Women and Globalization

By: Dr. Mahdi Goljan

Part two

Empowerment of women in the process of globalization from individual identity to social identity could bring acclaim and publicity for this global process, but as a matter of fact, women become sex-oriented in the transformation process from individual to social identity.

Is the human reverence of women a product of globalization? Does the globalization process bestow on women such a factor? Does the globalization process regard women in global society as a human being or a commodity? Do we see such an approach toward women in global society?

Women have been destroyed completely in the process of globalization due to sex-oriented approach to them throughout the identity process, from the individual to social identity and the ever-increasing attention to this approach. Today, in the process of modernism and globalization they select and introduce woman of the year. How is a woman selected for this contest? What criteria are important in selecting the exemplary women of the year in the process of globalization? Is it family, nobility, identity or history?

There are all parameters on the desk for selecting woman of the year except identity, nobility, humanity and human approach toward women. In this process the emphasis is on the physique of the woman than her personality. The fluid identity is created in women at this stage and this type of identity is inspired in her at that time.

Three factors are responsible for the rise and fall of civilizations. Identity loss is the most important factor among them. The fall of the civilizations is marked from where they lose identity and become alienated with it. The new generation that has given birth to globalization process, is a generation that is stranger to its identity and history. They even do not recognize their original identity and history in case of reintroduction.

Globalization process first sends identity of women into oblivion, then causes their self-alienation from identity and responsibility and finally makes women fight their womanliness. As a result, the following three factors bring about the collapse of civilizations:

1-      Neglecting identity

2-      Alienation with identity

3-      Challenge with identity

 

Women might do their best to act and speak like a man, but this poses some questions: What is the fluid identity for men and women? What are men and women indeed? What do these concepts mean?

This is the same fluid, i.e. orders from outside world determine the identity of women. According to fluid identity: Women must accept whatever given to them as identity. This type of identity might be changed from day to day.

If we return to our original definitions, find our original self and ask this self to give a definition of the new self we will be successful in safeguarding our identity. We must return to our religion, rites and rituals, traditions, culture and origin and ask our originality, history and culture to define our identity.

The best definition for individuality says that women must not be studied from sex-orientated viewpoint. She is a woman and has a womanish physique. There might be special viewpoint on women according to their womanish physique, but this viewpoint is not right. From the point of view of individualism, as it has been stressed in Islam and in our identity studies, Qur'anic, historical and national viewpoints she is a human being. Therefore, there is no difference between man and woman after birth and the only important factor is their existence as a human. She is a human being created by God. She enjoys ontological and educational guidance as well as her special rights.

In our culture and tradition, since 1400 years ago with the advent of Islam, and even before the Islam in ancient Persia, women have enjoyed great personality and value in the society. Never ever women in Iran have been taken as an instrument in the hands of men or society.

A glance at our historical identity shows that women have been defined well in our history, literature and culture. We do not need a new definition for our women from outside world. In modern world, and in the process of globalization, a woman is not an individual by herself. This is because she is regarded as a tool and tools do not have meanings by themselves.

Imagine we have a wrench. This thing does not mean a wrench by itself because it is a tool. In modernity, there is an instrumental attitude toward women and a woman is never considered as an individual. According to this viewpoint, a woman is connected to the society as far as she is used as a tool and as far as she is worthy of applied and functional evaluation. Whereas in our cultural viewpoint a woman is a human being with her values not a tool, even if she is away from the cultural atmosphere of the society. When the attitude is instrumental, a tool cannot be given an identity only because it exists unless it is used somewhere.

Meaninglessness of women as a human being is the product of globalization and modernism. These definitions were spread in the West after Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, because modern man was made based on his theories.

Darwin’s theories give a new definition of God, nature and man and in his definition of man there is no status for women. Feminism was a movement created against this attitude toward women. It was a response in the West to ignoring women. It is also discussed in terms of individual identity.

In our study of the history of identity and its pertinent issues we never come across feminism because we had no case of ignoring women. Feminism is indeed the objection of a society in which women have long been ignored.

Globalization and modernity force women lose their individual identity. It was after this attitude that feminism was introduced to the world to say women do not want to be a wife, a sister, a mother or a social citizen to be forced to continue the social process. Instead they said women want to know their value as a human being. These issues made feminism womanize all activities, from poetry, literature and movies to the other issues. Such a humiliation changed to feminism in the course of time and during the past recent centuries women lost their individual identity in the process of modernity.

The Muslim Iranian woman needed indeed no objection because she had and has her individual identity intact in the course of history. Today, however, Iranian women have little knowledge on her identity because of the serious assaults from outside. This requires a sort of reconstruction and recreation of identity. Iranian women must return to their ancient models in history, Shahnameh or (Ferdowsi’s masterpiece), One Thousand and One Nights, …

There are great models like Hazrat Zahra (SA), Hazrat Zeinab(SA), Roghayeh Khatoon and Malakeh Saba in the world of Islam and Tahmineh, Roudabeh and  Soudabeh in our history for modern-day women. They can recover their individual, family and social identity by turning back to these models.

The fluid and plural identity that the modern world imposes on us as our identity has no fruit but confusion, where a woman reaches a point to ask herself who she is.

The modern-day woman wants to be actively present in the society, to educate, not to fall behind men, and wants to bring up family and children. She wants to safeguard her womanish characteristics and responsibilities while being social. The fluid and plural identity cannot be an appropriate model for her to realize her responsibilities and to participate in social activities. This is because the fluid and plural identity that is pictured for her by  globalization and modernity, considers women without identity, tradition and family, to the extent that a book entitled “The War against the Family” was written by William D. Gairdner on the status of family. In this book we read that globalization and modernism have destroyed the structure of families in the West.

Now the question is: Will there remain a family for women to safeguard it along with fulfilling their social responsibilities? Surely Iranian women will have no use for the society if they accept the sort of fluid and plural identity pictured by the modern world.

In one of the women’s youth Olympic Games in Singapore, an Iranian team had plans to participate with Islamic veil. Globalization is against tradition and tradition finds no chance for introduction and recreation in this global process. An example was FIFA’s Islamic veil ban for Iranian team. They said the number of requests for wearing Islamic veil in the Olympic Games would be increased if they gave consent to Iranian team to participate with Islamic veil, and in that case there would be no control on Hijab. In their definition of women in the process of globalization women wearing Islamic veil is against its norms.

They fix their frameworks with definitions on globalization and leave no place for identity, history and nationality of others. Globalization can be acceptable as far as it respects the identity of other cultures and as far as it gives access in its global linkage to the individuals to manifest their identity, personality and history. But in practice, globalization asks people to forget what they had and accept new identity. Our women will have no family and no responsibility if they accept the fluid and plural identity. If they resort to their historical and Islamic models, they can take part in the process of globalization.

Will globalization allow women to enjoy such an atmosphere? Will Singapore and the like allow our women athletes participate in Olympic events with Islamic veil? Will the process of globalization accept original identity of people?

The fluid and plural identity finds new affinities with relativism. This type of identity considers everything relative and sees nothing absolute. Take the Islamic veil as an example. At present, our definition of Hijab or Islamic veil in the families and in the society is fluid and plural. The response to the question of observing Islamic veil is the same from a woman with perfect Islamic veil and from another with partial Hijab. The plural and fluid definition on Islamic veil is unable to give a clear-cut picture of Hijab.

In fluid and plural definitions there is no control on definitions, because understanding becomes hermeneutic. In the above example, everyone gives her understanding of Islamic veil and everyone claims to observe Hijab.

What is the truth? The fluid and plural identity says everything is relative and you can consider any veil as Hijab. This is what modernism and globalization discuss, i.e. absolutes must be put away and everything must be considered relative.

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