Gender Segregated Education in KsaJoin now to read essay Gender Segregated Education in KsaAbstractThis article examines the Kingdom of Saudi Arabias gender-segregated higher education system and how it is used to transmit the Kingdoms traditional societal expectations to the employment sector. With Saudi Arabias current need for economic change, the education system is retarding instead of accelerating reform. A background consisting of Saudi Arabian history, governing laws, religious beliefs and womens roles is examined. I then discuss the education systems preservation goal by considering segregation, womens mobility, videoconferencing courses, and the roles of professors. I attempt to explain how the current education system fails to prepare its students for the global economy: by limiting womens access to the labor market, and by not preparing men for the realities of the global market and therefore creating the need for migrant workers. In conclusion, conserving culture is significant, but for economic change to occur, the extent of cultural conservatism and its effect on the education system need to be re-evaluated.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a monarchy, headed by the Al Saud royal family, with a council of ministers. Saudi Arabias strong roots in religious and tribal histories date back to the eighteenth century with the joining of the first Ibn Saud to Muhammad ben Abdel Wahab. Ibn Saud was the ruler of the town of Dariya in Najd (AlMunajjed, 1997). Muhammad ben Abdel Wahab was a religious fundamentalist reformer who changed the worship and social practices of Sunni Islam. He was viewed as a Mujaddid, a voice that is sent by God at the on-set of every century to remind Muslims to return to the true revelations of the Quran. Together, these two formed the religious movement called Wahabi (Cordesman, 2003)—also known as Salafi in the Arab world (Del Castillo, 2003)—which Saudi Arabia follows today. These two were unhappy with the decline of social virtues in the eighteenth century and wanted to bring back the �Golden Age of Islam, an age of happiness in its simplicity and strict orthodoxy. They both attained this goal and “the union of ideology and military force led to the birth of a state: Saudi Arabia,” (AlMunajjed, 1997). In 1932, Abdel Aziz ben Saud consolidated the entire peninsula and proclaimed himself King of Saudi Arabia (Cordesman, 2003).
Saudi Arabia was economically weak, yet militarily and politically strong. It was not until 1938 that oil was discovered and led to a major economic boom in the 1970s. With this boom came the construction of houses, schools, and universities. Consequently, tribal authority was weakened since labor needs increased in the cities, and many people had to move away from their traditional areas in order to work. Moreover, the new economy created an inflow of foreign workers who came to help develop the country (AlMunajjed, 1997).
Presently, Saudi Arabia is one of the richest countries in the world and a major economic and political influence. Its status in the Islamic world is very strong and has also led to an increase in its participation in international relations. Being that it is the custodian of Meccah and Medinah, the two cities where Islam was born in the sixth century with the Prophet Muhammad and Islams holy book, The Quran (AlMunajjed, 1997), Saudi Arabia is considered the keeper of the Islamic religion. With that title comes a great deal of responsibility including the preservation of the Muslim religion.
As a means of preservation, Saudi Arabia has adopted the Quran and the Prophets Hadith (written record of Muhammads declarations) as its Basic Law of Government. It is based on equality in accordance with the Islamic Sharia, or Islamic law. The States role is to protect Islam and implement its Sharia. The State will order its “people to do right and shun evil; it fulfils the duty regarding Gods call,” (Jerichow, 1998). The State will protect human rights as accorded by the Sharia.
The history of the development of the Sharia claims that the Sharia is man-made. It is based on the interpretation of the divine messages of the Prophet. The Sharia was always supplemented by the thoughts and beliefs of Muslim men until it was finally decided that the Islamic laws were no longer negotiable by ordinary Muslim men, and the rules of the Sharia were thought to be finally settled (Jerichow, 1998). There is constant contention in all Arab and foreign literature over the Islamic position on women. To understand this controversy, it is important to eschew all generalizations about women in Islam, and to understand first, what is the actual teaching of Islam and second, what is the Wahabi interpretation of Islam.
The Sharia of Al Qafah
The first and most important claim by a Muslim to the superiority of women is that Allaah has given him this law so that His people, if they should have chosen one, could take it from Him. This view is quite different to other popular Islamic views. To date, almost all scholars agree that there is no legal basis for this claim; but according to many interpretations, Allah actually has a role to play in the development of the modern state. The second reason has to be found here; to argue that men and women are equal is just like arguing that the Bible speaks of a world where a God has the whole world. The most important difference is that there is a general consensus that, according to some versions, women are equal to men. This is an entirely different point from that of the mainstream Muslim view and one that only allows us to believe that women are the better gender. But in reality, this does not make the claim any less correct.
Women are not considered to be an equal person, though they are considered to be better. Indeed, a third of Islamic scholars think that women are superior to men, but this is largely from their different religious and political opinions. Some scholars actually see men as equal in spite of the fact that women hold religious positions on various issues. For example, in their view of the Sharia, the Qur’anic text explicitly says that women should be allowed to marry, but says that women should not have children, thus making their marriages a crime (Qur’anic 4:9). However, some scholars consider these rulings in an unusual manner. Some of the earliest Islamic jurists believed that the female part of a man’s body was to be ‘enlarged’, or ‘enlarged’, to fit the body of the other male. They also believe that women should be allowed to take part in military duties and other high-level activities until they attain a certain age, but this is only the idea based on Islamic tradition. And other scholars consider this to be a misunderstanding. Most scholars even think that if women are allowed to enter the army, they should be able to run it, or even try. But this view has not been held in the Islamic scriptures.
Moreover, the ‘inheritance-giving’ position held by most women is questionable: some even claim that it is part of the law, but not done away with. On the contrary, this view shows that the law is actually based upon a general conception of the Islamic word, based squarely on the doctrine of the Koran. In addition, the very word ‘theah’ as used in Islamic texts and in the various Islamic texts refers to three different roles, and each of these roles, in most cases, is based solely on Allah (Aqdas 2:6-20).
Women are not just equal to men (J
The Sharia of Al Qafah
The first and most important claim by a Muslim to the superiority of women is that Allaah has given him this law so that His people, if they should have chosen one, could take it from Him. This view is quite different to other popular Islamic views. To date, almost all scholars agree that there is no legal basis for this claim; but according to many interpretations, Allah actually has a role to play in the development of the modern state. The second reason has to be found here; to argue that men and women are equal is just like arguing that the Bible speaks of a world where a God has the whole world. The most important difference is that there is a general consensus that, according to some versions, women are equal to men. This is an entirely different point from that of the mainstream Muslim view and one that only allows us to believe that women are the better gender. But in reality, this does not make the claim any less correct.
Women are not considered to be an equal person, though they are considered to be better. Indeed, a third of Islamic scholars think that women are superior to men, but this is largely from their different religious and political opinions. Some scholars actually see men as equal in spite of the fact that women hold religious positions on various issues. For example, in their view of the Sharia, the Qur’anic text explicitly says that women should be allowed to marry, but says that women should not have children, thus making their marriages a crime (Qur’anic 4:9). However, some scholars consider these rulings in an unusual manner. Some of the earliest Islamic jurists believed that the female part of a man’s body was to be ‘enlarged’, or ‘enlarged’, to fit the body of the other male. They also believe that women should be allowed to take part in military duties and other high-level activities until they attain a certain age, but this is only the idea based on Islamic tradition. And other scholars consider this to be a misunderstanding. Most scholars even think that if women are allowed to enter the army, they should be able to run it, or even try. But this view has not been held in the Islamic scriptures.
Moreover, the ‘inheritance-giving’ position held by most women is questionable: some even claim that it is part of the law, but not done away with. On the contrary, this view shows that the law is actually based upon a general conception of the Islamic word, based squarely on the doctrine of the Koran. In addition, the very word ‘theah’ as used in Islamic texts and in the various Islamic texts refers to three different roles, and each of these roles, in most cases, is based solely on Allah (Aqdas 2:6-20).
Women are not just equal to men (J
Prior to the Quran, women “lived in subjugation and degradation,”