Buy essay on Position of Muslim women in Western countries and the USA

First of all it is necessary to stress that Islam as a religion and Muslims as faithful adherents to its teachings are put in the same social, psychological, and political conditions as Christians, Jews, and others protected by the U.S. Constitution and its amendments. Most significantly for our discussion of the Muslim context in the United States is the First Amendment and its influence in the historical dialogue between state and religion in American history.
Muslims are a fast-growing segment of the United States population that reflects the breadth of this country’s racial, ethnic, and multicultural heritage and includes U.S.-born Muslims of diverse ethnicities, immigrants from many countries and regions, and converts from various backgrounds.
Muslim women, like all people in the United States, have the right to practice their religion. They also have the right to be treated equally and the right not to be discriminated against or harassed because of their religion, their gender, or perceptions about their nationality or ethnicity. Many Muslim women, although by no means all, practice hijab in accordance with their religious beliefs: these women may wear a headscarf, also known as hijab or khimar, and loose-fitting clothing when they are in public and when they are in the presence of men who are not part of their immediate family.
Muslim women have been prohibited from wearing their headcoverings in a number of contexts. They have been harassed, fired from jobs, denied access to public places, and otherwise discriminated against because they wear hijab. Because of their visibility, Muslim women who wear hijab face particular exposure to discrimination and have increasingly been targets for harassment in the aftermath of September 11. The question is that people mix politics with religion, but these concepts are never connected (Millett, 2003).
But Muslim women should have equal rights with other citizens of the USA, be free to express their religious beliefs— including choosing whether or not to wear headcoverings—free from discrimination and prejudice.
To compare the positions of Muslim women in the USA, it is necessary to consider the general attitude toward women in America and other Western countries.
Western culture has liberated woman, not for humanitarian purposes, but rather to use it in the refining and marketing. In doing so, they used her body, turning it into a sexual element that promotes commercial products perfumes, cosmetics, fashion. This facilitated the implementation of an attractive image of a woman who does not adhere to any social norms and traditions, and this can reduce the importance of moral and cultural principles of society. The evidence is that the image of women as sex objects in western culture can not be called freedom. This insults her honor, it leads to the spread of immorality.
The view that the veil is a symbol of Islam’s oppression of women has different adherents who embody different assumptions and different levels of sophistication. On the one hand there is the mainstream, pop culture view: Muslim women are completely and utterly subjugated by men, and the veil is a symbol of that. This version is the most simplistic and unsophisticated view of the veil. It is underpinned by an unconscious adherence to liberalism and modernization theory, compounded by an ignorance of any actual details about Muslim women’s lives. (Millett 2003)
Many Muslim women say that Islam gives them a sense of liberation and freedom, they state that wearing the hijab is not a form of repression, as most Americans believe, but a decision to claim their body as private. Female Muslims believe that women who dress sexually are simply using their bodies to assert power. In contrast, wearing the hijab forces them to gain authority by using their mind and intellect. In addition, men take them more seriously; they know that these women are modest and passionate about their religion; therefore, they take an interest in the woman’s personality instead of her body. Americans often state that Muslim women have to wear the hijab in order to please their men; however, many Muslim women disagree, saying that the way in which most American women dress is for men, not for themselves. (Millett 2003)
Nowadays though many women in America convert to Islam for many reasons. Many feel as though Islam is a way to freedom from the pressures that the American society places on women. Others see it as the perfect religion that encompasses every aspect of life, thus creating a more personal and intimate relationship between the worshipper and Allah. Because of these reasons, women decide to leave behind the “usual” American life and give themselves to Islam.
Many women who convert to Islam cite numerous passages from the Qur’an to support their belief that Islam liberates them sexually and spiritually.6 These passages support their right to education, to work, and to keep the money that they earn.7 In addition, they state that both sexes are not only equal but also complement each other. The fourth sura of the Qur’an is the sura of the women, or the Surat al-nisa. It reads:
“O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul, created, of like nature, His mate and from them twain, scattered (like seeds) countless men and women. Reverence Allah, through Whom Ye demand your mutual (rights) and reverence the Wombs (that bore you), for Allah ever watches over you” (IV, 1).
The position of Muslim women in Islam is opposite, so people in Western countries do not understand and accept this position. But the claim is that people need to understand the differences between cultures and religions, and must respect these differences. The society must develop, instead, a serious appreciation of differences among women in the world—as products of different histories, expressions of different circumstances, and manifestations of differently structured desires. (Beyer, 2003)