Roles Of Women In The Middle East Essay

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The way of life all through the Middle East restrains the control that women have over their day to day lives. To begin, women have no rights in their marriage and separation. In the conservative areas, a women’s only way to fulfill her obligation to her family is marriage. During the marriage, the husband has authority over the wife as if she was his property (Beitler and Martinez 79). A woman goes from obeying her father to obeying her husband. Women 's main roles in the family were as mothers, wives, and daughters, and their most important responsibility is teaching the Islamic values to their children. Meanwhile, a man’s role in the family is to support the family financially and protect the family (Beitler and Martinez 55). The separation …show more content…

One very acceptable tradition of marriage is the marriage of relatives. In Saudi Arabia, women are required to stay in their parental home until they are married. Marriage is arranged between the groom and bride’s father, and most women do not meet their husbands before the wedding day (Beitler and Martinez 68). The culture in the Middle East is different throughout the region in the age of marriage, but most countries have women marry at the thirteen years old. The customs of the family give the father the power to choose his daughter 's husband. Secondly, the culture in the Middle East allows a marriage to be temporary, in which the agreement can last from one hour to ninety-nine years, but can become permanent. The contract says that the couple can either stay together or part ways because the objective is for sexual pleasure (Beitler and Martinez 79). Next, the interpretation of the Islamic writing allows for men to have up to four wives, while women must have one husband and be totally faithful (Beitler and Martinez 81). This double standard fabricates a culture in which men have more freedoms than