'Women's rights' is a very broad and widely discussed topic, right? What about 'women's rights in the Middle East'? An even hotter topic. Or is it? Is it being discussed in the right ways? And with the right people? People that can actually bring change. If it is, why aren't we seeing clear progress? Do you think about the rights Western women enjoy here that some women in Saudi Arabia have never even heard or dared dream off? Neither do most people, so don't feel too bad. But the truth is that we should talk and do much more about it than we currently do. That is one of the goals of this essay. To make this a more talked about topic and not just leave it at talk but also introduce some form of action. Out of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and Morocco what do all these countries have in common? They are all countries in the Middle East where women's rights are being neglected one way or another and some rights are even non-existent. It's ironic that in the West these are called 'basic' human rights while most women in the Middle East don't have them at all.

While women in the West generally pride themselves on having extensive rights they are still not completely equal to men. In many cases, men are still paid more than women for the same job. The upsetting fact of the matter is that some of the rights and personal liberties Western women take for granted are privileges unreachable to most women in the Middle East. Women in the Middle East face many social injustices that deprive them of the rights to education, choice of spouse, voting, performing on stage and many other basic liberties.  

Education is a fundamental foundation for women empowerment and it is also a basic human right. We think that every girl should be able to decide if she wants to attend college or not. Not only that, we think that every parent sends their kids to elementary, middle and high school. But even that is a luxury some girls in the Middle East do not get to experience.  Malala Yousafzai is a good example of how empowered women can change their communities and even their countries. Malala lived in the Swat valley in Pakistan. From an early age she was very outspoken about the right of girls to receive an education and about the dominance of the Taliban where she lived. Because of her outspoken views, the Taliban shot her in the head on October 9th, 2012, while she was boarding the bus on her way to school. She was in critical condition after the shooting but pulled through. Now, at 18 years old, she is a fierce and fearless advocate for women's education: "all I want is education and I am afraid on no one" (Yousafzai). Malala is one of the people who is tackling this problem the right way. She is not just talking about it, she is fighting for it. She even has a few awards and recognitions to recognize her hard work and was the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. This is not to say that people should fight for women's rights to receive prizes, but it does go to show that it doesn't matter what your age, gender or background is, everyone can make a difference. Many Western women would agree with her in this statement: "I think of it often and imagine the scene clearly. Even if they try to kill me, I will tell them what they are trying to do is wrong, that education is our basic right" (Yousafzai). She is completely right! Education is a women's basic right and no one is allowed to ever take that from her. 

Another person that addresses this issue in his book is Khaled Hosseini. He is a writer that was born in Afghanistan and now lives in the U.S. He has written a couple of books about Afghanistan and its history, beauty but also troubles. The book that is referred to in the essay is called "A thousand splendid suns". One of the book's main characters is an Afghan women named Mariam. She is the illegitimate daughter of a very rich man that lives in Kabul, Afghanistan. Mariam and her mother live in a very small, dilapidated hut. While her father's legitimate daughters get to go to the best schools; "Saideh and Naheed were going to the Mehri school for girls" (Hosseini 17), she does not. The only teaching she ever receives is from an elderly man who teaches her mostly from the Koran. This is very kind of him, but throughout the book you realize that she could have learned so much more if she had had the chance to go to school. And she really desired to go: "thoughts of classrooms and teachers had rattled around in Mariam's head ... Mariam longed to place a ruler on a page and draw important looking lines" (Hosseini 17). If she would have gone she might have been able to learn ways to help other girls in her same situation. Since she knew exactly what they were going through she might have been able to help the women around her and maybe set up some kind of program to reach out to these girls and give them a fair chance at education. 

These two ladies, Malala and Mariam, are perfect examples of what women can accomplish (Malala) and what women that do not get the chance at education could have accomplished (Mariam). The empowerment of women through granting them their basic human rights will eventually lead not just to the progress of women in these countries, but also the progress of the country as a whole. When women are educated, not only do they themselves change but they also influence their families and whole communities. Daughters look up to their mothers and this way the mothers shape the mentality of the generations that come after them. Which in turn changes the culture for the better. Because of Malala's story and the bravery she continues to show by sharing her experience she has shed light on the matter of education of girls in Pakistan, especially in regions where the Taliban reigns. And because she has addressed this issue so much, change will start to happen very soon. She has made sure that this issue can't be ignored. But as both of these women have also proven to us, it is an uphill battle for the right to education in the Middle East. An uphill battle we must confront head on.

Marriage and choice of spouse play a major roll in the general wellbeing and health of women in the Middle East. Women here in the West think that most people get the right to decide who they want to marry or if they want to marry at all. In contrast, some girls in the Middle East are married off by their fathers or whomever their guardian or caretaker is. Some are married at an extremely young age to much older men. The age to get married is also something women here in the West do not think a lot about. You get married, if you want to, when you meet  the right one. That usually happens when you are an adult. But that is not the case for many girls in the Middle East. Especially in countries that are at war or countries where a lot of people are poor, these girls get married off at extremely young ages. Usually they are sold, because the families receive a good amount of money for them. This is the case also for many Syrian refugees in Jordan. The reasons why parents do it is mentioned in the article 'Syrian conflict: untold misery of child brides' by BBC: "some families marry off their daughters because of tradition. Others see a husband as protection for their daughters, but the UN says most are driven by poverty" (Syrian conflict). Like a Jordanian midwife said in the BBC article: "They (the girls) have to take care of their husbands, when they want to go outside and play. Many of them get divorced" (Syrian conflict). But the problem then is that they are already pregnant or have children. This is the case for a 17-year old girl who got married at 15, has a baby girl and now wants to divorce her husband. But "her husband is threatening to take the child away, as the price of her freedom" (Syrian conflict). How could anyone ever make that choice? Especially a 17-year-old girl. Like she says: "I will die without her. A mother's heart burns if her child is taken from her" (Syrian conflict). Some girls are able to say 'no' to this, like 13-tear-old Ghazel from the BBC article: "a 30-year-old Saudi man proposed to her, but she turned him down - against her family's wishes. She told us she was determined to continue her studies, but it is unclear how long she can defy her parents" (Syrian conflict). She just wants to go to school. Other girls are not so fortunate, like another girl who "was married off at 14 to a 50-year-old from Kuwaiti" (Syrian conflict). She "had dreams of becoming a lawyer" (Syrian conflict). 

 Many of the girls that stay married suffer a lot of domestic abuse from their much older husbands. This is what happens to Mariam from Khaled Hosseini's book "A thousand splendid suns". She is given into marriage to a much older man by her father when she is just 15 years old. Hosseini describes how after some time married she starts to be beaten more and more. And how there was mostly no reason for her beatings. This also starts to happen to her husband Rasheed's second young wife Leila. Hosseini also makes a clear point about how women there and especially in the time he is writing about, know that they have absolutely no rights. They cannot file any charges against their husbands because their husbands have the right to beat them as much as they want. You see this clearly in the female characters that Hosseini writes about. Mariam takes all these beatings in silence and submission. She never fights back and does not utter a word during her ordeal. She knows that there is nothing she can do about it. 

Child brides are not the only ones that suffer this fate, so do other brides. Ann Elizabeth Mayer effectively points this out in her article when she says that women have been severely disadvantaged in the areas of family law and inheritance and that "women are accorded fewer rights than men and are subordinated to male authority" (Mayer). She further explains that under traditional Islamic Law "women were legally required to be submissive and obedient to their husbands; were they not, their husbands were entitled to beat them" (Mayer). This is what happens to Mariam and Leila. At one point in the story Leila convinces Mariam to escape with her and her daughter. Unfortunately, they are caught and brought back home by the police. Leila tries to convince the officer not to bring them home because they will be severely beaten. She says: "if you sent us back, there is no saying what he will do to us" (Hosseini 266). The officer answers with: "what a man does in his home is his business". Leyla is furious at that point: "what about the law then, will you be there to maintain order?" The police are completely on the side of the husbands, which is clear by what the officer says next: "as a matter of policy, we do not interfere with private family matters". Hosseini finishes this conversation of through Leila in a way that drives his and Mayer's point home: "of course you don't. When it benefits the man. And isn't this a 'private family matter,' as you say? Isn't it?" (Hosseini 266).

Another thing that Mayer mentions and that Hosseini also mentions in his book is when Mayer says that her (a woman's) "contact with persons outside the family were similarly subject to restriction at her husbands wishes". Hosseini also talks about this in his book. He mentions that Mariam's husband and her do not really have any close family. So she is not allowed to talk to almost anyone, especially if her husband is not around. He strictly prohibits her from talking to one of the ladies on their street, Leila's mother, because he thinks she is too liberal. Like we see in the examples of the Syrian refugee girls, Mariam and Leila, child marriage and also the inability to choose your spouse is not good for the general health of these women. A 14-year-old girls having a baby from a 50-year-old man is to much for her young body to handle. Likewise, being beaten repeatedly without any hope of help from the authorities or anyone else is detrimental to the health of these women. 

Women's right to vote is one of the biggest components of the general idea of women's rights. Women in the West take voting for granted as well. It is very hard for Western women to comprehend the fact that just last year women in Saudi Arabia were allowed to vote for the first time in the county's history. They forget however that in our own Western countries women were still fighting for the right to vote well into the 1970's. 

In almost all the countries in the world women are allowed to vote. Saudi Arabia was one of the last countries where this was not allowed. The movie called Suffragette was about the fight for women's rights in Britain in the early 1900's. At the end of the movie they mention a few countries and when women were allowed to vote there. One of the most shocking parts of that list was the last country listed, Saudi Arabia. It said that women were promised the right to vote in 2015. This was very shocking. But it is true, according to the article "despite barriers, Saudi women begin-first election campaign" by Ian Timberlake women were allowed to register to vote and to run for positions for the first time in the country's history in 2015.

This is a huge step for Saudi Arabia. But it did not go without a lot of effort and struggle according to the article by Timberlake. Saudi Arabia is an Islamic absolute monarchy and "is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive" (Timberlake). They also have to "cover themselves in black from head-to-toe in public, and require permission from a man in their families to travel, work or marry" (Timberlake). This just goes to show how restricted the women there are and it also directly correlates with Hosseini's book "a thousand splendid suns". He also talks about how women in Afghanistan were not allowed to leave there houses if not escorted by male relatives under the extremely Islamic rule of the Taliban. But even despite all of this women's rights have made some progress under the rule of King Abdullah who promised in the 2011 elections that women were allowed to vote and run in the 2015 elections. But even so, it seems that very few "women have registered to vote" (Timberlake) according to al-Sadah "a candidate in the Golf coast city of Qatif" (Timberlake). This could be tied to male relatives not allowing the females to go vote, or females themselves not wanting to go vote because they have grown accustomed to the limited rights they have. 

Other things that might have affected the amount of women that went to register to vote are "transportation problems" (Timberlake): no one will take them. And also "bureaucratic obstacles and a lack of awareness of the process and its significance" (Timberlake). One women had to go several time to get registered, but "nonetheless encouraged others to make the effort" (Timberlake). You can see just how important this is for these women and how long they have waited for this, especially when the women mentioned earlier says that "even my mum who's 95 ... she went to register" (Timberlake). 

 You can also clearly see the odds these women are facing, especially those running for positions. "In al-Sadah's Qatif electorate there are only 2000 registered female votes" (Timberlake) compared to the 48.000 men. In order to win, she will have to "woo the 48.000 men in order to stand a chance" (Timberlake). The question then arises: how can a women win with such odds? In a society where she is seen as weaker than a man, why would a man ever vote for her? The answer lies in men like Khalid al-Dakhil, "an independent political analyst" (Timberlake). He said that "he would 'of course' consider voting for a woman in the ballot which 'should be the first step along the road of democracy' "(Timberlake). In a country run by men where women historically have had zero to no rights at all, you need men that think like this to be able to let the women reach and prosper in political positions which will indeed lead to prosper.

There is a surprising connection between the suffragette movement and women's rights in the Middle East. Women, especially in England where it started, wanted the right to vote, just like the men. Here there is a direct similarity, women wanted the right to vote. In the Middle East, a lot of women want the right to vote, drive and travel without approval from a male relative, just like the men have these rights. 

But during the suffragette movement there was also an anti-suffragette movement going on, led by women: "the anti-suffragist Grace Duffield Goodwin laid out several commandments for rejecting the right to vote" (Twelve great reasons why). She said that "Because the basis of government is force  --  its stability rests upon its physical power to enforce its laws; therefore, it is inexpedient to give the vote to woman. Immunity from service in executing the law would make most women irresponsible voters." (Twelve great reasons why). She was making what seemed to her like very valid points and it was even more powerful because it was coming from a woman. 

The issue with women's rights is so bad in some of the Middle Eastern countries sometimes that women are not even allowed to play musical instruments on stage. If women cannot contribute their artistic and musical abilities to their country just because of their gender, there is something fundamentally wrong. The article "Iranian orchestra barred over women musicians-conductor furious" highlights this part of women's right and the way women are treated in the Middle East that you don't really think about normally. This article talks about a specific case in Iran where an orchestra was not allowed to perform because it had women musicians. The most shocking thing is how recently this happened, which we can see by when the article was last updated, which was November 2013.

The article talks about how the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, which is one of Iran's oldest orchestras, was told 15 minutes before they were supposed to get on stage that they were not allowed to perform because they had women in their orchestra. This was "the first time a performance by the Symphony Orchestra had been cancelled because of its female members". They were going to play their national anthem at a major sporting event: "the World Wrestling Cups competition which opened in the Iranian Capital". The conductor, Mr. Rahbari, said "I was offended and said it was impossible for me to accept such an insult, we either play all together or we leave". Rahbari said that the organizers of the ceremony said that "it's absolutely impossible for women to play musical instruments on stage".

As was mentioned before, this article talks about a part of the issue with women's rights in the Middle East that we don't usually think about, female musicians playing on stage. In our Western world we are accustomed to seeing men and women on stage as musicians and it is absolutely normal for a female to perform a solo on stage, just think about operas. Has it ever dawned on you that some women in the Middle East and in this case in Iran, are not allowed something we have grown so accustomed to seeing? Women in Iran are not allowed to perform a solo on stage as the article says "banned from singing solo in public since the Islamic Revolution of 1979".  Why will event organizers not let women perform even when they have government authorization to play? The article gives a pretty good and clear explanation: "recent concert cancellations have been viewed by some Iranians as a tactic used by the country's ultraconservative establishment to push back against Rohani's government". The article says that Rohani "urged moderation" and this is probably the main reason why he has encountered so much resistance and opposition. As Meyer in her article "Cultural Survival", one of the biggest reasons that "the provisions of Islamic Law affecting women have been jealously guarded over the centuries" (Meyer) is partly because "many are set forth in the text of the Qur'an" (Meyer). This is exactly what the ultraconservative establishment believes and it is the reason why they fight so much against Rohani and his moderation. And female musicians seem to have been caught in the middle of this battle.

Mayer says that one of the biggest reasons that "the provisions of Islamic Law affecting women have been jealously guarded over the centuries" is partly because "many are set forth in the text of the Qur'an", which is holy to the people there. Believing and following the Qur'an has many benefits for the males in this culture and hardly any for females. Yet, surprisingly the few articles that talked at least in part about being against women's rights were written by women themselves.  The article "Some say they don't want them" says exactly that: "Quite often the obstacles to their (women's) progress have been not just ill-educated male chauvinists and conservative clerics. Women themselves have also stood in the way" (Some say). Like the example Eman Al Nafjan mentions in her article "What do Saudi Women want". She gives the example of a women in Saudi Arabia who "in collaboration with members of the royal family, organized a campaign to strengthen the guardianship system" (Al Nafjan 43). What they did was that "the urged the king not to give in to local activists and international human rights organizations regarding the guardianship system" (Al Nafjan 43). The author says that "none of this is a surprise considering what is being taught in the public school system" (Al Nafjan 43). Al Nafjan also points out that some women do not want change in the women's rights out of fear. She says that "some explain their indecision as a fear that they might have to assume responsibilities they are incapable of undertaking" (Al Nafjan 43). One Saudi woman says that "as long as women driving is banned, no one will have these expectations of me (Al Nafjan 43). We can see that they are clearly scared of the unknown and prefer to stay with what is familiar, whatever and however that may be. Al Nafjan words the main point perfect when she says that: "you would think that women living under these conditions would long for liberty, independence and civil rights. Many do. However, it's just not that simple. Millions of others are still not sure they are ready for change" (Al Nafjan 42-43). Another thing that is hindering women's rights is what Katja Zvan Elliott mentions in her article "Morocco and it's women's rights struggle": "conflicting ideas as to what it means to liberate women, and which category of women at that, are based on the ideological utilization of not necessarily compatable legal frameworks" (Elliot 2).

After looking at all these stories about the fight for women's rights in the Middle East we can conclude that change really has to come for the women of the Middle East. Not many people have been able to bring that change, but some have certainly tried and succeeded like Malala Yousafzai. To have change come from a Westerner is very hard. As Westerners we have to try to understand where they are coming from, especially people of the opposition, and try to reach them this way to bring some form of change to women's rights in the Middle East. What we can do right now to get this change going is talk about it. It should not be a taboo in our culture to talk about the hardships and injustice these women are facing. We should do like Malala. She never stopped addressing the issue and made it a matter we cannot ignore.  

