The World Around Us: Women in the Middle East

The World Around Us:

Accepted Abuse of Women in the Middle East

In the 1920's, the United States made history by passing the Nineteenth Amendment allowing women to vote, a right that was previously foreign in all 50 states. This was the first time that society in the US validated that women are intellectually equal to men and were able to make an educated decision without male representation. We have made strides since then and our society, arguably, is non discriminative when it comes to gender. That is not the case all over the world. When one thinks about the places where gender is most unequal and when one thinks of where women are treated the most unfair, they may think of the Middle East. Middle Eastern population takes up about 3% of the entire world's population and their dominating religion, Islam, represents almost a third of the world's population at an astounding 31%. So Middle Eastern/predominately muslim countries are often the point of focus when presenting the notion of gender inequality which is exactly why it needs to be addressed. 

According to a UN report, 99.3% of women report being sexually harassed with 96.5% of them saying that the harassment was physical. Being in public is much more dangerous and unwelcoming for women in the Middle East and in Northern African countries than it is for a woman in the United States. Women are often accompanied in public with their families and are often seen going out alone; it is said that persuading women to stay home is for their own protection. Ironically, while they are home, women face the most danger. More than 40% of women reported abuse in their own homes and due to the laws set, they have little ability to press charges against spouses who may be abusing them. In situations of rape, women are looked down upon. Not only are they often blamed but they can even be punished under law and encouraged to marry the man who inflicted the heinous act.