ENDLESS PROBLEMS

intact, a woman on the strength of nature, comes to acquire the same position. Here is an explicit example from the life of Ronald Reagan, former President of America. According to one American report published in the Hindustan Times: “Mr. Reagan is known to be deeply attached to his wife, whom he calls ‘mommy’ away from the public, according to their close associates.” 38 Having made the home and the family her whole world, a woman can certainly count on familial support in her middle and declining years. None of the sorrows of solitude for her! While western civilization supports the liberated woman only for the early years of her life — her youth being her sole attraction — Islamic culture, being family-oriented, attaches value and gives its support to the married woman right throughout her life. THE EXAMPLE OF JAPAN In Japan, about 15 million women are employed in offices and factories. Far from enjoying a position equal to that of their male counterparts, they serve as assistants and subordinates. Two Japanese women were, of course, elected to the Cabinet a few years ago, but that was thanks only to the institution of Women’s Year in 1985. Of the 608 diplomats in Japan, only twelve are women. Even to this day, Japan’s society is male dominated. It is significant that a woman minister noted in a recent report on the condition of women in Japan that “a bill, yet to be passed by the parliament on ending discrimination against women, is considered by many of its male critics to be reverse discriminatory.”39 In former times the spheres of men’s and women’s activities were considered separate. In modern times, however, this clear demarcation has been dispensed with, one of the grounds being that a nation cannot progress if women are not offered equal opportunities in its construction. But the experiment of giving women a free hand has not contributed either to nation-building or to the progress of civilization. In countries where women have already been offered equal opportunities in every field, all of the more important and advanced fields are still dominated by men. Those who subscribe to the view that a nation will fail to march ahead without the participation of women — who constitute almost half of the population — need only look at the example of Japan, one of the most developed countries of the modern world. They will be forced to change their ideas when they consider that all of the major developments in Japan have taken place without women’s involvement as equal in non-domestic activities. Japan’s example is the greatest challenge to the feminist view. Its continuing to be a male dominated society clearly shows that the development of a nation does not depend upon equal participation by women — a view erroneously held by feminists the world over. Ms. Sharmon Babior, an American, acknowledging the difference between Japan and America in this matter comments: “I don’t think American women would tolerate the Teishukanpaku (the husband is the ruler of his home) behaviour.”40