Umm Ibraheem

Bismillah, so this is kind of a prelude to the Fiqh of Women’s Clothing. Just a brief talk on gender roles – and most importantly womens’ roles – in the world. They are not all Yasir Qadhi’s words. Some are mine, and some are from a lecture series I attended by Yasir Birjas (I think a CD set was made on it as well).

Never in the history of humanity have the gender roles been as they are today, especially in the western world – America. Read books even 100 years ago, the roles were much different. The fact that we have to compromise is a given. You cannot live in a eutopic land when there is not a eutopic land around you.

Before talking about the Islamic side – we are going to look at the western side.

The Road to Now

The feminist movement has gone through three phases:

Late 19^th century – 1920s: woman’s right to vote and have her voice heard.

After world war I – the 60s: women had to take up the roles of men, working in factories, etc because the men were shipped off to war. Check out the “We can do it!” poster depicting a woman as masculine as possible.

The 70s bougth about the free expression of sexuality for women and the freedom to pursue an education. 80s – now: opportunities for women at the work place. Percentages of women working shot way up. Also, the idea that they should do exactly what the men do, such as female clergies, etc.

What is Equal?

The President of Harvard said in a speech: (more…)