Forumi Horizont (http://www.forumihorizont.com/index.php3)
- Gjuha Angleze (http://www.forumihorizont.com/forumdisplay.php3?forumid=165)
-- Woman and her Rights (http://www.forumihorizont.com/showthread.php3?threadid=14761)

Woman and her Rights

Woman and her Rights

http://www.ghadeer.org/english/social/woman-ri/7.htm 
Dispa
rities Between Man and Woman

This seems to be an odd phrase. It appears that though we are living in the 2nd half of the 20th century, yet there are some people, here and there, who have a medieval way of thinking, and still pursue the outdated idea of disparity between man and woman. Like the people of the medieval ages they are of the view that woman belongs to the inferior sex and that she is not a perfect human being. She is something betwixt and between man and animal. She is not fit to lead an independent life and must live under the supervision and control of man. But we know that all these ideas are outdated and obsolete. Today we know very well that the fake charge of imperfection against woman was concocted by man during the days of his ascendancy over her. Now, the proven fact is that woman belongs to the superior sex and man to the inferior one.  These are the views of some modern Westerners. In actual fact, the wonderful scientific progress of the 20th century has clearly proved the existence of disparities between man and woman. Their existence is not a malicious misrepresentation but a scientific truth, based on observation and experiment. Anyhow, these differences have nothing to do with the superiority or inferiority of either sex. The law of creation has ordained them simply to make the bond of conjugal relations firmer and to lay the foundation of the union between husband and wife deeper and better. Nature wanted to distribute family rights and obligations between them with its own hands. The law of creation has made the disparities between man and woman similar to the difference between the various organs of a body. If it has given a distinctive position to each one of the eyes, the ears, the hands, the feet and the spinal column, it does not mean that it has been unjust or has made any discrimination against any of them.  IS IT PROPORTION OR PERFECTION AND IMPERFECTION?  It is amazing that some people insist that the disparity in the physical and psychological capabilities of man and woman is due to the imperfection of woman and the perfection of man. They hold that, for certain good reasons, woman has been intentionally created imperfect.  The notion of the imperfection of woman has been more popular in the West than in the East. The people of the West have given her a raw deal. Sometimes, misquoting the religion, they say that woman should be ashamed of herself. Sometimes they say: "Woman is the being, having long hair and a deficient brain", "Woman is the partition between animal and man" and so on.  It is still more amazing that some Westerners, having taken a 180 degree turn, have lately begun trying to put forward a thousand and one arguments to prove that by creation, man is inferior and imperfect and that woman is superior and perfect.  If you have read the book, 'Woman, the Superior Sex', by Ashley Montague, you may know how its author, by misrepresenting the facts and adducing incongruous arguments, has tried to prove that woman is more perfect than man. As far as the medical and psychological studies and social statistics are concerned, this book is very valuable, but where the author tries to draw his own conclusions to prove his claim, which is the title of the book, he goes to the utmost extent of absurdity. It is not understood why it is necessary that the Westerners should one day disparage woman so much that the next day, to make amends for the past, they are compelled to absolve her from all the defects which they had ascribed to her, and instead debit man with them. What is the necessity of regarding the differences between man and woman as the result of the perfection of one sex and the imperfection of the other, so that we may be compelled sometimes to take man's side and sometimes woman's?  The author of this book insists that woman is superior to man and regards the privileges of man as the product of historical and social factors and not the result of natural causes.  In fact, the differences between man and woman are a question of proportion or suitability and not that of perfection or imperfection. The law of creation has decreed that as man and woman have been created to lead a joint life, they should bear a specific proportion of their capabilities despite all differences. This point will be clarified later.  A PLATONIC THEORY  The subject of dissimilarity between man and woman is not a new question, which might have cropped up during our time. It is at least 2,400 year old. It was discussed, in its present form, by Plato in his book, "The Republic".  He expressly maintains that men and women have the same capabilities, and women can perform the same jobs and enjoy the same rights as men do.  The germs of all ideas about woman, which have emerged during the 20th century and even of that part of these ideas which appears to be odd and unacceptable to the 20th century people, are found in the views of Plato. That is why the people admire him so much and call him the Father of Philosophy. Plato, in the fifth part of his book, "The Republic", has discussed such questions as communism of women and children, improving the breed, sterilisation of some men and women, confining the breeding activity to only those who possess high hereditary qualities, rearing children outside the family atmosphere, and confining procreation to certain years of life, during which vitality is at its peak.  Plato believes that, like man, woman should also be given military training and, as man takes part in athletic competitions, woman should do so as well.  Anyhow, there are two points about what Plato has said. One is that he admits that physically and mentally women are weaker than men. In other words, he considers the disparity between man and woman to be quantitative, though he is opposed to the existence of any qualitative disparity in their capabilities. He believes that both man and woman have similar talents. The only thing is that in certain respects woman is weaker than man, but that is no reason why she should have a separate sphere of activity.  As Plato regards woman weaker than man, he thanks God that he was born a man. He says: "I thank God for my having been born a Greek, not a non-Greek, a free man not a slave, and a man not a woman".  The second point is that all that Plato said about the improvement of breed, equal promotion of the talents of both the sexes, and the communism of women and children, is related only to the ruling class, that is the ruling philosophers or philosopher-rulers, because according to him, only this class is worthy of being rulers. As we know, politically he was an opponent of democracy and a supporter of aristocracy. So what he has said, on the above points, relates to the aristocratic class. As for other classes, he has different views.  ARISTOTLE VERSUS PLATO  Plato's pupil, Aristotle, is the next thinker of the ancient world, whose views are available to us. He has expressed his views on the disparity between man and woman and has strongly opposed the views of his teacher Plato. He believes that man and woman differ not only quantitatively but qualitatively also. He says that the two sexes have talents of different kinds, and the functions which have been entrusted to them by the law of creation and the rights which have been bestowed on them by it differ greatly. According to Aristotle, their rules of morality are also different in many respects. It is possible that a moral quality may be excellent in regard to man, but it may not be so in regard to woman and vice versa.  In the ancient world, the views of Plato were replaced by those of Aristotle. The later intellectuals preferred the views of Aristotle to those of Plato.

Vazhdon..........