Thorough reviews of the Q'uran have revealed that it actually forbids sexual oppression of women. Several and well-entrenched customary practices in the region, however, violate women's basic human rights. These practices include honor crimes, stoning, female general mutilation, and virginity tests. Women researchers and activists did not find a basis for these practices in the Q'uran (Ilkakaracan).
Modernization in the 19th and 20th centuries, the foundation of nation-states and the establishment of nationalist ideologies and the rise of the Islamic religious right have somewhat modified the conditions of the women in the Middle East (Ilkkaracan 2002). Social values have begun evolving and strengthening the activities of women's groups to produce change. New attitudes about sexuality, especially among young people, have spurred new and progressive legal and social changes and reforms. As a consequence, a new basis for new rights for women has surfaced concerning their sexuality and family status. The reform wave seeks to analyze and rationalize women's sexuality in the light of social circumstances rather than by nature or the "divine will." It seeks to redeem women's sexuality from the rule of social practices and traditional norms. One more potential form of change is expected to evolve from the increasing participation of women in the traditionally male-dominated field of religious knowledge (Ilkkaracan).
Some improvements have been observed in women's rights since the 1979 Islamic Revolution (WIN News 2003). Sixty-five percent of enrollees and 46% of teachers in the region are now female. In the 80s, women were still denied the right to divorce and to custody of their children. But in 1999, the Iranian Parliament passed a law, allowing custody of minor children to divorced mothers if it would be in the best interests of the children. The first woman vice president was appointed into Iran President Khatami's cabinet (WIN News).
Increasing women's strengths in the different types of communities would be an ideal step taken in the direction of liberation in the region (Western 2008). However, only time and improved or increased economic development could really bring in economic gains. Professor Clair Apodaca of the Women's Economic and Social Human Rights or WESHR offers a formula to track down women's achievement in the various parts of the region. Achievement is in the areas of work, rates of gainful employment, sex-differentiated literacy rates and rights to an education. The attempt may not yield all the desired results but it could balance men's and women's rights. It could serve as a helpful indication of women's social and economic progress. It will also help identify the factors, which induce potentials or threats to abuses. Most of all, it can be the basis for determining what international assistance will likely produce the optimum economic and social change to end the horrible practice of female genital mutilation (Western).
A modern outlook makes a different presentation....
treatment of Western women to treatment of Middle Eastern women This paper will compare the treatment of women in the West with the treatment of women from the Middle East. It should be borne in mind that the term 'Middle East' is a term constructed by people of the West to describe an area in which the West has a military interest; there is no such geographic area as the
Introduction Health promotion is a behavioral social science that draws from the environmental, biological, physical, psychological, and medical sciences to promote the health of individuals and prevent diseases, premature death, and disability by educating the community. The main purpose of health promotion is to positively influence the health behavior of communities and individuals. There have been increased efforts for cervical cancer screening using PAP tests, which have led to the declining
Three appendices provide information on workshop participants and strategies to improve educational opportunities for girls. (Rihani and Prather, 2003) The work entitled: "Gender and Development in the Middle East and North Africa: women and the Public Sphere" states that gender inequality is the "...differential access to opportunity and security for women and girls" and that this has become an issue that is "important and visible...for the economies of the Middle
Ali gives the reader the impression that there must be value in letting go of hatred and acknowledging the better emotions, such as those which are present in the former work by Ali, even if such purity is not the end to our means it is infinitely valuable nonetheless. Eliaz Cohen writes of the universal historical struggles of power and control in the Middle East in Snow. (Cohen NP) Though
Women's Roles In New England During Colonial America Today, women still have not seen an acceptable level of equality compared to their male counterparts. Yet, the struggle for women's rights have improved conditions for modern women tremendously when compared to the roles that the sex was limited to play during the colonial period. In Colonial America, women were often limited to purely caretakers, dealing only with domestic and child raising matters.
Women in Higher Education Describe ways in which female college students in the era from 1920 to 1945 influence the present generation of female college students. It would not be unreasonable to refer to women in the 1920 -- 1930 window of time in American history as pathfinders. Professor Mary McComb explains that in 1930 women workers and students "were perceived as larger threats" than in previous era; indeed, the "new women"
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