Gender Division
September 9th, 2008We learn from the news that a new sex separation park, called “Mothers’ Paradise,” was recently opened for women in Tehran. Under the Sharia abiding regime of Mullahs in Iran, “Mothers’ Paradise” is not the only sex-segregated park in Iran. Such only-for- women parks have already been established in other Iranian cities, including Mashhad and Qom. It is also rumoured that plans are underway for single-sex hospitals and women-only public transport. Such plans are to create an Iranian society based on the Islamic moral of strict gender division.
In general, where the religious values are dominant, gender – discrimination remains influential at all levels in society. Semitic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), not differently from the primitive or undeveloped cultures, adamantly conserve their gender-biases. In this article, I try to make clear that gender – inequalities in Islam go beyond the above characters of other Semitic religions.
As I described in a previous article (Non-Mahram), the main reason of gender-inequalities in Islam has roots in a traditional division of society into two groups of “mahram” and “non-mahram.”-the maharam group contains the non-marriageable members of family, whereas non-mahram refers to the rest of society.
The two sources of Islam, namely the Koran and “Hadith” (sayings of the Prophet) have not fixed a dress code deeming an Islamic standard of clothing for women. Gender – related restrictions, by which many devout Muslims abide, have been largely exaggerated by influential Muslim fanatics and hence coerce women to abide by an Islamic dress to cover their body from the eyes of a non-mahram.
Besides Islamic hijab, in relation to the dogma of non-mahram, a series of social norms and attitudes has been emerged. For example, a Persian ,moral, word like “Khirat”, as routine as might be, has no real equivalence in modern languages. It defines a man’s moral right to defend the taboo red lines around the body of his mahram circle (mother, sister, wife…)–this “moral right” may even lead to honour crimes in Islamic communities.
Non-mahram is a very influential dogma in the Islamic societies. It forms character formation at the level of a collective culture from which we can retrace the footsteps even in Islamic architecture– palaces, mosques, madreseh (traditional school), all of which are based on a division of mahrams from non-mahrams or gender-segregation. Also, non-mahram’s taboo values have left red lines in the Iranian post Islamic art, literature and especially in the sex segregation of school system.
Because Shah Isma’il Safavid decided to impose Shiite sect on Iranian people at the beginning of 16th century, he had to import Shiite Mullahs from Arab countries to help the process of Shiitisation. Facing his rival of the Sunnite Ottoman Empire, the process was for the Shah existentially important. As a state religion, Shiism was violently established with the spiritual guidance of the imported Mullahs– who allegedly were the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad.
Since these influential Mullahs enjoyed living among the urban population and became an elite class under both the Safavid and Qajar dynasties, their Sharia-based teachings of Islam affected directly urban women, rather than rural women. Therefore, rural and tribal life in Iran remained relatively intact from the invasion of non-mahram side-effects.
As Nikki R. Keddi, author of Modern Iran, described, in Iran and the Middle East, nomadic tribeswomen do most of the tribe’s physical labour. They are unveiled and are less segregated than urban women. Rural women also do hard physical work and “reports from the nineteen century indicate that they were mostly unveiled. Veiling has been mainly an urban (and hence minority) phenomenon.” As mentioned, the separation of men and women is not a tradition of Iranian culture, but a product of Islamic-based ruling states.
Under the dynasties of Safavid and Qajar, Iran was as late to introduce modern and secular education as gender equality. Educational system was monopolised by clerical power. Teaching was Islamic, limited at lower levels on reading, writing, and learning the Koran and religion. At the end of Qajar dynasty, “madreseh” (a higher school to teach Arabic and the basics) only received gender-segregation.
Nikki.R. Keddi continued, “Many functions that in modern states are governmental were carried out in Qajar Iran, as in most traditional Muslim societies, by the ulama (Islamic scholars). These included all levels of education, most forms of judicial and legal activity, and social and charitable services.” A combination of social attitudes, values and cognitive behaviour system are made of this long period of religiosity which still influences today’s mind-set of most Iranians. Today, for the IRI, a return to this archaic educational gender- system is vital to prevent any secular and democratic understanding of world view.
Based on the morale of non-mahram-relations, premarital love between a man and a woman passes the level of decency. Despite many love stories and romantic literature in Iranian history, love is considered as a non-compatible feeling with the Islamic culture. In this context, marriage is arranged by the families rather than be based on mutual love and harmony of the two partners. Love and harmony may appear after the marriage.
Arranged marriage with no premarital love and harmony gave birth to “Sigheh” (temporary marriage). Sigheh flourishes in Shiite pilgrimage centres where mullahs could be intermediaries; the affair is often regarded as “legalised prostitution.” It temporally removes the non-mahran barrier between the two non-mahrams.
The idea of sin associated with love is not completely different from other established Semitic religions. This idea implies that women have by nature desire to be looked at, adored and cherished, while men are disposed to non-mahram women and hence a tool of gender-segregation like hijab is necessary.
Here, love is rather associated with sin and lust than wisdom and emotion. No wonder that a pious follower of Jesus–a priest or bishop–would not share his life and emotion with a woman. Legitimate love seems the one for the Truth and Devotion with a spiritual path. This is the level of lifetime love to God. This ambiguous love is often guided by a force greater than a feeling of letting go. Such a love is presented in the Iranian post Islamic mystics, and lyric poetry. Love for a non-mahram, especially a woman’s love to a non-mahram, is regarded in orthodox Islam similar to an act of indecency.
Although, woman’s rights in Islamic societies are more limited through the restrictions of non-mahram, no other Semitic religion permits a woman to be ordained a religious higher rank as a ” Mujthaid” (a qualified Shiite religious scholar to interpretation of scriptures), an “Alim” (an Islamic scholar, mainly in Sunnite Islam), a Rabin for Jews, or a priest for Christians. These remain in the domain of men. The Catholic Church refuses to even talk about ordinary women as priests. Many Protestant traditions and denominations have done the same, believes Jim Seers in his book, The Religion Book. However, no other religion considers women excluded from their “non-mahram” environment.
For many Iranians and most foreign observers, especially the Western analysts, who know little about the concept and influence of non-mahram’s dogma, a vision of an Islamic society has been mechanically amalgamated with Islamic hijab. They do not understand the deeper phenomenon beyond hijab which in my views it must be classified as a simple tool separating non-mahrams. Division of society based on the two alien groups of mahrams and non-mahrams imposes restricted gender – segregation, whose Islamic hijab is simply a by-product.
In my opinion, the non-mahram’s dogma is a moral-based philosophy of gender – segregation in any Islamic societies, whose symbolic emblem produces different forms of hijab according to the original culture and socio- economic conditions. Although, Islamic hijab is today a blockade to woman’s freedom and gender-equality, as long as we cannot recognise its roots, we will not be in the right position to free women from this traditional yoke. If we tackle the problem correctly, then we will be able to influence the entire attitude structure of our society to remove all the roots of inequality from which our women suffer, including Islamic hijab.
Non-mahram’s dogma remains today the main barrier against woman’s rights for freedom and equality. An identifiable change in peoples’ values with the criteria of non-mahram must start with recognition of this dogma, which is so complex that easily can go beyond any obvious understanding.
The long-term effects of reluctance and apathy of Iranian intelligentsia toward gender – issues deprived our women from any serious support. Today the ruling Mullahs invade people’s minds with the norms, values, and criteria of their misogyny. No doubt that more restrictions of Gender- segregation in public life will be institutionalised in Iran.
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There’s a women-only car park in George Street, and a few women only beaches in Italy, and a woman-only park in secular Turkey. And most of the women prefer it that way.
in George Street, SYNDEY
Women in Iran are no better educated than ever, they are just as well-represented in the work place as before the revolution, they have access to better health care, they live longer, and their kids have less infant mortality.
And here you are concerned about a woman’s only park.
Obviously, YOUR priorities are not THEIR priorities.
Hass
Women park is simply a portrait of gender division in Iran. I actually focused on the roots and philosophy of the issue rather than the daily events, including all related plights women suffer from. These were off-topic in this piece. The woman’s “advantages” in Iran you mentioned are the false propaganda of regime run media. The plight of Iranian women under Sharia biding laws are worse than regurgitating such cheap propaganda.
I was astonished by lack of your knowledge to how political Islam importunes people of Iran, especially women. If Iranian, apparently you are a naive lad on this site, if not a hezbollahi, because you are not aware of women’s situation in Iran. You fanatically ignore or make deaf ear to the individual freedom that people and specially women require in iran.
The Moronically Misogynistic Mullahs sustain themselves on Iranian nation with the help of some repressive organs, not free will of people.
Please inform yourself that an increasing majority of Iranians reject these freak Mullahs and do not share their sharia biding regime, therefore, exactly thus, the regime has to commit any crime to survive.
Jahanshah Rashidian and others
How do you know women are oppressed in Iran? Because Western media tell you and interview small minority of women that are opposed to the regime.
75% of the university students are woman, they have good jobs.
You have to be kidding me.
Every other day thousands of Iranian women are risking their lives by protesting for more human rights through articles, peaceful rallies, campaigning against stoning, wrongful imprisonment, et al. And that’s what millions of Iranians themselves are telling us every day, not the Western media.
Esra’a (Bahrain),
You have to be kidding me.
Every single protest with few people makes a big headline in the West. Iranian woman are free to vote, who makes up 50% of the voting population. If so many Iranian people are against the regime, why does Iranian people keep voting radical conservatives in the government.
Why does woman has to compaign against stoning when equal amount of the people who get stoned are men.
[...] MidEast Youth’s Jahanshah Rashidian outlines Iran’s gender segregation and its history. [...]
“Every other day thousands of Iranian women are risking their lives by protesting for more human rights through articles, peaceful rallies, campaigning against stoning, wrongful imprisonment, et al. And that’s what millions of Iranians themselves are telling us every day, not the Western media.”
Yet Afghani women fled to Iran from the Taliban to take advantage of basic human rights long denied to them by the Taliban.
What do you say about that? Surely you do not assert that the Iranian women suffer as much as the Afghani women did under the Taliban, because that would be simply untrue.
Esra’a, Tarikur, and Bloke.
Firstly, thans for your comments and mutal debates over the topic.
As mentioned, discrimination against women is not limited to Mullahs; all fundamentalists, including Taliban, are to tighten the noose round women’s freedom and equality.
Mullahs are not different from Taliban, both cliques are misogynist and backward. The only difference is due to the socio-cultural expectations of nations. While Mullahs and Taliban are both brutal, Iranian women resisted more than Afghan women–with of course a very higher price. Only because of such a resistance a total social exclusion of Iranian women faills to happen.
For example: Family Protection Bill, favouring more polygamy, proposed by Ahmadinejad’s gov. to Majlis was massively protested by Iranian women and human rights organisations. Because of this resistance, the bill was not finally passed.
Ahmadinejad tended to impose strict measures of sex separation in many domains of public life— plans are under way for single-sex hospitals and women-only public transport…. Mullahs claim the effect will be a more moral and Islamic society, but most educated women, who are thorns in the eyes of Mullahs, warn that the moves are aimed at curbing women’s participation in public life. And since these measures have misogynistic characters, are detested and rejected by most women.
No Islamist, hardliner or reformist, believes in sex equality; even the “reformist” Mr. Abol-Hassan Banisadr, the first IRI’s President, who has lived most of his life in France, confirmed that “the female hair radiates something which acts on the male brain.”
Women in Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan,… under any form of Islamic regime have the same yoke on the neck. Only some of them can cry out loud.
[quote]Mullahs are not different from Taliban, both cliques are misogynist and backward. The only difference is due to the socio-cultural expectations of nations. While Mullahs and Taliban are both brutal, Iranian women resisted more than Afghan women–with of course a very higher price. Only because of such a resistance a total social exclusion of Iranian women faills to happen.[/quote]
No there is a huge difference between the Iranian clergymen and the Taliban. You’re putting it in simplistic terms. Firstly, you cannot deny the fact that the Taliban were a lot more brutal towards women than the ayatollahs were. I live in Sydney, where there is a sizable population of Afghan Shi’as who happen to be of the Hazara ethnicity, and I have spoken to them on their accounts of the Taliban and they informed me that they would have rather lived in Iran as women than under the Taliban. You see, the Taliban, unlike the Iranian ayatollahs whom you exonerate, have demonstrated their intent to keep females uneducated, even if it means beheading teachers who dare to teach girls and burning girls’ schools. No such thing occurs in Iran, and no Shi’a clergymen would tolerate that. Second, you made the dubious claim that Iranian women resisted more than Afghani women, and to that I spit on your claim. You know why? Because what Iranian women have struggled, do not hold a candle to what Afghani women have gone through. Why don’t you go ask members of RAWA and tell them your view that Iranian women resisted more than Afghani women and they would scold you for that ridiculous assertion.
And finally, tell me if anything from RAWA and this site you find comparable to what the Iranian government is doing.
But then again, I’m sure due to your simplistic notion that both of them are the same, you’d mostly assume that the Taliban and Iran are working together, and I find that amusing.
Cheers.
Jahanshah Rashidian,
It is troubling to me that how much you buy into propaganda. Who are you? I bet you have never spoken an Iranian woman.
Why is sex segregation is such a bad thing. Most women around the world would love to be sex segregated in some places and some situations. Do you know how many women get sexually felt on in crowded trains or buses in America. This problem is worse in other countries like India. Sometime females are much smarter and more independent when they segregated. For example, all female college produce much brighter and more independent females than coed colleges.
Why do you think most Islamist don’t think female as equal? Nearly all Islamist that I have known believe that females are equal to male but they have different role.