Today I am going to be talking about how women are still oppressed in the Middle East. During this class we read a story about how a young girl was fortunate enough to escape the Middle East when they made it a rule that she had to wear a face covering all the time. This was very powerful to me because it shows how just because women have more rights here in America it does not mean that it is normalized around the world, and how horrible it must be for these women growing up. I feel like as an American I am aware that women are oppressed in the Middle East but I never really think about it. That is why this story was good because it really brings to light how bad these women have it.
Firstly women in the Middle East do not get a say in marriage. This means that the women do not get a say in who they marry, their marriage is decided by the man or their families. This leads into the second way women are oppressed in the Middle East, that being domestic violence. Domestic violence is a common occurrence in the Middle East, and it is obvious why with the fact that women don’t get a say in marriage. This leads to as you would guess many disputes where the man eventually ends up hitting the women which is horrible. To make things worst women are heavily discriminated against in divorces in the middle east. In the case of a divorce in the Middle East the men are more likely to be favored which doesn’t make any sense when the women didn’t even want to be married in the first place. Women are also discriminated against in health care, prison, and education. Women are not given permission to study abroad so that they are restricted to their sexist world where they won’t get any big ideas. Women need a mans to be released from prison in the Middle East, meaning they will only be released if they are released into the care of a man. Women are also discriminated against in the work place. To make everything worse they are oppressed in politics too. The authorities arrest activist women so they don’t spread their message causing uproar. This goes to show that there needs to be change in the Middle East.
