Women must take a larger role in Muslim societies. For many patriarchal reasons of culture, location on the planet, and stages of development, women have been disenfranchised in many parts of the Muslim World for millennia. But for the sake of peace in the world, the status of women in Islamic society must change.
I am told that true Islam does not dictate this disenfranchisement. But the role of women in Islamic society, as it now stands, has been forged into the religion by patriarchal regimes. Their continued dominance is partially dependent upon their espoused justifications for the role of women in Islam today. Some seem to believe that their treatment of women in Islam is justified by the concept contained in old American adage, "How can you keep them down on the farm after they've seen Paris?"
The strident calls of their sisters in the West cannot help Muslim women. Women in the West have, with great sacrifice, taken back their role in society, especially over the past 150 years. They still have some way to go in order to enjoy full equality. I do not deny that winning rights and freedoms, such as those our women enjoy in the United States, can only come from sacrifice. It is a truth that no one can make a change of this magnitude from outside. The change must come from within.
How do the inevitable vendettas and feuds, like those developing throughout the Muslim world, get solved? How did the Catholic v. Protestant conflict in Ireland get solved, though it festered for more than 400 years? How do feuds, like the Hatfields and McCoys get resolved? They get resolved when the community decides that it will live in peace.
When people are carrying AK47s and condoning violence, as long as that violence happens to the other group, there will be no end. After the first year, there is no "even" in a feud, because no one knows what "even" is. No one can tally the losses on either side, and say that there can be an end, because "we are even." This certainly applies to the 1,500-year-old feud between the Sunnis and the Shi'a.
Members of each society must decide that they will raise their children in peace, and settle their differences through peaceful means. Only when that happens will there be an end to Revolution 2.0 in the Arab world. It sounds stupidly simplistic, but it is so.
Regretfully, many parts of the Middle East represent the unfortunate results of a several millennia experiment on what happens when you have testosterone uncivilized by estrogen. Every family started with at least one woman, and most households have at least one, even today. If Muslim women accept that the sacrifice for gaining their rights must be theirs, and begin insisting that there be non-violence in their societies, it will be so. Women have their ways!
To those patriarchs who claim that women are the weaker sex, and must be protected, I say, "Why don't you try to have a baby, brother, and we'll see who's the strongest? Why don't you try living with you, in the ways you require, and we'll understand which is the strongest sex?"
The way Muslim societies have developed, from an evolutionary point of view, is understandable. But the way to avoid decades of bloodshed is to recognize that it is time for the empowerment of women in Islam and the Muslim world. The role of women in Islam must evolve much further and very quickly in order to mitigate further catastrophes.
I am told that true Islam does not dictate this disenfranchisement. But the role of women in Islamic society, as it now stands, has been forged into the religion by patriarchal regimes. Their continued dominance is partially dependent upon their espoused justifications for the role of women in Islam today. Some seem to believe that their treatment of women in Islam is justified by the concept contained in old American adage, "How can you keep them down on the farm after they've seen Paris?"
The strident calls of their sisters in the West cannot help Muslim women. Women in the West have, with great sacrifice, taken back their role in society, especially over the past 150 years. They still have some way to go in order to enjoy full equality. I do not deny that winning rights and freedoms, such as those our women enjoy in the United States, can only come from sacrifice. It is a truth that no one can make a change of this magnitude from outside. The change must come from within.
How do the inevitable vendettas and feuds, like those developing throughout the Muslim world, get solved? How did the Catholic v. Protestant conflict in Ireland get solved, though it festered for more than 400 years? How do feuds, like the Hatfields and McCoys get resolved? They get resolved when the community decides that it will live in peace.
When people are carrying AK47s and condoning violence, as long as that violence happens to the other group, there will be no end. After the first year, there is no "even" in a feud, because no one knows what "even" is. No one can tally the losses on either side, and say that there can be an end, because "we are even." This certainly applies to the 1,500-year-old feud between the Sunnis and the Shi'a.
Members of each society must decide that they will raise their children in peace, and settle their differences through peaceful means. Only when that happens will there be an end to Revolution 2.0 in the Arab world. It sounds stupidly simplistic, but it is so.
Regretfully, many parts of the Middle East represent the unfortunate results of a several millennia experiment on what happens when you have testosterone uncivilized by estrogen. Every family started with at least one woman, and most households have at least one, even today. If Muslim women accept that the sacrifice for gaining their rights must be theirs, and begin insisting that there be non-violence in their societies, it will be so. Women have their ways!
To those patriarchs who claim that women are the weaker sex, and must be protected, I say, "Why don't you try to have a baby, brother, and we'll see who's the strongest? Why don't you try living with you, in the ways you require, and we'll understand which is the strongest sex?"
The way Muslim societies have developed, from an evolutionary point of view, is understandable. But the way to avoid decades of bloodshed is to recognize that it is time for the empowerment of women in Islam and the Muslim world. The role of women in Islam must evolve much further and very quickly in order to mitigate further catastrophes.
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