...Evaluate feminist views on the role of religion in society today. [33 marks] Feminism is a structural theory that takes a conflict view upon society. They view religion as a socially constructed institution in society that promotes patriarchy and is a tool used by men to oppress women. Feminism point out that religion is founded upon male-values, and use the example of Mary Magdalen’s unknown marriage to Jesus as a key point. However, some may point out that Feminist views on religion are outdated as religion today is less prevalent and no longer holds these patriarchal values as they previously have, and if there are any left, they are quickly disappearing. Firstly, a strength of Feminist views on religion is that they have recognised and criticised the inequality that is prevalent in religious organisations. They point out that women are not allowed access to the upper positions in the religious hierarchy in many of the traditional religions. For example, Orthodox Judaism and Catholicism forbid women to become priests. Karen Armstrong says to this that ‘the exclusion of women from the priesthood as evidence of their marginalisation’. On the other hand, the Church of England allowed for female vicars in 1994, and more recently in 2014/5, allowed for female bishops, with Libby Lane being the first. In addition, on the 12th January 2016, New Jersey Synagogue announced that they had hired the first female Orthodox Rabbi. However, one could point out that although women can...
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...Feminism in Multicultural Societies An analysis of Dutch Multicultural and Postsecular Developments and their Implications for Feminist Debates Eva Midden A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirements of the degree of PhD at the University of Central Lancashire May 2010 Student Declaration Concurrent registration for two or more academic awards I declare that while registered as a candidate for the research degree, I have not been registered candidate or enrolled student for another award of the University or other academic or professional institution Material submitted for another award I declare that no material contained in the thesis has been used in any other submission for an academic award and is solely my own work Signature of Candidate Type of Award School ___PhD_________________________________ ___Centre for Professional Ethics___________ 1 Abstract It was long assumed that both multiculturalism and feminism are connected to progressive movements and hence have comparable and compatible goals. However, both in academia and in popular media the critique on multiculturalism has grown and is often accompanied with arguments related to gender equality and/or feminism. According to political scientist Susan Moller Okin for example there are fundamental conflicts between our commitment to gender equality and the desire to respect the customs of minority cultures or religions. If we agree that women...
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...How has feminism attempted to achieve women’s liberation, and has the battle been won? This essay aims to outline how feminism has and continues its attempt to achieve women’s liberation.This essay will reflect the current situation in Europe. The essay begins by describing the first and second wave of feminism, providing an overview of the ideas of some important feminist thinkers and activists. It then introduces the third wave, modern feminism and concludes with some remarks regarding the development of feminism insofar as it affects modern organizations willing to tackle gender inequality. The concept defined as the ‘first wave of feminism’ finds it origins in the mid-nineteenth century, with the ‘suffragettes’—as those pioneers were called—and their struggle to achieve equal political rights. These women’s central aim was to obtain the right to vote, even if that meant they had to protest through various hunger strikes, as they did in London. The ‘second wave of feminism’ focused on ending all forms of sexism, and it fought both psychological and sexual oppression towards women. Among others, Betty Friedan realized that women felt frustrated due to the oppression that came from their perceived role in society, namely that of staying at home. The patriarchal culture started to be criticized by many radical feminists. This second wave was very marked by Simone De Beauvoir and her work, The Second Sex. She believed “one is not born a woman, one becomes one”. Eva Figes wrote...
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...seriously. Before the events of 9/11, stereotypes, hatred, and prejudices of Muslims or those perceived to be linked with Islam were taken lightly by the United States public. After 9/11, and across the globe, Muslims have faced individual and systemic acts of discrimination and violence after 9/11 as a form of retaliation for the collective guilt ascribed to the followers of Islam and anyone who resembled them‖ (Zine, 2004, p.111). The acts of 9/11 have brought on a new attacks on Islam, all which are negative. Every where around the world Muslim are faced with growing prejudice and are at times singled out. Hate crimes committed against muslim or Mosques are hardly every heard about on the news. While Islamophobia is on the rise it is time to break those barriers and bring communities together in a peaceful manner. This would have to a lot with media portrays Islam. If we take a look at the average news media outlet's headliners in the past 5-10 years and it's clear that a certain word or group has managed to stand out: Muslim or ISLAMOPHOBIA PAGE 7 ISLAMOPHOBIA ANDRIANAKOS Islam. Now with the spotlight on 1.57 billion people following its five pillars of Islam. Their every move is taking apart and analyzed and in most cases show cased in a negative light. The religion of Islam has existed since the 7th century C.E but the term “Islamophobia” is a relatively recent new thing, maybe the past twenty...
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...The status of women in Iraq at the beginning of the 21st century is affected by many factors: wars (most recently the Iraq War), sectarian religious conflict, debates concerning Islamic law and Iraq's Constitution, cultural traditions, and modern secularism. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi women are widowed as a result of a series of wars and internal conflicts. Women's rights organizations struggle against harassment and intimidation, while they work to promote improvements to women's status in the law, in education, the workplace, and many other spheres of Iraqi life, and to curtail abusive traditional practices such as honor killings and forced marriages. It’s unfair how feminism was treated in the past and todays time.Middle eastern countries,...
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...Introduction The concept of gender has become a debatable issue in the contemporary society and an important dimension in the design and analysis of social and economic development policies. These development concerns have brought about gender issues at the forefront of national and international agenda. During the 1990's, the gender issue continued to follow the historical trend by being one of the most popular themes of debates. The Human Development Report, (1995) posits that the number of women is greater than or equal to that of men, in today's society, yet females are still considered as a minority segment of the population. As a measure to redress gender inequalities, approaches by feminist movements, such as Women in Development (WID), were crafted but not much was achieved. Later, it was Women and Development (WAD) and lastly Gender and Development (GAD). It seems deep-rooted gender inequality still exists globally, despite substantial national and international measures that have been taken towards gender equality. This essay deliberates on the assertion that, “Gender equality is debatable: what is undebatable is the attempt to make it universally applicable.” The writer agrees to a greater extent that gender equality is a controversial issue basing on the multiplicity of societies that it is applied to. The fact that there is no universal culture, universal religion or universal ideology makes the whole issue arguable, ence, the need to degenderise gender...
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...Contemporary Issues in Buddhism Team D REL/133 May 21, 2013 Prof. Joseph Pirelli Buddhism is considered one of the oldest forms of religion dating back over 2,500 years; which originated in Thailand and has spread throughout Asia and begun to spread in Northern America, with over 125 million practicing Buddhists today. Siddhartha Gautama the founder of Buddhism became Buddha, his teachings and philosophy of selflessness and love towards others, modest and meek lifestyle, karma and reincarnation, education, and total submission and control of the mind and body are the basics of this religion. Buddhism has similar characteristics with other major religions that include practices, rituals, scriptures, and believes such as the belief in a deity or higher greater power. It has a doctrine accepting teachings of salvation and a code of conduct. The Buddhism religion maintains an essential qualities or religious practices that are passed down from generation by sources such as authorities and or their followers are accept as sacred. The Buddhist teachings consist of the Noble Eight Fold Path: 1.) Right View- full understanding of life. 2) Right of Intention- selflessness and good will towards all. 3.) Right Speech- always watching words 4.) Right Actions- always in control of ones actions and the results or impact of them. 5.) Right Livelihood-live upstanding example nothing illegal or unethical. 6.) Right Effort- always displays effort...
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...Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research 13 (1): 33-40, 2013 ISSN 1990-9233 © IDOSI Publications, 2013 DOI: 10.5829/idosi.mejsr.2013.13.1.1756 Postmodernism Approach in Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) 1 Ahmad Badri Abdullah, 1Mohd Anuar Ramli, 2Mohammad Aizat Jamaludin, 1 Syamsul Azizul Marinsah and 3Mohd Roslan Mohd Nor 1 Department of Fiqh and Usul, Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2 Halal Product Research Institute (HPRI), Universiti Putra Malaysia 3 Department of Islamic History and Civilization, Academy of Islamic Studies, Universiti of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Abstract: The history of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) has gone through various phases. From the time of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), it has continuously become a dynamic force in fulfilling the contemporary needs of the Ummah. After the period of imitation (taqlid), Islamic jurisprudence enters the renewal process (tajdid) in order to rejuvenate Muslim society to the practice of Ijtihad. The emergence of new approach was caused by the changes and developments in human life that spark to the existence of new issues, which their answers cannot be traced in the works of classical fiqh. Accordingly, some would prefer to utilize the postmodernism approach in the process of interpretation of the divine texts in order to get the ruling (hukm). Some of the thinkers and scholars seem to neglect the normative guide in classical Usul al-Fiqh (the principle of...
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...To what extent is religion a Conservative Force? (33) Religion could be seen as a Conservative Force from different perspectives such as: Functionalism, Marxism and Feminism. However, other perspectives disagree with this and see religion as a Force for Social Change. There are different ways in which sociologists define religion. There is a substantive definition, and functional definition and a social constructionist definition. Substantive definitions focus on the content or substance of religion belief such as the belief in God or the supernatural. Functional definitions focus on the psychological functions it performs for the individuals or society. Social constructionists focus on how the members of society define religion themselves: they argue that it is impossible to produce a single universal definition of religion to cover all cases because different people have different definitions of religion. Religion can be seen as a conservative force in two different senses: it is seen as conservative in the sense of being ‘traditional’ as it upholds traditional beliefs about how society should be organised. It is also seen as conservative as it functions to preserve things as they are. Functionalists see society as a system of interrelated parts or social institutions. Each institution performs certain functions which each contribute to maintaining the social system by maintaining a need. The key feature of religion was not a belief in Gods, Spirits or the Supernatural,...
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...Feminism in Bangladesh: Establishing equal rights between men & women in young generation. SADMAN ANIS Students University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh ABSTRACT This is basically exploratory study and was conducted at University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh & United International University, Dhanmondi,Dhaka, Bangladesh over a period of 10 days started from 1st December, 2012 to 10th December, 2010. The main objective of this study is to describe what the condition of feminism in Bangladesh and what is the thinking of our varsity girl about feminism. Total 21 respondents were selected based on age class of 18-22. Feminism is a belief in the right of women to have political, social, and economic equality with men. It is a discourse that involves various movements, theories, and philosophies which are concerned with the issue of gender difference, advocate equality for women, and campaign for women’s rights and interests. According to some, the history of feminism can be divided into three waves. The first wave was in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the second was in the 1960s and 1970s and the third extends from the 1990s to the present. Feminist theory emerged from these feminist movements. It is manifest in a variety of disciplines such as feminist geography, feminist history and feminist literary criticism. Although feminism has emerged in nineteenth in the world, it is yet unknown to women of our country. The concept of feminism in Bangladesh has...
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...Status in Egypt Introduction Modern Egypt is like its dynastic counterpart, drawing sustenance from the Nile River. Today, as in the ancient period, most of the country’s population is concentrated along the river, fully 20% of it around Cairo. Modern Egyptian society is identified not with the ancient civilization but with the Arab culture is overwhelmingly identified with Islam, the religion followed by 90% of Egypt’s population (Library). Much about women’s position in modern Egypt can be traced to a famous verse of the Koran: Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because the support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husband’s) absence what Allah would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means (of annoyance): for Allah is Most High, Great (above you all) (Koran 4.34) Islam is strongly implicated in the generally inferior and subordinate social position of women. Particularly among the rural and lower socioeconomic classes – largely illiterate – an ethos of patriarchy predicated of Islamic law, or the sharia, has long been standard custom and practice. Over the course of the 20th century Egyptian women achieved education and status as working professionals...
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...DATED: 21-4-2016 SM 60.03 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ISLAM SUBMITTED TO Prof. Willi Zimmermann SUBMITTED BY ASRLAN ASHRAF ST117493 WATAN YAR KHAN ST117487 ZAHBIULAH AHMADI ST118273 FUMIHIKO OJIRO ST117562 WEISI ZHAO ST118234 SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction and Background 01 Chapter 2: The UN Global Compact And Islamic Perspective 03 The UN Global Compact 03 Islam and Human Right 03 1. Islam and Equality 03 2. Islam, Life and Security 04 3. Islam and Personnel Freedom 04 4. Islam Economic Social and Cultural Freedoms 05 Islam and Labor 05 Islam-Legal and Philanthropic Activities 07 Chapter 3: Islam beyond CSR 09 The Case of Moral and Ethical Economy and Individual Accountability 09 Conclusion 11 References CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Islam is derived from the Arabic root "Salema" which mean peace, purity, submission and obedience. In the religious sense, Islam means submission to the will of God and obedience to His law. Everything and every phenomenon in the world other than man is administered totally by God-made laws, i.e. they are obedient to God and submissive to his laws, they are in the State of Islam. Man possesses the qualities of intelligence and choice, thus he is invited...
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...------------------------------------------------- Religion in a Global Context For secularisation theory, modernisation undermines religion. The importance of science and technology in economic development, and the rational worldview on which they depend, are seen as destroying belief in the supernatural. On the other hand, religion may contribute to development, as Weber argued in the case of the protestant ethic (AO2 – Gordon Marshall and Peter Berger). More recently, sociologists have examined what role religion may play in development in today’s globalising world. Religion and Development Meera Nanda - God and Globalisation in India Globalisation has brought rising prosperity to India’s new middle class. Nanda’s book ‘God and Globalisation’ examines the role of Hinduism, the religion of 85% of the population, in legitimating both the rise of a new Hindu ‘ultra-nationalism’ and the prosperity of the Indian middle class. Hindusim and Consumerism Globalisation has created a huge and prosperous, scientifically educated, urban middle class in India, working in IT, Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology sectors closely tied into the global economy. According to Inglehart and Norris, these are precisely the people whom secularisation theory predicts will be the first to abandon religion in favour of a Secular View (AO2). Yet as Nanda Observes, a vast majority of this class continue to believe in the supernatural. A survey by the ‘Centre for the Study of developing Societies...
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...Running head: ISLAM : GLOBAL CONCEPT AND PRACTICES 1 Islam : Global Concept and Practices DeVry University Sociology – 350N – Cultural Diversity in Professions Spring Semester 2013 Introduction The history of Islam, its’ concepts and practices is one of the most intriguing yet controversial religions known today. Worldwide, Muslims make up about 23.4 percent of the population, while Christianity makes up about 30 percent (Goodstein, 2011). A study published in 2009 by the Pew Research Center to get global concept of the Muslim population found, “Of the 232 countries and territories included in this study, 50 are Muslim-majority” (p. 5). The Center also found “While 80% of the world’s Muslims live in countries where Muslims are in the majority, significant numbers – about one-fifth of the world’s Muslim population – live as religious minorities in their home countries” (p. 7). With so many countries adhering to Islam and the growth of the Muslim population here in America and worldwide; how will this affect how non-Islamic countries communicate and interact with Islamic countries and how we communicate right here in the United States? If Muslim fundamentalists were not at the forefront of controversy in the war on terrorism, would Islam be a religion that sparks so much debate? Even before September 11th, there had been much controversy related to Islam. However most of it occurred on foreign soil. With significant bombings and terrorist attacks in Europe...
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...Task Essay Question(s): Evaluate feminist views on the role and functions of religion in society today (18marks) Patriarchal Vehicle Evidence of patriarchy; * Sacred text, places of worship etc. Woodhead, Armstrong etc Criticism and strengths. Task Essay Question(s): Evaluate feminist views on the role and functions of religion in society today (18marks) Patriarchal Vehicle Evidence of patriarchy; * Sacred text, places of worship etc. Woodhead, Armstrong etc Criticism and strengths. Evaluate postmodernist explanations of the role & functions of religion in contemporary society (33marks) (Plan and case) Evaluate postmodernist explanations of the role & functions of religion in contemporary society (33marks) (Plan and case) Feminists see religion as a patriarchal institution; maintaining male dominance over women by allowing them to believe that it is their divine right to dominate. As well as this, they believe that religion functions as a patriarchal ideology that is a vehicle that perpetuates inequity and such beliefs legitimizes female subservience and oppression. El Saadawi, says that religion is distorted to acquiesce patriarchal domination in which they exploit women in multiple ways; prostitution, slavery and abortion. However, functionalists believe otherwise and argue that its function is not to oppress women but necessary as to keep society stable whilst Marxists believe that religion oppresses the working class and serves capitalism not females...
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