How do we define freedom and what does it really mean? Today I woke up, got dressed and applied my make-up. Afterwards, I went to the hairdresser as my hair was long over- due a cut. Tomorrow will be much the same; maybe I’ll meet up with friends or go to the library and attempt to make a start on assignments that are slowly but surely beginning to pile up before my two eyes. To me these activities are just part of my daily routine. I take my freedom to meet a friend for coffee for granted. I was born in a country with certain freedoms that other women across the world were not.
With Feminism and issues surrounding women’s rights sweeping across the Western society having gained momentum during the 1960s, women have a lot more freedom and…show more content… If woman do not accept their status in society as a second class citizen there are serious consequences. In countries where Sharia laws are enforced such as in Saudi Arabia women have often found themselves subjected to various forms of persecution such as stoning and beheading as well as severe intimidation. One of the most disturbing cases I came across was that of a nineteen year old girl, the victim of a vicious gang rape. (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2015/03/saudi-gang-rape-victim-punished-with-200-lashes-and-six-months-jail/). She was originally sentenced to ninety lashes, as she was ‘indecent ‘at the time of the assault. However, when her lawyer argued this sentence as being unfair, the court doubled her sentence to 200 lashes as well as six months in jail. All of this torture just for being unsupervised by a male relative in public. Meanwhile, the men who raped her were given minor Judical sentences. This is not unusual as Judges appointed by the king on the recommendation of the Supreme Judicial Council have complete freedom to set sentences, meaning no two judges will hand out the same