Equality in religion for both genders

Some religions restrict leadership to men and many others have traditionally practiced sex segregation, for example in traditional Jewish synagogues, the women's section is separated from the men's' section by a wall or curtain called a mechitza and the men are not permitted to pray in the presence of women, to prevent distraction.Sex segregation in Islam includes restrictions on interaction between men and women. Men and women also worship separately in most mosques.

The ordination of women has been a controversial issue in some religions where either the rite of ordination, or the role that an ordained person fulfills, has traditionally been restricted to men because of cultural or theological prohibitions, they even believe that there are quotes in the bible which restrict certains things to men only.

For example:

In India both masculine and feminine deities feature prominently in Hinduism. The identity of the Vedic writers is not known, but the first hymn of the Rigveda is addressed to the masculine deity Agni, and the pantheon of the Vedas is dominated by masculine gods. The most prominent Avatars of Vishnu are men and the traditional religious leaders of Jainism are all men.

Buddha was a man, but the female Buddha is also very important in Buddhism. Buddha stated that men and women are equally capable of attaining Nirvana.

In Abrahamic religions, Abraham himself, Moses, David and Elijah are among the most significant leaders to the Hebrew Bible. John the Baptist, Jesus and his apostles, and Saul of Tarsus again give the New Testament an impression of the founders and key figures of Christianity being male dominated. Islam was founded by Muhammad, and his successor, Ali ibn Abi Talib and The Twelve Imams were also men.

On the other hand, The Virgin Mary, is not associated with leadership or teaching, but is nonetheless a key figure in Catholicism and Fatimah, daughter of Muhammad, is regarded by Muslims as an exemplar for men and women.

The Bahá'í Faith teaches that men and women are equal, and there have been a large number of prominent female teachers celebrated in Bahá'í history.

Tenrikyo, which may be the largest religion to have a woman founder.

Nearly all religions recognize marriage, and many religions also promote views on appropriate gender roles within marriage. The main responsability for an islam woman is to flfill her rolw as a wife and mother and men's role is to work and be able to pretect and support his wife and family.

The feminist study of gender and religion began when some women began to feel dissatisfied with the position of women in religion. There were two main aspects that were problems for feminists in Christianity:

-Christianity was typically androcentric. The texts, leaders, experiences, and rituals were focused on men, and women were seen as the deviants from the cultural normality.

-It was patriarchal. All of the leaders were men and assumed to be strong and assertive, whereas women were seen as subservient, passive and weak.

Feminism has engaged with Christians in three main ways:

-Scholars have cited religious texts to feminist aims.

-Some members, scholars and leaders sympathetic to feminism have attempted reforms to harmonize contemporary religious thought and practice to be more in line with feminism.

-Some feminist thinkers have attempted to construct a theology or range of religious practices based on feminist principles

All in all, it has been already said by William Hazlitt: “Prejudice is the child of ignorance.”

Le droit à l’éducation

Le droit à l’éducation est un droit fondamental de l’homme, indispensable à l’exercice de tous les autres droits de l’homme. Il promeut la liberté individuelle et l’autonomisation et apporte des bénéfices importants en matière de développement. Cependant, des millions d’enfants et d’adultes restent privés de la possibilité de s’éduquer, le plus souvent à cause de la pauvreté.

Les instruments normatifs des Nations Unies et de l’UNESCO établissent les obligations légales internationales en matière de droit à l’éducation. Ces instruments favorisent et développent le droit de chacun à avoir accès à une éducation de bonne qualité, sans discrimination et sans exclusion. Il incombe aux gouvernements de remplir leurs obligations à la fois légales et politiques pour offrir une éducation de bonne qualité à tous et pour mettre en place et contrôler plus efficacement les stratégies dans le domaine de 
l’éducation.

Guillermo Satué Rodríguez