(no subject)
After talking extensively with a friend from Pakistan, I realize not all Arab countries have the same view of women, even if the laws resemble each other. To cite an example, I'm from Saudi Arabia, where women are not allowed to drive cars. A lot of westerners like to cite this as proof that we have misogyny in SA, but I don't think that's the case. In SA, it's considered a heavy form of manual labor to move a vehicle that weighs as much as a car does; even if no physical exertion goes into it, it's still sort of seen as "mule work." Women are banned from driving cars because in SA we don't believe women should exert themselves. For that reason, women also can't be construction workers. Women are very highly revered in Saudi Arabia. I can remember being as young as five and men would jump up to open doors for me if I entered a building. I remember one man calling me "little Fatima" (Fatima was the most beloved wife of Muhammad, so this is the highest possible compliment you can give to a woman). So yes, sharia and purdah are very frequent in SA, but only because women are revered and thought of as goddesses in a sense. Men see us as something to protect. We are by no means objectified as the west would have you think. In Saudi Arabia, more than half of university students are female. We are seen as the wise, and thus something that must be kept sheltered and nurtured, like beautiful roses. And to be honest, I kind of miss that chivalrous mindset. The west just plain sucks in comparison. Women just don't have the same opportunities over here and are often subject to the "slut" treatment. Only the west is like this, and it's atrocious. Men back home would balk at the disgusting way the western world thinks of its women.
On the other hand, my good friend Reza Mul-Adin tells me that though Pakistan has many of the same laws regarding women, his newspaper recently published an article about a young woman from the countryside who was gang-raped by a powerful family, and her nine-year-old brother was also sodomized by them; and though the federal government moved to punish her attackers, municipal law stepped in to protect them under falsified sharia law.
I think of SA and Pakistan as opposite sides of the same coin. In SA the national government has more power and militant presence than the municipal, whereas in Pakistan the opposite is very much true. Even if you're a Pakistani, that doesn't matter; what matters is if you're from Karachi, or Islamabad, or etc. The city's government has more power than the nation's. And that's...a bit odd. But what can you do except try to fight it.
On the other hand, my good friend Reza Mul-Adin tells me that though Pakistan has many of the same laws regarding women, his newspaper recently published an article about a young woman from the countryside who was gang-raped by a powerful family, and her nine-year-old brother was also sodomized by them; and though the federal government moved to punish her attackers, municipal law stepped in to protect them under falsified sharia law.
I think of SA and Pakistan as opposite sides of the same coin. In SA the national government has more power and militant presence than the municipal, whereas in Pakistan the opposite is very much true. Even if you're a Pakistani, that doesn't matter; what matters is if you're from Karachi, or Islamabad, or etc. The city's government has more power than the nation's. And that's...a bit odd. But what can you do except try to fight it.