Thoughts on gender equality [Archives:2006/945/Reportage]
In the Yemeni society, women do not enjoy their full rights. For example, their political participation is barely recognized, and in most cases they are viewed as inferior to men.
Ms. Nahla Shuja Addin, a human -rights activist, says there are no people who are equal as everyone has his own personality and abilities. Some women in cities and some villages could get their political and economic rights. “But very few women had obtained their rights due to the nature of Yemen with its diverse geography and remote areas, where most women seek rights according to their abilities.”
According to Ms. Najla'a Al-Amri, a writer, equality exists when an individual feels to be a respectable human, able to exercise his or her rights. “so far a woman has not reached any level nearing equality between males and females In others' view, a woman at present has become more inferior physically, practically and humanly and achieved nothing. Repeated speeches regarding women equality are merely talk. Still, women are in a very bad status, especially as the majority of women are found in countryside.”
Al-Amri, pointed out that a woman can take up responsibility for anything within her abilities. “Males should perform their roles according to their abilities, and so should females. This is equality in my view.”
Ms. Muna Talba, Prof. of Quranic Studies at Ain Shams University, shed some light on the equality that women demand. “The equality in question is the equality of education, woman's rights to select a husband, her rights in inheritance and other legal rights that are guaranteed by Islam but hampered by traditions and customs.”
In comparison with the Egyptian woman, Talba noted that the Yemeni woman is as clever, learned and well-mannered as the Egyptian woman, and yet still there are big dissimilarities between them. Hopefully, the Yemeni woman would be in a better status, she concluded.
Regarding woman's achievements in equality, Ms. Rana Ghanem, head of Information at the Arab Sisters Forum, affirms there is still need to further enhance woman's status. By looking at the applied laws, there are obstacles that do not enable a woman to get the simplest form of her rights, such as political participation and inheritance rights. A Yemeni woman is most notably deprived of inheritance in countryside, Ghanem stated.
The equality, she went on to say, woman seeks and talks about is the equality that ensures equal citizenship rights. “Undoubtedly, there is a crisis in the concept of equality between man and woman: some think equality means deviation from and violation of Islamic religion. But by contemplating the holy verses, one can see that people are born free and equal.”
Ms. Basma Shaif thinks that the equality women seek, is to have the right to choose their own futures as well as their husbands. “There is no concept crisis regarding equality but utter refusal to understand the concept of gender equality. Man tries to give woman as he wants to the extent that he imposes on her his favorite meal. He prides himself on not confessing to woman's ideals as she has incomplete mind and faith. Thus, equality remains a mere sermon and logos that run counter to the reality of life.”
Dr. Belqis Abu Osbu', expert of Developmental Sciences at Sana'a University, made it clear that the equality women talk about exists when the woman becomes the man's partner in work, for no development can be achieved without women's participation. “The equality we demand is our rights in education, work, and everything stated in Islam. We do not ask for rights outside the frame of traditions, habits and the Yemeni constitution these demands would lead us all to equality, but woman should participate greatly for the sake of building development in the society as a whole.”
Mr. Izz Addin Al-Asbahi, director of Information & Human Rights Qualification Center, stated that equality required for women should be at the level of politics, economy, culture, and society. “In Yemen, woman is in need of not only legal equality, but also justice. The society has given woman incomplete right as she is still marginalized as far as political and social participation is concerned. That is why we see that women had not yet got their full rights at the political and functional level perhaps what we demand now is to remove injustice against woman, by giving the Yemeni woman positive status and places in all the bodies and community leadership so that she can be equal with man woman lacks a lot of social, political, and financial support and so she is unable to participate in all aspects of life. Yes, there is equality but not justice because man is distinguished by money, social relations, and leading posts It entails much effort to change the society's outlook and create widely social concept that enables woman to participate fairly in the daily life.”
Dr. Manjiah Al-Sawaihi, expert in Religious Studies at Al-Zaitonah University-Tunisia, said, “The equality woman wants and talks about is the equality in similarities, not difference. That is to say, woman, like man, has the right to involve in politics, economy, education, etc. man and woman are equal in these rights. So long as woman is competitive, she has the right to work and participate. This is the concept of equality in Islam.”
Sheikh Hussein Omer of Aden governorate affirms Islam did not discriminate between man and woman with regard to rights and duties. The Almighty God has ordered both of them to worship him equally.
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