Black and Asian Womens Liberation - Essay Example

Black and Asian Women’s Liberation Introduction When Abraham was not yet having the covenant of circumcision with God, his was Abram and his wife Sarai which became Sarah later. In Genesis 16: 1 – 5, it stated that he had a wife named Sarai who could not bore him a child. Sarai had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar. Sarai wanted to have a child through her so she decided to have her slept with her husband. Hagar got pregnant and when she knew this, she despised Sarai. Then Sarai mistreated Hagar and she fled away from her. The angel of the Lord found Sarai in the dessert and asked her to go submit to her mistress for the Lord had a plan of giving her numerous descendants. Then Hagar bore Abraham a son named Ishmael a name which means God hears. In Genesis 21: 1 – 20, God did what he had promised to Sarah and so she bore a child to Abraham and they have to name him Isaac which means “he laughs”. On the day of the great feast when Isaac was weaned, Sarah saw the son of Hagar mocking so she told her husband to get rid of the slave woman and her son for he will never share with the inheritance of Isaac. This distressed Abraham so much but the Lord told him to listen to his wife. So he sent Hagar and her son away to the dessert with some food and a skin of water. In the dessert, Hagar was looking for water for her son but could find none. The Lord heard the boy crying so Hagar found a well of water and gave her son to drink. The Lord promised to make her son a great nation and so the boy was with God and grew up. Hagar got a wife for him from Egypt. The above two chapters from the book of Genesis were claimed to be paradigmatic for Black and Asian’s women’s liberation. It is in this purpose that this paper tries to discuss an exegesis of the story of Hagar from an Asian or Black woman’s perspective. Concept of Right and Freedom According to Crawford (1975), choosing how a woman has to live her life is a right. From a dictionary definition, a right is considered a just claim or title in a way legal, prescriptive or moral. But what seems to be clearer when someone says he or she has a right, is an entitlement or freedom. The one who said he or she has a right has just clearly stated a justified claim or entitlement or the freedom to do something. The word freedom has been so familiar to almost everyone after for so many times it is being used to describe how a certain nation was being free from a powerful nation’s subjugation, after a servant was allowed to stop working for his or her master and so on. However, the word freedom is also a concept that can be applied to many situations. From a dictionary definition, the word freedom is synonymous to liberation which is the other way around of the word oppression. In history, being in controlled over by somebody such as in a form of slavery is considered oppression which is clearly stated from the book of Genesis from chapter 37 verse 28 when Joseph’s brothers sold him to Midianite merchants for a small monetary value. That moment alone oppression to Joseph had started for some important reasons, somebody has taken away his freedom, somebody had to take control over him and the most hurting part is that he would never exactly get something good such as monetary for his rendered service. This is clearly defined as a form of oppression and further elaborated in the book of Exodus starting from chapter one when Israelites were oppressed, killed and allowed not to bore a child especially if it is a boy. This exactly shows how oppression had taken place to suppress someone from his or her freedom. Another thing, from the situation when child especially a boy was killed at the time of Mosses from the book of Exodus only showed how greatly a man was been given by the society a significant power over women. Pharaoh’s reason of killing children especially boys was to exactly cut off Israelites from dominating in Egypt. In particular, Pharaoh literally wanted to cut off the strength of Israelites and that was their men, for what seemed to be dominant and had a strong power in the society were men. From this, the status of power and the given right between a man and a woman has a clear definition. Women were certainly viewed a second rate over men and less likely to be viewed powerful. Black and Asian Women’s Liberation There were actually three main important issues on the story of Hagar which strongly are linked to Asian or Black women’s liberation. The freedom to bore a child and become a mother is one. The freedom from slavery by sending Hagar to the dessert is the other. Finally, the right to lead and become powerful was clear when Hagar grew her son by herself and chose a wife for him from Egypt. These are the three important things expounded in this paper which also have strong link and justification to Asian or Black women’s liberation. In 1988, Oduyoye (1988) explained how major Asian religions boast about the women’s role of birthing, divorced from natalism and the idolisation of mothers which in reality rarely put into practice as far as women were concerned. This clearly stated that even if religion was so dominant and has a voice towards its people, still it suggested that women were still not given the exact right as men in the society. The role of Hagar is a perfect replica of what actually is happening at present time. According to The Asian Women (2009) article, because of the onset of globalization, it has actually pull the trigger among Asian women from being conservative to increasingly becoming liberated by asserting their rights whenever needed or necessary. Some Christian countries in Asia were strongly against abortion and thus giving women the opportunity to conceive. However, the existence of contraceptives just only proved that women actually have a choice not to conceive and has the right to take such option. This happens not only in Christian Asian Countries but as well as those other Asian countries. In Japan, a woman has the right to choose when is the right time for her to conceive even if the Government is encouraging its people to have a child, for the reason that the younger generation’s population is decreasing in number. The attempt of Hagar of her resistance to bore a child to Abraham when she despised Sarah was a clear picture of a modern Asian woman who has significantly the right and opportunity to choose when is the right time for her to conceive. On the other hand, history can exactly tell how it was so tormenting for Black women being under control and with such a limited option when it comes to giving birth. According to Williams and Newman (1970), there were interests and highly economical when it comes to Black women having as many offspring as possible. This is synonymous to their Black men who were in chain and forced to do things they would hesitantly do. Williams and Newman explained that a Black woman from the history was allowed to nurse and fondle infant only at the discretion of the slave master. This is definitely the same event that happened to Hagar as clearly stated in the book of Genesis. Sending Hagar off to the dessert with his son is one way or another form of liberation for her. In the same way, doing the same thing to Black women was just like a form of liberation considering that freedom would be now on her and she has control over it as to be justified further by fully exercising her right. The Liberation of Hagar was a clear picture of a single parenthood that proved to have given her the opportunity to live on her own and become a leader to her son. Considering that the Lord promised to make her son a great nation also, there was really a clear implication that Hagar just prior to his son’s reign was able to give so much influence on him. Thus in particular, Hagar was actually part of the making of that great nation God promised to his son as stated in the book of Genesis. In Asia, women are increasingly gaining equal importance with their counterpart. According to The Asian Women, women in Asia even started to occupy top most position of the corporate world, an abomination in China and South Korea before. However, women’s role in both corporate and political sphere today is alarming the fundamentalist Asian men. Even the Black women today occupy the higher rank as men and even received equal level of prestige as men. In some part of Asia, it is no longer a surprise even in patriarchal societies that women have the privilege to become a great leader. In the Philippines for instance, the end of dictatorship government was actually done through the power of a woman leader who strongly stood on her ability to create unity among her people. Such trend continues to exist even now considering that the present head of their nation at the executive body is a woman. References Crawford, C. (1975) ‘Speaking out: Status of Black Women’. Ebony. Vol 30. (5) p.26. Exodus, All Chapters. The Holy Bible. NIV. Genesis 16: 1 – 5. The Holy Bible. NIV. Genesis 21: 1 – 20. The Holy Bible. NIV. Oduyoye, M. A. (1988) ‘With Passion and Compassion. Third World Women Doing Theology’. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. The Asian Women (2009). ‘Liberated Asian Women – Increasing in Numbers’. [Online] Available at: http://theasianwomen.com/liberated-asian-women-increasing-in-numbers.html (Accessed: 17 April 2010). Williams and Newman (1970) ‘Black Women’s Liberation’. [Online] Available at: http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/wlm/blacklib/ (Accessed: 17 April 2010). Read More