Women in the Moslem Middle-East

The status of women in the M.E. is a misfortune that the world has ignored for centuries. Women in the M.E undeveloped nations make up only 30% of the workforce and half of the female population are illiterate. This is the lowest percentage in the world.
The importance of women rights in the M. E. societies is because nations prosper when they advance the cause of women in education and workplace.

Discrimination:
Women in the M.E. endure different kinds of discrimination:
1- The law permits several wives: polygamy.
2 – Sexual relations between men and women are forbidden before marriage. Women can be stoned to death for adultery, especially in Iran. But after human rights groups campaigned against this cruelty, the government imposed a moratorium on stoning in 2002, yet death by stoning is still a punishment under Iranian law. Men are buried up to their waists and women up to their breasts while being stoned. The law also prescribes the size of stone to be used. In some other countries the fornicator must be flogged a 100 lashes.
3 – Matrimonial rape: whenever a man wants sex, wives cannot refuse.
4 – Separation between males and females in some countries, in schools, on buses, in mosques…
5 - In some countries, women are forbidden to leave home without a relative, forbidden to drive a car, forbidden to go to school (as in Afghanistan when it was ruled by the Taliban), or in other countries, they go to schools in numbers less than males. There are no sports for women, or rare female athletes in other countries.
6 – Woman can be beaten by her husband or brother or son if she is not obedient.
7 - Mutilation of female genitals, especially in Egypt and Sudan. To mutilate means to deprive an essential part of female external sex organs.
8 – Honor crimes: A woman that has sexual relations before marriage can be killed by her father, brother, or son. Laws are tolerant of these crimes and allow light punishment for such killings. Criminals won’t be sentenced more than two years in jail.

The veil
Why the veil? The traditional Moslem believes uncovered women are sexually stimulating to men, who are presumed to be incapable of controlling themselves. Women cover their faces and bodies because they consider men potential sexual predators. In some cases she must put a veil on her head to cover her hair only: headscarf, or Hijabs. In other cases she must cover all of her head: Niqab, or all of her face and body, so nothing can be seen of her body: Burqa.
In conservative countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran, the veils are imposed by law, so religious police patrol in streets to arrest unveiled women. In other countries like Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, women are free either to wear it or not. Sometimes women are obliged to wear it even if they don’t want to, because their society is conservative and they can’t resist the pressure. Saudi women not only remove their veils once they leave the country, but they compete in following the latest fashion trends when abroad.
Some countries like Turkey and Tunisia forbid the veil in public places. Supporters of banning the veils believe that veils symbolize subordination. Parliaments in European countries like France, Belgium, Netherlands and Britain have banned wearing veils or burqas in public places even if veils are worn by a small minority. Female official visitors and reporters to Iran and Saudi Arabia are required to wear veils when interviewing or meeting official personalities. In Afghanistan now, the government doesn’t interfere, but the society cannot yet tolerate unveiled women.

Women and religion:
Most of the discrimination against women is based on religious scripts from the Koran, where there is clear discrimination against women:
- Men are the maintainers, supervisors, guardians of women. Good women are obedient. Women that are not obedient can be advised and then beaten. Women’s role in society is as a mother and wife. They must secure their husband’s acceptance if they wish to work or travel.
- Women are regarded as second class citizens when it comes to divorce, inheritance, child custody and other aspects of life. Women may inherit from their parents only half the shares of their brothers. Laws have made it easier for a man to divorce his wife, and nearly impossible for her to do the same. A man can divorce his wife any time he wants. As for the woman she has to go through a difficult process in court to get a divorce (if she even gets it).
- In religion, marriage is permitted for girls at age 13 when they reach puberty. Parents can force their child to marry anyone, even if he is over 50 years old. This is called forced marriage. Most girls over 18 years old must have the approval from their parents when they get married. Until now, families pay money to get a wife for their son, a dowry. This makes the marriage as if the groom is buying his wife with his own money, and she will be as his property.
Laws usually give custody to the father and rarely to the mother, and only when the children are under 7 years old.
- Discrimination is also between women from different religions. A Moslem man can marry a Christian woman, but a Christian man cannot marry a Moslem woman.
- Women’s testimony in court is worth half that of a man.
- In religious countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia where laws are depending on Islamic guidelines or directions, more discrimination against women occurs, while secular countries like Syria and Lebanon, (that use Islam as one of its main sources of legislation) are less conservative against women. Secular countries that don’t depend on Islamic instructions treat women in better ways.

Struggle against discrimination:
The bad situation of women in the M. E. is not firm. Many changes have occurred now and then. The efforts to gain women’s rights for equality are made by many parties:
- The role of human rights organizations and women’s rights groups, local and international.
- The role of public opinion, domestic and international pressures. For example, the international intervening, American and European, as in Afghanistan after toppling the rule of Taliban, was for the sake of supporting women rights.
- The role of thousands of women who have campaigned for their rights. They may be detained by police and put in jail, but they are still struggling against the discrimination.
- There are many ways to campaign for women rights. Beside the old ways, like demonstrations, supporters are using effectively new ways like the Internet, political and social websites, and Facebook.
Women are gaining more rights. The last victory was achieved in Kuwait last year when women gained their rights to vote and to be elected as representatives in the parliament.
Many women are famous for their role like:
Benazir Bhotto, former prime minister of Pakistan.
Shirin Ebadi, Iranian Nobel peace laureate (prize 2003), who has received recently death threats for her role on behalf of women rights.

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