The Role of Women in Middle Eastern Society, Essay Example

This paper explores the current situation of the role of women in Middle Eastern society.  The area has been devastated with civil unrest over a protracted period of time.  This contrasted with development in the super rich states of the Arab Emirates.  Historically a fundamental Islamic area with long traditions and strict Islamic belief systems.  The role of women was subordinate to men and they were expected to maintain their place within the context of Islamic laws.  In essence this prevented the growth of women and entry to take their place within a globalized international society.  The paper looks at how this stereotyping of Middle Eastern Woman came about, consideration of the challenges faced today in modern society and examples of where change is taking a place and women are making a significant more overt contribution to society.

Background of Women in Middle Eastern Society

It has been a widely upheld belief, particularly in the west, that Middle Eastern Muslim women are oppressed by the Islamic faith.  It is globally recognised that Muslim women have been engaged in a struggle of liberation and freedom from the more fundamental aspects of the religion.  Ironically, it is not the Islamic faith which is entirely responsible for this situation. A lot of the issues relate to old tribal customs, beliefs and traditions that have been handed down through the generations.  These have not updated to international standards.  More radical elements within the Islamic faith have blamed western interference and become more intolerant of what they perceive to be a break-away from traditional Islamic values.  Hence a key word is interpretation of Islam.

The Quran (Islamic Bible), clearly states that women are equal to man in the eyes of god.  It appears that in the 9th and 10th Century, religious scholars were interpreting this differently and promoted more restrictive roles for women.  This more noticeable in Iran and Iraq.  These more radical views spread across the Middle Eastern countries, whereas Islamic women abroad ( particularly in Spain) seemed to gain more freedom and equality with men.

It is interesting to note that the veil was first worn by women of high status in the Byzantine period; before the arrival of Islam in the seventh century.  In the early days of conversion to Islam many nomadic women maintained their dignity and rights having freedom of dress and movement.  It was from the 9th Century that this all started to change.

Women and the Use of the Veil

In the West the “veil” is really symbolic of the oppression of the women in Middle Eastern Society.  The concept of dressing in full black robes and hiding the face to onlookers has been interpreted as concealment.  The inability to show your face and make eye contact.  Further Christianity was about white being pure and of the divine whereas black was associated with evil.  White in dress seemed more practical in hot climates as the dress reflected the sun and was cooler to wear.  By contrast black absorbed the sun and is very hot, another concept of being oppressive to women.  The Quran talks about men and women dressing modestly but the men interpret the rules.  In addition it seems the veil was adopted by the poorer classes of society and not so readily by the more affluent types.  ” Within Islam, head coverings (hijab) vary by culture. They range from loose scarves to veils and full-length coverings, such as the burqa worn by many Afghan women. There is also a new style called “Islamic dress,” in which a loose coat is worn with a scarf tied over the hair. ”  (Global Connections , 2009).

Veiling rules are interpreted by the Governments of the different countries.  In Iran and Saidi Arabia this is based upon religious orientations.  In Turkey where there is a more secular identity the laws are interpreted differently and the women do not wear the veil in public offices. In Tunisia the use of the veil is also widely discouraged.

The Changing Role of Women

There is some degree of class distinction here.  The more affluent or wealthy women of the Middle Eastern countries have a much better time of things.  The fact that women in this bracket are highly educated means that they use their money to a distoct advantage. They manage to operate within the system whilst staying away from the more radical elements with it. Ironically they have had less freedom of movement and somewhat more restricted in use of public clothing.  Keeping women out of public life has been a way of demonstrating male status. The poorer sect have had more freedom of movement but no education and as such much more vulnerable to the radical elements.

There are certain role models for Middle Eastern women and Queen Rania of Jorden must certainly rank as one of those iconic models.  ” Known for her business savvy, elegance and outspokenness, Queen Rania has divided opinion between those who feel she should take a more traditional role and those who see her as a shining example for Arab women. “I am an Arab through and through,” she insists. “But I am also one who speaks the international language.”  (Hello Magazine)

Improvement of  Education is a vital factor for most Middle Eastern Countries.  Women have been particularly deprived of improved Education.  This particularly in Iraq and the devastating situation following the war and now civil unrest in that country.  ” Iraq was once a seat of great learning and social progress. But now, according to UNESCO figures, only one-quarter of Iraqi women can read and write; even the World Bank’s figure, while substantially higher, is nevertheless under half. Iraqi men have fared somewhat better in this respect, but still only a bare majority are literate. Just one out of every five Iraqi women has found paid employment of any kind.”  (Dobriansky, 2003)

In so far as politics are concerned in Middle Eastern Countries these have been dominated by male society.  Women have generally elected to stay on the fringes or margins of politics.  They have been much more in supportive  roles as opposed to reaching out for leadership roles.  The conservative nature of Islamic Society has essentially precluded them from grasping power in the political arena.  There is a trend in the Middle East showing the more affluent and educated element of society taking a more proactive role in Politics.  There are some very notable positions. In June 1993 Turkey elected Tansu Ciller as its first woman prime minister.  She was later forced out of power but it was a landmark in Turkish politics  creating a paradigm shift for the entire region.  For many years Queen Noor of Jordan occupied an influential role alongside her husband King Hussein.  That trend is now continuing with Queen Rania, wife of King Abdullah.  This similarly is the position for Asma the British-born wife of Syrian President Basher al-Assad.  Both of these have moved away from the expected more traditional role of Arab leaders spouses.  In Egypt the first lady of the President Suzanne Mubarak is equally very active in public life and viewed as being one of the most influential people in the Middle East.

The wives of Arab Leaders are not prepared to take back seat roles any more.  They have become increasingly more visible and influential people.  At a conference in Paris the wife of the Emir of Qatar (Shekha Mozah) hit the spotlight with her forthright and open views.  King Husseins daughter who is married to the ruler of Dubai started a trend of having her own website and this has been adopted by many of the Queens and First Ladies of the Middle Eastern countries.  Queen Rania uses it to promote her charities and enlist aid for her drives to improve education in Jordan.  In 2004 Mrs Assad became an important role model for Syrian women. She voiced her views at a conference in Beirut, Lebanon discussing women and the war.  In May last year the ruler of Bahrain appointed a woman, namely Houda Nonoo, as the Ambassador to Washington.  Of particular interest here is that not only was she a woman but also Jewish and this was perceived as highly significant in the West  and indicated a major shift in that country towards attitudes of minority groups.

The changes in the status of the Middle Eastern Woman has resulted in a considerable increase in attendance of girls at school.  It is considered that the overall rate of increase is as high as 50% in the region, possibly with the exception of Iraq, still recovering from the war and internal strife.  With this resulting in more women attending regional Universities it has driven up the number of female occupants in the professions.  In the last 30 years the region has seen the largest global increase in female education.  The changes equally have resulted in widespread reaction from the more radical Islamic fundamentalists who are opposed to these changes and would like to return to the old ways.  With the changes being led by powerful influential women it is unlikely that there will be a return to the old oppressive ways.  Recent demonstrations and riots in Iran have indicated the will of the people to be part of the global community with the same rights, freedoms and benefits of those in other countries.

The situation in Iran today has improved since the revolution.  Nevertheless, there still remains a long way to go.  The women in Iran have significantly improved upon their levels of Education.  They have increased their space in Education, Politics, Economics and Universities.  Despite all of this their level of subservience, to male domination, has increased within the families.  The ruling clergy seem to carry power and political direction in Iran. To this day the ruling clergy have not made any significant concessions or moves to help advancement of female aspirations.  They have ruled upon this as non-negotiable within the context of Islamic law.  “Thus, the original Islamic ambiguity in women’s status evolved into a contradictory and inherently unstable development of emancipation and legal subordination.”  (Moghadam, 2009)

Iran was historically a secretive country, particularly to western journalists.  Today the younger people have access to the internet, webcams, cell phones and are generally much more informed about western ideology, other Muslims living in other countries and their quality of life.  The information highway has opened to the young people of Iran and they are amongst the worlds most active and informed young people.  Consider .. ” the Arabic-language blogosphere consists of about 35,000 regularly updated blogs. The Farsi blogosphere, according to a separate 2009 Berkman study, comprises a staggering 70,000 active blogs. Iranian blogs are so prevalent that Technorati, the blog search engine and indexing service, ranks Farsi, a language spoken by just 75 million people worldwide, among the Web’s 10 most popular blogging languages.”  (Anon, 2009).  One of the most disturbing events in Iran has been that of the Iranian Guarding Council moving towards laws that regulate or control freedom of expression by blogging. This is particularly aimed at the academic and younger side of Iranian society.  It is an alarming trend in an era of globalization and sharing information freely throughout the world.  China has introduced similar laws with particular emphasis of not taking responsibility or hearing opinions on human rights issues.  ” Iran’s Guardian Council, a powerful 12-member body that is charged with supervising elections and interpreting the constitution among other tasks, approved the Cyber Crime Penal Code, which went into effect in July. By requiring Internet service providers to retain records of all client data for at least three months, the law enables the government to collect information about users and their online practices more efficiently. Anticipating a hefty workload, the judiciary announced that it had created a separate division within the prosecutor’s office to handle offenses under the Cyber Crime Penal Code.”  (Moghadam, 2009).

The concept of imprisoning bloggers for freedom of speech is a means of intimidation and a threat to others.  Amnesty International was informed by one authority in Iran  that  “There are very high costs in blogging, and we want to make you an example of that. Yes, we can’t trace every single blogger who criticizes our government, but we can scare them.”  (Anon, 2009). This censorship is not purely confined to Iran. Other Middle Eastern countries have had similar cases reported and this has included both Syria and Egypt.  So far prison sentences dished out have ranged from 6 months to 3 years.  You start to walk down a dark path with this line of reasoning and eventually do you start to consider certain comments as treasonous ?  Governments trying to repress freedom of information often compound the situation and galvanise or consolidate those people they seek to break up ” Yahyaoui was popular enough before he was sent to jail, but his jailing and premature death turned him into a martyr for Tunisian free expression. Abd El-Fatah, who had been little known outside blogging circles, became a messenger for reform among the public after his six-week detention”  (Anon, 2009)

Works Cited

Anon. (2009, 4 24). Women living under muslim law. Retrieved 1 1, 2010, from Women living under muslim law: http://www.wluml.org/node/5759

Dobriansky, T. H. (2003, 6 20). Women and the Transition to Democracy: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Beyond. Retrieved 1 1, 2010, from Heritage Foundation: http://www.heritage.org/research/middleeast/hl793.cfm

Global Connections . (2009). Global Connections the Middle East. Retrieved 1 1, 2010, from Changing role of Women in Middle East: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/questions/women/index.html

Hello Magazine. (n.d.). Queen Rania of Jordan. Retrieved 1 1, 2010, from Hello Magazine: http://www.hellomagazine.com/profiles/queen-rania-of-jordan/

Moghadam, F. E. (2009, 2 22). Women and the Islamic Republic: Emancipation or Suppression? Retrieved 1 1, 2010, from Middle East Institute: http://payvand.com/news/09/feb/1258.html