Greeting from Shirin Ebadi

Greeting from Shirin Ebadi - Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have an expression in Farsi:
There are two worlds; one inner world within us and another outer world. Through the inner world we understand and communicate with the outer world, we hear beautiful music, see nature, experience colours and feel beauty. If man was born without the ability to hear, would there be music? If man, like certain other creatures, was born without sight, would art exist?

This introduction leads me to a particular issue:
How can we speak of peace in society if we don’t feel within us?
It is peace within us that creates peace in the outer world. Peace is neither a law nor an order that can, for example, be given to a 40 year old person with influence over many people or even one person, it is an inherent value. This person in the first years of his life, whilst his character is forming, should learn from his mother and his school to respect other people’s rights. He should learn to avoid any aggressive behaviour, to know his rights, to know calmness and appreciate it as the most precious feature of life. A child like this would develop great confidence within himself and most importantly he would learn to love and respect himself. This love and respect he has for himself would in turn develop into love and respect for others. A child who is belittled and put down would have no confidence, thus later on in his life, when he enters the real world and must face people influential in his life, his work, his town and even his country or his world, will not know to respect others when he himself had never been respected nor will he understand the importance of peace. 

A mother who has lived a life filled with stress and anxiety never having had her rights respected, cannot be expected to pass self-confidence, respect for others and peace to her child?
Thus the only way to better the world we live in and make it more humane, is by providing better opportunities for people, more specifically equal opportunities for men and women, basing decisions on ability rather than sex.

THE TRUTH ABOUT LIFE OF WOMEN IN 21ST CENTURY
It is rare to find a country in which women’s rights have improved, where they are treated equally, are not sexually abused and do not have their personal abilities ignored etc There is no doubt that women suffer, sometimes privately and sometimes publicly. The reality is that even in countries which promote equal opportunities, segregation will still exist. All over the world women continue to experience inequality, the extent of which depends upon how civilised a country is. In America and most European countries women complain of inequality. These countries do provide equal opportunities, however, because women therein have two separate responsibilities-one at home and one in the working world-they end up with less opportunity and are disadvantaged. For this reason there are few women in Parliament or in top jobs. Very few countries have equal numbers of men and women in Parliament. Positions of great responsibility are taken by men and few women are employed for these jobs.

Women’s circumstances in Islamic countries are unjust in many other ways and the level of oppression depends upon the country. In Saudi Arabia, up to few years ago, women didn’t even have birth certificates, in other words, they were not counted as citizens. Now even though they are regarded as citizens, they are still denied their rights. Not only are they prohibited from taking on roles of responsibility in society, they are not even allowed to drive their cars. In Bahrain and Yemen and a lot of other Islamic countries, although women are counted as citizens, they are still considered to be secondary citizens and are never considered equal to men. Arranged marriages are very common and daughters cannot marry without their father’s consent; the father has the ultimate say. Women’s place, position and value are dependant on the number of sons they have. Furthermore in some countries women are not addressed by their own names but by their son’s name.
Although 63% of university students are girls in Iran, i.e. the number of educated women being more than men, the number of unemployed women is three times the number of unemployed men. In Iran women are denied important jobs in Parliament, politics and society. I’m reminded of an Islamic law created in Iran in 1370 stating that a woman’s life is worth half of a man’s life, so if a man and a woman have an accident the compensation the woman receives would be half of the amount awarded to the man. Also two female witnesses are equal to one male witness, men can legally marry more than one woman, a man can divorce his wife without any reason whereas it is very difficult if not impossible for a woman to get a divorce. Iranian women are living in very tragic circumstances with regards to their value in society.

The fundamental question is this:
What is the root of this lack of respect for women in Islamic countries?
Islam is a religion that believes in equality between men and women. It is the culture in Islamic countries which makes men superior to women. This culture of male superiority not only makes the lives of women difficult but the lives of men also-there is no democracy or equality within their civilisation. Although women are the casualty of this civilisation they are also unfortunately the ones who sustain it. We shouldn’t forget that every male bully has been brought up by a woman. This culture can be compared to the disease of haemophilia; women themselves cannot catch this disease but transfer it to their sons. Women should fight against this culture. Women’s rights and democracy are the two sides of a scale. In every country where women do not have rights, democracy cannot exist i.e. there is a direct link between women’s rights and democracy. Do you know of any democratic country in which women’s rights are not respected?
History has shown that women are the last to benefit from democracy. One could say that freedom, democracy, equality etc are created for men and if there is any left over then women get a share. Gaining rights for women in every country opens the path to real democracy. Women who are aware and fighting for equal opportunities are the leaders for peace. Women’s rights are fundamental because gaining these rights is best way to building democracy. Instead of forcing democracy through violence and bombings, one must help women with their ongoing legal battles for their rights. We shouldn’t forget that democracy isn’t a gift to give to a country, nor an accident waiting to happen overnight, democracy is a historical project that has to reach completion and the importance of women’s role in this matter is undeniable. Winning women rights can be a shortcut to democracy in general.