While women continue to strive for being equalized as men Male chauvinism still dominates [Archives:2003/627/Community]
March 17 2003
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Yemen Times Staff
[email protected]
The whole world celebrated the Women International Day, (March 8) and Yemen is among those countries. Women in advanced countries have been given an easy access to all walks of life. Allowing women to participate in all issues relating to life, is a signalling achievement of progress towards a full equality among all citizens in any community.
In a country like Yemen, women have actually made laudable strides in economic, social, political and cultural fields.
Women's increasingly active participation despite the considerable difficulties and obstacles of the past two decades is certainly attributable to the increase in educational facilities. That is, women are not simply restricted to housework but have started taking up roles in economic, political and cultural life of our society.
However women's increased contact with the outside world has created some difficulties for them which may, at many times, lead to their encountering with the law, either as a violator of the law or as a victim of crime.
In both cases, women are subjected a law which is written and implemented by men.
The following are some viewpoints on the women's parts and how do men in particular perceive them at work or as a housewife.
Dr. Mohammed Mohammed M. Arrajehi, a physician
Women in our country are perceived as inferior and sometimes they are treated scornfully. “People see that women should stay at home and to bring children up and working outside is an unacceptable behavior,” Arrajehi said.
As for women working in the health sector as a doctor or a nurse, the society has a different point of view. This manifests itself when a women for instance offers medication services to a women. “In this case a woman doctor should in receiving treatment should depend on women,” he added further.
Dr. Mohammed sees that women's work these days is necessary and that a woman should at least help man particularly in such deteriorating economic conditions.
“I think, if the woman's work doesn't negatively affect her familial atmosphere, therefore it is socially acceptable. At the same time, she shouldn't discard the other side of her duty, to educate and bring her kids up. Women's work these days is indispensable to bear the burdens of the day-to-day life,” he further noted. The Yemeni women, whether educated or uneducated, have played a greater role to support man both in cities and in the countryside. “We see her always supporting man in every aspect of life. Accordingly, they have occupied high jobs in the state,” he highlighted.
Hamdi Ali bin Ali, a university student, said that women are pampered creatures that have to be taken care of before anything else. “Women by nature have stubborn streak and tend to be more severe. If they are given carte blanche, they take down their noses at anything they face and that is why men should show passionate and tender heart towards them,” he said.
Perhaps Hamdi has strict point of view towards women and seems to be a male chauvinist because he is totally against woman's work outside, “Nowadays terms such as, men-women and women-men equality have come into existence. Man is a man and women is a women and there is no room for talking,” he further noted.
“She is the housekeeper, housewife and that her duty is restricted to nurture, educate, cherish and bring her children up,” he said.
Hamdi has expressed his resentment towards some women and girls these days, “Nowadays, it a real eye-opener when the culture of tobacco pipes, cafe and mobile fashion have widely spread among women, particularly, in a conservative society like Yemen,” he said.
He further give pieces of advises to such kind of women to discard being overindulged in unwanted things or panting after setting the fashion. “Don't believe it. It is all rubbish,” he further commented.
“Make yourself a good example of a true mother and a true woman who has a vital role in educating children and bringing them up in a good manner based on the true Islamic principles,” he concluded.
Abdullah Abduh Qaed, an artist, said that women by nature are shier than men and above all, she is loquacious and you can not get a word in the edgeways. “If she couldn't find a companion to talk to, she talks to the mirror,' he said.
They are faultfinders and on the verge of tears.
As for the society and how they perceive women Abdullah said that woman by nature is weak, unable to face difficulties boldly as that of man.
Fuad Abdulqader al-Abbasi, Student's Affairs Director, College of Education, Sana'a University
It is noticeable that most of the Yemeni universities whether private or public , girl students have gained the attention focus by the state.
This has been done with a view of raising a healthy competition with her class- mates. All learning facilities at the universities are readily accessible starting from her entering classes till her graduation. “She is given more privileges, more than her male classmates,” he said.
The Yemeni universities have also encouraged women's candidates in order to compete with their male candidates in the student's elections.
Undoubtedly, those privileges greatly encourage women to be creative and productive. This has been statistically shown when female students got the best if compared to her classmates of male students. “
During recent years, the learning percentage of both male and female students have been ranging from 60 percent to 40 percent.
This is an indication of the good progress on the part of the girl students at the university. This is a clear testimony of the democratic tendency taken by the leadership towards enlarging the women's horizons in all aspects of life.
They have an access to practice their democratic freedom freely and go for election whether in parliament or the local councils and some port folios.
Abdurazaq Moghram, information ministry employee, said that if a woman is good, she could generate a good society. It is because she is the one who can greatly nurture the young generation, because she is closer to them more than man.
Women's role is not confined to the house, she should help man in every aspect of life whether in politics or in giving opinions. This will prepare the way for women to participate in building the society efficiently. But one thing should be taken into consideration is that her duty at home should be given priority. Throughout history women have pioneering role in building up societies and prominent figures.
Fahd Hamoud Ahmed Sultan, English teacher, like Abdurazaq, shares the same idea that women through history have played a vital role since the beginning of man's civilizations and the creation of the universe. The first seeds of the man-women relationship was successfully represented by the father of mankind Adam and Eve.
There has been a great controversy upon the role of women's attitude in building human civilization and information technology. This has represented itself by whether should women stay at home or go to work, studying at the university. Several questions pose themselves and in need of urgent solutions.
Since time immemorial, specifically during the Islamic era, women performed the role of a doctor and a nurse. She was entitled to bandaging up the injured warriors. This role is similar to the role of a nurse today.
Women's work outside doesn't constitute a problem if we do still adhere to the Islamic principles. She is the active half of community. It is shameful to deprive her of coping with every thing new. She has the talent and perhaps exceeds man in this respect. She is as sharp-witted as man. Why do we make her frustrated under pretext of being mixed with man. If the matter is so, why don't we establish girls universities, or hospitals,? Why don't we seek for better alternatives where Islam is innocent and away from this?
Fahd in this regard sees that women in cities are exposed to the state-of-the-art technologies and immoral urbanization, “Women in villages are not affected by the latest fashions as that in the urban areas,” he said.
“But I want to suggest here that some of those women are indulgently diving in the new technology and this has negatively affected their way of life,” he said.
Those who consider women as a matter of satisfying desires are without a shadow of doubt, beasts of burden and mentally backward.
“To conclude, I want to point a significant point which is crucial and easy to be accepted by women. That is, they are exposed to the intellectual invasion because they are by nature docile creatures. This clearly manifests itself when the entire world has become a mini-village under such nomenclatures, as that of globalization,” he highlighted further.
Eng. Adnan Ali A. Moghram, Geological Survey and Mineral Resources Board, placed great stress on that women have a leading role in building up societies and civilizations.
“More in sorrow than in anger is that some male employees are swarming around the female ones, which in away or another have greatly distorted their manhood,” he said. “We in this case don't oppose women to be sociable but it should be within acceptable limits,” he further noted.
That is not only enough, we have heard and perhaps seen that women are perceived as inferior as Dr. Mohammed has mentioned earlier. This is a tangled problem where our society has become unaware of. Efforts to deal with the crisis of male chauvinism or violence against women, in its many forms, have been fragmented by the boundaries of academic disciplines and professional allegiances. Academicians and clinicians are speaking to those most like themselves in relatively closed groups, not hearing the numerous voices that need to be heard if we are to develop a full understanding of the problem and a comprehensive strategy for addressing it.
Physiological studies indicate that one man's violence against one woman may seem to result from his individual psychological problems, sexual frustration, unbearable life pressures, or some innate urge toward aggression.
Though each of these “reasons” has been used to explain and even justify male chauvinism, they oversimplify a complex reality: Men have been taught to relate to the world in terms of dominance and control, and they have been taught that male dominance is an acceptable method of maintaining control, resolving conflicts, and expressing anger. When a boss harasses an employee, he exerts his power to restrict her freedom to work and improve her position.
When a batterer husband uses beatings to confine his wife to hose and to prevent her from seeing friends and family or from pursuing outside work, he exerts dominance and control. Whether or not an individual man who commits an act of violence views it as an expression of power is not the point. The fact that so many individual men feel entitled to express their frustration or anger by being violent to so many individual women shows how deeply these lessons of dominance and violence have been learned. Countless daily acts of violence create a climate of fear and powerlessness that limit women's freedom of action and control many of the movements of our lives.
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