Gender Role Movement of Shiite Women - Research Paper Example

Kurk Craig PHL 201 Major World Religion 29 November Gender Role Movement of Shi’ite Women Specifying the gender roleswithin a society or a religion is important. In this way, responsibilities within the family and the whole society will be established. However, the allocation of roles may not be equal between women and men. In the patriarchal society of Shi’a Islam, women are less favored in terms of rights compared to men. Shi’a Islam started when the prophet, Muhammad, died and a conflict of who will replace the Islamic leader. There were two new major Islamic societies that emerged after Muhammad died, the Shi’a and Sunni. These societies are also Islamic in nature. It is difficult to identify a Shi’ite from a Sunni because they are almost the same in practice. More of their differences lie on the interpretation of some passages in the Quran that’s why there are some slight differences in their Islamic traditions (“The Legitimacy…”). Quran is the holy book of Islam religion. The Islamic societies strictly follow what is written in the book. Their way of living, principles in life, worship to God and allocation of roles are guided by the book (“The Legitimacy…”).Some passages in the book are not literal in nature that’s why there is difficulty in interpretation. This difficulty in interpretation resulted in differences of interpretation between Sunni and Shi’a. One of the differences is the interpretation of the role of women in the society. The role of women in society mostly circles in the marriage. There is a tradition called Mut’a wherein a woman is married to a man for pleasure in a certain agreed time. Also the man pays the woman according to the agreed payment (“The Legitimacy…”). This tradition was from one of the passages of Quran. Perceiving this tradition from a 21st century perspective, Islamic women are treated like prostitutes except that there was an actual marriage that happened between the woman and man. Analyzing the tradition of Mut’a, women can be married several times because the marriage is only under a contract. A marriage under contract may or may not be because of love. The main reason of this marriage is said to be for pleasure of the men. Another tradition in Shi’a Islam is the business of marrying a family member’s wife and taking over of the financial responsibilities. Women may be passed down within the family as long as they are not related in blood. Most of the time, the dowry plays a big role in marriage (“The Legitimacy…”). This kind of tradition shows that women are treated like possessions and not as free people. It is also observable in Islam tradition the marrying of women in an early age. Women are being married right after reaching their puberty. This may range as early as below 10 years old as long as the girl started having puberty. It is being done to maximize the child-bearing capabilities of women for the men. Looking closer to this situation, women in Islamic societies are also treated like goods being taken care of for marriage. Women’s role, as can be viewed from their tradition, primarily concerns the pleasure of their husbands and child-bearing. However, women might not receive the exclusivity of their husbands because men in Islamic societies are polygamous. Also the sons and daughters in the family are primarily owned by the father (Offenhauer 57). The culture of Islam also indicates the role of women in their society. Women are expected to wear long veils. This is a sign of protecting the purity of women. The men are expected to protect their wives and they are given the rights to limit the actions of their wives especially in public. One example of these is the establishment of partition between men and women (Offenhauer57). This practice shows the domination of men over women. The men being the protector of women imply that women are weaker. This limits the opportunity of women in the society. Another consequence form the early marriage of women in Islam society is the lessen opportunity for them in doing things in their life. After marriage, women are already expected to help their husbands and bear child. This lessens their social status and other opportunities. In economy, Islam women work less in public area. Women contribute only a little portion on the work force of Islamic society. The low level allowed participation of Islam women in the labor force leads to slower improvement of abilities to perform in public affairs (Offenhauer 73). Women in Shi’a Islam a lot of restricted opportunities and oppression in their society. Compared to other religion, Shi’ite women were more deprived of their rights. Compared to Shi’ite men, women are just subordinates either in the family or in the workplace. Shi’ite women are not allowed to vote or attain leadership. Their roles completely focus on being a housewife. However, in the later years, the role of Shi’ite women are being modernized and being improved through time. In some Islamic areas, women are allowed to vote. In 1979, an Islamic revolution occurred in Iran in which the religious leaders took authority and considered some modern forms of leadership such as some characteristics of democracy. At first, Shi’ite women were forbidden to vote and participate in leadership including in religion. In 1963, women were first granted to vote but then forbidden starting 1979. With this, Shi’ite women started fighting for their rights (Tajali 450). The traditions of Shi’a Islam are based from the Islamic texts or the holy book of Quran. The Shi’ite women argued that there must be a re-evaluation of the passages in the Quran. They believed that there are misunderstandings that oppressed the role of women in their society (Tajali 451). The meaning of the passages inside the book however may vary from person to person depending on the interpretation. This is one problem in basing the principles in a book with non-literal meanings. Since the oppression of women’s right was believed to have started from the traditions that are based from the Quran, there are two kinds of “rereading” of the said book emerged after the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979: contextual and feminist rereading. Contextual rereading of Quran implies that women can participate in public affairs such as voting, acquiring positions both in government and religion due to the evolving quality of women through time. However in feminist rereading, it is believed that there is a mistake in the understanding of the passages in the Quran. It is believed in this rereading that the ministers are responsible for the wrong understanding of the texts that is why the women suffered for a long time in oppression. Women started pressuring the government and the clerics about their proper status in the society. However, there was no violence involved in the activism (Taajali 461-463). This activism of women after revolution shows the maturing Shi’ite women. They were becoming more liberated compared to the women strictly saying yes to the traditions that limit their opportunities in the society. Today, women are still struggling for their right in the public area of their Islamic society. The establishing of more school for religious studies in Islamic areas opened opportunities to women for achieving education especially in acquiring position in teaching religion (Tajali 454). This is one step in being more participative in public affairs of society. Still, the primary role of women in Shi’ite women lies in the family. According to Mir-Hosseini as stated by Tajali, women and men have matching important roles that retain the balance in the society. Women are expected to take care of the family in terms of child-bearing and child-rearing. Men on the other hand are expected to protect the family by deciding for the family’s betterment and financial affairs. Even though men and women have different roles, their roles are still balanced (Tajali 452). This is the main argument against the reformist Shi’ite women. This has long been the reason why Shi’ite women are forbidden from public affairs. It is believed that they should not be distracted from their first role which is motherhood. Through time and revolution, Shi’ite women discovered that they can do more than being a mother. The revolution showed them what their other capabilities are. The revolution opened their eyes to liberation. As can be observed from the beginning of Islam, men have long been the religious leader and interpreters of the Quran. Although they say that the roles of women and men are complementary, there is still the possibility that women and men can interchange or copy the other gender’s roles. Also, from the history of Islam, men are more subjected to education compared to women that’s why the progress of women became slower compared to men. Weighing the role of Shi’ite women, it can be concluded that their roles are less favored compared to men. Their roles should not only be practiced inside the family but also in the public affairs. The role of women in Shi’a Islam is shifting through time under different circumstances such as revolution and world modernization. Their primary role as mother in the family should be extended to public affairs without lessening the focus on their primary role. Works Cited Offenhauer, Priscilla. “Women in Islamic Societies: A Selected Review of Social Scientific Literature”. The Library Congress. Federal Research Division. (Pdf) Nov. 2005 Web. 16 Nov. 2013. Tajali, Mona. “Notions of Female Authority in Modern Shi’i Thought”. Religions 2. (2011): 449-468. (Pdf)Web. 16 Nov. 2013. “The Legitimacy of Mut’a”. Al-Islam.org. Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library. n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2013. Read More