"Compare and contrast the attitude towards women in the three main monotheistic religions of today's world-Christianity, Islam and Judaism"

Résumé du document

Women in the three monotheist religions- Judaism, Christianity and Islam experience a status differing from one another. However, the conception and rights of women in these three religions vary considerably. While in Judeo-Christianity, the woman appears to be a temptress and a traitor, she is, in Islam, an equal to the male partner. It follows that women are given different rights in different religions and varying amounts of recognition. To understand the status of women in the three monotheist religions better, we must look at the sacred texts that indicate what exactly women's rights are. The text throws light on the status of women in the three monotheist religions and the attitudes of these women that characterize and establish their status in the three religions.

Extraits

[...] We have link the status of women in Judaism and their status in Christianism because these two religions have the same fundament which has been modified by Christianism. Next, we will examine Muslim women's status in the Quran and the fundamental rights that the sacred text prescribes. First of all, the differential status of women in the three religions comes from the story of the creation. In the three religions, men and women are created by God. However, in Judaeo-Christianism, the man, Adam, is created first and then the woman, Eve, from Adam's rib, while in Islam, the man and the woman are created together from a mono-cell. [...]

[...] Women's honesty is not put under question; women are as trustworthy as men. Moreover, the Quaranic conception of adultery differs from the Judaeo-Christian one. Adultery in Islam consists of the extramarital affair of either a married man or woman. The difference between the Islamic and Judaeo-Christian conception of adultery comes from the fact that adultery is equivalent, in the Jewish tradition, to the violation of the husband's property, his wife. The Quran does not consider woman as man's property and then adultery concern both women and men. [...]

[...] Consequently, menstruation, pregnancy and childbearing appear to be the right punishment for Eve and her descendants. In the Judaeo-Christian tradition, the conception of women is distorted by the belief in the eternal fault and untrustworthy of Eve and her descendants. Contrarily, in the Quran, Eve is not the deceiver seduced by evil; Adam and Eve are equally responsible for the original fault committed in Eden. As a result, Eve is not responsible for the pains of childbearing. Women, like men, have to “worship their Lord, do righteous deeds and avoid evil” and will be assessed on the same basis than men. [...]

[...] Firstly, women do not have the obligation to offer a gift to the groom. However, the bridegroom has to make a gift, which becomes the wife's exclusive property even if she divorces. Secondly, all the wife's property and earnings are hers and for her use only because it is men who have the responsibility to maintain the household. Thirdly, a married woman preserves her legal independent personality with her own family name. Islamic rules concerning divorce describe a precise process that should end into reconciliation between the partners, as Islam discourages divorce. [...]

[...] The husband is the owner of the woman's earnings. Women can regain their property only in the cases of divorce and of their husband's death. Christian women lose their property as well when they get married but they also lose their legal personality because their acts have no legal value. Women are also deprived from the right to divorce: the Bible does not recognize divorce. Judaism allows men to divorce their wives “even without any cause” while woman need to provide evidence of a “strong reason” to divorce to the Jewish Court, if they want to separate their husband. [...]