Women in Iraq

"Wow" is all I can say after reading Fang's "The Talibanization of Iraq". I had no idea that this was going on in Iraq and I can not imagine how these women are feeling. It was interesting to learn that times are actually harder for women since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime and that he actually encouraged women to go to school and enter the workforce. Living in a free country like the U.S., it is hard to fathom not being able to dress the way I would want, get a job, go to school, or even walk to the grocery store without the fear of being sexually assaulted or murdered. Also, to know that if I am raped or murdered my body may not be claimed because of my family being fearful is somewhat understandable, considering the times in Iraq, but to know my body wouldn't get claimed because they are ashamed is just heartbreaking. What is so shameful about your own daughter/wife/sister being wrongfully and brutally murdered? The way women are perceived in Iraq completely blows my mind. Why do they feel that women are evil? How did this way of life begin? For violence against women to be committed by "everyone around you" in Iraq, it seems as though it is going to take A LOT of time before things can and will change. Im not sure if things are still this way in Iraq but I hope more women's rights activists are taking stands and doing what they can to help the women of Iraq.

Time to reveil me..

The Taliban on Iraq really gave me an insight of what happened after the fall of regime. To be quite honest, I guess I just didn't think about what happened to all the women in Iraq. Of course, we all know the stereotypes put out on Iraqi women and considered them as very oppressed because of all the things they are faced with but reading this story is very saddening. With the limited rights they had, they way they HAD to dress, not being safe at home or on the streets, having to hid, violence and the list could go on. It seemed as if women don't really matter at all after Suddam Husssein's regime, as if they aren't there anymore. What really stuck out to me was the percentage of women who were literate. According to UNESCO, in 1987, 75 percent of women were literate, and 13 years later it dropped to LESS than 25 percent?! That's absolutely crazy to me!!

I really do believe that Muslim women are being oppressed by having to wear a veil, and having to cover every inch of their body. Oh wait, they can reveal their eyes and hands! It's the men who can't control themselves and I believe this is why the women have to cover up. Here we are again, step 1, men having power and control over women. Brainwashing these women to make them believe it's respect. My sister once dated a Muslim man and all the women in his family were covered. But I do remember a party of the women's that I went to and not one of the girls were covered. It's kind of sad to see how relieved they were to not be covered up but once the men were coming to pick them up, they either hid or quickly changed. These women are getting raped for not wearing their veil and covering up!! This is crazy to me and leads me back to men. They can't control themselves and have to be in authority!

Do they need help?

Two of the stories we read have to do with the rights of women being given to them but for some reason those rights did not mean much. In “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving” by Lila Abuh-Lughod women were given the freedom to take of the clothing they wear to cover their bodies and face, but they are not doing it. The story of “The Globe Trotting Sneaker” by Cynthia Enloe women are giving up their rights just so they can have a job. Women know that they can move on in life and not be so dependant on men, but men still find a way to keep them down. The reading of “Do Muslim Women Need Saving” reminded me of a scene from the movie Sex in the City 2.
The movie is taking place somewhere in the east. But the four friends are in a place where women cover themselves up from head to toe. One of the friends gets in trouble and the men from there want them out so they follow them. The girls finally find a place to hide with the help of one of the women. The four friends are hiding in a room full of women who are covered. But after a while the women take of their veils and show their clothing underneath which is all clothing from New York, which is where the four friends are visiting from. This scene showed that while women are accepting how the men want them to dress they still found a way to have their own style. But I wonder what would happen if men found out about this?

After is Worst Than Before

The Talibanization of Iraq shed some light on what really happened to women after the end of Saddam Hussein. With everything (propaganda) being shown to us about the terrible things women had to go through. With the way they had to dress to the limited rights they had, we in the United States were in horror of the way women were treated.
It doesn’t seem probable that women would be treated worst after the fall of Saddam, being given the way he led the country. At least during his reign women were able to be educated and hold a job. Then once he was gone, the value of a woman declined greatly. They were no longer safe as well as they were under Saddam’s regime. It was no longer safe for them to walk the streets without the fear of being harassed if their clothing wasn’t “right.” That does not make any sense to me.
It’s very admirable of the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq to be stepping in to help the women who might need it most. However there is so much more that needs to be done to change the deplorable treatment of women. It doesn’t seem fair that, as opposed to our western way of thinking, there are others in another part of the world who are living a third-class lifestyle: living in fear, poverty and male domination. Of course there is all of that we must live with as well but not of the caliber in Iraq. I think that more can be done to fight this oppression but in a better way than using bombs. Ideally if everyone had similar understandings of the values of a person, then maybe this problem would be less common. All I’m saying is that there has to be a change and it has to start inside.

unreVEILing

If the laws on women in the Middle East have not turned them into complete masochists, then glory to them. I mean, what's worse than being under a veil at temperatures that on average peak the 90's-- Men, men is to blame for all this crap. Every women has to be an abiding citizen if they are Muslim, not to rain on the Muslim parade here, but aren't we in the 21st century? For God sakes, they are not granting women any rights. Women are being persecuted, abused, tortured, raped, and above all, they are being ransacked of their very own human rights, which is to simply live a life. Why is it that in this culture women have to cover up every inch of their body with minute showing of the eye area and the hands. Why don't we do what France did on April 11, 2011 and fine every person that cover their face with a veil, that'll cost you 150 euros. The oxymoron here in this story, is that in which Muslim men who spot a woman not wearing a veil will torture and at times even rape a woman??? Wait, wait, wait, wait, say what? Rape? A woman in a suit who is not showing any section of her cleavage is raped, apparently Muslim men get a hard-on by watching luscious hair dance freely in the wind, yes, yes, yes, if I ever wanted to be successful, I should start a soft-porn magazine in the Middle East which shows cases every type of hair. My point here is, Muslim men apparently can't grow up, I'm not by any means stating that all Muslim men are rapists or murderers, I'm stating in the overall concept of veiling, women don't quite have a say in any of this. Women socialist groups are even terrorized to go into Iraq and try and reform the mess that is present.

For the Love of Money

I have always been aware of the fact that shoe companies manufactured their products overseas, inparticular Nike. I had heard of them doing this years ago, but I had no idea that the wages they paid these women were so low. According to Enloe, hourly wages in China range from $0.10-$0.14, Indonesia from $0.16-$0.20, Thailand from $0.65-$0.74 and South Korea $2.02-$2.27. If this is not exploitation, I don’t know what is. These women have nowhere else to go for money and these companies know that. Nike and other companies are spending no money to get their products made and they charge high prices to the American consumer. Any company that can make a $298 million dollar profit knows what they are doing. However, when does money stop being the number one concern. All they care about is making a profit and they are willing to go through any means to make it. If the real concern was making a good product, they would manufacture their products here in the U.S. which could provide jobs for people here and help stimulate the economy. In fact if all U.S. companies manufactured their products in the U.S., we would not have the economic problems that we have today. There would be so many more jobs for people in the U.S. These companies try to make it seem like they are providing these people in other countries an opportunity to work and make money. They make it seem as though they are doing a service to them by providing them with work. We all know that’s B.S. They are doing it for their own selfish reasons to make a profit. If they were really concerned with giving them an opportunity to work, they would pay them a real hourly wage that they could actually live off. They would never pay them wages that they would pay workers in the U.S. Unfortunately, money makes people do the most immoral of things.

Life Under the Veil

The typical belief surrounding Muslim women is that they are in fact oppressed, discouraged, and mistreated by the men in their country. Although these things are true in some cases, I would like it to be realized that the veiling of Muslim women is at all times a cultural aspect and a part of their religion. The Quran states that women must be covered, and not seen. Nowhere in the Quran does it explicitly state that women must veil themselves or even wear hijabs. The veiling of women is something that was adopted by Islam from the Byzantine and Persian empires. In today's world western feminists see the veil as a symbol of oppression; however, to many Muslims it is a symbol of empowerment and rejection of Western culture, as well as a way to put themselves closer to their God. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the way women are treated in the Middle East, but I feel as that most people do not fully understand the meaning of the veil to Middle Eastern culture. Those are the true intentions of the veil, but there is also the negative aspect to it.

In the Middle East women are treated with such scrutiny that it would make an American woman’s head spin. In some countries, like Iran, women must completely clothe themselves from head to toe. In fact, they must actually go forth and hide their own figure. It is strongly believed in their culture that men cannot control themselves; this is why it is up to women to cover themselves so drastically. Aside from this, women cannot walk the streets alone; they must be with a man at all times, but not just any man. This man must be blood related, for if the woman is caught walking the streets with a man who isn’t family then she is called a whore, slut, and prostitute. What’s worse is that she is either taken to jail or beaten by mobs for her actions. The books “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi discuss this type of life style and living condition for woman in Iran, who does not even have to be Muslim to be veiled. It is in situations like these when the veiling is oppressive, and therefore must be stopped. I believe that the treatment of woman in these foreign countries is wrong, but being uniformed on the topic is even worse.