During the pre-colonial period, the women were considered to be a minority in the Arab World. In the Arab Countries, Women were supposed to cover themselves completely to preserve them for their husbands only hence a peak of view of the backwardness of the society. With time, things have change; women were viewed as a source of inspiration in the leadership of many colonists hence making the Arabs resulting in the changing of their ways of lives (Ahmed 91).
During the colonial times, the European women settlers who migrated to Algeria for example were used to promote prostitution in this country. With the introduction of this social norm, the Arab women later on joined on this practice. As the Arab girls were married off at an early age, it was most likely that once they got old, their husbands would get bored with them. This meant that they would be rendered homeless and needed a means of survival. With these, most of the Arab women resulted into prostitution as they needed to feed their children who they had in their previous marriages. It could be seen that colonialist used their own women to try influence the culture of the Arab resulting with introduction of a new way of life.
In order to prevent early marriages and sexual molestation of the under aged, the colonialist in most parts of Africa and Middle East resulted in the placing of women leaders in position of leadership. When women could be seen fighting against these evils, there were high chances that they could be heard other than if men were pioneering these movements. Women were observed to be of key importance in the eradication of early marriages in the Arab Worlds hence placed in the positions of influence by the colonialist.
As women in the Arab world were not to be seen by the society, they were to wear the Hijabs whenever they went to public places (Aroian and Mitchell 56). Girls were not allowed to attend schools and those who were rich enough would afford private tutoring for their girls. They would marry them off early so as to avoid them from being unclean. The European found these once they step foot in the Arab worlds. They brought their own European women settlers in order to introduce their western cultures to them. This resulted in most of the Arabs embracing the western culture ignoring their own tradition.
The colonists in the Arab worlds were noted to have used European Literature which perceived different roles for the Arab men and women and the European men and women. The European man was considered not be polygamous in their literature and marriage was between too willing parties unlike the beliefs of the natives. Through the literature, colonializes gained ground as they were in a position to understand the different Gender roles of the Arabs. Also, they influenced the Arabs making them see their culture to be inferior as opposed to theirs.
` The French in Algeria were seen to be against the stereotype against the women in the country. They ensured that girls’ schools were established with appropriate syllabus. Also, they tried to minimize early child education hence supporting the various women groups. Through these techniques, many nationalist elites rose to power and popularity in the given colonists.
Works Cited
Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. N.p., 2008. Print.
Aroian, Lois A, and Richard P. Mitchell. The Modern Middle East and North Africa. New York: Macmillan, 1984. Print.
Clancy-Smith, Julia A, and Frances Gouda. Domesticating the Empire: Race, Gender, and Family Life in French and Dutch Colonialism. Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1998. Print.
