For every one woman in the world there are 1.014 men according to a 2014 estimate. This means that just about half of all the people in the world are women. Two halves make a whole, so for a society to function properly there must be combined roles for both male and female. Unfortunately in certain societies women are discriminated against, making that society a broken society. No society that discriminates women can be  functional if half of its population is discontent. Of course in a male dominant society women feel degraded and usually don’t speak out against the dominating males. Unlikely as it seems, societies like this do exist and are quite common in many Islamic countries like Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and others.

Every religion has its own holy book, and 99% of the time these books were written hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. The first writing of the Bible originated 3,500 years ago, while the Quran was written 1,400 years. These times were not the most prosperous for the human race as war raged and people were barbaric. This is the type of environment in which these “holy” books were written, and some of those writings do not translate to modern society. Today the Christian religion is the most practiced religion in the world but history shows that in the past many were persecuted and killed in the name of Christianity. For example, during the Crusades (1092 to 1291) and during the Spanish inquisition of the late 15th and early 16th century there were religious and royal decrees to forcefully convert or kill non-believers. And the Old Testament tells of practices that today would be considered outrageous by most western societies. One example of this is that in the Bible it states that if a woman has premarital sex she should be stoned to death. And while this will seem criminal in modern western societies and not tolerated the same cannot be said for many Islamic societies. In some countries in our modern 21st century world the word of the holy Quran is taken literally and women are subjected to abhorrent cruelties from old world traditional practices.

It is not the book, but the reader. Many parts of the Quran are rather obscure and difficult to interpret. This is not unlike the Bible as we have numerous Christian denominated religions with differing interpretations of the Bible. We know that some people might interpret something they read totally differently from another. For example, someone may say, “You’re reading A Thousand Splendid Suns!” This sentence could be interpreted like “You’re reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, that’s a great book!” or it can be interpreted “You’re reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, really? That’s such a boring book!” It all depends on the reader and his interpretation of the text. The same goes for religious texts like the Bible and the Quran. For example, Jehovah Witnesses believe that people should not be given blood transfusion even if it is to save someone’s life because they interpret some passages of the Bible to mean this. Similarly we have many issues in Islamic societies with the interpretation of the Quran. And these interpretations are the foundation for why some Islamic societies are more open minded, tolerant and peaceful. Some countries operate as more liberal and secular states and don’t condone specific injustices. Examples of liberal Islamic countries include the most populous Islamic country Indonesia, The UAE (United Arab Emirates), Qatar and Tunisia.

In most Islamic societies women are expected to raise the children, cook the food and stay at home and it’s the man’s job to work and perform tasks outside of the house. Women are not encouraged to get a high level of education, and in some cases forbidden to (like Malala, who got shot because of it). Women are also expected to be covered, in some countries with a hijab (head veil), but in others with a burqa or niqab. Because most of these countries aren’t secular these laws set by the government. According to the Quran “Men are in charge of women by [the right of] what Allah has given one over the other … those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance - [first] advise them; [then if they persist], forsake them in bed; and [finally], strike them.” This is the law in  some Islamic countries! Men can do whatever they want to women because the law and their religion allow them to. Additionally if a woman cannot provide at least three men that say that the man had no right in the matter then no action will be taken against the man. Imagine if one of your female relatives is a Muslim who has been violated in some way by a man, and no justice can be provided for her. How would you feel? This happens to women every day in these Islamic societies and nothing can be done.

Some may say that women are inferior to men and these Islamic laws are correctly in place. There are more men than women in the world and men are generally stronger with stronger bodies. Additionally there are more famous men than women in the world who are remembered for great advancements. There have been more male presidents and high ranking government officials than women as well as more sport players, more scientists, more famous physicians and the list goes on and on. One flaw in this argument is that the reason for this is because men have historically been granted more rights and privileges than women. Furthermore, some of these claims are just opinions, and largely opinions made by men. I doubt any women would say that they are inferior to men, and that they should be beaten for disobedience. It is true that men are generally stronger, but women are spiritually and intellectually equal or in some cases superior to men in intelligence. Yes there are more male presidents and high ranking officials in the world but even in some Muslim countries there are female leaders like the president of Indonesia President Megawati Sukarnoputri. And in Afghanistan Miss Kurba Nurzai is the first female Minister, where Frozan Fana and Shahla Atta both females ran for president. Additionally nearly one-third of the Parliament of Egypt- the fifth most populous Muslim majority nation- consists of women. So we see that when women are given a chance even in traditional male dominated Muslim countries they can become leaders and be just as powerful and influential as men.

The role of women in Islamic societies is very different from the role of women in western societies and to the extent that women are treated as inferior and abused by men I think this need to change. The world has changed and society is developing, and the outdated and derogatory treatment of women need to be altered to the way life is supposed to be in a modern society, where men and women are equal in every way possible. The interpretations by some of these holy books especially the Quran that degrades the values of women are deplorable when it provides ways for unscrupulous men to get away with what are clearly crimes against humanity. I’m not saying that all men in Islamic societies are bad and treat women badly, but the ones that do need to be contained. There need to be  radical changes in the mind-set of these men and international condemnation of their behavior. Human rights activists in all countries and influential male leaders from other more liberal Muslim countries need to add their voices to this fight. In modern times in western societies women can get an education, have a job, go outside, drive, and these are some basic human rights that should be afforded to all women in Muslim countries too. In the Western world women struggled in the past and fought for equality and in most ways are now viewed equal as men. In some countries such as in Latin American countries and in the Caribbean where machismo and male dominance are still prevalent, women are afforded all the rights of man and in general are seen as equal. The level of abuse and degradation of women while still evident are nowhere as near the levels in some Islamic societies. And unfortunately one of the reasons for this is because according to them their religion dictates that it should be that way. Even though there are some valid arguments that say in some ways men are superior to women this does not in any way suggest that men and women should not be treated as equal in all societies.