فصلنامه مطالعات راهبردی زنان
پیاپی 32 (تابستان 1385)

One of the most important rules in the field of restitutions is arsh or government. Arsh is the compensation of harms done to the body of man and its value is not determined. This rule is among the absolutes of Shiite jurisprudence and is unanimously accepted by jurisprudents although there are disagreements over the real instances. This paper tries to answer this question whether in the case of women the compensation more than one third of a man’s complete restitution should be halved or whether this rule is only true for soul [nafs] and it cannot be applied to arsh due to the lack of textual proof. Finally, to revive women’s rights, it is suggested that the restitution of women be calculated on the basis of the hexagonal cases of restitutions for example for women on the basis of the value of two hundred cows and for men on the basis of the value of one hundred camels.

Shiite jurisprudents unanimously agree that “the restitution” [diyeh] of men and women is equal unless it exceeds one third of the complete restitution of a man. Under such circumstances the restitution of a woman reduces to the half of a man’s restitution. However, concerning the compensation [arsh] of harms done to women there is no clear mention in jurisprudence sources. Out of narrations and dictums (Fatwas) one can elicit three views: “absolute halving”, “lack of absolute halving”, and “halving of compensation when it equals to one third of a man’s complete restitution”. In this paper these three views are briefly introduced and the third one is admitted.

Among the different causes that played a role in the emergence of feminism Christianity played the most important part. Christian theological system has a totally gender-based nature and instills a negative attitude towards women. The proofs for this claim come from the Christian theological teachings and, in particular, the teachings related to women that are explicitly stated in the ideas and thoughts of Christian philosophers, theologians and church authorities. After presenting the ideas of Christian thinkers in the early and middles ages in the previous issue, this paper evaluates the basic discriminating gender stances and approaches of Christian thinkers from the Renaissance to the present time. The evaluation of these stances shows the depth of the animosity of Christianity towards the female sex and clarifies how feminism is the natural result of Western women’s confrontation with anti-women Christian teachings.

The present paper focuses on the changes in family and the resultant harms in the West. The renaissance and reformation movement as the main cause of this situation and the scientific and social movements such as modernism, postmodernism, secularism, feminism, and individualism as the prominent factors within renaissance are considered as the cause of these changes. Nowadays, the Western world, due to its distance from spirituality, suffers from different types of harm including family harms. Careful studies can help families in Eastern countries immune from similar threats.

An important issue which has always been raised in Fiqh and law is the study of women’s competency for judgment. According to a well-known thesis by Faqihs (jurisprudents) judgment by is not acceptable, but some studies show that their arguments can be criticized. After elaborating on the concept of judgment and types of judges according to Fiqh and law (appointed and elected judges), this paper brings women’s competency for occupying this position into consideration. Afterwards, the paper evaluates the existing order in the Iranian law in relation with this issue. Finally, it elaborates on the possibility of the occupation of judicial positions by women, resorting to the capacity of secondary verdicts.

Aesthetics of feminism like the other concepts in this school has formed on the basis of criticisms of the basic and traditional assumptions of philosophy and in the case of art functions, because of reliance on prejudiced and biased gender theses, it has injected uncertainty into all parts. In the field of art and aesthetics, it considers gender discrimination as a barrier for the growth of ingenuity, talent, and creativity in women to produce artistic works. Thus, resorting to philosophical, critical, and psychoanalytic approaches it has both tried to prove the existence of differences between the artistic works of women and men and to present a framework with similar stylistic characteristics in women’s artistic works to flow distinguishable feminine qualities in the public culture.