Woman and Material Civilization

To study the history of nations and societies throughout its ages, shows the sufferings of the woman and how has she exploited and persecuted.

No ideology or belief has saved the woman from persecution and sufferings like Divine principles represented in its perfect and prettiest form i.e. the immortal Islamic message.

Before talking about the value, rights and the notable position of the woman in Islam, it is necessary to mention some statistics about the persecution and sufferings of the woman in the material civilization headed by America and Europe that declare the rights of the woman.

The figures and statistics underline that the woman is persecuted and enslaved in these cultures.

French News Agency: "1.3 billion human beings lead a life of abject poverty in the world. 70% of them are women. There are about 2.3 billion illiterate women in the world.

"One-third of the women in Norway, America, Holland and Newsland are subject to sexual exploitation

"Every eight seconds one woman is mistreated. Every six minutes one woman is violated."

The News Agency added: "Half a million women die during pregnancy and its symptoms. 40% of them are young girls.

"The wages of 828 million women ranging from 30-40% less than those of men. 10% of bank considerations include them."

In another report announced by American Federal Police says: "According to a study made by American Ministry of Justice, 310 thousand women are raped every year."

According to the report of French News Agency from Washington, there are about half a million sexual assaults against women every year."

According to the latest figures issued by F.B.A. the police announced only the existence of 140 thousand attempts of violation in America.

The Iranian Newspaper, Ittila'at, No.20401, quoted a report from Rome as follows: "The wave of violence has increased among the Italian families. The instances of murdering fathers by sons and of sons by fathers have increased more than they had been before."

The Italian Newspaper, Larpoblika, wrote lately from the annual report of the Euro Union for Statistics, in the first ten months of the year 1994, 192 incidents of family violence were recorded in Italy; 129 of them ended to murders.

According to this report, this kind of violence led to 112 murders in 1993.

It is worth mentioning, 40.1% of these family murders occurred in the north of Italy; 43.8% occurred in the south of Italy; 16.1% occurred in the middle of Italy.

Most family murders in 1994 occurred in the Province of Lombardy, in the north of Italy.

Jumhuri Islami Newspaper, No.4485, Autumn of 1994, mentioned the following report:

"Epidemiology Magazine, affiliated to the World Health Organization (WHO), No.11, Summer of 1993, published the latest world figures concerning AIDS in various areas of the world.

"WHO has recorded that the number of AIDS cases was 718,894 in June, 1993.

"(371086) cases were in America; 247,577 cases were in Africa; 92,482 cases were in Europe; 4,188 cases were in Australia; 3,561 cases were in Asia.

"The number of cases per countries is as follows: 289320 cases were in the U.S.A.; 38,719 cases were in Tanzania; 36,481 cases were in Brazil; 31,185 cases were in Kenya; 34,611 cases were in Uganda; 26,955 cases in Britain; 24,226 cases in France; 21,008 cases in Zaire; 18,347 cases in Spain; 16,860 cases in Italy; 14,655 cases in Congo. Besides there are other cases in other countries.

"We see that the U.S.A. not only occupies the first position in Aids cases but also it is extremely differing from the counties that follow. Besides, if we take into consideration the percentage of the figures, we will find that those infected by AIDS in the U.S.A. constitute 40% of the infected in 150 countries in the world. Nevertheless, the population of the U.S.A. constitutes only 5% of the population."

The Iranian Newspaper, Ittilaat, No. 20482, May 21, 1995, conveying its correspondent in Madrid, reported:

"In the year 1960, 82% of the children lived under the care of their fathers. Nowadays, 60% of them live without fathers. Divorce and the stubbornness of mothers forced fathers to abandon their houses. After mentioning the above-mentioned figures, David Blink Horn, an American writer, said in his book America without Father': To have good fathers needs exemplary (righteous) women. This is the reason why fathers abandon their houses'

"In a report from America, the reporter of the Spanish Newspaper, Al-Payis, said: Being partial toward the woman in American society led to the damage of the fathers there. It has prevented children from the care of their fathers. So, it has become a difficult dream to secure fathers in America."

Concerning the conditions of the children in Britain, the Newspaper, Ittilaat, No. 20407, January 1995, reported the following account from IRNA News Agency, London:

"In a report, the United Nations strongly criticized the conditions of the children in Britain and the laws and regulations of taking care of the children in that country.

"According to this report, prepared by the Children's Rights Committee affiliated to the United Nations Organization, the laws ruling in Britain concerning the health, eduacation and social insurance of children pay no attention to the interests of the children there.

"The specialists in the Children's Rights Committee think that the laws concerning the children in Britain only concentrate for punishing and imprisoning the deviated children and teenagers.

"Among the criticisms in the report is that the number of poor children has increased, the average of divorce has increased, the authorities have decreased their relives to poor families, and the number of children and teenagers, who loiter and beg in streets, has increased.

"The writers of the report expressed their worry about the mistreatment, sexual and physical exploitation from which children suffer.

"According to what the sources of the United Nations mentioned, the reports of this organization on the conditions of the children in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark have criticisms similar to those in the report about Britain."

An Iranian Newspaper, Jumhuri Islami, No.4485, mentioned the following: "According to IRNA News Agency from Bonn, the report of Germany Statistics Office mentioned in the year 1993 that the number of mothers who brought up their children by themselves increased each year. The report added that there were 455 thousand mothers in the eastern states of Germany (21% of all mothers in these states) who brought up their children by themselves.

"Besides there were 915 thousnad mothers out of 7 million mother (12% of mothers) in the western states of German brought up their children by themselves.

"Thus, there were one million 370 thousand mothers out of 9 million 260 thousand in Germany who brought up their children by themselves.

"According to this report, 46% of these mothers in the eastern states and 30% of them in the western states did not marry officially, and 43% of these women divorced their husbands. As the children in Germany are under the care of mothers, therefore, they should take the responsibility of bringing them up.

There are over 9.26 million mothers in Germany. They have children under 18 years old. 5.4 million of them work outside their houses full time or part time in addition to their responsibilities in their houses and the tasks of bringing up their children.

It is worth mentioning, the average of divorce has doubled since 1968. It has increased from 65 thousand cases in 1968 to 135 thousand cases in present years. Every year 390 thousand contracts of marriage are recorded in Germany. However, 33% of them end with divorce. This ratio reaches 50% in the large cities such as Hamborg.

Ittilaat Newspaper, No.20503, reported the following from the United Nations-IRNA:

"The American's contribution to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in comparasion with its national income, is less than that of the industrial counties in the world."

The officials of UNICEF announced that and added: "Though America occupies the second position after Japan through paying 9.7 billion dollars as an aid to UNICEF, this sum of money is only 0.15% of its national income. Holland and the Scandinavian countries occupy the first position in this respect, for their aid is 0.8% of their national incomes.

"The officials of UNICEF expressed their concern with the low contributions from rich countries to the under developed countries. Then, they added: This happens at the time when the importance of supporting the growth and health of children and of improving the conditions of the work of mothers exetremely increases.'

"According to this account, 13 million children die in the world every year of pneumonia, diarrhea, and measles.

"Besides 200 million children in the world suffer from the lack of vitamin C which leads to blindness."

Ittilaat Newspaper, No.20370, 15 December 1994, in another report adds. In the report it has been mentioned: "Tehran-IRNA: There are a half million children who loiter in America. Orphanages will be built for them. However, the American society regards this as a shame against it.

"Susan Fildiz, the analyst of the Washington Times Newspaper, wrote: "Many fatherless children live under the care of foster families. They are subjected not only to hitting, abuse and mistreatment, but also, they are killed."

"Fildiz said: "The quality of the treatment of society towards its children is an important sign for the real identity of that society."

"She added: The number of the children who loiter in America increases day by day to the extent that the police sometimes find new-born babies in garbage cans. In such cases, financial aid is not enough for mothers. Rather, it is necessary to find special centers to meet the basic needs of these children.'"

Adopted from the book : "Woman and Society" by : "Al-Balagh Foundation"