It should be pointed out, however, that many of these issues exist for women in developed countries such as the United States.
Voices from Iran, however, also looks at aspects of Iranian women's power and influence, an issue that often receives little notice with Western scholars and activists. Iranian wives, the interviewees point out, possess a great influence over their husbands, giving them great power within their families. Among younger generations, women have made strides towards amassing greater social capital, through institutions such as education.
More than fifty percent of new college admissions, for example, are female students. After the Islamic Revolution (1978-1979), and the following war with Iraq, female college graduates began to enter emerging businesses and industries. Many women, for example, enter the publishing industry, open private medical clinics or enter artistic fields such as film. Younger women have turned to writing and graphic design. This influx has tremendous positive effects for the next generation of young women as well, as their mothers encourage them to pursue higher education.
In fact, the interviewees in Voices from Iran see the revolutions and political upheavals as having a silver lining in terms of women's rights. As with World War II in the United States, for example, the eight-year war with Iraq meant that many men were engaged in fighting for the military. This created a labor shortage, one that was filled by women. Though many women returned to domestic labor after the war ended, the seeds of change had already been planted.
Many Westerners often equate Islam with a natural decrease in women's political and economic rights, but as Kousha's...
Iran: A Path towards Rapprochement The problem that the United States is facing with Iran is related to the problem that it had with Iraq and has in part with Afghanistan. One of the problems is the judgment of the administration that Iran is not doing enough to round up the supporters of Al Qaeda who exist within Iran, as was one of the complaints against Iraq. Some of these Al
Culture, Dreams, And Artwork Dreams and artwork are two things that seem to provide an invitation for interpretation, and cultural perspective is almost always going to influence that interpretation. At first blush, this statement may seem to fly in the face of Jungian interpretation, since the collective unconscious and the enduring interpretation of symbols might suggest that symbols would not vary across cultures. However, such an interpretation ignores the fact that
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
" In the rural areas, Afghan women "are still forced into marriages and denied a basic education" (Qazi, par. 2). It has been said that many school that cater to girls have been burned down and there were girls who "have even been poisoned to death for daring to go to school" (Qazi, par. 2). The struggle still continues up to this day. The Afghan women constitute half of the
Islam According to Esposito (1999), there is often a "bitter debate" over the role of women in Muslim society (p. 688). The different role of women in different Muslim countries reflects this debate. On the one extreme, the Taliban in Afghanistan have closed women's schools because it is believed that women should not be educated and should instead serve in their "primary roles as wives and mothers," (Esposito, 1999, p. 688).
A view of this event captures an incredible sea of worshippers flowing like a human river in the footsteps of the prophet Mohammed, who it is said arrived at this spot some 1400 years ago to pay homage to Abraham. The role of the woman as it is understood through the ritual reenactments are quite different from the unequal stance which is often assumed of Muslim women today, with Hagar
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