There is an urgent need for everyone to be aware of the exploitation trends towards females that have been going on in every corner of our society across the globe today. What I mean by the exploitation trend towards females is the trend of using women for financial gain and sexual gratification in the form of pornography especially via the internet, prostitution, sex trade, child kidnapping, sexual highlight in commercials, movies and even in business code of conducts. It is this attitude that becomes a major cause of female degradation.
But, why is it that the woman is targeted as the object of exploitation? The reason is because a woman is one of human desires. As Allah mentions in the Quran,
“Beautified for people is the love of that which they desire – of women and sons, heaped-up sums of gold and silver, fine branded horses, and cattle and tilled land. That is the enjoyment of worldly life, but Allah has with Him the best return.” [Ali-‘Imraan:14]
It is the above that makes both men and women very vulnerable to one another. For some, it is the above that is seen as a room for profit making. Yet, the fact that Allah has created women as men’s desire should be neither the reason for women being exploited nor the reason to justify exploiting the women.
Islam, the mercy of Allah, is for all of mankind and makes no preference to gender. Men and women have a calling and both have a status in Islam. Islam condemns women exploitation and it gives no consent for it to happen.
O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted. [Al-Hujurat:13]
Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what they do. And tell the believing women to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their headcovers over their chests and not expose their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers, their brothers’ sons, their sisters’ sons, their women, that which their right hands possess, or those male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed. [An-Nur: 30-31]
Rather, women exploitation occurs because of humanism ideology. Humanism ideology is a system of thoughts that rejects religious beliefs and concentrates on human’s interests and needs. It occurs when humans submit themselves to fulfilling their self-desires and the cost of doing that is by subjugating other’s rights to freedom. This is a major weakness of this ideology.
This trend of women exploitation is likened to allowing those dark histories of women’s sufferings and the degradation of women to occur again.
Among the worst outcome of women exploitation is the escalation of women degradation. Numerous movies, television and internet advertisements, music videos, and magazines are portraying women with revealing clothes encouraging the public to see women as nothing more than sexual objects. Even in racing events or in car exhibitions, women are hired to act as accessories for the companies to show off to others. It is as if woman is a sexual object and likes to be treated as an object. In return, woman is scrutinized, downgraded, respect lost and being taken advantage of easily. The truth is women do not like to be judged and treated that way. The exploitation of women under the name of art, marketing or music does not in any way add value to women’s credentials rather it develops a misleading perception towards the value and role of the women in the society. What we see is what we get. This is what we call brain conditioning. If we do not have a right view of a woman in our mind at the very beginning, then the missing link to that view of a woman is shaped by what we see and hear. If a woman is always portrayed as a sexual object, then that is what the woman going to be perceived in the mind.
It is not only the men who can fall in the trap of having false perceptions towards women but also the women. Some Western songs depict a female sexual submission in the lyrics. Take ‘I’m a Slave for You’ by Britney Spears for example. The mass showcase of slim, pretty and sexy women in movies and commercials makes the women and female adolescents to having to think and feel that they must have a body like that, that it is wrong not to wear a dress like that and not to act like that. Female viewers are constantly pressured subconsciously to have a perfect body. According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 11,326 of 18 year old women underwent breast augmentation surgery in 2003, up from 3,872 in 2002. The obsession for plastic surgery is already happening in America and so does South Korea.
The excessive amount of women exploitation further eradicates spiritual wellbeing, and encourages sexual misconduct. Illegal prostitution, human trafficking, women slavery and abandoned babies are on the rise and Malaysia is in the middle of the region that is exposed to this threat. It is common nowadays to receive news of a missing child, unwanted babies and all of these are cancerous to the society wellbeing. The social mishap creates subsequent social problems. The upsurge of problematic females and males is seen as threats to family institutions. The sense of insecurity and suspicions develop.
In whatever part of the world, East of West, we hear the same thing. We hear more and more men and women are shifting away from marriage. We hear more and more are getting divorced. We hear more and more of blaming game. We even hear more and more of suicidal incidents. The Syndrome of Men Hate Women exists, so as the Syndrome of Women Hate Men. In the end, where does this lead to? Do not be surprised if I say that it will lead to the increase of more and more homosexuals and LGBTs!
Next, it is becoming harder and harder for anyone to find an opposite sex partner. The number of newborn babies is getting smaller and smaller and illegal child trade is on the rise. The end result is the collapse of the entire human generation! It is not the medical advancements that we are lacking behind but the moral values that makes us who we are.
Is this the spirit of modernity that we want to enjoin or a mere doom that we want to avoid? If we want to avoid this doom, everybody needs to perceive women in the right context. The elevations of women’s status need a full joint effort from all law regulators, leaders, businessmen, educators and societies. The relevant ministries should impose a set of guidelines on marketing, movies, business trades and broadcasting standards as well as on tightening censoring standards. Broadcasters should not automatically air the best-hit movies or songs without inspecting the contents. Education to females should be comprehensive and covers all area of womanhood. Female students should be exposed early on to expectations on their future responsibilities, rights and commitments and not only on preparing them for workforce. This is because the reality for women to be successful in today’s world requires them to be multitasking, mentally and spiritually strong. Women should also be given a rightful access to learning, work, responsibility and choice in marriage. Women should be able to see women’s rights in the right context. They should not mix those rights with the actions that distort the values of religion and society. The call by certain group of feminist for her right of sexual permissiveness, homosexuality, unrestricted abortion and rebellion against the family is not a right but a pure transgression.
Nowadays, the respect for women is disproportionate. In countries where poverty coexist with poor law enforcement, women slavery is easily occurring. There exists double standard and bias. People are beginning to forget who is a woman, how to value woman and what exactly the role of a woman is. Even if people do know, the normality of exploiting women is becoming a culture when the actual fact is, it is dehumanizing. Women should be prevented from being spoilt because behind every man’s success is a woman. Woman is a precious asset for nation building. Therefore, I urge everyone to go back to the way Allah prescribes women. Islam honours women, treats her with justice and protects her as a human being, as a feminine being, as a daughter, wife, mother and, no less, as a full member of her society. The way Islam pictures woman is amazingly uplifting and breathtaking.
Siti Amalia Samarudin
ISMA Melaka Activist
