Religious leaders put women in their ‘place’

Press, 5 December 1986, Page 21

Religious leaders put women in their ‘place’

There should have been no surprise at the expulsion of female nurses from Saudi Arabia for drinking. All over the world, religious leaders are making decisions that are just as sexist, writes JANE REED, managing editor of the London national daily newspaper “Today,” and a former editor of “Women’s Own.”

Nobody in a Muslim community would be surprised that so many female nurses were forced to leave Riyadh last month. Although there were as many men drinking alcohol illegally at the hospital party which led to the. expulsions, the Saudi Religious Police decided to pick on the 22 women.

In the West,. the reaction is shock or disdain. We share a stereotyped view of Muslim religious fundamentalists and expect them to make what we see as sexist decisions.

But we fail to recognise that religious leaders all over the world are making sexist decisions. It is a common thread with all religious fundamentalists, whether Christian, Jewish or Muslim, that all women are kept 'subservient.

As the increasingly vocal religious fundamentalists of whatever persuasion react to what they see as the breakdown of society, that belief finds echoes throughout the world. The essence of fundamentalism is belief in the unerring correctness of the Bible, or original teachings of the faith.

The whole future of women, their status in society and their

battles for a voice outside, as well as inside the home, is caught up in the fire and brimstone of religious fanaticism. Sexual equality is the pet hate of the British fundamentalist. The Church Society, the Church of England’s very traditional Right-wing group, argues against egalitarian creeds. “The Bible is very clear about the difference between men and women. They should be complementary, but they are not interchangeable. They are particularly complementary in marriage — the man being the head of the family,” says a spokesman for the society. A United States journalist, Glenda Winders, saw a demonstration of the American version

of this thinking at a fundamentalist friend’s wedding. The preacher exhorted the bride to obey her husband’s teachings; the husband was told to see his wife was “instructed” properly. One of the leading American fundamentalists, the .Rev. Adrian Rogers, president of the New Right Southern Baptists, cites St Paul’s statement that “the husband is the head of the wife,” No wonder that a top rating American television programme can have women in aerobics classes told: “Praise God who gave us bodies to please our husbands.”

In Israel, an outspoken women’s advocate, Susannah Melow, says: “As women go forward, religious fundamental-

ists are trying to pull them back.”

It is true that the Koran gives wide-ranging rights to women. But in many Muslim countries, they do not always receive them. Pakistan, for instance, has withdrawn the Family Law Ordinance, the country’s only protective legislation for women. Godfearing women frequently accept the role that the mullahs, the priests and the rabbis tell them is the divine plan. In the Muslim world in general, more women are voluntarily returning to the chador, the all-concealing veil of religious modesty. Back in Britain, the Church Society again: “Women’s role in Islam is totally different from that of Christianity. Women have a role in the Church. But not as ministers. The Bible says women should not usurp the authority of men, so this would be the inversion of the natural and proper order.”

Women have made great strides in the last 50 years. But if the religious fundamentalists have their way we won’t be able to enjoy the heady delights of emancipation for much longer. Copyright — London Observer Service.