Baki, Roula. “Gender-Segregated Education In Saudi Arabia: Its Impact On Social Norms And The Saudi Labor Market.” Education Policy Analysis Archives 12.28 (2004): ERIC. Web. 10 Oct. 2012.
“In Wahabi Saudi Arabia, women, including foreigners, may not drive; and they may risk arrest for riding in a vehicle not driven by a chauffeur or a close male relative (Yamami, 1996). Women are not allowed to board public transportation in order to travel between different parts of the country or abroad without written permission from their closest male relative. Men can travel anywhere. Women are restricted in the use of public transportation when in the presence of men: they must enter the buses by a separate entrance in the back and occupy designated seating (Jerichow, 1998). The reason for such mobility restrictions on women is due to Saudi society’s strong belief in family honor. The pride and honor of a woman’s family is directly related to her chastity, known as ird. Arab “sensitivity to ird is so great that an entire way of life has been built around it. Saudi society is structured to keep a woman within strictly defined limits that make it difficult if not impossible for her to lose her sexual virtue.” Examples of laws against women in Saudi Arabia, a country ruled by shari’a
University in Riyadh, offer limited on-campus residential accommodations for female students who do not live nearby (Rawaf and Simmons, 1991). However, very few Saudi women can utilize such accommodations given the fact that many families reject even the thought of their daughters living outside their home (Sabbagh, 1996), harkening back to the idea of family honor. The problem of mobility can completely restrict some women’s access to education.
A third way that social and cultural conservatism is applied by the education system is through the use of videoconferencing. The use of this modern innovation to “uphold ancient social practices,” began due to a shortage of female professors (Mackey, 2002). This phenomenon came into existence in the Saudi higher education system solely because it accommodates the reception by female students of televised lectures conducted by male instructors…[through the] live transmission of video and audio signals from specially equipped classes attended by male students to female classes. (Nakshabandi, 1993)
This videoconferencing method allows instruction without the teacher and the students ever meeting face-to-face (Mackey, 2002). Whenever direct contact with male professors is deemed absolutely necessary, such as in areas of medicine and business, it is reluctantly and warily permitted. Otherwise, the use of videoconferencing is strongly recommended (Nakshabandi, 1993). Gender inequality in the classroom. This is all due to the need to enforce religious law because Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam. Sharia is used by conservatives to keep men and women separate in the name of religion.
Muravchik, JoshuaSzrom, Charles. “In Search Of Moderate Muslims.” Commentary 125.2 (2008): 26. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 10 Oct. 2012.
This article defines moderate islam which is the “Solution to extremist islam”. Since 9/11 many muslim governments have tended to favor this form of the muslim religion
Muslims may still hope and pray for the eventual recognition by all mankind of the truth of Muhammad’s message. (Christians and Jews do something similar.) Butthey may not take up the sword to hasten the advent of that goal
There are 4 types of moderate muslims described in the text
The first are ordinary citizens of Muslim countries for whom faith but not politics is central to
their lives. They pray daily, fast during Ramadan, make the Haj if they can afford to, but evince little interest in public affairs. Constituting a kind of silent majority, tbey do not participate in violent actions, and mostly do not support them. The second group of moderates is made up of regimes, like those in Egypt or Jordan, whose “moderation” consists in alignment with the West. A third group comprises secular liberals who are largely in sympathy with the political and cultural values of the West; well-known examples include the late Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfbuz and the Iraqi writer Kanan Makiya. Finally, there are various self-described Islamists who dissent from the violent ways or extreme doctrines of other Islamists. These “moderate Islamists,” so it is claimed, are searching for an analog to European Christian Democracy: to wit, a political stance that is in some sense inspired or informed by religious ideals but is neither dogmatic nor exclusionary.
I will use this to show how the government has changed to allow more tolerance
Zakaria, Rafia. “Sharia, Justice, And The Politics Of Intimacy.” Asianetwork Exchange 19.1 (2011): 7-16. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Oct. 2012.
This article is about how the effects of Islam on women’s rights in Pakistan and around the world. What did this mean for the everyday life of a child in Pakistan? Children like me watched British sitcoms so drastically censored that they often lasted only ten minutes. Women appearing on television suddenly were required to cover their hair. Women were never shown having any physical contact with men on screen. Aside from what was happening on television, men and women could be asked at any time to produce their marriage documents by any police officer. In other words, the introduction of ‘Islamic’ norms, which were quite new to the population, suddenly transformed the daily lives of Pakistanis. Men were legally allowed to take multiple wives if one was destitute. I’ll use this to show how shari’a molds muslim society causing women to have “equal but different rights”.
Brenizer Blogs 