From: kmubarak@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Kamal Mubarak MD)
Subject: Status of Women (was: Words Feminists find Demeaning!)
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Originator: Mughal@Romeo.Caltech.Edu (Asim Mughal -Moderator)
Organization: California Institute of Technology
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 07:19:00 GMT


Much has been said on this subject.  So much so that many people may  have
stopped following the thread.

The fundamental difference between the two opposing views seems to be that
of cultural orientation and societal perceptions of the what constitutes a
high status for women.  Today much is understood about  this  subject, but
more importantly, much is also misunderstood.  In my opinion  this  arises
because it is not easy to understand the Eastern mind or  the civilization
it has produced.  I am sure many will disagree with me on this subject. In
any case, I will quote the writings of a man who is well-respected in  the
West for his scholarship and  his  insight  into  the  Eastern  mind.  Sir
Richard Francis Burton lived amongst the Arabs, "knew almost  every  shade
of their thought, feeling, and habit, and himself  adopted  their  way  of 
life into the smallest detail."  He  translated  The  Arabian  Nights  and  
The Perfumed Garden of Shaykh Nefzawi. (Yes, I know he is an orientalist.)
He wrote this in the last century:

     The  next point I propose to consider is the position of womanhood...
     so curiously at variance with the stock ideas concerning  the  Moslem
     home and domestic policy still prevalent, not  only  in  England, but
     throughout Europe.  Many readers... have remarked  to  me  with  much
     astonishment that they find the female characters more remarkable for
     decision, action. and manliness than the male; and  are  wonderstruck
     by their masterful attitude and the supreme influence they exert upon
     public and private life.
     ....
     The legal status of womankind in Al-Islam  is  exceptionally  high, a
     fact of which Europe has often been assured, the truth has  not  even
     yet penetrated into the popular brain.... Nations are but superficial
     judges of one another: where customs differ they  often  remark  only
     the  salient  points  which, when  examined, prove  to  be  of  minor
     importance.  Europeans seeing and hearing that women in the East  are
     "cloistered"; that wives may not walk out with their husbands and can
     not accompany  them to "balls and parties"; moreover, that  they  are
     always liable, like the ancient Hebrew, to the mortification  of  the
     "sister-wife", have most ignorantly determined  that  they  are  mere
     serviles and that there lives are not worth living.  Indeed a learned
     lady, Miss Martineau, once visiting a Harem, went into  ecstasies  of
     pity  and  sorrow  because the  poor things  knew  nothing  of -- say
     trigonometry and the use of the globes.  Sonnini  thought  otherwise,
     and my experience, like that of all  old  dwellers  in  the  East, is
     directly opposed to this conclusion....

These words still ring true.  Much has changed in  terms  of  culture  and
civilization  both  in  the  East and the West.  Yet much has remained the
same. Sometimes it seems to me that even a century  of  communication  has
failed  to make the West understand the Eastern mind.  But  this  is  mere
speculation on my part.  But  before  you  pass  judgement  on  all  those
"backward Moslem cultures" with their "sexist" notions of polygamy, harem,
and hijab, look again.  You may have missed something.

Kamal Mubarak.