Women’s Status in Two Muslim Majority States
Introduction
The role of women in Muslim society has been one of the major discussions among
sociologists.
In fact, there have more concerns over the status of women in the states dominated
by the Muslims due to the Islam principles as well as the Sharia. According to the Muslim jurists,
the religion is firmly in support of both justice and equality and form part of their intrinsic values
(Mir-Hosseini, 2006, p.629). However, questions have been raised over the status of the women
in such states and the need to uphold the same principles of the religion. Different opinions have
been raised over the same. Effectively understating such diverse opinions on the status of women
in the Muslim dominated countries would be possible by comparing and contrasting two articles.
In the essay, I will discuss the articles by Ziba Mir-Hosseini and Sherine Hafez which cover the
status of women in Iran and Egypt respectively by providing a detailed comparison and
contrasting the contents.
The topics used by the two authors are contrasting. Ziba’s article is titled to focus on the
Muslim women fight for equality which is mainly based on Islamic law and the rising feminism
(Mir-Hosseini, 2006, p.629). On the other hand, Hafez’s article title is focused on Sondra's
legacy on women citizenship and the then-ongoing Egyptian revolution
(Hafez, 2014, p. 82).
However, the two articulate the issues of women in the Islamic states. Hafez mainly deals with
the work of Sondra Hale and the deep relationship she had with Sudan. The articles cover
different timelines. However, one notable similarity is that the two authors highlight the status of
women in two societies that experienced revolutions. Hafez's article focuses on women's
citizenship during the post-Arab Spring in Egypt. Ziba is focused on the effects of the 1978-1979
revolution that took place in Iran on the women's rights especially after the rise in the reformist
movements as well as gender discourse in Iran
(Mir-Hosseini, 2006, p.629). According to the
article, these reformists were pushing for gender equality within the state of Iran that is supported
through the Islamic framework
(Mir-Hosseini, 2006, p.630).
Ziba further argues that the
questions raised by these groups led to aggressiveness unilateralism concerning the policies that
have been promoted as rhetoric for supporting democracy as well as the human rights which
eventually promote the military interventions that were undertaken in both Afghanistan and Iran
(Mir-Hosseini, 2006, p.630).
Ziba focuses on the plight that both the Afghan and the Iranian women underwent after
the various invasions that were aimed at the al-Qaeda group after the September 11 attack
(Mir-
Hosseini, 2006, p.630). She argues that although the invasion did not bring down the al-Qaeda
leadership, it made a significant step in bring down the then Taliban government that as not
involved in the attacks
(Mir-Hosseini, 2006, p.630). Additionally, there was rescuing of the
