Sharia law are the rules that Muslims abide by based upon the Qu’ ran. This is not your typical law making system. Because of these laws, life has become difficult. Forcing oppression upon women for centuries, Sharia law has created a severe contrast between the two genders. Forced into stereotypes women must sit back as men control their lives. We can make a difference by donating to an organization that supports this worthy cause. Sharia law limits, women’s rights, prosecuting offenders and women working and receiving and education.

The marital rights of women differ from the rights of men gravely. Can you imagine being twelve and never seeing your mother again? That is what is like in regions such as Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. In a case of divorce the husbands automatically receive all custody over children, males over nine and female children over 12. The women then can receive alimony for at longest 3 months. It is also hard for women to find a job; divorce is exceptionally difficult on the women’s part. This law also allows men to abuse their wives. Social workers report that it is hard to convince women that this violence done against them is wrong. This further providing proof of the oppression on these under privileged women in mainly Muslim countries.

After all the offenses previously talked about, prosecuting men is another important issue. The raping of women averages twelve a day in countries that strictly enforce Sharia law; and that is only the reported cases. If the incident is taken to court and the accused does not admit to raping the woman she then, has to provide four adult male eyewitnesses’ to prove her case. If she does report the rape and loses her case this becomes adultery. Being stoned to death is the punishment. This is an act of cruel and unusual punishment, but fully legal under Sharia law.

Women see nothing wrong with most of these scenarios because they are uneducated and cannot always work outside of the home. Because they do not know differently, they have high expectations to act perfectly, and engrained in them is to obey all of their husband’s commands. The men go off to work, so the women stay at home all day shut up indoors. The expectation of a woman is to stay home and take care of domestic matters. They cannot even leave the house without having a male’s permission. Jobs women can take occupy differ from country to country. One famous Muslim woman activist Shirin Ebadi, was formally a judge. The new government deemed it was a job unfit for a woman. Now she is a lawyer and is fighting for women’s rights.

Sharia Law is like an invisible prison cell. It has been keeping women molded to a cookie cutter form of what men want them to be. It keeps them from education, equal rights and prosecuting the men who offend the laws that men manage to twist. All of these comforts we experience everyday in our own homes. We come home, sit in our recliners, and watch the news. We hear about the stories of oppression and the struggles people go through for even the littlest freedoms. So next time you leave your house without your dad going with you think about all the Muslim women who cannot do that. Take action against the unjust treatment of women in foreign countries and help support an organization.