Matching Items (2)
Description
Westerners frequently describe women in Islam as oppressed, abused and subservient beings that are in dire need to be saved. Their arguments are often based on societies that have very strict laws concerning women and modesty, women's roles and their visibility. They make these claims, all while failing to address the oppression of women in the West and how the institutions and laws in the West oppress women. Islam is often associated with misogyny because people use a small scope of what happens to some women who happen to be Muslim. While a multitude of women in Muslim-majority countries do experience some form of oppression, what needs to be addressed is patriarchy and not Islam. Islam is not inherently misogynistic and if the true teachings of the Qur'an were learned and executed, then it would be evident that Islam is quite a feminist faith. There is an imbalance in the amount of critique we see for Islam vs. other religions. Many Christian countries have similar problems regarding women, but they do not receive the same kind of backlash or any at all. Eastern countries may be behind in feminism by a few decades, but it does not mean that the West did/does not have the same issues. The West tends to paint all Muslims and Muslim-majority countries with a broad brush, which consequently fuels the negative stereotypes and prejudices with respect to Muslims. There are also frequent assaults against Muslim women in America who wear hijabs and women in France that are being forced to remove their hijabs, but we do not see the same kind of outrage from Westerners regarding those issues. In this paper, I will examine various interpretations of the Qur'an, scholarly articles, films, case studies, and interviews to draw my conclusions. Through this analysis, I will demonstrate that the issues regarding women are due to a patriarchal society and not because of the Muslim faith.
ContributorsHickcox, Mary-Victoria Luseane (Author) / Ali, Souad T. (Thesis director) / Mousa, Neimeh (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Afghani women's resistance: their struggle for autonomy under the Soviet Occupation and Taliban rule
Description
The American-led 'war on terror' affected how media outlets and some contemporary literature addressed and stereotyped Islam. One of the most common stereotypes regarded the status of women in society. The constant images of oppressed Afghani women generated a wave of negativity toward Islam. Afghani women were portrayed as passive characters during the Taliban rule awaiting liberation from the west. Defending their rights became one of the moral justifications for waging the 'war on terror' after the tragedy of 9/11. Gender politics in Afghanistan is closely tied to the regime in power. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the social and cultural transformation of society that followed also directly affected women and their identity as Muslims. Both the Soviet and the Taliban regimes envisioned a drastic transformation of women's participation in the public sphere. Each regime's gender politics oppressed Afghani women and sought to take away their agency. Some women welcomed the freedom under the Soviets, but others found the freedoms to be oppressive. The Taliban aimed to preserve men's authority over women. However, Afghani women never gave up the hope of freedom and equality. My main argument is to challenge the contemporary belief that Afghani women were passive characters in their history. This study introduces a fresh perspective on to women's role as change makers in the society. I argue that Afghani women maintained their autonomy and fought for their rights, before the rest of the world rushed to liberate them. They engaged in different forms of resistance from directly attacking the oppressors to keeping their resistance hidden. This thesis challenges the notion of Afghani women as victims in need of saving. On the contrary, they were the agents of change in their communities. On the basis of ethnographic interviews and three memoirs written by women who lived in Afghanistan during Soviet and Taliban rule. Their resistance against the oppressors is an affirmation of their courage and bravery.
ContributorsRezai, Shabnam (Author) / Gallab, Abdullahi (Thesis advisor) / Ali, Souad (Thesis advisor) / Kefeli, Agnes (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017