|
|
|
The Role of Woman and Family in Human Development Tehran, Iran
Contents:
The great revolution of the Muslim nation of Iran is undertaking the
foundation of a novel civilization and new consciousness that is regarded as a source of
hope and salvation for humanity. This novel civilization, based on religious culture and
supported by human resources, has provided the dynamism and guidance for a new process of
development. Report of the Proceedings of the First Day of
the 22 May, 1995. The sub-themes discussed during the three-day gathering included "The Role of the Family in Human Development", "The Role of Women in Human Development", and "The Role of Divine Religions in the Advancement of Women". The inaugural session was presided over by Dr. Masoumeh Ebtekar and the message of His Excellency, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hojjatoleslam Hashemi Rafsanjani was delivered by H. E., Ms. Shahla Habibi, the Presidential Advisor on Women's Affairs. E. Hojjatoleslam Mohammed Ali Taskhiri, Head of the Organization for Islamic and Cultural Ethics and the Secretary-general of the Ahl-al-Bait, stressed the need for popular organizations in the materialization of international objectives. He pointed out that international bodies such as the United Nations, the Non-aligned Movement and the Organization of the Islamic Conference have been unable to play a positive roles in human resources development. As such, women should utilize the opportunity presented by NGO networking to advance women's issues. In this context, he praised the endeavors of Iranian women's NGO's in projecting measures taken within the matrix of Islam and the Islamic Revolution. Dr. Zahra Mostafavi, Director of the Women's Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran, highlighted the existence of discriminatory practices and inequality between men and women in many countries of the world. She pointed to the fact that non-implementation of various laws has been the single most important obstacle to the attainment of women's rights. She was indeed correct when she emphasized that if women want to rectify the existing situation, they must do it themselves. Ms. Shamsiah Achmad, the Assistant Minister of Education for the Republic of Indonesia, defined women in development in totality which must include spiritual and moral growth and this, she thinks, can be obtained through belief and religion. Ms. Achmad said it is refreshing to hear that even though there has been a decrease in religious and moral values, particularly in the West, they still play a significant role in preservation of human dignity. In order to achieve totality in human development, she stressed the need for integrated and co-ordinated action among international, national and NGO bodies. She however, did not exclude the factor of education in advancing women's causes. Ms. Maryam Behrouzi, Director of the Zeinab Society, presented a model for women in the human community. She defined the family as a single unit of the society in which women play the pivotal role. As such, women's access to education and other socio-economic opportunities assume special significance. She described optimum use of women's talents as a precondition to human development. In the first session, the Rules of Procedure of the Agenda of the Conference were adopted. After the inaugural session, the first Plenary Session was devoted to "The Role of Family in Human Development". The three speakers at this session were: Dr. Rakei form the Women's Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr. Navabi Nejad form Tehran Training Association and Zeinab Hammoud from the Al-Zahra Muslim Organization. During the talks, the impact of the family as a social unit in any society was analyzed and discussed. It was pointed out that in formal education, personality traits of human beings are formed during the five years after birth. As such, the importance of stable families can hardly be over-emphasized. Ms. Hammoud, in addition to analyzing the above points, evaluated the origin of various classifications of the family. She also gave valuable information about the origin of the family. All three speakers unanimously agreed that there is no alternative to the family unit in human development. Meanwhile, Dr. Ebtekar presided over the Plenary Session and Dr. Shahida Rafique was Rapporteur general of the session. The Working Group session was divided into three groups, A, B and C. All
groups discussed the adoption of the agenda of the main session on "The Role Family
in Human Development" which was presented in the afternoon session on 24 May for
final adoption. Report of the Proceedings of the Second Day
of the 23 May, 1995 Subsequently, papers were presented by the following speakers on the main topic "The Role of Women in Human Development".
The speakers were of the opinion that women's role in human development is indeed a great factor. Women are the managers, organizers, producers, providers, food guarantors and educators of the family and since family life revolves around women, their human dignity and development of their full potential forms the core of human development. Each of the speakers then gave a country profile of women's role in forming civilization and the present situation. They placed emphasis on Islamic and other religious values in guaranteeing human development and women's complete development. In this context, the speakers also called upon international organizations to do their utmost to co-ordinate activities with each nations' government because this enormous task cannot be handled by individual national governments alone. In this respect, collective efforts must be directed towards this goal with the aim to wipe out "every tear from every eye". The session was followed by the Working Group's discussion and consensus on the second document on "The Role of Women in Human Development". The afternoon session convened at 2:30 p.m. on "The Role of Divine Religions in the Advancement of Women". In this session, Mary Soledad Perpinan from the Third World Movement Against the Exploitation of Women talked about the particular role of the Christian religion, particularly the Virgin Mary role model, in strengthening the position of women and families in human development. Ms. Monire Gorgi of the Centre for Women's Studies stressed the need for spiritual values in the process of over-all development. She quoted some examples from our Holy Prophets (p.b.u.h.) who pointed out that women's dignity and development is synonymous with human development. Daniella Bolognesi Piani from the Vatican discussed political and civil liberties as vital needs for human development. Women's freedom in all spheres of life, economic, political, cultural and religious is thus imperative for her fullest development. Dr. Dilara Choudhary from Bangladesh presented her paper by saying that it has been acclaimed by national governments and international bodies that the role of the family and women is essential in maintaining sustainable development. Appropriate policies, proper institutions and financial investments are called for in order to take proper steps to enhance and strengthen women and the family. There should be presence of women in individual countries decision-making bodies, in other words, there should be mainstreaming of women in politics otherwise, policies formulated without women's input may not be able to address women's issues. Women must be in the decision-making bodies in order to determine their own destinies. In this context, Dr. Choudhary analyzed the situation of women in her country's formal decision making bodies, e.g., the parliament, administration, political parties and local governments. It is evident from her study that though both the government and the opposition are headed by women, the actual presence of women is peripheral. Various impediments and affirmative actions taken by GOS and Egos were discussed. She concluded her paper with an optimistic note that progress in this field is being made. Fatma-Zahra Mohammad Ali from Egypt pointed out that there is no obstacle in Islam to a Muslim woman taking part in public affairs which are traditionally considered to be in the male domain. All the speakers of the second day of the conference placed emphasis on
the totality of human development which calls for not only socioeconomic and political
development, but spiritual development as well. The speakers in varying form agreed that
religion plays a vital role in enhancing women's and the family's involvement in human
development. Religious values are not in any way detrimental in achieving the
above-mentioned goal. Report of the Proceedings of the Third Day of
the 24 May, 1995 The session began with a recitation of verses from the Holy Koran. Dr. Masoumeh Ebtekar presided over the session and the Vice-chairperson was Fawzia Adam from the ACW/UNECE, Addis Ababa. The following people were invited to speak in the plenary session on the Role of Divine Religions in the Advancement of Women.
All speakers highlighted the status bestowed on women by Islam, a status women had never enjoyed before through the history of mankind. They also stressed the importance of women's participation in accelerating the advancement of human development. Dr. Hadad Adel mentioned the significance of strengthening of the family for overall development. Highlighting the family as the central unit of the society, he stressed the need to institutionalize the family for an education function, monitoring the achievement of social, cultural, economic and political development. He also mentioned the spirit of Islam the emphasizes the need for solidarity in family. Ashraf Boroujerdi emphasized the role of the woman's status in Islam, the role which promotes human dignity, humanity and establishes equality and peace for overall development. Since women play an important role as mother, sister and life-partner, she stressed the need for spiritual as well as social, economic and cultural development of women and also social justice based on divine rule. Marie Claud Lutrand from France mentioned the importance of intercultural exchange on women's issues and seeking the redefinement of the national aspects of development. She pointed out that the human aspect is more important in direction and moral values should be revived and studied in cross-cultural dimensions. As understanding of male and female roles are still undefined, they should be defined clearly and modified accordingly. Suleiman Elmira from Azerbaijan gave a profile of women in Azerbaijan and the extreme human suffering caused by foreign aggression through the violation of human rights. She made an appeal to solve the problem by:
Alari Anato Cole from Sierra Leone described women as the pivot of the family around which everything else revolves and gave a definition of the family according to the Koran. She stressed the need for synchronization of the family system with Islam. As women are natural teachers and managers, they need to be empowered to fulfill this key role. Finally she gave a call to:
Naelh Rashdan from the International Islamic Council stated women, as individuals, are described in Holy books as possessing all human dignity and power. She correctly described the model of a women, as characterized by the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.), and quoted the example of the wife of our Prophet (p.b.u.h.) as the perfect one. She said that to achieve women's rights, women should abide by the rules of Islam. H.E. the Ambassador of Palestine, Mr. Salah Zawawei, raised the Palestinian women in the occupied territories. He stressed the need for solving the problem internally collectively. Mariama Georgine Altomore from the North American Council of Muslim Women, who is a European-American converted Muslim, said she was very pleased and encouraged to see Muslims taking the lead in addressing the spiritual balance that is missing in much of the efforts to define human rights. In this context, she described the situation of converted Muslims in her country. She also pointed out some of the unique and paradoxical features of American life. Sharmeen Choudhury, an American-Bangladeshi, cited a beautiful phrase: "A rainbow is magnificent because it is composed of many colors, an ocean is deep because it embraces the wisdom of many rivers and people are empowered when unity is based on diversity and an exchange of knowledge and wisdom," referring to the Holy Koran which stresses a unique style of networking among nationalities that extends beyond the limitation of tolerance and explicitly calls for unity irrespective of sect, color and religion. She called for the solidarity of all with wisdom for a better future. Aissta Bouka from the Association of des Femme Musulmane, Du Gabon, emphasized the role of woman as mother. She stressed the point of preserving chastity and dignity in accordance with Islam. She added that families should be safeguarded and marriage should be strengthened. Amina Lugman from the Kazakhstan Women's Organization said she thought the main objective is to achieve moral and spiritual development at the regional, national and international levels. She put forward a proposal for establishing an international and national women's association comprising female representatives from all Islamic countries in order to safeguard the rights of women around the globe so that it could be a women's tribune association for all Muslim women. In all these speeches, a general trend emerged towards linking religious, moral principles and social development of women with their development in the economic, political and cultural fields. The speeches also highlighted the status of women in the respective countries and commented on the role of women in the development of an Islamic society, putting forth specific recommendations in this regard. They also focused on the urgent need for women's action within the framework of Islam and called for the establishment of a mechanism in the form of an international organization. Working Group Sessions Working Group sessions on the documents: "The Role of Women in Human Development", "The Role of Family in Human Development", "The Role of Divine Religions in the Advancement of Women" and "The Tehran Declaration" were amended and adopted by the three groups A, B and C. These four documents will be presented in the final session for final adoption. Preamble Declaration of the First International
Conference on the Role of Woman and Family in Human Development In the perplexing world of today human beings search for new paradigms of material and spiritual development to achieve betterment in life through collective and thoughtful action. In this world, establishment of organizations, unions and regional and international foundations, both governmental and non-governmental, is increasing daily with the objective of attaining novel programs of development. At this time, women, by their active presence in various social spheres and as the key managers of the basic units of the society, intend to play their constructive role in political, economic and cultural decision-makings. While attending the International Conference on the Role of Woman and Family in Human Development held on the 1-3 Khordad, 1374 (22-24 May, 1995) in Tehran we declare that: First, all monotheistic religions are the connected rings of a single chain which have created a proper way of life during the course of human history to guide humankind. Therefore, the necessity to accentuate the common points of and establish needed unity among followers of divine religions as well as to consolidate the women in religion of the world is exceedingly urgent. Second, in order to enhance women's and men's awareness on social, economic and political rights and to remove human fallibility, historical distortions and erroneous beliefs and superstitions wrongly attributed to religion, scholars, women's NGOs and religious scientists should embark on necessary research and studies, disseminate the findings and work toward social transformation. Third, in this era of communication advancement, when audio and visual waves leave political borders behind and cultural communication among nations is increasing day by day, presenting a proper image of women in the mass media and doing away with propagandistic abuse of women are important steps toward cultural enhancement of society. To achieve this, women specialists should be incorporated at decision making levels in the mass media. Exploitation of women and girls should be regarded as humiliation of humanity and a form of violence against women. Fourth, in all divine religions the family is the healthy social foundation in which the woman and man play the fundamental role and any deviated image of the family as well as any kind of sexual relationship outside the family framework are strongly condemned. Women as mothers and wives play the major part in stabilizing this very holy center i.e., the family, and their true rights and reputations should be taken into consideration in the family. The role of NGOs should be enhanced for the reinforcement of the family foundation. Fifth, striving to attain all dimensions of human development would be impossible without considering both its material and spiritual aspects, therefore, since a number of laws and regulations in some countries hinders the cultural, social and economic growth of women, it is necessary to revise the relevant regulations taking into consideration the significance of divine religions. Hereby again, we emphasize the need to consider the advanced religions as necessities for human development in order to establish security for women and facilitate their participation in national development as was ratified in the Plan of Action of the Asia-Pacific Agenda and also in the two preliminary meetings of ESCAP. Sixth, the participation of women in all areas in the current era enjoys an increasingly quantitative as well as qualitative trend. They should extract the best of all necessary material and spiritual resources to improve their capabilities and play a constructive role in all fields including all matters in war as well as peace. In this direction, qualitative and quantitative development of NGOs for women in various countries supports the said movement. This recommendation should never be regarded as the domination of one gender over another. Seventh, disregard for the native and cultural composition of different nations calls for the precise clarification of policies which are put forth under the title of development. Meantime, a revision and definition of women's problems worldwide are necessary so that in various international meetings and communities these problems are definable in a common universal language for all societies which is flexible, conforming to cultures and native values of each nation. Eighth, international fora should take measures for the correction of adverse cultural perceptions concerning women and purify the cultures of societies from prejudices and unhealthy attitudes about women. Ninth, multi-faceted respect for the woman as well as her right to practice and observe her religion and religious obligations in her country or in other countries should be observed. Tenth, in order to establish relationships and common ideas among the
women following divine religions and advocating morality, it is suggested that an
institution under the title "International Federation of Women of Divine
Religions" be established. Human development is a process in which co-ordinated and systematic efforts are being carried out for development of the material and spiritual dimensions of human life. A mere emphasis on the conventional indexes of human development cannot, by itself, be indicative of the meaning of real human development. Therefore, while there are indexes such as literacy, health and nutritional status and level of income to evaluate the current status of human development, experts in this field should present additional parameters to evaluate the spiritual dimension of human development based on moral and ethical values. In fact, only the establishment of such values will make possible the realization of equality, justice, human rights and fundamental freedom as well as true peace. This will allow women to develop their potentials to the fullest and to give their maximum contribution to human development. This will also allow women and men to work together in harmonious partnership both as agents and beneficiaries of development to ensure a more secure and humane world. The ultimate objective of human development is the attainment of the highest quality of human being and human life. In this light, the following objectives must be taken into consideration.
Governments, NGOs, communities at large as well international
organizations and institutions should take the following actions as appropriate:
Marriage and establishing a family are fundamental natural needs of
human beings which originate from their creation and nature. The wife and husband make up
the heart of the family, the smallest, most basic social institution and provide the means
for transmission of culture. The family is considered responsible for the procreating of
human beings, their socialization and the molding of their personalities. This institution
has always been venerated by all the divine religions and schools of thought which are
based on morality. It is a center in which natural necessities such as sexual and
emotional needs are met. A healthy, stable family can serve as the main source of physical
and spiritual well-being for its members and present a healthy, balanced and fruitful
resource for the society. Respecting the human dignity of woman in the family structure
and meeting her true needs as woman, wife, mother or daughter of the family are the most
fundamental elements in consolidating the family institution. Such a family has the
potential to create the circumstances for personal and dynamic growth for all members of
the family. There has always been a positive correlation between psychological health and
a fruitful marriage. In addition to such indicators as health, education and income, which
are important in terms of human development, the stability of the family should also be
taken into consideration as a very tangible index of human development. Therefore, some
criteria to evaluate the authentic moral values significant in the consolidation of the
family like loyalty, affection, chastity, faith and self-sacrifice should be presented.
Providing the necessary environment to consolidate the family and bring about profound and
immense development in the stability of society. Such measures can lead us to a practical
solution for elimination problems such as cruelty, crime and rebellion of the younger
generation which has taken the shape of a serious and severe problem in many countries. The following goals should be considered so that the family can play its
institutional role in human development.
To embrace religion as an ideology and manner of life is a sublime,
independent and cognizant choice that can satisfy all human dimensions of individual and
social life and transcend the limits of time and place. It is by noting this principle
that the role of divine religions in the advancement of women finds its real meaning and
premise. The history and scriptures of divine religions denote the active and constructive
presence of women in various cultural, political, social and economic aspects and this
presence has had, and continues to have, certain effects on the process of growth and
evolution. Global developments are showing a general turn towards spirituality and
introducing the subject of religion at the United Nations after several decades denote a
consciousness and active role of religion in society and human development.
Obstacles hampering the influence of religion if the social growth of
women are:
|
[ Culture & Tourism | Economy | News & Media | Religion | Iran Information | Women | Embassy | Index | Search ]
