What’s the best way to nip an issue in the bud without further arguments? Just attribute it to religion – people will be too wary to protest further. Even as the movement of gender equality is gathering steam, one priest is trying his level best to ensure that women from his local community stay away from the movement.
Kerala Sunni leader Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musalyar has controversially described the concept of gender equality as being “un-Islamic” and said that women could never equal men as “they are fit only to deliver children”. He said this in the context of protesting against reservation for women in elections.
Musalyar, the chief of All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama, said on Saturday that women do not have mental strength and do not possess the power to control the universe, “which lies in the hands of men.”
“Gender equality is something which is never going to be a reality. It is against Islam, humanity and was intellectually wrong,” he said while speaking at a camp of Muslim Students Federation (MSF) in Kozhikode.
“Women can never equal men. They are fit only to deliver children. Women cannot withstand crisis situations,” he said.
He wondered if there was even a single woman among thousands of cardiac surgeons. His twisted logic on women’s mental strength apart, here’s a reality check for that Sunni leader and everybody else who feels the same way about women. One-quarter of all cardiologists in India are women, according to statistics provided by Cardiological Society of India, which is a pretty decent number considering that female doctors are supposed to juggle domestic duties with the unpredictable life of a cardiologist. This in fact is the key reason that their number does not equal women.
Also the current director of the National Heart Institute, Delhi and the founder president of the All India Heart Foundation is a woman – Dr S. I. Padmavati. So get your facts right, Aboobacker Musalyar!
It’s pathetic how people continuously put down women, in the name of religion. Because at it’s core, no religion favours one gender over another. It’s just corrupted versions of the religion over the centuries, which enforce rules like this.
In the case of this Kerala leader, what is distressing is that Muslim women face far more restrictions, on an average compared to other women in India. Statements like this deal a bad blow to the movement of gender equality, because even if these women ever want to improve the quality of their life, they will find little or no support within their community.
He even referred to the ongoing debates over allowing girls and boys to share seats in colleges, Musalyar said it was “part of a calculated move to destroy Islam and culture.” Bah!
