No one is perfect. Surely as humanity as a whole, our world is also lacking perfection. From this arise the many justice issues we face today. The largest rights violation that still seems to elude the most change for the good is the equality rights for women. Since women form half of the human beings inhabiting planet Earth, their human rights should be extended. If a society does not hold justice and equality for all women in the highest regard, neither will it hold justice and equality for the many varieties of men in high regard. Justice is synonymous to such concepts as righteousness, lawfulness, and equality. According to Lucas, as an ethical category, justice can be defined as a principle of fairness. However, justice in its legal and ethical aspects can be defined as acting according to the ideal of fair-doing recognized in a particular society, and treating a person or their doings in accordance to this ideal and state laws. This definition of justice raised an issue of women’s rights to equality abused happening today around the world. One of the most horrific acts of abuse toward women’s right is honor killing. In various countries, particularly in the Middle East and parts of South Asia, women who bring dishonor to their families because of sexual indiscretions or even rape are forced to pay a terrible price at the hands of male family members. This brutal act is most commonly found among Islamic religion. For example, in Palestine, women and girls suffer a wide range of physical violence at home from their husbands and other family members. A woman’s life is at risk if she is suspected of engaging in behavior her family or community considers taboo, such as talking with a man who is not her husband or a blood relative in a public place, refusing to tell a close male relative where she has been and with whom, or marrying someone without the approval of her family (Cattan 13). However, regardless of how horrific the abuse, they often do not even report it to the proper authorities because the Islamic culture uses their religion as an excuse for their behavior.
Women are also beaten as a sign of “love”. The beating of women is a very old story that has been practiced for many centuries. Women were treated as slaves who had to obey the orders of those males who dominated them. These relationships existed in the male-dominant societies such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Beating is part of the obedience relationship. In most religions, women are expected to obey their husbands. The protection and preservation of the body and dignity are basic human rights of every individual. It is a violation of human rights to inflict physical pain onto a person. Therefore, the battery of women is a violation of the human rights of women. Still, many men ignore such rights and tend to beat their wives up as if these wives do not have any human rights at all. Both Christianity and Islam for example expect and order the woman to obey her husband and to submit to his will. The same is applied to other religions as well. When woman does not obey her husband or if the husband feels that his wife is not obeying him, he resorts to violence to make things right for himself. This means that man gives himself the right to use violence as a defense against the disobedience of woman. Women are treated like second-class and suppressed by their husbands and male family members. These women are facing legal barriers obtaining justice. Some of these barriers are the provisions in the Penal Code that allow a man to escape the punishment for abduction if he marries the victim. The Penal Code also allows the perpetrations of rape, sodomy, and sexual violence to receive reduced sentences if they marry their victims (Fowler, Dawnovise, and Michele 8). Even when there are laws that punish a husband who beats up his wife, many husbands will still beat their women, mostly because they know that nobody is going to seriously investigate, or because they know that their wives will not dare to complain to the authorities. Statistics on murder in the United States show that more than 50% of all female victims of murder in a given year are actually murdered by their husbands or boyfriends (Fowler, Dawnovise, and Michele 7). These crimes take place as part of domestic violence towards women. In addition to the possibility of death, many women tend to suffer permanent disabilities or injuries resulting from battery. This is against the concept of justice because women are human. They should be treated as equal to men. It is the obligation of authorities and communities to establish and develop the necessary resources and institutions that support and protect the rights and human conditions of these women victims.
Majority of the countries in which cases about women’s rights violation tend to be Islamic or poverty stricken countries of the Roman Catholic. This means that religion does have a connection in acts of violence against women. The Catholic Church is not defined by the individuals of the church stating what is wrong or right, but the Pope. The Pope is a mortal man who given the authority to translate what the word of God is to his people. Considering the inconsistencies of the Catholic Church on many positions, it is clear that the word of God is not being properly translated (Joy 55). God by Jews Christian and Catholics alike are every at once; the creator of the universe is infinite in love, desiring a personal relationship with every individual person that he created with love. But the Catholic Church, led by the Pope believe that Mary and Saints would make sure that the prayer was personally heard by God. This would defy the belief that he is everywhere at once (Joy 60). To pray to Mary and Saints would be like defying God first set of commandments sent to us by Moses: Thou shall not bow or pray to any false gods, but one and only true God. Therefore the interpretations of man have conflicted with the teachings of God. These interpretations also include rules of absolute celibacy by the priests and nuns which cannot be found anywhere in the bible, let alone the originally translated King James. From there, the church has had an underlining of gender-based discrimination, saying that women cannot be priests. Women cannot hold, until recently, places in the church other than nun, alter girl etc. (Joy 63). However, the scripture clearly states that women are to be loved with respect by their husbands, and the wife is to respect her husband, not submit. “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the Church and gave his life for it. Men ought to love their wives just as they love their own babies. A man who loves his wife loves himself. Every husband must love his wife as himself, and every wife must respect her husband” (Ephesians 5:23-33). As people, born and raised into freedom and equality, it is our sacred duty to see to that the gift of freedom and rights are given to those who have been denied such liberties by their fellow men. As follower of our faith, either Christianity or Islam, all religions stand in the same light on the same earth. A woman is to be treated with love and respect. These violations of women’s rights to freedom and equality are one of the many scars that cover our ever-growing humanity.
Although women constitute about half of total population, they have been deprived of their due shares in various arenas and have been subjected to inhuman and humiliating wrongs from birth to death for no sin. They have been denied full justice, social, and have been used, abused, exploited and discarded. Many women are still victims of battery all over the world. These women may be western, eastern, white, black, rich, poor or with any characteristics or backgrounds. However, they are not properties; they are not objects. They are women with rights and honors. They should be treated with respects. Women’s rights are not invisible from larger rule of law and justice system issues. At the same time, social change and awareness regarding women’s rights is essential. Women need to stand up and fight for their human rights, the justice to life.