Who was treated the worst... Women?

Great Debates
#1

My SO and I were having a discussion the other night about who has received the most injustice through out history. (The conversation was started by a discussion of compensation.)

I thought that women have been treated far worse, by more cultures, for a longer amount of time, then any other group (ie. Native American, African Americans, etc.) My SO disagreed with me. He felt that the mass slaughter of Native Americans, or the mass enslavement of African Americans was worse, simply because when it was happening, the magnetude and mistreatment were huge.

My argument was, while there is no denying that these things were horrible, they were not as wide spread (almost every cultures had strong sextual discrimination against women), and they didn’t last for as long in our history (women have been mistreated for thousands upon thousands of years).

So, what do you all think?

#2

You are right.

Anybody ever heard of a “Men’s day” to try to get discrimination of men out of the world?

Salaam. A

#3

I agree and think in most cases if you look at the women that belong to an oppressed group (take your examples, Native Americans and African Americans), they are often worse off, since they suffer additional oppression due to their gender.

#4

Children, it really is no contest, women would be second on my list.

#5

The treatment of Native Americans was awful, but remember, better than 90% of the native population of North America was unintentionally wiped out by European diseases that were introduced. You can’t really call that oppression, since if the Europeans had treated the natives with utmost respect and deference, you’d still have that massive die-off.

I vote for women–much more widespread and longer-lasting.

#6

We Muslims treat our women with great respect but we expect even greater respect in return In our homes the man is the head of the family and we support our women unlike many of the infidels who expect the woman to work outside the home.

#7

Snort . . . -Great, you just made me spit soda all over my keyboard. This is the funniest thing I have seen all day. Great joke, ** AlahAkbar **. :smiley:

#8

Well… mmmmmm…

I may be the head of the family but I can’t win from two women who have all day long the time invent their next plot against me.
And since my daughter is just celebrated here 9the birthday and is already very capable of contributing to this plotting, her one year younger brother and me are counting ourselves among the poor oppressed of this globe.

You can of course argue that I have sought this situation myself… It is not the whole truth, yet you could have a point though.

Salaam. A

#9

If a woman plots agianst her husband then ALLAH condones any punishment that the husband issues on her. It is written.

#10

Nearly half of all oppressed peoples were/are women. The odds sound like there’re women who’ve been /are being oppressed than any other single particular group. The oppression of women has been at least equal to that of the men in oppressed groups, (as vague rule of thumb). Therefore, since more women have endured the same level of oppression then, women are indeed the most oppressed.
What was it that John Lennon said about women and the place they’ve had in the world?

#11

It seems that either you have a poor grasp of Islam, or a poor grasp of English, or a poor grasp of what it’s like to live with a wife and daughter.

#12

Thats not what it says in my copy of the Necromonicon.

#13

Wow. Yeah, sock it to them plotting women.

I was going to cast my vote for All the Totally Screwed Indigenous Peoples before. But you’re right, ** AlahAkbar **: it’s prolly the women who have the worst of it.

#14

I’m required to stick it to a plotting woman very often.

:wink:

#15

You just can’t argue with the fact that probably 53% of every other oppressed group was female. And given that everyone seems to need to look down on someone else, I bet the other 47% of those oppressed people took it out on their women.

And one can not bring up genocide; men can’t really practice genocide on women.
‘I may be the head of the family but I can’t win from two women who have all day long the time invent their next plot against me.’

so you will of course resist the preaching of those who would keep those women cloistered. If they are at school or at work they are too busy (and interested in other things) to plot.

#16

J66

If my wives would read what you just have written, they would be crying of laughter.

Salaam. A

#17

By the way: the Akbar person gives himself away as a fake with every line he writes.

It is maybe funny to pose as a Muslim and try to discredit those Muslims that are member of a message board.
But if you set up such a comedy, you should be at least informed about the role you try to play.

Salaam. A

#18

Well, it is Great Debates, so …

Men.

When it comes to being treated poorly by society at large, the disposable sex is the clear winner. Countless men have been required by society to give their very lives to protect women (and other men). They have also been expected to support women financially.

Even today, where there is more equality in the workplace than ever before, it is men who work nearly all of the dangerous jobs. Something like 90% of all workplace deaths are male deaths. (I’ll get a cite for that if necessary.)

Women have long been a protected class of society. Just think of the phrase, “women and children first”, or “you can’t hit a girl”.

In short, men have been oppressed by society by being forced to give their health and safety for the protection of others.

So, c’mon, someone argue with me. :smiley:

#19

There was a recent thread about this. The OP has to specify what they mean by “injustice.” Different arguments can be made for men, women, children and others.

#20

Let me throw out a quick proposition…

There’s lots of injustice in history, and everybody can claim membership in an aggrieved group. Maybe it’s a good idea not to dwell on these historical facts, and do what we can to address injustice as it exists today.

Let’s ask who is treated the worst, and go from there.