Stuck with this stigma, women suffer a multitude of indignities. A man's evidence needs no such corroboration. Women are also largely barred from becoming judges, as an Iranian Majlis representative Razavi Ardakani explains. Women are tender- hearted, their emotions rule over their intellect. In critical cases they are likely to be swayed by the accused or the defence lawyer and, God forbid, their tender nature would lead them to the wrong judgment.
Law is a critical issue.
Therefore the penetration of women in this domain, albeit step by step, is dangerous. However, Ardakani is content to allow women to be doctors and gynaecologists. In religious societies where women are treated as chattels and empty vessels, they are, not surprisingly, hugely under-represented in offices of state and the professions. In a powerful piece on the place of women in Lebanon, Jean Said Makdisi summons a wealth of statistics to show that Lebanon's claim to be free and open, is over-stated. Women play a very small part in Lebanese politics or public administration.