MR.KAZ said:
That's just my point.Do women in America have to walk around covering half of their face?I don't care if it's Japanese culture or women from the middle east regions,it's wrong.If you asked these women that have to cover half of their face,or be completely submissive to their husbands what they think about it,I'm almost certain they would prefer to not cover half of their face or leave the room when the almighty men must discuss business.
It's bull#$%^it,and you know it Fr0dus.
I don't condone sexual harassment in any society, but I wouldn't confuse gender roles with sexual harassment. With respect to the Hijab and the Burka (typical Muslim attire) adorning such clothing is chosen by the wearer, and being given the opportunity to wear it is sometimes even considered a privilege. Yes, in some instances such clothing is forced upon women to oppress them, but that is representing the minority.
It may be inconceivable to you, having grown up and lived in North American society, that a woman would actually want to dress modestly. But for many Muslim women, the notion of dressing as immodestly as most North American women is just as inconceivable.
Different societies deal with gender roles in different fashions as well, and ours is by no means the undisputed "most correct" approach. Gender roles provide structure, at a family level, at an individual level, and at a societal level. Ours is no different. Women are expected to behave and act differently than men in certain situations (despite a bunch of politically correct nonsense to the contrary), and this in no way comes into conflict with gender equality. In North America, we think of gender equality meaning that women and men ought to be viewed as being the same in certain aspects (intelligence, athleticism, abstract thinking, technical abilities, etc.). This is an approach that is somewhat unique to North America, and is not something that is even applied across the greater western world. The approach to gender equality is different around the world, as Frodus was saying, and it's difficult for us to stand in judgement of these approaches without fully understanding the history and context of them. In many places no such men-women sameness concept exists, rather those qualities and abilities of women which are unique to them are simply valued equally to those qualities and abilities of men which are unique to them. No attempt to prove that one can do the other is needed, because their unique abilities are valued equally. Japan can be a good example of this, because the culture does have a rich history of clearly defined gender roles. But traditionally, these roles are complimentary, not oppressive or degrading or any other such nonsense.
Discrimination of women, and differentiating women from men, are not the same thing, although sometimes the line between the two gets blurred in a society obsessed with the appearance of equality instead of creating actual equality.
