Reading Respond: Feminism

Feminism
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Feminism
In the past, Arabic countries, women were not treated as equals to men and most of the basic human rights were denied to them. Their social, political and economic well-beings were hindered by male oppression. Women identity was not well protected. They were segregated to family level as men property and could only acquire an identity through men by either being a wife, daughter, mother or sister. This made them start to write about feminism in the society. In Arab countries, women started to write their story and creating an identity as elite authors of Arabic content. Others started small businesses such as salons and shops. They wrote about the male domination in the society and how they could come out of this domination. Feminism in demand for sexual, social, economic and political rights also took much of the content.
In the story "Women in Arab Society: A Historical Perspective" the history of how women held very low position in the society when Islam appeared in Arabia is outlined. Quoting Siddiqi (1952), Zaydān writes, "When Islam appeared in Arabia, women held a very low position in society (Zaydān, 1995, p 9). Between the most influential society of Mecca and Medina, there were different perspectives of women. In Mecca, women held a decisive role under Mohammad’s rule until Ansar came to power. Before Islam was introduced, women had a say in marriage and divorce where they could even challenge a marriage and turn it down in presence of able men. They had al-Khansa independence where a given class of women emerged such as priestesses, fortune-tellers and self-proclaimed prophetesses. However, with introduction of Islam and codification ...