Table of Contents
Introduction and background
One of the most important issues in sociology of gender is the position of women in the Islamic countries. This is an issue that has gained a lot of interest due to the view that Islam has been a patriarchal religion (Charrad, 2011).
Under Islam, it is the man responsibility to protect and control the woman. Despite this, Muslim feminists have claimed that portrayal of Islam as a participial religion is based on the dominating view of Islam which is not the true Islam. They argue that the current view is based on western countries view on Islam and attitude towards women which in most cases is wrong (Darvishpour, 2003).
Research question
Based on current gender studies, what is the position of Muslim women in modern United Arabs Emirates (UAE) society?
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Methodology
This research is exploratory with a focus on gaining the gender issues in UAE in relation to women and Islam. This will be attained by focusing on qualitative and quantitative research methods. The research will rely on related research that has been conducted within the context of UAE. There will be contact with individuals, businesses and government to gain information on current status on gender issues in UAE.
Moreover, there is a lot of information from the government reports and gender institutes on the topic which will be used to gain more insight. These will be gained from the web portals which are easily accessible online. Use of peer reviewed journals will be a major source of high quality information on the topic. There are articles from credible databases which have researched on the gender issues in UAE. These will be identified through use of keywords. Quantitative data will be gained from the questionnaires and interviews which will be coded to give values.
Historical background
Class sociology and relevant social theories had little research on social differences between genders. Marx and weber contributed very little to the topic with most of their views based on subordinate social role of the women (Holmes, 2007). In the 1960s, functionalism was very dominant in sociology and led to an understanding that men and women are socially constructed.
The feminist sociological theory had a strong impact on ordering the current gender relationships (Franklin, 1996). Through the feminist approach, it becomes possible to collaborate with sociologists who are able to adapt their views. The feminist perspective is compatible with the conflict theory where the structured social inequality is caused and maintained through the ideologies which are accepted by both the privileged and oppressed (Holmes, 2007).
Muslim feminism adopts a liberal view on Islam and tries to adapt to the modern times. They argue that the imagination of Muslim and Islam is based on a patriarchal view on Islam which is not the authentic Islam. According to Muslim feminists, they argue that gender issues on Islam should be focused on Quran since most of hadith and sharia are based on patriarchy (Darvishpour, 2003).
Current studies on gender globally
The activism for global gender equality can be traced back in the late 20th century. There have been a lot of milestones gained in gender equality with women gaining position in political and social spheres. At the moment, European Union considers itself to be halfway towards attaining gender equality. Power remains one of the main areas where woman faces a major challenge globally. Female representation in the political positions has not been able to attain a
balance. The progress to attain equal pay and work opportunities still remain slow with several countries especially in the Muslim regions lagging behind (Charrad, 2011). Studies shows that while progress have been made in health sector and addressing violence against women, the progress is still slow. In some countries, the progress has stagnated.
Advantages and disadvantages of gender topic
The topic on gender has a lot of advantages in the society. This is through highlighting the plight of women and the existing inequalities. The topic has the capabilities to give more information on the existing challenges that women face due to gender inequality. This includes the fact that women faces challenges in accessing equal political, economic, cultural and social justice.
The topic will contribute positively to gaining women equality especially in countries such as UAE where feminism is still developing and religion plays a major part in women rights. This will also help to highlighting the challenge women face in joining politics. Through research on gender, it becomes possible for women to demand for equal rights and also show the current state of affairs.
However, while the topic is vital in addressing the women rights and the need for gender equality, it is important to ensure that it is not overly optimistic. It is important to avoid cases where the topic of gender has been used to be against men. Moreover, while addressing the gender issues, the topic may ignore the fact that there are some deep seated structural causes which leads to women oppression. It is common for the gender studies to overlook the context of gender in different countries.
For example, gender issues are different in the western countries compared to Islamic countries. It is common for some gender studies to give no explanation on the existing structures on gender inequality. When gender studies are combined with liberal feminism, there is a disadvantage since an assumption is made that changing the existing laws will address the women oppression while the fact is broader changes are required. This includes cultural changes and a change in way of thinking.
Case study of Gender in UAE guarantees UAE is ranked as the leading country in women rights in the region. This has been attended though use of public and private sectors efforts to recognize women and ensure that they play a major role in the government and business. UAE has a constitution which equal rights for both men and women. At the moment 77% of the UAE women have enrolled in higher education with a literacy rate for both men and women at 95% (UAE Embassy, 2017).
At the moment, a high number of women are able to complete education compared to men. The Gender Balance Council was established in 2015 by UAE government and has helped to increase the number of women in leading positions as well as enhancing the institutional capacity. UAE was the first country to enact legislation where the company boards have to be made of men and women. The country also has a considerable number of women in their cabinet (European Parliamentary Research Service, 2015).
Despite this, the country has not been able to fully address women issues. This is with women issues such as rape not being well addressed. Women who seek justice on sexual harassment fear being punished for speaking out. There have been cases where victims of sexual harassment have faced charges (Emirates Woman, 2017). Thus, the country still faces challenges in protecting the women as victims of sexual violence. Despite the challenges, there are strong women in the country who have been advocating for women. This includes the UAE Minister for Tolerance who has passionately advocated for women rights in the country (Emirates Woman, 2017). Through her efforts the country has been able to make strides in women education and economic empowerment.
Despite the challenges in gender equality, the position of women in UAE remains better than most of the Islamic republics. There is high level of women employment in the region and women has some rights compared to the Iran. This has pointed out to the role of state in shaping the position of woman in the society (European Parliamentary Research Service, 2015). There have been a lot of efforts by the UAE women to achieve change and attain their goals using a reinterpretation of Quran. The number of women in high education institutes has been on rise. On the other hand, the country still has some challenges in attaining gender equality (UAE Embassy, 2017).
From the articles, it is clear that feminist sociology theory has been put in practice. This provides an avenue for collaboration with the symbolic interaction and conflict theory.
This is through understanding that structured social inequality in the country is based on ideologies which are frequently accepted by the privileged and oppressed. It shows that the ideologies can only be challenged in the instances where the oppressed groups are able to gain resources which help them to do so as seen in the case of UAE. The use of symbolic interaction and feminist theory can be applied on the research to focus on the unequal relations between men and women from the women ruled by men point of view.
Conclusion
The research on gender with a focus to UAE is a major contribution to the current women studies in UAE. The topic is able to address the existing gender issue with a focus in a Muslim country. This will help to gain insight on the position of women in the Muslim society as well as documenting the steps made in attaining gender equality.
It is recommendable that the study will have its main focus on impact of religion in the position of women in UAE. Moreover, it is recommendable for the study to focus more on religion and cultural aspects than law in research for women position in UAE society. The main focus should be based on a symbolic interaction, functionalism and conflict theory and combine it with feminism in addressing the topic.
