There has been an increase in gossip and divergence about the issue of women’s rights. In order to stress the importance of the rights of women we have a tendency to mention anecdotes and events from the life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
However, it is a sad reality that in practice there are many complications in the way Arab communities in general and the Gulf communities in particular give women their rights.
Women still do not have equal education opportunities with men. They still do not receive complete support and encouragement in the job market — men continue to feel that they have priority over women when there is a vacancy. Even in the judiciary, the system is more suiting to men — men are in charge of decision- and policy-making and women are pushed away to the sidelines.
Discrimination against women is something obvious. Employers prefer not to hire women because they tend to get pregnant and then have the right to go on maternity leave.
The Freedom House (a research institute that is primarily government-funded and headquartered in Washington, DC) in coordination with the Center for Study of Islam and Democracy (a non-profit organization, also based in Washington DC, that has dedicated itself to studying Islamic and democratic political thought and merging them into a modern Islamic democratic discourse) carried out a new study titled Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Citizenship and Justice.
The study concluded that there is a huge gap in rights and freedoms between the two sexes in countries analyzed. Participants drew an image combined of different forms of women status in countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Morocco.
The study researched 16 countries and reached the conclusion that in spite of progress made in relation to women’s rights in some countries, most of them failed in many areas.
In ranking the countries in accordance to what each country scored in providing women with their rights to legal, political, security and personal freedom, Tunisia and Morocco came at the top whereas Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries come at the bottom.
We have to admit that in dealing with women we still need enlightenment. I don’t mean enlightening men only because some women are still imprisoned in routine forms of living and don’t want to transform themselves to becoming a reflection of the actual image of the woman who contributes effectively in her society. Examples of this can be found in Islamic history and our shared heritage.
