Religion and Womens Rights - Essay Example

Religion and Women’s Rights No other topic is the cause of so much stigma as women’s rights when studies under the broad head of world religions. Among all of the world’s leading organized religions, women are the keepers of morality. Hinduism requires women to live unaffected by lust after their husband’s death. Islam calls upon women to carefully guard their modesty and chastity to uphold the family’s honor. Men on the other hand, are free to socialize and settle the matters of a woman’s life outside the house. The United Nations Human Rights Charter expresses that all humans, regardless of gender, age, race and nation, have dignity and worth as a person. The equal liberties and rights for both men as well as women are important for the balanced running of the society and they tend to provide for the progress of the society ("The Universal Declaration of Human Rights”) Global well-being and progress can be indicated by the level of women’s rights in a society. This is why it is important to promote equality all over the world and in all cultures. However, according to the objections raised to the United Nation’s Women’s Treaty, many countries are unwilling to deal with these issues domestically. It is evident from their reservations that women’s rights are taboo talk even in countries where religion does not rule. This issue is mostly dominated by society and culture with a lot of guidance from religious practices. This is why despite the successes in women empowerment; many issues still exist in political, social and economic arenas. This issue must be tackled internationally because these problems exist for all women of the world and must be solved irrespective of their religion, culture or nationality. For example, women get paid less than men despite working more; women are more affected by poverty and are denied the right to be educated from a young age. (Deen) It has been 30 years since “the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women” (CEDAW) was implemented and agreed upon by all countries in the United Nations General Assembly. It can be considered to be an international step and legislation for the equal civil liberties and rights for women. However, despite the articles set forth by the convention, many girls and women still do not have equal prospects to men. In many of these countries, women cannot inherit property and subject to honor killings and genital mutilations. Women are denied the right to get health care just because of their gender. It is quite evident from the everyday news, even from developed countries, that no conventions, plans, goals and conferences are doing much for the rights of women anywhere in the world. ("The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”) Gender equality is important because it means healthier, happier and stronger women. This leads to better rate of child survival and development of the society. However, there will not be any sustainable progress unless we fix the failures in our cultural and religious systems so that women and girls can get equal access to health, learning and employment. Human Rights Watch also describes that some countries claim to do a lot for the women but these claims are never backed up by a change in policies thus undermining the rights of women even more (Shah). Gender equality is connected to sustainable development. Without it, human rights cannot be recognized. It is important that gender equality be prevalent all over the world in spite of culture, traditions and religion because it enables people to make better decision that have a positive impact on their own health as well as the wellbeing of their family and the society on the whole. The aim of promoting gender equality in the world is to create a society where men and women have the same rights, opportunities and obligation in all walks of life. Both men and women should be able to enjoy equal power and influence, have the same financial independence and enjoy equal access to education and opportunity. Both sexes should be allowed to follow their ambitions and interests. In addition, when it comes to home, it should be the responsibility of both men and women to look after the home and children. Neither of the sexes should be subject to intimidation or oppression both at work and at home. It is mind boggling to see that women are not even allowed to make decisions regarding their own body and health in the name of culture and society. The elders and men in all patriarchal societies decide all issues such as marriage age, use of contraception, timing and method of birth. When women get to make decisions regarding their own sexual and reproductive health and are not subject to harmful practices like genital mutilation, it improves the quality of life for the whole family, culture and society. It is vital to recognize the avenues where gender inequality exists. Almost all over the world, women are not included while making decisions regarding financial and social resources. However, in societies where genders are treated equally, women are empowered financially as well. Therefore, promoting gender equality also gives women more autonomy to deal with their own lives. It is also important to understand that gender equality does not mean that men and women become same. It only means that both sexes are provided with the same opportunities and life choices, which are not determined by their sex (UNFPA). Despite the fact that human rights including women rights should be the same all over the world, there are those who think that people should not be condemned if they act in accordance with their moral and cultural beliefs. This position is called relativism. Many sociologists and anthropologists believe that interfering or trying to influence other’s culture is also a type of cultural imperialism. Everyone’s cultures and belief systems should be equally respected and we should not try to interfere with them. Their basic argument is that the diverse cultures of the world have equally diverse sets of moral standards. So just because something is considered bad or taboo in our culture does not automatically mean it is wrong for them too. Marrying young girls to older men or female circumcision are considered horrible practices and are condemned all over the world but their proponents vehemently defend these practices. If these ideas are true then the concept of human rights loses all meaning as human rights affect people all over the world regardless of where they live, their political beliefs, and culture, traditions of that country. (Griffin) Religions seldom interfere when the cruelty is being carried out even though religions are very vocal about defending women from oppression and brutality. It considered a very questionable intrusion if religions of the world are called upon to show some flexibility to women. As Jimmy Carter said in his famous speech to the Parliament of World Religions, that men are the keepers of faith, it is up to them to interpret the scriptures to either exalt women or subjugate them even further. Ultimately, their choices lead to ill-treatment and discrimination of women. Christianity started out as declaring women inferior to men. Men could nullify a woman’s vows and keep many female slaves for their sexual pleasures. Women could not testify in courts and had to be doubly veiled. However, these traditions were brought forward from Judaism. When we study the life of Jesus, we clearly see that his teachings were based on gender equality. He taught women and talked to them freely. Among all his followers mentioned in the Gospels, almost half are women. (Robinson) Even though Christianity appears to be more relaxed about outside influence and change, it really is not. The concept of absolute morality is prevalent in all religions and everyone thinks it is their right to call the other one wrong. Muslims and Jews say that God is one and there is none like him. For them this is the absolute truth. Almost everyone else, including Christians and Hindus would say that the statement is wrong. Religions have never had a consensus on any of the world’s big issues. And they will not be able to agree to grant women complete freedom. Christianity and Islam do claim to grant women rights but only to an extent. Judaism still remains as strict as ever with no affect or influence from the outside world (Robinson). Works Cited "The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women." United Nations- Division for the Advancement of Women. Web. 20 Apr 2012. Read More