferior rights in Islam. In most Muslim countries, especially in the rural regions of developing countries, if girls are born, they are considered as a burden on the family for reasons associated with fear of loss of dignity and honour and as a symbol of inferiority as they are viewed as a cumbersome duty levied on the parents. The omnipresence of these notions varies only slightly across different cultures, but what is important to note here is that these notions are almost ubiquitous. Moreover, upon reaching adolescence, women are obliged by Islamic law to wear hijab (veil) which serves the purpose of covering all of their body from head to toe except the face and hands. In a modern, globalised society like todays, this obligation works more on the subconscious than on the conscious side of the mind. It reinforces the flawed image of patriarchy, in the minds of women, as a self-sustaining way of nature and further suppresses women in society. This carries on to wider scales of inequality where women are subject to ‘the glass ceiling effect’. It is an illusionary structure whereby women are made to believe they can acquire key positions, instead women are made to go through the male-dominated ways of the world only to fail at the end. That is precisely why there is a large difference in the number of men and women in international arenas concerning politics, administration and business. An issue that combines traditional Islamic ideology with the modern new-age thinking is the fact that, emerging neo-modern schools of thought promoting women’s rights are artlessly classified as ‘secular Muslim feminism’. This has taken a confrontational stance towards Islam and any ideas of moderation or alterations for the provision of women rights are likely to be perceived as a direct attack on the Islamic laws, a sheer act of blasphemy (Barlow et al. 2006). Furthermore, the role of wife is one of the most controversial ones. Islamic preaching for wife is, basically, encircled around ‘serving’ the husband, yet again the patriarchy emphasised in Islam. Wives are expected to stay at home and manage the house, and stepping out of the house often is not declared appropriate. A widow, in Islam, is obligated to spend four months under complete hijab so that she does not come across any potential contact with a marriageable-kin. All these bounds imposed by Islamic shari’a are more than enough for a woman to struggle in any an Islamic society and inevitably feel deprived off her rights. In Islamic societies today, this is exactly what can be seen; a culture prevails where only a few women are part of the active, service, white-collar sector of the economy. There is high likelihood that women will dwell in their homes while the men possess complete liberty to, practically, do anything they want. The explanation of this can be summed up in the favourable laws of how societies exist under male-dominated nature and the following holy-text clearly state the gender bias that persists in Islam. The Quran in Sura 2:228 says: . . . Wives have the same rights as the husbands have on them in accordance with the generally known principles. Of course, men are a degree above them in status . . . (Sayyid Abul A’La Maududi, the Meaning of the Qur’an, vol. 1, p. 165) In the past decade, women have also weakened by these ‘fundamentalists’ who opportunistically use religion to disguise political agendas and, hence, women are further weakened and disempowered (Kandiyoti, 2007). Being surrounded by these obligations and living in a perpetually patriarchal way of life, women can never break the shackles and live with right of speech and expression. Indeed, unless men and women are not given equal rights, Islam cannot be a balanced religion, and women will continue to feel oppressed under the biased obligations imposed on them. Bibliography 1. Heyzer, N. (January 01, 2007). Promoting Gender Equality in Muslim Contexts - Women's Voices Must Not Be Silenced. Un Chronicle, 44, 4, 52. 2. Arat, Z. (January 01, 2000). Women's rights in Islam: Revisiting Quranic rights. Human Rights : New Perspectives, New Realities, 69-93. 3. Barlow, R., & Akbarzadeh, S. (January 01, 2006). Women's rights in the muslim world: reform or reconstruction?. Third World Quarterly, 27, 8, 1481-1494. 4. Kandiyoti, D. (January 01, 2007). Between the hammer and the anvil: post-conflict reconstruction, Islam and women's rights. Third World Quarterly, 28, 3, 503-517. 5. Mir-Hosseini, Z. (July 01, 2006). Muslim Women's Quest for Equality: Between Islamic Law and Feminism. Critical Inquiry, 32, 4, 629-645. 6. Arnaldson, J. M.. Women are inferior to men in the Quran. Retrieved from: http://answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/women_inferior.htm Read More