Patricia Ireland Quotes
When I started law school I was shocked to learn that our legal system traditionally had the man as the head and master of the family. As late as the '70s and '80s when we were fighting for the Equal Rights Amendment, states like Louisiana still had a head and master law.
Ireland, Patricia. What Women Want. Dutton, 1996.
The case was a protest against the 1921 law which gave equal rights to women of Wisconsin. See {587976}.
This relatively radical viewpoint regarding equal rights for women was expressed by Roosevelt as his Senior thesis at Harvard in 1880. In those days, the kind of scrutiny of everything a candidate ever wrote or said that is characteristic of modern politics, did not exist. It is very doubtful that if the Republican Party officials had ever known that he had espoused these views—even as a young student, that he ever would have risen so high in the party, much less get nominated at the Vice Presidential candidate which was his entree to the Presidency. When in office however, there is no record of him reviving his youthful proposal that women who marry retain their maiden names.
“Political correctness” is a loosely defined concept of not discussing political issues in terms that are derogatory and/or might be offensive to particular groups or nationalities. Many orthodox Muslims (and orthodox Christians) are of the opinion that their religion calls for the male being the dominant figure in the household and having the right and obligation to discipline the children and the wife or wives. To state that such a practice is sexist, barbaric, undemocratic, and damaging to family and society is an insult to some of these religious believers. The Egyptian law was passed to reflect God’s commandments and so to question it is to some, blasphemous and for other nations to criticize it is insulting to some ultra orthodox Muslims. However, in cases like these, Ms. Eltahawy argues for ignoring political correctness and most Americans would agree as would most of the modern and generally educated Muslims in Egypt.
This type of religious sexism is not unique to Islam. Fundamentalist Christians place women in a secondary role as do fundamentalist orthodox Jews although both allow a man to take only one wife. The Islamic scripture tells us that the Prophet allowed multiple wives only if the man had the resources to care for the wives and all the children. 4 is the maximum.
Patricia Ireland is a U.S. administrator and feminist. She served as president of the National Organization for Women from 1991 to 2001 and published an autobiography, What Women Want, in 1996.
