Death by Culture
Essay 1
There may never have been a time when women ruled the world, but there was a time when they ruled a kingdom. We know of famous Queens like Cleopatra and Nefartiti who ruled ancient Egypt at a critical time in its history. These women were able to save their kingdoms and promote prosperity and prominence. The first wife of the prophet Muhammed, Khadija, was a powerful businesswoman in her own right. She hired Muhammed as a salesman and even proposed marriage to him.
Stories of strong women who take control of their own destinies were uncommon in millennia past, and are often considered taboo or uncouth to this today. When we look into the cultures and mores of the modern age, the positions that women take up in society are often not proportionate to their skill sets and abilities. When women want to step into positions of power and leadership, they are met with sideways glances and patronizing commentary by their male counterparts, who may feel they are giving up their rightful place in line for someone who is not as suited for the position as they are.
History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes. It still seems as though the promotion of women to positions of high stature is not considered to be “natural,” the way it is for modern men. Certainly, there are contemporary examples of women in history that have set a positive example, such as Margaret Thatcher or Queen Elizabeth II. The exemplary accomplishments of these women demonstrate that it is possible for women to meet the same challenges as men when it comes to leadership, strategy, statecraft and mental fortitude.
So then, if we know this to be true, why are there not more examples of female military commanders, agency heads, and world leaders? Why do we need to rattle our brains to remember the one or two that may come to mind? I believe that throughout the world, cultural constructs have left little room for the growth of women, as they are all too often shoehorned into more domestic roles. These traditions of subservience and passivity have given rise to the impression that women are not suitable, physically or biologically, for the same roles as men. In this essay, I wish to bring to the forefront some underappreciated ideals that exist in the West, as well as the non-Western world, and how they prove more often than not that women are actually very well suited to serve and lead in the same ways as men. To achieve this, we must step back into history and disassemble the cultural walls and glass ceilings that have been built around women for centuries.
Non-Western Practices and Traditions
In India, there is an uncommon practice known as Sati, where a woman will fling herself onto the funeral pyre of her deceased husband. As outlandish as this tradition may seem, it is still alive today. Sati came into existence, as many traditions do, by way of religion and spiritual faith. This practice was born from Hinduism, whose believers are concerned mainly with the karmic laws of cause and effect (Estrada, 2019). What happens to them in this life plays a significant role in what happens to them in the afterlife and in reincarnation. To show that they are a devout wife to their husband, these women will literally hurl their bodies into flames. When a woman commits Sati, it is considered the completion of the Sativrata stage of a dutiful wife. Once burned alive, she would be endowed with supernatural powers, giving her the ability to bless and curse others. Such martyred women are worshiped by their families as Satimata (Jain, 2018).
The story of the Satimata may seem poetic, even romantic. What I find interesting about this practice, however, is that nowhere in the instructions of Sati does it have the husband fall on the pyre of his deceased wife should she meet her fate before him. Thus, the practice of Sati seems to suggest that women exist for their husband’s sake only, that to be a dutiful and devout wife is their highest and holiest purpose. This practice instructs women that when their husbands pass, there is no longer any purpose for them. More importantly, what does the practice of Sati say to the men who are the audience for the tradition? The practice paints a tainted picture of women as objects to accompany their male counterparts in the afterlife, similar to how the pharaohs were buried with their treasures. In terms of hierarchy and placement in the community, these women are not to be seen as equals deserving of the same treatment as men. If they were, then the men would be lining up to commit Sati too.
Similar, at least in theory, to Sati is the abominable practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) that is practiced and still very much alive today across the African continent, as well as certain parts of Australia. In Egypt, women are circumcised at an alarming rate, upwards of 78-98%, according to Al-Mastry Al-Youm, a journalist for Egypt Independent News (2020).
Egyptian feminists have been working hard since the 1990’s to eradicate the barbaric practice, as so many young girls are left traumatized after the dangerous procedure. Some of these blossoming young women even die as a result of FGM. Maya Morsi, the President of Egypt’s National Council for Women, has called for a change in the culture surrounding this practice and to fight back against what she describes as a “reprehensible” practice that aims to “hurt and humiliate” women (Mastry Al-Youm, 2020).
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the reasons for such practices have varied, however they all come down to sociocultural norms. FGM occurs in roughly 30 countries and has been thought to reduce women’s urges of extramarital sexual acts by way of removing the woman’s clitoris (clitoridectomy), which reduces the libido and helps women to “resist sexual acts” (WHO, 2016).
Research organizations that have studied this practice have unveiled the fact that this form of torture towards women and young girls only causes harm. FGM has no health benefits (WHO, 2020). By continuing with these societal norms, the message being implicitly taught to girls is that they do not deserve the same pleasures as men, and cannot be treated the same as men. It also shows the men and boys of these cultures that females are not to be seen as equals in how they self-express: that their emotions and physical urges are of the utmost evil and need to be removed to preserve the sanctity of the community. It teaches boys and young men that when women have sexual urges, they cannot control themselves, and are likely to engage in an affair with someone other than their own partner. Thus, the warped thinking goes, men must intervene in the bodies of women and amputate the cause of the problem. Again, in contrast, what is the punishment for men who commit adultery? Even after decades of knowledge that “in general, men are more likely than women to cheat,” (Wendy Wang, 2018) there is no mass movement to turn young boys into eunuchs for the sake of propriety.
It seems that culture has led women down an insidious cultural rabbit hole, where the prevailing belief is that they are not the equals of men, and in fact need to be tamed, looked after, and “husbanded.” The result of this deeply held belief is that women receive lesser treatment than their male counterparts, and must undergo ordeals that cause pain, dehumanization and the questioning of one’s self-worth.
Perhaps this is where the taboo against women warriors and soldiers is born. Women who bravely fight for themselves, or even for a country that doesn’t believe in them, are too often ignored, overlooked, or negatively judged. These Amazon fighters are seen as sinners, hysterics and an aberration. Imposing draconian traditions and cultural norms on young girls, just as they are attempting to discover their true selves, leaves little room for them to explore their own genuine beliefs about the world.
In discussing the treatment of women across various cultural landscapes, it is the Islamic and Middle Eastern cultures that are often brought up first. Putting aside the Islamophobia that feeds this tendency, there is good reason to associate Islam with FGM. Women who follow Islam broadcast their faith to the outside world by way of donning the hijab, the veil worn by women of the Muslim faith. This veiling alone often gives Westerners the misperception that these women have no freedom to look as they want, act as they want and think as they want.
To a degree, these Western thinkers are correct, however it is not the veil that suppresses. Rather, it is the culture itself that leaves women with an insatiable thirst for freedom. In Saudi Arabia, there is a male guardianship law that is upheld by all of its citizens and enforced by the state. Under this law, women are controlled by men unrelentingly from birth to death.
In Saudi Arabia, every woman is unable to do the things that would otherwise make her an individual, such as driving, choosing a marriage partner, employment, and travel. Conversely, each man is free to do as he pleases. It wasn’t until 2018 that Saudi Arabia allowed women driving privileges, however they still need permission from their male guardian, who can be either their father, husband or even a son (Human Rights Watch, 2019). This guardianship law is but a single example of the comprehensively oppressive treatment that Saudi women have to endure. There are no such laws for the men in these countries and no way for them to understand the inequalities that are asked of the women. In Saudi Arabia, being born with ovaries is a life-long curse.
Across the Red Sea in Egypt, domestic violence is rampant and all too often goes unseen. As a good Egyptian woman, one must always obey her husband and father, so when they find a need to “put her in her place” per se, it is considered to be for the betterment of the family. Lest she speak up for her own defense, she will be in a worse place than she began. “The minute they become critics, it is said, they cease to belong to their own culture and become puppets of the Western elite.” (Nussbaum, pg. 37)
As a counter argument to women who, as Nussbaum says, “become critics,” Egyptian men accuse them of trying to become more “westernized,” which is tantamount to pure evil. For where else, the men reason, would a woman get the corrupt idea that she should be given freedom and the right to their own self-preservation? Although the common thought is that some of these countries do not have laws that provide protection for their women, they in fact do.
The two main legislative instruments protecting women from sexual violence are the Egyptian Constitution of 2014 and the Criminal Code of 1937, along with its amendments. Though these rules remain in place, we still hear of such brutality against women happening to this day, and it largely goes unpunished.
“But then feminists appeal to notions of equality and liberty – even when those notions are actually included in the constitutions of the nations in which they live – they are frequently accused of Westernizing and of insufficient respect for their own cultures” (Nussbaum, pg. 38)
If women simply attempting to break down sexual and gender barriers are demonized as “western puppets,” how would it be perceived by the greater society if a women held a leadership role in their country, such as the head of a bank, military general, or even just a store
owner? These possibilities remain mostly out of reach for Islamic women, not only in Egypt but in other parts of the Middle East, North Africa and the Levant. There are certain aberrations: women in these areas who do manage to occupy leadership roles in organizations that are generally regarded as exclusively for men. These women, though exceedingly rare, set an important example for others to follow.