The roles of women in Iraq and America compared to men are due to customs and traditions rather than religion. The rights of women in Iraq have improved through the years, their views and perception may still be old fashioned. And it is the main difference on Iraqi and American culture. Just like any other Asian countries, Iraq has very strong family ties. And the women are viewed as devoted and hard-working wives. Compared in America, women there take pride in being independent, expressing their own views and proving to that they can be capable of being more than someone’s wife.
In answering the first question, as an Iraqi woman they take pride in being a devoted wife, hard-working mother, good cook and housekeeper, and being a perfect example of fidelity, grace and gentleness (Torres para 1 lines (Torres para 1 lines 5-6). They may perceive that the freedom enjoyed by the American women is immoral. And the use of the “Abaya” gives them security rather than giving them the feeling of being hidden. Their family ties is strong and they cannot imagine being without their relatives (Torres para. 1 line 9). And travelling without family is not so common and can’t be perceived as possible. Iraqi women also feel secure with Polygny. It is practiced in El Nahra, Iraq where a man can take up more than one wife (Torres para 2 line 2). Women will be certain that the man will not leave them or divorce them. And whenever a man takes up a wife it is their responsibility to care for them and provide for them. It gives them security that they will have a home with their kids and a stable future.
In the West, people may think that Muslim women are oppressed because of their practices in religion (Global Connections para. 1 line 1). The inequality, being denied education, work force, family roles and other basic rights is not new to women all over the world. It does not come from religion but instead it is a part of their local cultural traditions. As a matter of fact, Islam gave Muslim women a number of rights that were not enjoyed in the 19th Century by Western women (Global Connections para 2 line 2). It was in 1882 that the properties of women in England are given to their husband when they marry. However, Muslim women are able to retain their own properties and assets. The Muslim women could also specify conditions in their marriage contracts such as their right to divorce when their husband takes another wife (Global Connections para 2 lines 5-6).
When we talk about common practices which is mostly mistaken as religious practices, such as veiling, seclusion and Polygny is one of those. In tackling the second question, polygny is a practice not required by the Islamic religion. Also, veiling and seclusion of women is not required. Though it is practiced by human groups all over the world and it is commonly practiced, the development of Islam changed some of it. With the development of Islam, it has instituted, legitimized and reinterpreted a new cultural practice which, includes veiling, seclusion, and polygny. However, there are some Muslim communities in which they are not practiced even though it has Islamic significance in some communities (“Veiling, Seclusio, and Polugyny” para 2 line 9).
Veiling and seclusion are seen as a form protection. It protects their families and their society. Women are perceived weaker than men in all aspects. It is feared that if a man and a woman are exposed to each other, then the sexual impulse would be too great and would create a perpetual and uncontrollable sexual activity. In order to be productive, men and women can’t always be together. They have to be secluded. In addition, whenever an unrelated woman and a man are together they have to be covered up so that their sexual attractiveness are also hidden. This protects the woman from men who might want to prey on them (“Anthropology 316: Lecture 7” para 5 lines 15-16). Seclusion reflects religious and social customs and it was well established in pre-Islamic societies. However, female seclusion declined in the 20th century because of education and increased economic opportunities in women (Oxford Islamic Studies para 1 line 9).
The origins of these “repressive” practices should be viewed open mindedly and be understood historically. It is better to think about its nonreligious origins to have a better understanding of it. Anthropologists believe that their origins can be related to the development of private properties. After hunting and gathering food, groups like the Kung settled down and began producing their own food. One of the reasons why veiling and seclusion did not develop among the Kung is because one can’t veil or seclude a woman when one needs their help. The Kung’s are not worried about making sure that their property goes only to their own children. They do not have lineages, and each individual considers himself or herself to be related to each other through both the mother’s and the father’s sides of the family, and through both male and female links. However, they protect their honor and they make sure they do not dishonor and degrade their lineage by not letting just any marriage partner in. Because of this, after a wife has married into a lineage, one needs to make sure that her subsequent behavior does not reflect negatively upon her husband’s lineage. This makes veiling and seclusion an option but not truly necessary.
In another note, a high number of high-status females are seen as a problem in Islam communities. In this section, the final question will be addressed which is “the Brahmin problem”. For women when they marry, they take the status from their husbands. While for men when they marry, their status remains regardless of their wives’ position in society. What happens is, when a man marry a woman of lower status it is called hypogamy. And when a woman marries at their own status level or someone higher the process is called hypergamy. In female hypogamy it usually dishonors not only the bride but also her family and lineage, as well. So what usually happens is that the high-status men who are the only possible marriage partners for high-status women are lost to those women because they marry down, choosing lower-status women whom they raise to their own status. This causes the surplus of high-status women. (Source taken from the document given). In addition in the hypogamus system, lends privilegeto the female line while hypergamy gives privileges to the male line (Anthropology Guide).
Nowadays a Brahmin community faces many problems internally and socially. Intellectuals and thinkers who are self proclaimed expresses their disapproval to the community with baseless unserious studies in public. These self proclaimed intellectuals also criticize their faith, culture and rituals of Brahmins as they see that they have gained self importance (Tamil Brahmins). This problem surfaced during the Gulf war where many suffered from government bombings. Those who died left grieving widows to fend for themselves. It also increased the number of females as most of the men were sent to war.
One solution proposed is the female infanticide. With similarities in China, they prefer boys than girls. To avoid marrying down and dishonoring their family name they took matters into their own hands and favored boys over girls. And today in India female infanticide is being replaced by fetal sex test and abortion. And because of this roughly 97% of abortions performed in India involve female fetuses. And another solution is practicing polygyny. In El Nahra, it permits capable high status men to have more than one wife at a time. Another solution proposed by Europeans was to “marry” high-status women to the Church. With this the family will be secured that their daughter will not shame them with possibilities of adultery or marrying down and the rest of their lives as nun will be assured.
With those solutions it might be argued that there is no need for every woman to marry. There are two issues presented in the book “Guests of Sheik”. One is the support of women who are conventionally are not supposed to work outside of their households for a living. In doing so would seriously compromise family honor, something that was true even in high-status European and Euro- American families into the present century. But the more important issue, which is actually a part of the first, is that unassigned female sexuality is seen in many societies as a time bomb. The risk of perpetual threat to family honor with the prospect of illicit sexual activity on the part of the unmarried woman is always present. However intolerable suttee (the practice of the immolation of a widow on her husband’s funeral pyre) may be to late 20th century Americans, it is perhaps now more understandable. When a husband dies, the widow would continue to live in her husband’s household, into which she married with his parents and brothers and their families (widow remarriage is not permitted to orthodox high-caste Hindus). Her sexuality is no longer assigned to anyone (the time bomb factor), and she continues to be a charge on her husband’s family. It should be noted that suttee, though most associated with India, has been practiced from time to time by high-status women elsewhere including Mesopotamia and China (Source taken from the document given).
A mind thinking that one’s ethnic group is superior to the other can cause a lot of misunderstanding between people. A woman from a different country can experience the same struggles from another. Although the struggles are similar, solutions may differ or vary because of many aspects. Religion, history, culture, traditions, progress and development are huge factors to consider. Comparisons will be made and these are not under the same living, cultural and traditional conditions. Being introduced to another practice, customs and religions should be systematic and sometimes historical. The development should also be taken into consideration the different perceptions and ways of thinking. What is perceived as freedom in another can be viewed as immoral to the other.
Works Cited
“Anthropology 316: Lecture 7.” PDF file.
Torres, Samuel, Argumentative Essay Examples, 15 March 2016 http://argumentative-essay- examples.blogspot.com/2013/04/guests-of-sheik.html
Global Connections, “What factors determine the changing roles of women in the Middle East and Islamic societies?”,15 March 2016
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/questions/women/
Oxford Islamic Studies, “Seclusion” 19 March 2016 http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2128
Anthropology Guide, “Marriage- Hypergamy and Hypogamy” 19 March 2016 http://anthropologyguide.blogspot.com/2012/01/marriage-hypergamy-and- hypogamy.html
Tamil Brahmins, “Problems Faced by Brahmin Community” 19 March 2016 http://www.tamilbrahmins.com/showthread.php?t=9456
“Veiling, Seclusio, and Polugyny.” In Important Document Please Read. MS Word File
