Women's rights in muslim countries

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31st July 2012
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF LACK OF WOMEN RIGHTS IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES.
There has been a raging debate on the rights and freedoms of women in Muslim countries. This is due to increased discrimination and outright denial of equal access to the basic provisions of life like education, right to associate and property ownership to the girl child. This has made many Muslim societies be depicted in a negative light in regard to promotion of rights of women. There have been several reports all over the globe where women suffer all kinds of mistreatment and abuse. These actions have portrayed most Muslim countries as conservative and unwilling to acknowledge that women rights are human rights. The denial of equality to women has reduced their participation in social, cultural and economic development of their societies. This is despite the fact that women are the majority in most of these societies.
Education of the girl child.
In most Muslim societies, girls are denied the right to attend school like their male counterparts. Most parents deny their girls this right (Flinn 8). Girls are allocated menial duties in the home like cooking and house keeping. This is in total contravention of the Muslim teachings of sharia that require women and men to be equally educated. This incapacitates the girl child by making her less advantaged in society. Such girls cannot compete for opportunities in employment since they are not equipped with any skills or knowledge. Such girls are often married off in their teens and become house wives very early in their lives. This has led to the low development of such societies and backwardness. Many talented girls are just wasted by these negative connotations perpetuated by their parents. This leads to the slow development of these societies since a significant part of it is not involved in making of decisions.
Exploitation of the girl child.
When the girls are denied the right to attend school, they are often allocated duties in the home in the guise of preparing them to become responsible house wives. They are subjected to child labor through working for long hours in some dangerous environments. Some girls are required to participate in hawking of wares in markets to supplement family income. They are forced to spend long hours moving from place to place. This exposes them to pedophiles who exploit then sexually. The exploitative nature of these tasks makes the girl child suffer physically and mentally. This affects the social, physical and moral development of the girl child. Such children development fear and resentment towards the society. The escalation of these acts has always portrayed most Muslim governments in a bad light. The governments have been depicted as being inept and insensitive to the promotion of equality in society (Smith 33). Such governments have scored poorly in human rights circles due to lack of any policies a...