Traditionally there have been designated, but unwritten responsibilities for both men and women in most every society. An unwritten but customary division of labor, what one might say, were somewhat natural divisions. Women having been considered the weaker sex were (assigned) to those household tasks considered to be more delicate and suited to their level of strength. Too, women of childbearing years cared for and nursed newborns and the younger children while the man worked in the fields, mines, factories, etc. However, in parts of the world and during certain periods of time where and when slaves were an approved way of life the slave women often worked side by side with men in the fields. Too, women in past centuries and/ or countries have been considered less capable of learning and in many cases were not allowed to attend public schools. Muslim countries in particular have been guilty of that practice and/or belief.
Over the centuries and in many parts of the world, women have been subjected to abuse and sometimes less than human treatment. Even today in many Muslim countries women are considered to be subject to men. The Quran from which their religion is based, instructs its followers that women be subjective to their husbands and if they are not the husband can beat them. In a recent article in a Pakistani newspaper, the following was extracted: “Last week, legislation was proposed in Pakistan that would allow men to “lightly beat” their wives if they refused intercourse or declined to wear clothes preferred by their husband.” Pakistani Council Alissa Lopez | May 31, 2016, The 160-page document was submitted by the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), a powerful constitutional body in Pakistan.
The bill recommends that these physical tactics be used only as a last resort for a wife’s defiance, but alleged that men who choose not to engage in these practices must be prosecuted.
According to NBC, the document was created in response to a gender-equality law pushed by Pakistan’s Punjab province called Protection of Women Against Violence Act, which the CII referred to as “un-Islamic.”
Since the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, while guaranteeing gender equality, enables the State to make any special provision for the protection of women, it is necessary to protect women against violence including domestic violence, to establish a protection system for effective service delivery to women victims and to create an enabling environment to encourage and facilitate women freely to play their desired role in the society…In addition to advocating the use of “limited violence” against women for refusing to wear certain outfits or have sex with their husbands, the CII also advocates for this form of punishment if wives don’t shower after intercourse or during menstruation. It would also ban women nurses from treating male patients unless the patient is their husband, brother or father.
The list goes on. It even goes so far as to provide instructions on how to administer the beatings: “Hit her in areas where her skin is not too thick and not too thin,” CII leader Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani told a press conference in Islamabad on Thursday. “Do not use shoes or a broom on the head, or hit her on the nose or eyes.” “Do not break any bones or cut her skin or leave any marks,” he added. “Do not hit her vindictively, but only for reminding her about her religious duties.”
Since the council does not have the ability to make laws, the completed document will be sent off to lawmakers in the Punjab province for approval. But its existence is not being overlooked in the country. Ad Feedback: A former member of the CII, Allama Tahir Ashrafi told NBC that “Violence is forbidden in Islam, period.” Allama reportedly left the organization due to “religious reasons”
He said the council should be speaking “about rape, about the increasing divorce rate, about suicide bombing — but they avoid these issues.”
A Punjab province law minister also expressed concerns over the legislation, asking , “How will [the law] ensure that ‘light beating’ doesn’t become ‘heavy beating?’”
These questions have not been answered, nor do I think they ever will be. But you know what’s the most ridiculous part of all of this? That although the 160-page document is immensely abhorrent and objectionable, there is complete silence from the feminists of the world.” end of quote.
To ‘civilized nations,’ this kind of legislation appears beyond primitive, but where Muslim men and women have lived with such a mindset for so long even the women have the expectation they will be beaten if they do not kowtow to their husbands. Many are even supportive of it.
In the United States of America, men and women are treated equally constitutionally, under our law. During the second world war women had to do men’s work because the majority of able men were soldiers fighting for our freedom. Women built ships, planes, tanks, trucks, weaponry and everything else necessary for the war effort. It changed the way our society looked upon male/ female roles, now we can see women flying jet fighter planes making devastating bombing runs against our enemy.
I remember reading a story by Tanhuma Buber, about Alexander the Great, true or not—yet funny and interesting. “Alexander the Great came to a city inhabited only by women. He would have made war on them, but they said: If thou slayest us they will say:
“He conquered women’ If we slay thee, they will say; What a king this was! Women slew him!” Then he said; “Bring me bread.” They brought him a loaf of gold on a table of gold. He asked them; “Can I eat gold?” They answered; “If it was bread thou didst need, was there none in thy kingdom that thou hadst need to set out to so far a place?” He went thence, having written on the gate of their city; “I, Alexander, was a madman, having come to Africa to be taught by women”
In our modern society regardless of sex a person can decide to be whatever they can qualify for—as it should be. It is obvious why people from other nations are lined up to immigrate to this great and free country. God bless America!