It's obvious from seeing many I/P debates on many blogs that there is racism and hate on both sides. Having been an anti-war activist for 50 years, I find that very disturbing, since most wars use racism to demonize human beings and propel countries to wars--the worst of all terrorism. An American survey of opinions, followed by a comprehensive Gallop Poll of more than 8,000 people in eight Muslim countries clearly illustrates the problem.
A ... Poll of U.S. households found that “gender inequality” was among the top responses American women gave to the open-ended question,“What do you admire least about the Muslim or Islamic world?” But how do the majority of women in several predominantly Muslim countries perceive Islam and their own status in Muslim society?
While working on the contents for a newsletter a few day's ago, I was given an alleged review of a NY Times TV story about an extremely popular Turkish show called "Noor." The final was said to have been seen by more than half the adult women in the entire Muslim world? The text given to me stated, "The show violated Arab cultural taboos in a number of ways, such as; a husband who treated his wife as an equal and supported her career...." This text seemed anti-Arab to me. To begin, Turks are not Arabs, and the Muslim men that I know treat their wives with love and respect, and they have no reasons to not support their careers. I decided to research what Americans and Muslims think.
For decades a majority of Americans have had a negative view of Arabs and Muslim. I suspect that much of this originates from movies and a media that supports wars and that often attacks Muslims. On the blogs, many are too sick with hate to even read. An important 2005 Gallop report: "MUSLIM WORLD, Perspectives on Women in the Muslim World," will reveal the facts. While this poll is a bit dated, it's was the best data that I found. Cultures change slowly and I suspect that similar data for 2008 would not be substantially any different.
This poll involved more than 1,000 face-to-face surveys conducted in each of eight predominantly Muslim countries: Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. The possible sampling error is plus or minus 3 percent.
Are women in the Muslim world really socialized to expect second class status? This Gallop reports finds that view to be largely false. In most Muslim countries there is no education "gender gap." In Iran (as in the USA) there are no differences. Pakistan had the largest gap, and it's worse than France and Germany that both have a 50% gender gap in education.
It was also found, that since most Muslim women are largely equal in education, they know that they have the same capabilities as men. They know that they are as qualified to vote, and also to serve in any government. Muslim women believe that in the Western World both sexes do enjoy equal legal rights.
However, just as women in Western societies are critical of the way women are treated in Islamic societies, most Muslim women do not like the way women are treated in Western countries.
So while the veil is often perceived by many in the West as a symbol
of women’s inferior cultural status in the Muslim world, in Muslim
societies, the perceived lack of modesty portrayed in Western media
is thought to signal women’s degraded cultural status.
Another important theme from the study is the great importance that Islam plays in " their personal guidance and society at large." What these women most love about their culture is how everyone adheres to their Islamic values. In all the countries surveyed women were as likely to say that as the men.
Muslim women also believe by a large majority that the Sharia should be either the sole or the source of all legislation. Very few women place equal rights as a priority--unlike their American sisters. And what Muslim women (as did the men) complained the most about is lack of unity among Muslims, extremism, and political corruption.
Gender equality was mostly not mentioned. Most Muslim men also believe that women should have the same basic rights that the men have. A majority of men in the countries surveyed said the women should vote on their own, work at any job that they qualify, and enjoy the same legal rights. The idea often heard in America that Muslim women favor the wholesale adoption of the Western World is false.
Associating women’s rights with a Western value system that men and women
in the Muslim world view critically will only empower those who oppose
women’s rights as cultural guardians against Western hegemony.
While this survey shows that Americans have a distorted view of the Arab and Muslim world, it also shows that we all think very much alike. The report without any editing, in pdf format is at:
http://www.gallup.com/...