The Role of Women in Islamic Countries

All around the world today, women of all ethnicities, ages, and backgrounds are experiencing mistreatment and injustice everyday. Specifically, women in Islamic countries including: Afghanistan and Iraq, are struggling for justice and acceptance. In these countries, women are vanquished of their rights and freedoms. Completing everyday tasks like attending school and having a job are uncommon amongst women in the Middle East (Kazemi). Gender equality is an unspoken ideal. There and all over the world, men are perceived as superior over women. This idea originates from the countries' main religious text, the Qu'ran.  Men are granted more freedoms and opportunities due to the simple reason that they are male (Kazemi). This concept occurs in all age groups. Major rights obtained only by males in the Middle East include: employment, property rights, and education.

In Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan, children who are born as girls are dressed up, raised, and treated as if they were boys (Nordberg). A cultural practice, referred to as “Bacha posh”, in which some families without sons will pick a daughter to live and behave as a boy. This enables the child to behave more freely: attending school, escorting her sisters in public, and working (Kazemi). Bacha posh also allows the family to avoid the social stigma associated of not having any male children. In Jenny Nordberg’s novel, The Underground Girls Of Kabul, she discusses the harsh reality of the these young girls practicing Bacha posh. The psychological and emotional effects on these young girls is unimaginable. Effects including identity issues, low self-esteem, and sense of normalcy (Nordberg). The absence of gender equality is an issue occurring today.

In the image above: What appears to be a young boy and two girls, isn't entirely true. The young "boy" on the left isn't genetically a male. Formally known as Mehran (previous to transition), went through the cultural practice of Bacha posh (Nordberg).

Sources:

Kazemi, Farhad. "Gender, Islam, And Politics." Social Research 67.2 (2000): 453-474.       Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.

Nordberg, Jenny. The Underground Girls of Kabul. Broadway Books, 2014. The

    Underground Girls of Kabul: in Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan

    is a book that documents the bacha posh of Afghanistan. It is written by

    journalist and foreign correspondent Jenny Nordberg and was published on

    September 16 of 2014.

Education for Women in South Sudan

South Sudan is located south of Egypt, Libya, sudan, and across the red sea from Saudi Arabia. In a country where men a women are not even close to equal on a social, economic, and political scale, and even when covered head to toe in a burqa women are not even allowed out of the house without their husband. The women of south sudan are oppressed and Illiterate.

The education system in Sudan is not strong because of many reason, but one main reason being the civil war sudan had where southern sudan gained its independence from the north in july of 2011. Since then southern sudan has had trouble building and education system for the young, and educating all the adults who missed out on school during the war. In south sudan nine out of ten women are illiterate simply because of the fact that young women are denied a formal education. The few girls lucky enough to enroll in primary education drop out before they finish primary school. “Girls are expected to stay at home, and help their mothers clean around the house and care for their younger siblings”. It is also estimated that there is only one teacher per 1,000 primary school kids (Laco).

Since the end of the war south Sudan has been working to improve their education system. Over these years the number of government funded schools has gone from forty five schools to fifty. During this time there was a huge jump in private schools too. The estimated jump was from five to fifty five, and this is one of the problems. Hopefully South Sudan will keep improving their education system so that more kids in Sudan can get a formal education.













Lacko, Wani Tombe. "Education: The Missing Link For Rural Girls’ And Women’S Well Being In South Sudan." Ahfad Journal 28.2 (2011): 15-32. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

Marriage and Sexuality of Islam

Marriage and sexuality in Islam is much different than in the USA or other places in the world. The role of men in a Islam marriage is to provide for their families, when the woman's job is to stay home and take care of the children, cook, and clean. There is no age restriction in Islam for women to get married, so as long as she has consent from her parents she can be married off. Since polygamy is permitted under Islam men must keep all wives equal financially and with the amount of time he spends with each wife (Islam Ethics). Public shamming and abuse where common punishments for women who have committed adultery or even if they go in public without their husband (Mendoza). According to the World History Encyclopedia "many liberal muslims and muslim feminist advocate a more progressive stance and interpretation of islamic law and culture standards, allowing women greater freedom, access to education and employment, and increase in legal and political representation."(Mendoza)

Mendoza, A. (2011). Women in Islamic societies, post-1945. In A. Andrea, World history encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.


"Islam Ethics." The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide, edited by Helicon, 2016.

Women of Saudi Arabia

A study was done at three major hospitals in Saudi Arabia to test women for Human Papillomavirus (HPV). The samples of this experiment were patients at King Fahd Medical City, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Reserch Centre, and King Abdulaziz Medical City-National Guard Health Affairs in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Persistent infection of a high risk HPV can lead to cervical cancer and in some cases can even be lethal. In Saudi Arabia over 150 new cases of cervical cancer is diagnosed, and 55 women die from it each year in Saudi Arabia (AlObaid).

During this experiment they concluded that ten percent of Saudi Arabia women have the HPV DNA in their body. They also learned that only thirty percent of saudi women are even aware of the HPV virus, but ninety percent of saudi women were interested in the HPV vaccination.(AlObaid) In 2010 the Saudi Arabian Food and Drug administration had just approved the prophylactic HPV vaccines for women between the ages of eleven and twenty six.(Hussain) The chances of Women in Saudi Arabia getting cervical cancer could drastically decrease if they performed routine HPV screenings, and gave out routine vaccinations for the HPV virus. With the proper prevention, care, and awareness the amount of HPV and cervical cancer cases can be lowered substantially.

AlObaid, Abdulaziz, et al. "Human Papillomavirus Prevalence And Type Distribution Among Women Attending Routine Gynecological Examinations In Saudi Arabia." BMC Infectious Diseases 14.1 (2014): 132-149. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Oct. 2016.


Hussain, Aneela N., et al. "Attitudes And Perceptions Towards HPV Vaccination Among Young Women In Saudi Arabia." Journal Of Family & Community Medicine 23.3 (2016): 145-150. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Oct. 2016.

Women of Egypt

Around the globe today and estimated 130 million women have undergone genital mutilation, also known as FGM (female genital mutilation). FMG is still very prominent in present day egypt and its not going away anytime soon. New world health says in their article The Quiet Mutilation “the practice can range from cutting off part or all of the clitoris to the total removal of the vaginal lips, and then sewing together whatever tissue remains. Some girls are cut when they are just a few weeks old, while others undergo the process when they reach puberty.” In Egypt today seventy five percent of the girls have undergone the processes of FGM. In egypt it is tradition to get young girls circumcised during the summer when the dates on the palm trees start to turn red .

Workshops are being held all over egypt to educate the community about the medical and psychological dangers of FGM, but this doesn't always top people from following tradition. Awatef Mohammed Ali who attends these workshops says “my daughter Shahd who is 10 will be circumcised by next summer”. Her family will first consult with a doctor to see if she will be at risk and if she is then they will not go through will the procedure. Ali who was circumcised herself claims “she doesn't want to stop the tradition of FGM”, and Ali's husband is determined to get his daughter cut. FGM is very prominent in egypt and unfortunately it doesn't look like it's going away anytime soon.

WESTCOTT, LUCY. "The Quiet Mutilation." Newsweek Global 164.12 (2015): 50-53. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.

Women of Afghanistan

      During the period of the Taliban regime starting in 1996, the women of Afghanistan where majorly oppressed. Their government system has kicked all women political figures out of office, even though women had made up the majority of the Governing Grand Council. All women where required to wear to wear burqas, and where not allowed to leave the house without the company of their husband. Afghan women where not permitted to work, or even attend school. According to Mary Akrami who was interviewed in the article The Forgotten Women written by Christina Lamb she says "women could be beaten or jailed for wear nail polish or lipstick, and the shapeless blue Burqas they where forced to wear became synonymous with women's repression."

 



   

      The women of present day Afghanistan have been liberated by western powers such as the united states of America. September 10, 2001 President Bush declares war on terrorism. During this time the main suspect of terrorism in the world was the Taliban, also recognized as the Afghanistan government at this time. After USA troops where deployed it only took four month till the united states was able to topple the Taliban regime. After the war, aid from foreign countries such as China and the US was used to set up women's rights institutes around Afghanistan so that the women in this area can remain educated, healthy, and safer.
 





 LAMB, CHRISTINA. "The Forgotten Women." Newsweek Global 164.12 (2015): 12-16. Business Source Elite. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.


Warner, Mary Beth. "Beyond The Burqas." National Journal 34.7 (2002): 464. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Sept. 2016.