Violation of Women's Rights in Islamic Countries - Research Paper Example

Section/# This paper deals with the issue of women’s mobility and accessibility to basic human rights in the Muslim world. Whereas it is broadly understood that Shariah Law (SL) is an impediment to women’s mobility throughout the more conservative societies within the Muslim world, the paper will discuss some of the mechanisms through which the United States can leverage the power of NGOs to facilitate gradual changes in the way that women are treated. Principally, this author will look at why women are not able to achieve mobility rights and how American NGOs could potentially assist them in achieving these within the Muslim world. It is without question that women face a great deal of discrimination due to the misinterpretation of the law and the unjust cultural customs. Further, this paper examines the issue of rights, religion and culture in order to include women’s concerns and try to reveal an understanding of women’s rights within Islam. Abstract: Equal rights between men and women within the Muslim world are something that is not currently reflected. However, rather than admitting that this problem exists and seeking to remain mute about it, it is the understanding of this author that those nations around the globe, particularly the United States, that express a high degree of human rights and value this exhibition of freedom, must step forward as a means of leadership and continue to promote equality and democracy throughout the world. Naturally, the past several decades have noted a situation in which the United States and others have sought to impose their will upon other parts of the world via the use of force. This approach is not the most effective. Instead, soft power and the utilization of NGOs to achieve the goals of a free and democratic society throughout the remainder of the world is generally agreed upon by scholars and policy experts as the far more appropriate and effective level of engagement. Accordingly, the discussion that will be had within this analysis will focus upon the acces to basic human rights, liberties, mobility, and the judicial system that women within the Muslim world currently face; as well as recommending the mechanisms through which the United States and associated NGOs might assist in providing greater levels of freedom and equality to these stakeholders. Introduction: One of the first and perhaps most effective ways that American NGOs can encourage a degree of gender equality/parity is by encouraging women to integrate within the business world. Obviously, this is easier said than done. However, history has proven that by providing women with access to available capital and encouraging them to no longer be dependent entirely upon the money that their spouse or father is able to make, the overall level of economic freedom directly translates into a greater level of overall equality within the system. As such, groups such as the Women’s Chamber of Commerce, the National Organization for Women, and other feminist centric NGOs can make such resources available to women of the Muslim world at a relatively low cost of provision. Once this capital is made available, all that is left is to encourage these stakeholders to consider what type of businesses they might be able to start and the ways in which greater economic liberation directly lead to greater levels of societal freedom. Greater levels of economic freedom will necessarily constrain the male-centric dynamic that has existed throughout the Muslim world for such a long period of time; alongside improving upon the overall economic outlook and climate of the region and the world in general. As fully 50% of the labor force has been restricted throughout Muslim countries and not able to integrate with the economy except in terms of consumption, a massive and untapped level of potential exists that could greatly benefit the global and regional economies. Another core change that is necessary for greater equality to be exhibited within the Muslim world is with respect to the issues of mobility that many women throughout the Muslim world face. Ultimately, mobility is an integral part of life for both men and women in their effort to achieve access to medical care, food, entertainment, family, and consumer goods. As a result of the many aspects of human need that transportation can provide, many have linked this process to the exhibition of a basic human right. As a human right, mobility has its focus on people; in addition to the restrictions that rise in the process of their ability to move however and wherever they want. The reason for the strong correlation between human rights and mobility has to do with the fact that the ability to move as one desires is a fundamental component of basic freedom. An improvement in mobility entails an improvement in the transport infrastructure that many Muslim nations exhibit. Therefore, overcoming the constraints of movement that men and women face in their effort to move from one place to another is a vital step forward in maximizing gender equality within the Muslim world (Langley, 1999). These constraints range from physical constraints, economic constraints, societal constraints, and political constraints. Although each of these are salient, it is perhaps the political and societal constraints that most diminish the basic freedoms or access to individual rights that a woman might experience within a given system. Moreover, it has a strong impact upon basic levels of economic growth and the parity of the sexes due to the fact that if one gender is constrained from transport or mobility in one way or the other, the degree and extent to which they can integrate with society and work to affect a level of equality. As such, the issue of ameliorating mobility concerns within the Muslim world seeks to diminish these hindrances and empower women to exercise their human rights and contribute to their economic empowerment. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR), the rights of women are recognized and guaranteed. Together with other international and regional conventions, it recognizes the rights of women as universal, inalienable, interdependent, and indivisible. The UNDHR offers guarantee to the right of women to have personal freedom of movement. Unfortunately, the gender relations and the unequal status of women in society have resulted in discrimination for women. In this regard, women are unable to enjoy their right to move as they please. The degree to which many women within the Muslim world can move is limited to the confines of the law which does not allow them to go many places in public without a male guardian/chaperone (Baamir, 2010). As such, the United States could play a powerful role in helping to alleviate this issue of mobility. Naturally, many of these conservative Islamic governments and cultures will not be amenable to direct levels of United States interference with regard to their laws and customs. However, it is also true that a broad majority of the Islamic nations around the globe are highly dependent upon the United States in terms of trade and in terms of overall foreign aid. As such, if the United States began to make human rights and issues concerning women’s mobility within their societies a key issue in terms of the way in which foreign aid and trade between these nations takes place, it is doubtless that a slow and gradual shift can be seen with regard to the manner in which these societies evolve to match the remainder of the developed/developing world. The core issue at hand in this has to do with the fact that women are sometimes viewed as second class citizens within the Muslim world. Moreover, they do not have a right to any decision-making regarding their movements in the absence of a man to accompany them. The religious leaders authorized by the government to interpret the law based on their understanding of the Quran are the ones responsible for taking away women’s liberties and basic freedoms. This has resulted in the absence of women from the public life of these stakeholders. Shari’ah Law Shari’ah Law, also known as Islamic law (IL or SL), is responsible for influencing the code of conduct for Muslims all over the world. Currently, there is a strong movement to allow SL in countries that are not majority Muslim. This is happening in an effort to govern the personal status of law, issues of marriage, custody, and inheritance in cases that include a Muslim and a non-Muslim. There exists a great deal of controversy regarding the influence that the application of SL will have on the lives of individuals. The composition of the SL is derived from the actions and words of the prophet Muhammad, the holy book of the Quran, and the reasoning and understanding of the Muslim imams. There is no specific written law. This gives judges the power to interpret Quranic principles the way they think fits the situation most. Yet, once again, the reader can note that this is a non-secular attempt to constrain and define the society of the 21st century in terms of 6th century morality. Although there are aspects of Shariah that are certainly moral and correct, many aspects of it constrain and restrict the equality of women. For instance, Shariah denotes that stoning or other forms of punishment must be meted out respective of certain crimes against the faith or against the society/community. This is oftentimes both immoral and unjust. It is no wonder that the contents and stipulations of the SL are unique to the Muslims only. This is of course due to the fact that different stakeholders within the judicial process oftentimes interpret issues relating to the SL in a narrow or rather un-informed manner. Due the fact that no written law code exists as such, it is difficult for the process itself to “correct” such misinterpretation. As such, what ultimately exists within many societies that practice SL and implement it within the judicial system is non-uniform and ultimately regionalized and difficult to control by a central authority. Due to the fact that scriptural sources and a level of understanding on the part of the spiritual leaders is necessitated in order for SL to be practiced, it is oftentimes the case that a great differential exists within such a system. According to Muslims, SL is divine and is applicable above any other law. In countries where SL is practiced, interpretation of the law is left to the Islamic judges who usually apply them in favor of cultural customs. There is also a lot of controversy on the variation of interpretations of Qura’anic verses and most of the time if it’s not mentioned in the Qura’an clerics will assume it is forbidden. Justice in SL has a highly different definition from the western definition of justice (Lichter, 2009). Unless strictly applied, SL could cause injustice to many. Interestingly however, justice is at the centre of the Islamic law, “the paramount purpose for which the prophets were sent and struggled all their lives was to guide man to achieve justice” (Murad, 2008) As a means of correcting this and promoting a greater degree of judicial fairness, the United States and NGOs throughout the world could seek to further impose UNDHR requirements upon these societies as a means of aligning their judiciary with that of the remainder of the world. This metric can be achieved by leveraging the economic and legal approaches that the United States makes with these societies. By encouraging the development of relations that are contingent upon such changes, the United States and others can ensure that a metric for change is slowly implemented that will see SL become less of a legal and judiciary constraint and more of a cultural and religious legacy. Naturally, such changes cannot be performed overnight; instead, they will require years of continued integration in order for these societies to become more liberalized and recognize the usefulness of the approaches that will be presented to them. It is essential to understand that even though the approaches that have thus far been put forward might be understood in terms of coercion, they cannot be represented as such. If these economies and societies begin to understand that a heavy handed approach is being utilized, it will be vehemently rejected and the overall benefit that could have been achieved will be diminished greatly. As a means of correcting the shortcomings that have thus far been analyzed, it is the view of this author that the best course of action would be a rights-based approach. As such, a rights based approach (RBA) looks at economic and social rights as the basis of development policy. Further, RBA aims to re-politicize development by focusing on participation by shifting from needs-driven system to “foster citizens to recognise and claim their rights and obligation-holders to honour their responsibilities” (Eyben and Ramanathan, 2000). This of course helps to engage a level of understanding with regards to what has become known as people centered development. As such, the RBA helps to assist in limiting the exclusion and discrimination throughout the system and seeks to play a role in facing the challenges to a rights-based approach to gender-equality that currently exist.. The paper then examines the role of multilateral and bilateral entities in realizing human rights at the national level and concludes by proposing elements; which are inherent in a rights-based approach. However, a fair policy can only be achieved by taking into consideration men and women’s needs. Studies show that policy-planning is mainly considerate of men’s demands (World Bank 2011). Nonetheless, this alone will not be enough. Collective action is required, the recognition of policy-planning should consider the three pillars that shape a particular society in this case it will be cultural discourses, religious doctrines and universal codes. Finally, in answer to the question of whether or not religious law hinders women from accessing their rights, it is the profound and fundamental approach of this author that the answer to such a question is yes. Ultimately, the regional and unique interpretation of SL in the Muslim world is so conservative that it makes the other regional interpretations of SL within the Arab and/or Islamic world pale in comparison. Rather than helping to prove that SL is ultimately unfair or that it has no place in seeking to promote the equality and virtue of a people group/society, what should be understood instead is that the unreasonably strict and regional approach that SL has taken the Muslim world is ultimately reflective of the range and extent to which SL has limited the mobility of women within the Kingdom of the Muslim world. Women in the Muslim world have greatly been discriminated and denied their rights, and this has brought about controversies and debates regarding the SL and what could be done to help these women. Other countries where Islamic religion is practiced have also embraced the SL but not as strict as it is in the Muslim world. The law applies to every Muslim but puts more sanctions on Muslim women. Addressing of this predicament of women in the Muslim world is a subject that should be raised globally to help the women in this country and other places where women are exceedingly discriminated. Women in the Muslim world are oftentimes prohibited from interacting with men in any place be it a restaurant, shopping mall, schools and universities, and many other places. This gender segregation has caused these women to drag behind in all sectors of life. No matter how the laws seem inhuman the juries that are appointed by the federal government of the Muslim world make these laws look justifiable through their interpretations. Human rights should be guaranteed and their freedom assured in the Muslim world and across the globe regardless the gender (Ashby & Ashby, 1997). This is the reason as to why Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR) as well as other organizations in the world advocate for the rights of women and fight hard to have the women treated in a similar manner like men. With such organizations coming up and support from governments and cooperation of people, dream of having women treated equally as men will no longer remain a dream, but reality. References Ashby, W., & Ashby, W. A. 1997. A comprehensive history of Western ethics: what do we believe?. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. Baamir, A. Y. 2010. Sharia law in commercial and banking arbitration law and practice in The Muslim World. Burlington, VT: Ashgate. Rawls, J, 1999. A theory of Justice. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (citations refer to 1971 edition) Langley, W. 1999. Encyclopedia of human rights issues since 1945. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. Lichter, I. 2009. Muslim women reformers: inspiring voices against oppression. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. OECD. 2000. Culture, Gender Equality and Development Cooperation. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.oecd.org/social/gender-development/1896320.pdf. [Accessed 08 August 13]. Rawls, J, 2001. Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. 3rd ed. United States of America: Harvard University Press. Stephen, G, 2009. What are rights? Where do they come from?. Newsvine, [Online]. 1, 1. Available at: http://ssvedin-swancreeklandscape-1.newsvine.com/_news/2009/03/13/2533516-what-are-rights-where-do-they-come-from [Accessed 02 August 2013]. World Bank. (2011). Gender and Transport in the Middle East and North Africa Region. Available: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTTSR/Resources/462613-1152683444211/Gender_and_Transport_in_MENA_West_Bank_and_Yemen.pdf. Last accessed 1st Aug 2013. Read More