Sometimes I read something so outrageous that just makes me go “huh?” or”OMG??” and when it deals with the oppression of women by men in the name of religion, I wonder what can be done. How can we be a part of ensuring that women all over the world are allowed to take their rightful place in society – equal to men?
Check out this outrageous story from Saudi Arabia (you remember this place…the one where the leaders get all kinds of props and loving from American presidents, both Bush and Obama).
Saudi Arabia clamps down on unlicensed female gyms
Unhappy at the growing number of unlicensed female gyms, the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs recently closed two in the Red Sea city of Jeddah and one in the city of Dammam on the Gulf Arab coast for not having a license.
OK, I’ll bite…why?
In Saudi Arabia, where clerics have extensive influence in society, gyms are sexually segregated because of conservative tribal and religious values.
Female participation in sports has long been a controversial issue in the kingdom, with physical education banned from public girls’ schools and clerics issuing religious prohibitions on female participation in sports.
Why of course we can’t have girls threatening the status quo…but wait, it gets better. Talk about never having left the stone ages:
“Football and basketball are sports that require a lot of movement and jumping,” Sheikh Abdullah al-Maneea, member of the official Supreme Council of Religious Scholars, said in a religious opinion published in Okaz newspaper Thursday.
He said such excessive movement may harm girls who are still virgins, possibly causing them to lose their virginity.
Well, we can’t have our girls breaking those precious hymens. What, and ruin all the fun on the wedding night?
This is unacceptable in this day and age. Now, I know that this is small potatoes in the scheme of things. Women are beaten, raped, and murdered at alarming rates. Many are subjected to this violence under the umbrella of “religious belief.” However, this is a major part of the over-arching problem – the continued use of religion as a weapon against women. The above described actions are generally viewed as insignificant and ignored by the general public because they don’t involve overt violence. Evidence of this is that this article was posted under Reuters “OddlyEnoughNews” section. Odd? That’s how they view it? Of course…Religious oppression of women is just odd. No it’s not assholes. It’s disgraceful and offensive. But we shouldn’t be surprised at the male-dominated media response to such things. We recently witnessed a ho-hum approach from (gagh) journalist Geraldo Rivera who dismissed the Afghanistan “rape is OK” law as a “cultural” thing.
As we continue to hear about the global nature of our lives, so to is the global interdependence we have as women throughout the world. I’m preparing a series of posts on the idea of social dominance theory and how males, having estabished dominance by their physical power, have used institutions such as government and religion to maintain that dominance. This, I believe, is the core of our oppression as women worldwide and should be the key focus of our efforts to establish equality. We need a strategic plan to fight not only the oppression, but also the cultural acceptance, dismissal, and sometimes outright denial, that this mindset is pervasive.
Thank God Hillary is in a position to make a difference and I’m confident she is and will continue to do everything in her power to end male social dominance throughout the world.
Hillary…what can WE do to help?
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The Confluence 