Women have been taught that, for us, the earth is flat, and that if we venture out, we will fall off the edge. ~Andrea Dworkin
Could one live in a culture where a woman could be stoned to death for revealing her face to a man other than her husband? Allowing oneself to be beaten for wandering from home without permission from her male guardian? Could one permit the acceptance of a husband’s right to lash his wife for arguing? These are the trials that woman all around the world face on a regular basis, due to their acceptance of culture that strips them of their right to choose. There is a negative relationship between the educational status of a woman and the level of violence she will endure in the life struggle. In modern day, western cultured women are taught that they are to be treated as equals with men. After all women are humans too. However, in many eastern cultures women are treated as second class citizens, having very little to no control over any decisions in their lives. Though this seams unfathomable to westernized minds, the woman of these cultures claim to want this saying “our guardians know what is best for us.” This is due to the lack of education, to broaden one’s mind to explore what could be. They can only see what their keepers choose to expose to them, and often this is used for manipulation. They choose to believe that their guardians protect them when they are encouraged to beat them when straying from the cultural norm. These negative repercussions are set out by that culture in order to keep woman suppressed and have been practiced for thousands of years. As many as thirty three countries in Africa consider it the cultural norm for husbands to beat their wives, as long as she is not struck in the face. In Benin it is encourage that husbands beat their wives for wondering outside without their permission, and over fifty present of women view this punishment as justifiable. This is but an example of the indoctrination that these women have no choice but to choose to embrace.
In some cultures women as young as twelve are obligated to enter into an arranged marriage for the good of their family. This is prevalent within South Korea, India, Japan, Bangladesh, and all Muslim practicing cultures. The inability for a woman to choose her life partner brings about a dependent relationship where the woman is completely reliant upon the man. These societies permit the beating of woman to establish dominance and women are often secluded form their families as well as the outside world. This isolation allows for little education, skills and opportunities for employment and self-realization. The women often have no change to know the man that will become he decision maker, leaving her venerable to the decisions of the men in her family. The involvement of a dowry and the bride price can majorly play a part in this decision making. Though some may argue that arranged marriages are easier than marrying for love due to the fact that there will be a union of two families involved in the arranged marriage it has proven to be a down fall for woman, especially child brides. This, along with the statistical fact that more domestic violence stems from arranged marriages proves that a woman should not be denied there right to choose who they will spend their lives in partnerships with.
In most Middle Eastern and parts of Southern Asian cultures allows for women to be killed by a male family member for sexually dishonoring the family name. One can dishonor her family simply my removing her hijab that covers her hair in front of any male other than her husband. But as displayed within the world today there has come a revolution amongst many women who once uniform themselves in a hijab. In Iran the Islamic Revolution capitalized on revealing Iranian women in strive to create gender equality. “Which the government claimed would liberate women by saving