Week 10

In Kecia Ali’s “Marriage, Money and Sex” she explores the ideology behind the governing of spousal sex and dower.  Marriage obligates the husband to pay a dower to his wife and his commitment to provide for his wife and the household. She talks about a dower being paid either to the family of the bride in exchange for considering her offspring part of the husband’s family rather than her father or brothers and dower being praised for giving the woman economic security  and as an example of the husbands willingness to provide. Jurist however understood dower as compensation for the husbands domination over the wife’s sexual and reproductive ability. The husband is believed to be paying for control over the woman. With the power being bought by the dower, it ‘made sense’ that only the man could liberate the wife through divorce. However the belief of homemaker and provider was not the case for most muslim families instead the husband maintains the wife in exchange for her sexual availability. In the Qu’ran and hadith it describes the importance of sexually satisfying the female and mens responsibilities for their wives to achieve this satisfaction. Husband’s duty rather than wife’s right (6).However when it comes to reproduction it was believed that the right for sexual pleasure was independent form ones choice to bear children. The women could not demand intercourse but the husband could prevent the women from reaching her sexual pleasure by stopping intercourse entirely, therefore not violating her right to pleasure. 

While in Afsaneh Najmabadi’s article “ Crafting an Educated housewife in Iran” she reviews educational regimes that were central in women’s modernity. She begins by talking about Persian books of ethics that were used to create the perfect Muslim man. In these books the man was to be in charge of the household and the children and the only purpose for taking a wife was for preservation of property and to provide her womb for conception and prebirth nurture. A woman would only be considered to teach the child while in the womb for it was believed that emotions would affect and alter the babies appearance, attitudes and whether they are of good nature. She talks about how within the first decade of the 21st century constitutionalist argued that women had the right to be educated for they would be the educators of children and the companions of men while in premodern texts knowledge only pertained to a man’s perception of god and his rules(97). Books were even used to teach favorable behavior in both boys and girls. Boys were to be kind, generous, and not get angry, while girls were shown as well mannered, never hiding anything from their parents, and helping with housework. However in  Kirmani and Ashtiani’s books their central conviction was that progress of the nation was seen as dependent on the progress of women again at the first years of the 21st century several arguments rose that women education should be a priority since from these women a educated nation would rise. The perceptions of women were beginning to change ignorant women were no longer seen as suitable mothers. “ A man who finds his wife in this ignorant condition, he quickly despises her(103).”

Kecia Ali’s article i thought was very interesting because it talked a lot about women having rights such as to sexual pleasure but men’s rights still being able to over power them, he could impede his wife conceiving. Men paid a dower and were in charge of their wives sexual activity. Forced intercourse was not seen as rape but rather as what the wife owed to her husband, rape did not exist in these marriages. Women had rights but were at the same time powerless. While Najmabadi’s articles also mentioned viewpoints on women as what seemed to be just another part of man’s property( just needed for a womb and companionship) but then evolving into women education being a priority for the children would learn from the mother and result in an educated nation.