In modern society of Turkey, women basically get ride of the situation of unfair treatment. In 2002, a criminal law was established, which deal with the female sexuality as a matter of individual rights rather than as matter of family honor.In addition, programs were created to improve the education to women.
Women are not required to cover their hair in Turkey nowadays. In fact, more and more women choose not to cover their hair.As an example,from 1999 to 2006, women not wearing head coverings in the 25-39 age group rose from 28% to 41.5%, and in the 18-24 group increased from 40.5% to 50.7%. Also, most of hair-covered women are live in strongly religion cities such as Istanbul. There is about 30% women in Istanbul cover their hair, but it is barely to see such a dress style in the central and eastern Turkey. Anyway, Turkey is very open as an Islam country. It is fine for women in Turkey not to be too traditional. In addition, men are not required to wear hijab or some other clothes too. And men in Turkey are glad to marry with a woman who doesn't cover herself too.
The murders of women in Turkey increased from 66 in 2002 to 953 in the first seven months of 2009. Although legally women are equal to men, but culturally it is not. Women in Turkey still face with demonic violence and other crimes. However, most of women choose to keep quiet. There are only about 8% women approach government institutions for support.
On the other hand, honor killing is not rare in Turkey, especially in the city like Istanbul. A June 2008 report by the Turkish Prime Ministry's Human Rights Directorate said that in Istanbul alone there was one honor killing every week, and reported over 1,000 during the previous five years. As an example, in 2009, a 2-day-old child was killed for honor. The result is that almost all people who relate to the child was arrested, include his parents, grandmother and the doctor. The mother said that it was the family decided to kill the child.
Well, it is hard to think such things happen in modern China. Chinese are a combination of modern and traditional. There are traditional things like arranged marriage or no sex before wedding, but not all Chinese do this. In China, some parents may forbid their child to do something. For example, they may forbid their child to make a boyfriend or girlfriend because they think it is too young to a child, though their child is already 18 years old. However, no one will kill his or he own child. Normally, it definitely won't happen.
In the part of the equal of men an women, I think China does it pretty good. China used to be unfair to women hundred years ago; but after years of development, modern thinking is accepted. There are laws to protect women's right and women will use those laws to protect themselves. Furthermore, in same extreme cases such as family relationship, a woman may has a upper status than men. For an example, a wife may have the speak of how to deal with the money of the family. This cause an interesting thing that a husband will try his best to hide his money from his wife, or he has to ask his wife to get the permission to use money. Well, not all families in China is like this.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Turkey#Crime_against_women
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Turkey#Honour_killing
I have found that it is very common for Middle Eastern countries to have strong equal rights laws that protect women but that the majority also have a strong traditional culture that does not enforce those laws very much. Many of the civilizations of the Middle East are very modernized in major cities, but still have a multitude of small traditional villages throughout their countries. This division creates a very unsteady relationship between those who maintain their traditional ways and those who wish to modernize their culture. It also creates a very easy environment for people to revert to traditional ways which tend to be very unfair towards women.
ReplyDeleteFor example, these strange dynamics that are created are the cause of the laws that say what a women can and cannot wear. Traditionally, most Middle Eastern women had to wear some sort of hijab or veil and this rule was strictly enforced. With the evolution of women’s rights these rules were lifted and/or laws were created that forced women to NOT wear any sort of covering which women embraced fully, for a time. As women’s rights continued to evolve they wanted to be able to wear whatever they wanted. Many started to want to wear some sort of covering but were unable to because of a particular law and now, it seems, the majority of Middle Eastern women have the choice to wear a covering where and when they want.
Although this is just a small example of how women have started to create equality for themselves, traditions still prevail in many parts of the Middle East and there are many acts of violence still aimed towards women. Currently, I wonder, how far women have progressed in the modern day. Is violence towards women diminishing or is it still a very real threat? Either way it is good to hear that most countries in the Middle East have growing support for women’s rights and that they are fighting for true equality.
A couple of things I do want to point out: one is that in fact, women are more likely to cover their hair in eastern (particularly southeastern) Turkey than in Istanbul, because that area is more conservative than cosmopolitan, European-influenced Istanbul. Honor crimes are less common in Istanbul, and more common in southeastern Turkey.
ReplyDeleteI do want to make sure we don't think that the Middle East is alone in preference of male children - since you bring up China, I'm going to provide this link if you want to see what is being reported regarding female infanticide:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/medical/infanticide_1.shtml