Women: Men's War against Them

Dear friends,

This essay is all about women, worldwide, and the never-ending war with men they have to endure.  The morality of equality of men and women is the self-evident truth permeating through the essay.  Gender inequality is a true and time-tested weapon of mass destruction, in this essay I will demonstrate how it has and continues to destroy women's rights and liberties.

In this essay, I  discuss:

• Men's obsession with women.
• Modern times - women struggle around the globe, covering as a sample the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, India, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Colombia, Malaysia, Singapore, Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, other Islamic, Gulf and poor countries.
• Current twenty-three issues confronting Muslim women.
• Hillary Clinton on Middle East women's revolution.
• Old times, Religion-based statements about women, focusing on Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Women — Men's Obsession

The mind of the basic Salafist (see below), a Muslim extremist, is the perfect example of the never-ending conflict between men and women worldwide.  It represents our inexplicable fascination with the oppressive omnipresence of war between the two genders, the pervasiveness of the troubled and violent relationship between men and women that attests to the shocking reality of the history of men with women, women with men.  For the Salafist, time stands still.

Belying logic or common sense, Salafists have thus far devoted all their fatwas to women, examining her body, her mind, and her seductive powers at great length. They seem to think of nothing else, including this little boy and little girl foraging like stray dogs and cats the garbage looking for something to eat, walking about their filthy quarters barefoot, no, that is not their concern!

What is truly startling is the capacity of a Salafist to suspend his reasoning and completely ignore facts of life such as the many women who are the family breadwinners, supporting their children, their parents, their in-laws and yes, their Salafist husbands.  One cannot avoid the totally ridiculous impression that Salafists while desiring women's bodies would be much happier if there were no women around!

A Salafist Mind

And to think how early this obsession starts, below picture captures that smartly!

At the conclusion of this essay, we must ask ourselves why we accept the brutalising of half of humanity for the sake of pathetically inadequate male egos and primitive superstitions.


Modern Times — Women Struggle Around the Globe

Below is a depressing tapestry of what women have to confront, navigate and suffer on a regular basis around the world.  Examining this admittedly small sample will lead one to believe beyond any reasonable doubt that we have in our world human beings, animals, insects, fish, birds, plant life, and then we have WOMEN.  What an epic ongoing struggle is forced on women, a struggle that has all the earmarks of eternity.


The United States

Lawrence Henry Summers (US Secretary of Treasury 1999-2001, President of Harvard University 2001-2006) suggested in a 2005 speech that the under-representation of women in science and engineering could be due to a different availability of aptitude at the high end, and less to patterns of discrimination and socialization.

Republicans in Congress are currently launching "the most comprehensive and radical assault on women's health in our lifetime," according to House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi.  The rightwing continues to launch attack after attack against women's rights, women's health, and women's economic security.  The rightwing is working overtime to turn back the clock.

The Democratic Senate has already stopped nearly a dozen anti-women measures passed by House Republicans, including one that would have forced rape survivors seeking an abortion to prove to the Internal revenue Service that they had been raped.  You would think breast exams and well-woman care would be issues worthy to rally around.

Nearly 50 years after the birth control pill was introduced, opponents in the US Congress, the vast majority of them men, are still doing everything they can to block women's access to contraception.  At a time when 99 percent of all sexually active women rely on birth control at some point, they want to make this basic health care controversial.  In fact, they're getting even more extreme, anti-birth control members of Congress want an employer to be able to deny a woman insurance coverage for birth control.  Moreover, Republicans are trying to attach an amendment to the highway funding bill this week that could deny countless women (and men) access to all sorts of lifesaving health care, simply based on the stated beliefs of their employers.

Early February, 2012, the Susan B Komen for the Cure, the world's largest breast cancer philanthropy, decided to pull its funding from Planned Parenthood, a nationwide provider of health care services to women, particularly those who can't afford to get it elsewhere.  The rationale was that in addition to cancer screening and other gynecological services, Planned Parenthood offers abortions, a tiny percentage of its services.  Following a massive public outcry, Komen reversed its decision; however, the initial decision is yet another battle in the war women are forced to fight.

In February 16, 2012, a House committee in the US Congress held a hearing to attack women’s contraceptive coverage.  Another desperate attempt to frame their culture war on women's health as a fight for "religious liberty," the title of the hearing even included the question, "Has the Obama Administration Trampled on Freedom of Religion?"   The head of the committee, anti-choice Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA), refused to allow a female law student to testify in support of contraceptive coverage.  Even more outrageous, in a hearing about women's access to preventative health care, only two of the ten witnesses were women.

The hearing featured ten anti-choice witnesses -- eight of whom were men.  And yet Rep. Issa barred this woman from telling the story of her friend: that she lost her ovary to a cyst when she couldn't afford the contraception her doctor prescribed to prevent it.  It is clear that when it comes to women's health and privacy, anti-choice members of Congress would rather listen to eight men than one woman who supports contraception.

Below is a picture of these men.  Please note what is missing: women! one would think a woman or two would be given a seat at that table!

As I write, the Virginia state legislature is debating just how much they can get away with infringing on Virginia women's reproductive rights by pushing the limits of Roe vs Wade, the Supreme Court decision that said that states cannot outlaw abortion.

"Back in my days, they used Bayer Aspirin for contraception. The gals put it between their knees, and it wasn't that costly," said Foster Friess, the man behind Rick Santorum, a Republican presidential candidate, in an interview as he jokingly trivialized the debate about every woman having full coverage for the contraceptive health care she needs.


Israel

Below link is an article by Kathy Waldman, December 30, 2011, "Why Did Ultra-Orthodox Jews Bully an Israeli Second Grader?" about what recently took place in Israel, where thousands of Israelis in the city of Beit Shemesh, just west of Jerusalem, gathered to protest the harassment of Naama Margolese, an eight-year-old girl.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2011/12/30/naama_margolese_why_did_the_haredim_call_her_a_whore_.html

First, it was not an "incident" that occurred but rather an attack on an eight-year-old going to school (terrorism?) I would suggest viewing this attack as if our own grandchild were going through the same attack.  That was neither the beginning nor the end of the story but one of many assaults, verbal and physical, on women and children who didn't fit the mold of what this one fundamentalist group defined as Judaism.

Like Egypt today, Israel is now in the middle of a culture war, maybe even a war over religion, to shape its society.  Women, in this case an eight-year-old girl, are in the middle and subject of this war.

Below link is an article by Ethan Bonner and Isabel Kershner, the New York Times, January 14, 2012, "Israelis Facing a Seismic Rift Over Role of Women", about pediatrics professor Channa Maayan being awarded a prize for her book on hereditary diseases common to Jews.  Her experience at the awards ceremony has become a rallying cry.  Not only did she have to wear a long-sleeve top and a long skirt, but she also had to sit separately from her husband, as men and women were segregated at the event, and she was instructed that a male colleague would have to accept the award for her because women were not permitted on stage.  "Her story is entering the pantheon of secular anger building as a battle rages in Israel for control of the public space between the strictly religious and everyone else.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/world/middleeast/israel-faces-crisis-over-role-of-ultra-orthodox-in-society.html?_r=1

Below picture depicts women peeking through a tear in a curtain separating the men and women at an ultra-Orthodox wedding in Jerusalem.  Not surprisingly, secular Israelis oppose such segregation.

Below pictures point out to the fact that like in many societies in the Arab world, various communities in Israel have their women completely veiled.  In fact, since Judaism predates Islam, it is safe to say that the tradition of the veiled woman may have emanated from this ultra-Orthodox, ultra-conservative Jewish practice.

Saudi Arabia

Pubescent girls are married off to middle-aged perverts incapable of forming a normal relationship because of their religion.  Scripture-sodden oafs issue fatuous fatwas degrading and humiliating women as much as possible, one fatwa declares that women can associate with men they are not related to by breastfeeding them, which would technically make them their sons.  Another stipulates that women should cover themselves so completely that only one eye is visible.

A recent law allows women to work behind the lingerie counter for the first time ever, signalling a slow change to the workforce that loosens the reigns on a variety of new jobs allowing women to work with men.

However, despite recent protests, women are still not allowed to drive a car, not until 2015 anyway!

The picture on the left is of an Islamic TV program.  The man is saying:  As for the case of a woman driving a car and going out to the market, scientists are still in disagreement... matters have yet to be resolved.

On the right, an American astronaut from NASA, saying that NASA scientists have concluded that there is water on Mars... matters have been resolved.

Iran

An Iranian scholar in 2010 made a statement that immodestly dressed women are the cause of earthquakes.

 
Pakistan

80% of Pakistani women are beaten regularly by their husbands.  Women are murdered on a regular basis for the slightest of infractions against or nearby their husbands.

"'Kitchen accidents' in which women are set on fire are no rarity in Pakistan.  Shahnaz Bokhari, chair of the Pakistan Progressive Women’s Association, has counted over 4,000 cases since 1994 in the three large hospitals of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.  The Islamic Republic harbours a special category of violence against women known as 'crimes of honour.'  Crimes of honour are a pre-Islamic practice. They have no real basis in religion but are encouraged by the rise of religious fundamentalism of which women are the prime victims.  Despite the severity of the problem, the government’s response has been indifferent at best. At worst it has served to exacerbate the suffering of women victims of violence and to obstruct the course of justice.  Pakistan is a country that does not yet see the need to respect human rights, least of all those of women."  This is an excerpt of an article by Roland-Pierre Paringaux "Pakistan: Cost of a Lie."
http://mondediplo.com/2001/05/13pakistan


Russia

Divorce is on the rise in Russia, and domestic-help agencies are offering fathers-for-rent to single mothers. The rental fathers, many of them former unemployed soldiers, generally play with the children in the park or help with homework. Some observers say it's disturbing for kids to have fake father figures, but some single mothers joke that they hope the ex-soldiers they hired will teach their sons how to shoot their absentee fathers.

Please note who is bearing the great responsibility for raising the children!


India

Mohammed Wajihuddin, TNN, September 4, 2005, "One Minor Girl, Many Arabs" writes: "They are old predators with new vigour. Often bearded, invariably in flowing robes and expensive turbans. The rich, middle-aged Arabs increasingly stalk the deprived streets of Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, India, like medieval monarchs would stalk their harems in days that we wrongly think are history. These Viagra enabled Arabs are perpetrating a blatant crime under the veneer of nikaah, the Islamic rules of marriage. Misusing the sanctioned provision which allows a Muslim man to have four wives at a time, many old Arabs are not just marrying minors in Hyderabad, but marrying more than one minor in a single sitting."  Link to full article:
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2005-09-04/india/27865977_1_minor-girl-arabs-prospective-brides

Officials in the Indian state of Punjab have issued a warning to new brides: if you want to stay married, turn off your cell phone.  Authorities, naturally most if not all of them men, believe that young women's penchant for chatting and texting is to blame for recent divorces in the region.

Naturally, the advice has been met with derision by feminists, no one's suggesting that husbands get rid of their phones, after all.


Afghanistan

Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times, February 16, 2012, "For Punishment of Elder’s Misdeeds, Afghan Girl Pays the Price," covers the story of Shakila, eight at the time, who was drifting off to sleep when a group of men carrying AK-47s barged in through the door. She recalls that they complained, as they dragged her off into the darkness, about how their family had been dishonored and about how they had not been paid.  It turns out that Shakila, who was abducted along with her cousin as part of a traditional Afghan form of justice known as “baad,” was the payment.  Link to full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/world/asia/in-baad-afghan-girls-are-penalized-for-elders-crimes.html


Cambodia

A familiar sight in Southeast Asia is that of aging American and European men wedded to local women half their age.  The government is moving to curb these international May-December relationships.  The country has introduced regulations stipulating that foreign men must be younger than 50 to marry a Cambodian woman, and must earn more than $2,550 a month, a move by the government aimed at preventing human trafficking and false marriages.

It remains to be seen whether legislating romance works.  In any case, please note the built-in imbalance in such relationships, you do not see much of aging American and European women engaging in similar adventures.


Colombia

In one small town in Colombia, some 250 women are reportedly withholding sex from the men in their lives, in an effort to spur the local government to pave the area's main road.  The road connects the town of Barbacoas with the rest of of the country, and has been damaged of late by torrential downpours and flooding, making travel to hospitals and markets difficult.  The women figured a sex strike would get the men in town riled enough to pressure local authorities.

In other words, women are fighting inaction by men in regards critical subsistence and health needs with action of their own.  This is the only power women have here.


Malaysia

For Muslim women in Malaysia, there is a new club: the Obedient Wives Club.   Its aim is to teach women how to better please their husbands, including in the bedroom, to prevent the men from straying.  The club is partly in response to the fact that the divorce rate doubled in Malaysia from 2002 to 2009.

Naturally, many people in this progressive Muslim nation are appalled.  A Facebook group opposing the club has attracted more than 5,500 members, and some are calling for an Obedient Husbands Club.

Again, the blame for the rising divorce rate is borne only by women.

Unfortunately, the Wives Club is spreading, with new branches in Singapore and Jordan.


Egypt

Despite the fact that women were front and center during the 25 January, 2011 revolution, at times leading the charge, they are now being sidelined in the formation of a new Egypt.  In establishing a committee to amend the constitution to enable the country to hold the parliamentary elections, the military chose only men.  The appointed transitional government has only one female minister out of 27.

We also cannot forget what took place on March 9, 2011 when as reported by Amnesty International, in evacuating Tahrir Square, the military arrested eighteen female activists and subjected seventeen of them to forced virginity tests.  Or what happened at the end of last year, when soldiers beat one female protester, beating her with batons and undressing her.  One soldier kicked her face with his boot, another jumped on her breasts, leaving her lying there half-naked and lifeless.  The pictures of her dressed in a blue bra went around the world, no one seems to know what happened to her.

The 2011-2012 parliamentary elections produced only eight women in Egypt's new Parliament, that is 1.5%.  All political parties (not just Islamic parties) participated in this scandalous outcome, which is a slap in the face and a colossal setback to women's rights, roles and achievements in Egypt since the early 1900s!!! It is certainly too late to rectify this situation in the new Parliament.

While an equitable representation of women in the upcoming formation of the Constitutional Committee of 100 could fix this unfair imbalance, and restore a dignified representation of women "half the society" in policy-making, this is not likely to happen.  In fact, the new parliament is even considering revoking the so-called Personal Status Law that women fought for for years.  If the law is revoked, women could no longer initiate divorce - only men would have the right to do so.  Women would also lose the right to bring up their children beyond the age of nine. Fathers could then take away their children aged nine, not fifteen as the law states now.

The Muslim Brotherhood have stipulated that women representatives cannot vote for party leaders or serve on top committees, and that they need to understand and accept second class membership.

The Muslim Brotherhood have also been strongly cultivating the image of women relegated to supporting their husbands, bringing up children and helping other people, stating with conviction that men are more suitable to decide on women's issues in parliament anyway.

The Salafists are hard at work to force women to cover their faces, as demonstrated by their vigilante “morality police,” who have been roaming rural areas of Egypt.

The Salafists are also debating measures that would see women forced into retirement at 55, so that young men can take over their jobs. The Salafist Party of Light thinks it is a good way to reduce youth unemployment.

"Most men in Egypt, whether they're religious or not, do not respect the skills women have," according to Iman Bibars, chairwoman of the non-governmental organization Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women. She fears the situation may become even worse for women.

Researchers have established that it is no exaggeration to state that the Egyptian woman was freer and more honored in Egypt 4000 years ago than she is now.

Lisa Beyer, TIME, Novemebr 25, 2001, "The Women of Islam," writes: "For his day, the Prophet Muhammad, PBUH, was a feminist. The doctrine he laid out as the revealed word of God considerably improved the status of women in 7th century Arabia. In local pagan society, it was the custom to bury alive unwanted female newborns; Islam prohibited the practice. Women had been treated as possessions of their husbands; Islamic law made the education of girls a sacred duty and gave women the right to own and inherit property. Muhammad even decreed that sexual satisfaction was a woman's entitlement. He was a liberal at home as well as in the pulpit. The Prophet darned his own garments and among his wives and concubines had a trader, a warrior, a leatherworker and an imam."  She continues "Of course, ancient advances do not mean that much to women 14 centuries later if reform is, rather than a process, a historical blip subject to reversal. While it is impossible, given their diversity, to paint one picture of women living under Islam today, it is clear that the religion has been used in most Muslim countries not to liberate but to entrench inequality."  Link to full article:
http://www.time.com/time/world/printout/0,8816,185647,00.html

David Kirpatrick, the New York Times, January 10, 2012, wrote an article about women in Egypt, following the 25 January revolution.  The gist of it is that despite playing a large role in the protests that ousted President Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian women still face the restrictions of a patriarchal system.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/world/middleeast/egyptian-women-confront-restrictions-of-patriarchy.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Also, following the 25 January revolution, and this is actually an age-old phenomenon pertinent to the culture associated with an unreformed religion and societal norms not of a modern nation but that of a nation mired in centuries-old ideas and customs, sexual frustration among the youth has packs of young males harassing women on the street and at times helping themselves to a grope.

More recently, below link is an article by Joseph Mayton, February 12, 2012, "Egyptian Women Lash out at Presidential Hopeful Abu Ismail's veil comments" about Egyptian women's anger in regards presidential hopeful Hazem Saleh Abu Ismail’s comments that as president he would enforce the veil, or higab, on all women in the country, and that if they do not want to wear it, they have to change their “creed.”
http://bikyamasr.com/56841/egypt-women-lash-out-at-presidential-hopeful-abu-ismails-veil-comments/#.TzfjbHIHsvB.facebook

On February 23, 2012, Ingie Aly, a political activist and a candidate from Alexandria in the last elections for the Egyptian People's Assembly for the Egyptian Block party, filed a report with the tourism police against a tourist hotel in the city of Zagazig, Sharkia governorate.  Ms. Aly accuses the hotel of refusing to give her a room, in violation of the law, and the purpose for which the hotel is established.  Ms. Aly said in her report that she was there to visit the grave of her father, and that the hotel staff denied her a room, asking her to have an acceptable person, mother, sister, or brother as chaperone.


Iran, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and the more conservative Gulf countries

Overall, Bushra Jawabri and Talajeh Livani in an article publishedApril 25, 2006,"Women’s Rights in the Middle East and Islam," address the three main obstacles to the empowerment of women in the Middle East:

1. the lack of economic opportunities in the region as a whole,
2. the legal system in many Middle Eastern countries, where laws regarding marriage, divorce, custody, inheritance, nationality and others tend to reduce women’s legal power and rights, and
3. social constraints.

Link: http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=1666&lan=en&sp=0


Islamic and Poor Countries in General

In Islamic and poorer countries, men believe that the overriding responsibility of their wives is to go to bed with them, a much higher priority than taking care of their kids, preparing food, or maintaining their home.

Below link is to a startling three-minute video that provides detailed instructions on why, when, how and how much a man should beat his wife; and how fortunate she is that these rules have been provided.  Mainly, the beating is permissible if the wife refuses her husband sex, the rationale being that the husband cannot do without sex.  Let's say for the sake of argument that this is true... why is it women's responsibility to provide it?  Why is it okay to punish a woman physically if she refuses to satisfy a need that she did not cause?
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=1bd5834ef4&view=att&th=135adc323bb2ae67&attid=0.1&disp=safe&realattid=f_gyucjsik3&zw

Women, within such lives, denied by their husbands and religion the use of birth control, end up having too many children, losing their health in the process.

As if this total control over women is not enough, men can marry up to four women, inflicting similar miseries on the other wives.

In that vein, also Mot’a, Temporary or Orfi marriages are a common occurrence in many Islamic communities.  They are supposedly legal and according to authorities are established to address the increasing rate of rape and to help relieve men sexual needs.  These marriages are simply a piece of paper for the purpose of providing sexual relief for men, they impose no obligation on a man.  Legalized "Islamic Chastity Houses" have spread to provide temporary marriage Licenses.  This takes place under the watchful eye of some political and religious leaders, with no laws in sight prohibiting them.

It is critically important to note that the reverse in regards marriage options and satisfaction of sexual desire does not hold for women.  A married woman obviously does not have the right to marry a second time, a family girl caught frequenting a Chastity House will be shamed and done for.  And, these houses do not offer young men for women desiring clandestine sexual satisfaction.

In many instances, women are also the breadwinners, piling up more backbreaking lives on women, as well as more dominance by men who go on and claim the lion's share of what women earn.  Women still have to salvage enough of the earnings to feed the children and take care of daily life.

Moreover, if a wife were to be fortunate enough to inherit from her family, the husband avails himself at will of that as well, no questions asked.

If fathers require funds, they can and do sell their daughters to the highest bidders, invariably sentencing them to a life of slavery.


Muslim Women - Current Twenty-Three Issues

"Despite monolithic depictions in both Eastern and Western media, Muslim women  represent a diverse and heterogeneous sociological group. While they may  confront similar challenges or find common ground in some areas, the lived  experiences of Muslim women vary considerably, depending on the socio-historical  and political contexts in which they lead their lives."

This link http://www.wisemuslimwomen.org/currentissues/ gives a summary analysis of each of below current twenty-three issues confronting Muslim women today:

1. Access to Education
2. Access to Health care
3. Agency and Autonomy
4. Civic and Political Participation
5. Digital Technology
6. Domestic Violence
7. Dress Code
8. Early Marriage
9. Economic Equality and Inheritance Rights
10. Female Genital Cutting
11. Fostering Artistic Expression
12. Freedom to Choose Marriage Partner
13. Legal Sentencing
14. Parental Rights
15. Polygamy
16. Religious Education and Leadership
17. Representations in the Media
18. Separation and Divorce Laws
19. Sex Trafficking
20. Sports
21. Stigmatization of Rape and Honor Killings
22. Stoning
23. Testimony in Courts

Hillary Clinton on Middle East Women's Revolution

Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, in a rousing keynote speech at Newsweek and The Daily Beast’s Women in the World Summit, argued — backed by data from the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, and Goldman Sachs—that countries with poor records on women’s rights suffer economically and politically. Educating women, she said, raises income levels in developing countries. Educated women have better health, lower rates of infant and maternal mortality, and a greater likelihood of getting a job outside the home. When women earn and keep their own money, they spend more on their families and in their communities than men do, “creating a positive impact on future development.” Especially in the Arab world, she said, citing the 2005 Arab Human Development Report, empowering women is a “prerequisite for an Arab renaissance.”  See Lisa Miller's Mar 11, 2011 article on Clinton's speech in the Daily Beast "Hillary Clinton on Middle East Women's Revolution":
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/03/11/hillary-clinton-on-middle-east-womens-revolution.html

It is noteworthy that in the Arab world, women face a particular obstacle to achieving gender equality, that is that the concept is viewed as a Western import. This is a grossly ill-advised approach to development, it matters none how the West does it, women's participation and contribution in all aspects of life in the Arab world is an indispensable remedy for all sorts of political, economic and societal issues, issues major enough to effectively prevent any chance for progress, issues that ultimately will ransack the Arab world.


Old Times — Religion-Based Statements about Women

It is perfectly understandable if women are suspicious of religious books, it is also understandable that they believe that religious books were written by men on behalf of men.

Despite the enormous progress mankind has achieved with regard to women's status in societies, there still are a huge number of men worldwide who would rather see such progress stopped and even reversed.  Religious beliefs are a major weapon in those men's arsenal in that regard.

The most astounding aspect in all of this is that such beliefs, thoughts, ideas and traditions were conceived thousand of years ago, and precede the leaps and bounds by which humankind has progressed, helped by a vast body of knowledge, science and technology.

Religious beliefs must be reformed to accommodate the progress of modern life.  Logic and facts must have place in our beliefs.  It does not take a real high intelligence to question the veracity of some of the statements emanating out of religious books, if only because there are so many of these competing books.  If you were to ask an ultra-conservative Muslim or Christian or Jew, he or she will have no trouble at all analyzing the other two religions and finding serious holes in them.  We must overcome our fear of questioning religious statements and think critically about how many of them are twisted facts, flawed interpretations, selective out-of-context quotations, or simply made up by men thousand of years ago.  We must acknowledge that there is an enormous human element in all religions, and that these humans contributed to these statements without the benefit of advances in life over many centuries to date, in times where ignorance was the norm, cause and effect were ill-understood, priesthood was a high-status role, and conformity generated tremendous social pressure on people to accept at face value ill-conceived, self-serving and outrageous religious statements.

Consideration of below sample of statements should help prevent us from falling into cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy in understanding how long ago this war women have been forced to have with men started, how long ago the violence toward women by men has been dished out, and how long ago men have been hard at work to establish superiority, control and power over women.

The following statements pertain to Islam, Judaism and Christianity.  However, there should be no doubt that this onslaught on women's character, this gross degradation of women and this thinly veiled violence against women is prominently on display in all faiths around our world.


Islamic Statements

• A woman's mind is not the equivalent of a man's.  In a court of law, a man's testimony is worth that of two women.
• A woman is lewd, tempting, distracting men and causing havoc in society.
• A woman is forbidden to pray during menstruation — and a woman who decides to pray is told she is sinning and committing sacrilege.  This is used by men to indicate that women cannot be as religious as men, and to help remove women from active worship and participation in the community.
• Menstruation or post partum bleeding invalidates the fast during Ramadhan.
• If touched by a woman after he has prepared for a prayer, a man must wash again, as he would if touched by a dog.
• A woman must mourn her husband for four months and ten days no matter the pain, suffering and misery he may have inflicted on her during the marriage.
• A woman must cover her face so as not to seduce men.
• No matter how much praying, fasting, and pilgrimage a woman does in her lifetime, if her husband dies angry and not approving of her, she goes to Hell.
• A woman is cursed by the angels if she were not to satisfy her husband, such a reluctant woman's prayer will never reach Heaven because she frustrated her husband at night.
• A daughter is to inherit half her brother's inheritance, no matter what their respective circumstances and conditions are.
• A woman is to accept the possibility of her husband marrying three other wives, so long he comes to her six times a month.  No such provision is made for women.
• Men have more rights regarding divorce than do women.
• A man has the right to beat and discipline his wife.
• A father is destined to Heaven for having suffered through having daughters.
• If a husband disappears, a woman must wait four years before a judge can grant her a divorce.
• While men are purportedly smarter, wiser, more capable, efficient and refined, laws are such that a woman suffers the exact punishment of a man for a given crime.
• In Paradise, voluptuous women await men for sensual gratification.  No such provision is made for women.
• Women are ungrateful and unreliable.

Jewish Statements

The Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) generally viewed women in a negative light.  Women were considered inferior to men, sexually predatory, deceitful, untrustworthy and worthy of special punishment.

Women's behavior was extremely limited in ancient times, like that of Afghan women during the recent Taliban oppression. For example:

• Unmarried women were not allowed to leave the home of their father without permission.
• Married women were not allowed to leave the home of their husband without permission.
• They were normally restricted to roles of little or no authority.
• They could not testify in court.
• They could not appear in public venues.
• They were not allowed to talk to strangers.
• They had to be doubly veiled when they left their homes.

Now to a sample of statements:

• You shall not let live a sorceress - considering how easy it is to announce, shout or declare someone to be a sorceress, this writing puts women at a definite life-ending disadvantage.
• A virgin woman who has been raped must marry her attacker, no matter what her feelings are towards the rapist - this signals that the poor former virgin is now damaged goods, also has no right to turn down such ill-reasoned marriage.
• Some ancient rabbinical commentaries:   Women walk at the head of the funeral procession because woman brought death into the world.
• Rabbi Burt Visotzky: Rabbis don’t normally ask questions about women.
• Rabbi Visotzky: I am a rabbi and I have a vested interest in promoting rabbinical tradition. I recognize that friendliness to women is not part of the tradition.
• Tenth commandment:   "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's."  The wife is clearly regarded as equivalent to a piece of property.
• Divorce can be initiated only by the husband, not by the wife.
• A woman must be a virgin when she is married. If she has had sexual relations while single in her father's house, then she would be stoned to death.  No such requirement is placed on men.
• A soldier can force a woman captive to marry him without regard for her wishes.
• A vow taken by a man is binding. But a vow taken by a woman can be nullified by her father, if she is still living with him, or by her husband, if she is married.
• Moses describes the rules of inheritance that God has stated. If a man dies, his son inherits the estate; his daughter gets nothing. Only if there is no son, will his daughter inherit. If there are no children, then the estate is given to the man's brothers; his sister(s) get nothing. If he had no brother, the estate goes to his nearest male relative.
• A census counted only male infants over the age of one month, boys and men. Females were not considered worthy of being included.
• A child aged one month to five years of age was worth five shekels if a boy and three shekels if a girl.
• A woman who has given birth to a boy is ritually unclean for seven days. If the baby is a girl, the mother is unclean for fourteen days.
• A father could sell his daughter as a slave. A male slave was automatically given his freedom after six years; a female slave remained a slave forever.
• The Pharaoh ordered the midwives to kill all Jewish boys at birth, because of the threat that they might pose to the kingdom. The girls, being considered less important, were not seen as a threat; they were allowed to live.  What message was sent then!
• A man could marry as often as he desired.
• A man could simultaneously keep numerous concubines. These were sexual partners of an even lower status than a wife was and they could be dismissed when no longer needed.
• Adam's role is to be Eve's master.

Christian Statements

When considering the four Gospels in the Christian Scriptures (New Testament), one finds some biblical references promoting gender equality and others promoting female inferiority.  As to be expected, with men dominating the church, the latter biblical references took hold, as aptly outlined by an anonymously written pamphlet entitled "Why women need freedom from religion":  "The various Christian churches fought tooth and nail against the advancement of women, opposing everything from women's right to speak in public, to the use of anesthesia in childbirth...and woman's suffrage. Today the most organized and formidable opponent of women's social, economic and sexual rights remains organized religion. Religionists defeated the Equal Rights Amendment. Religious fanatics and bullies are currently engaged in an outright war of terrorism and harassment against women who have abortions and the medical staff which serves them."

Now to a sample of statements:

• The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.
• "I know this is painful for the ladies to hear, but if you get married, you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that's the way it is, period."
• Eve is born from man (taken from his rib) - is this not reversal in reality!
• Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church.
• I permit no woman to teach or have authority over men.
• As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active power of the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of a woman comes from defect in the active force or from some material indisposition, or even from some external influence.
• What is the difference whether it is in a wife or a mother, it is still Eve the temptress that we must beware of in any woman......I fail to see what use woman can be to man, if one excludes the function of bearing children.
• If women become tired or even die, that does not matter. Let them die in childbirth, that's why they are there.
• Most of these feminists are radical, frustrated lesbians, many of them, and man-haters, and failures in their relationships with men, and who have declared war on the male gender. The Biblical condemnation of feminism has to do with its radical philosophy and goals. That's the bottom line.
• Make dads the godly leaders of the family with the women in submission, raising kids for the glory of God.
• God, by creating Adam first and also by creating woman for man, has set the gender-based role and responsibility of males in the most basic unit of society (the family) to be that of leader, provider and self-sacrificial protector, and likewise has set the gender-based role and responsibility of females to help and nurture and give life under male leadership and protection.

Conclusion

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." - Albert Einstein.

To the great misfortune of humanity, men the world over, encouraged by religious beliefs, ignorance-induced traditions and men-produced legislation, believe they are superior to women, not considering for a moment the concepts of equality and partnership.

Religious fanatics, religious extremists, religious zealots, these insecure bullies must ultimately be made to understand that people the world over will not stand for that.  Women should not be made responsible for men's:

• sexual repression,
• fear of losing ground,
• need to feel superior,
• incompetence in worldly endeavours, and
• general impotence in the face of life needs.

The marginalization of women suits men just fine, emancipation of women and gender equality does not.  The traditional patriarchal order affords men male privilege, especially in the public sphere.  Associating women solely and predominately with sex makes it ultra-convenient to lock them up, maintaining the fabric of society as it has been, in great favor of men, for centuries.

Since it is widely acknowledged that the era of the Stone Age when men dragged women by the hair to and from caves and the time when Eve owed her existence to Adam are behind us.

Men must now be confronted on all fronts outlined above, particularly the fact that the days when brawn ruled; when men of the Arab peninsula, when travelling, tied their wives to a tree until their return; those days are drawing to a close, forever.  This four-minute video exquisitely demonstrates this fact.  The woman shown has smarts, and she can prevail over the object of her study, even though the object of her study could clearly overpower her.
http://www.baba-mail.com/View.aspx?emailid=690&memberid=747875

Political and moderate religious leaders, the media, the laws, governments and private sectors the world over must vigorously and aggressively pursue courses of action that promote an understanding of the fundamentally erroneous nature of believing that men are better than women or that they should have priority or advantage over women just because they are men or that they mean more to life than women or that they know more than women, all that nonsense that has been around since, well, the Stone Age.

Men must be educated on the serious drawbacks to their stubborn but harmful clinging to that superiority complex.  Around the world, this age-old persistent mentality of men has destroyed families, communities and nations.  Without the full participation and contribution of half its population, a nation stands no chance of developing and progressing away from poverty, disease and ignorance.  It is utterly stupid to think otherwise.  Women's input in all aspects of life is invaluable.

This seemingly eternal war men are waging against women must end if humanity is to effectively address the pressing and constant issues of our world today, because women have as much to offer as men, but they are by and large denied the right and opportunity to do so.  Even in the most modern of nations, this war and the implicit lack of morality in the unequal treatment of men and women is tearing the fabric of society.

There must be a concerted effort to delegitimize religion's prohibitions preventing women from being an effective force in the world, particularly in the work force.  We all know that women's rights and liberties are areas in need of serious reform.  Women must take their rightful place addressing the world's needs and issues and assume their rights, duties, and responsibilities toward their respective countries.

There are a lot of courageous defiant women, but there are also millions who realize how oppressed they are, yet do nothing about it.  Each woman on her own, in her house, at her job, in public must give her best to individualize the fight, only then the potential of collective gains will materialize.

Women are fighting a war with men on two fronts.  On one side men want women to cover up, the hijab, and be out of sight, while on the other side men would like to strip women naked and enjoy the show.  Women, while understandably apprehensive and worried, must vigorously continue the fight against this bipolar ideology.  They must continue to seek equality on all fronts, with emphasis on the morality of equality.  The two pictures below perfectly illustrate this point.  What is most fascinating, puzzling, and sad about these two pictures, is that both sets of women are dressed to please men, and that both sets of women seem to be buying in to how men want them to dress and behave.  What is ironic about these two particular pictures, is that all the women in each picture are dressed exactly the same.

Unrecognizable Women

Miss Earth 2010

I have always maintained, and here I am among millions of informed people worldwide, that without women fully engaged, fully participating, fully contributing to all facets of a modern democratic society where they are not prevented, discouraged or intimidated from living up to their duties and responsibilities for their country, we all will be barking up the wrong tree for eternity, no chance for true development.  You only have to look around - where do you find a modern nation where its women are ghosts?  Continuing the subjugation of women is simply wrong, unwise and unsustainable; it only moves countries backwards.

I conclude this essay with this remarkable appeal made long ago but ringing absolutely true today, of Matilda Josyln Gage, et. al,  "1876 Declaration of Rights" on the rights of women "...we declare our faith in the principles of self-government; our full equality  with man in natural rights; that woman was made first for her own happiness,  with the absolute right to herself - to all the opportunities and advantages  life affords for her complete development; and we deny that dogma of the  centuries, incorporated in the codes of nations - that woman was made for man -  her best interests, in all cases, to be sacrificed to his will. We ask of our  rulers, at this hour, no special favors, no special privileges, no special  legislation. We ask justice, we ask equality, we ask that all the civil and  political rights that belong to citizens of the United States, be guaranteed to  us and our daughters forever."

Oppression of women, injustice toward women or denying women basic human rights, if this continues, the war continues.


Hussein

© Dr Hussein A Amin 2011

hussein.amin45@gmail.com