If we ‘Fact Check’ Rita Panahi’s statement, according to the Holy Quran, there is no compulsion in matters of faith (Quran: 2:257).
Rita Panahi should stop conflating the practices of some individuals or countries with the teachings of Islam.
Rita Panahi claims that Islam is “a deeply misogynistic doctrine”. When we Fact Check and compare Islam with the (so-called) ‘civilised societies’ we find that:
Islam in 610 AD―Gave women the right to:
―Choose who to marry
―Choose to divorce
―Inherit property
―Vote
―Hold Office
―Become legal scholars
―(guaranteed) Equal Education
―Financial Independence
―Self-determination
―Serve as soldiers and warriors.
Women in contemporary societies could not even imagine of something even remotely close to that until over a millennium later.
In Australia, women only recently started gaining rights and are still struggling in some areas:
―To vote―1895
―Elected into Parliament―1943
―Permitted to work after marriage―1956
―Right to equal pay―1972 (but still paid 17.5% less than men)
―Right to file for no-fault divorce―1975
―First Female PM―2010
We are not there quite yet either. In Australia, even today:
―Only 1/20 girls have a career in STEM
―Only 60% of grads are women, yet female postgrads earn 82% of salary of a male postgrads.
―Only 24% of board directors and 17% of CEO are women
―Only 32% of all Federal Parliamentarians are women
―Women are more likely to live below the poverty line.
―On average, women retire w/ approx half the level of savings
―Account for just 21% of sources quoted in news.
Do you think things were much different in the rest of the “liberal” world?
In America, women couldn’t:
―Become lawyers until the 1900s
―Vote until the 1920s (even then it was only white women)
―Get credit w/out husbands permission until 1970s
―Own property if they were married, and had no legal claim to any money they may earn, up to the 19th Amendment in 1920.
It was only in the early 20th century, with the first wave of feminism, that women in the US started gaining equal rights to education.
It is deeply offensive when speaking of ‘equality’, Rita Panahi labels women who practice hijab/modesty as “slaves.”
A civilised society that values equality must respect the choice of all women. Those that choose to wear it and those who don’t.
Speaking against people/societies that enforce faith should be done without degrading those who choose to practice faith as they please.
Islam provides guidance for a modest life, but there is no compulsion in faith―no one has the right to enforce religion on anyone.
Just like no one should have the right to label modest women as oppressed and uncivilised.
We are in no way condoning the actions of some repressive regimes that do not act in line with the teachings of Islam.
But Rita Panahi does seem to only look at one side of the coin. She should remember this next time she tries to lecture about women and what they can or can’t wear to feel liberated.
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