Original Article: Mak, G.K. & Weiss, S., Nature Neuroscience 13, 753 (2010).

Motherhood or maternal recognition is well characterized by associated brain plasticity during both early development and adulthood. Unlike motherhood, paternal-offspring recognition and its related brain plasticity is poorly understood. A group from University of Calgary designed a set of experiments to test whether father mice can recognize their own infants once they’ve reached adulthood. They exposed adult males to their own and genetically unrelated infants for 2 days. The fathers were tested for adult offspring recognition six weeks later. Assay compared the time spent by the fathers with their own and unrelated offsprings. Results showed that although the father mice show similar parenting behavior toward both sets of infants (own and adopted), they only recognize their own pups as adults. Paternal recognition is associated with increased prolactin (a hormone primarily associated to lactation), mediated neurogenesis in the olfactory bulb, and hippocampus, a major component of mammalian brain. These newly generated neurons are important for the formation of socially relevant olfactory memories. Authors also found that the fathers must physically interact with the infants in order to recognize them later. This is confirmed by some control experiments in which fathers are only allowed to see, smell or hear infants through a wire mesh barrier which was not sufficient to induce neurogenesis. One of the socially relevant benefits of paternal recognition of the infants as adults is to avoid incest interactions which cause inbreeding depression.

2- Recently revealed hideous effects of smoking on children

Original Articles: Brion, M.J. et al., Pediatrics 126, e57 (2010) & Kwok, M.K. et al., Pediatrics 126, e46 (2010).

Smoking is bad for our health, but apparently it may also have subtle, yet far-reaching consequences on our children according to two recent studies. The first study reports that mothers who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to have children with psychological problems. A related study presents evidence that babies who develop in the presence of second-hand smoke (from their fathers) may develop weight problems. Dr. Mary-Jo Brion of the University of Bristol tells “Babies exposed to smoke (in the womb) may be prone to rule breaking, such as lying, cheating, bullying, and disobedience in later years” and adds “To some extent it is somewhat surprising that … maternal smoking may also directly impact child behaviors from exposing the fetus to tobacco in utero.” The other study suggests that smoking around expecting mothers (even when the mother herself is not smoking) also affects the child: higher childhood weight appears to be clearly correlated with paternal smoking. “To protect their children, fathers should avoid smoking from conception onward,” says Dr. Mary Schooling of the University of Hong Kong. Furthermore, smoking mothers should not be too surprised to see their children “disobey” when they tell them not to smoke.

3- Exposure to certain wavelengths of light resets the body clock

Original Article: Gooley, J.J. et al., Science Translational Medicine 2, 31ra33 (2010).

With the introduction of high-tech gadgets into our lives, our daily functions have changed drastically. As opposed to old-fashioned bed-time reading of an “actual” book made of paper, we fiddle with our iphones or ipads or notebooks or channel surf on our bedside TVs before going to sleep. A recent study revealed that exposure to certain wavelengths of light, such as those from laptops or TVs, would negatively influence our circadian rhythms (daily rhythmic activity cycle) by resetting our body clocks (e.g., keeping us awake when we should be sleeping). The feeling of sleepiness at night time is triggered by the secretion of a hormone called melatonin. It had been known that exposure of blue light to the eye’s photoreceptor system located in the ganglion cells suppresses the melatonin secretion, therefore stimulating alertness. In their recent work, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital showed that green light exposure of a different cell population on the eyes – cone cells – also resets the body clock by suppressing melatonin secretion. The senior author of the paper, Dr. Steven Lockley, said in an interview that “we need to think about the entire spectrum of light when designing light therapy or lightning designs to boost alertness or induce sleepiness.” The moral of the story is to be more vigilant about our interaction with fancy electronic gadgets at night if we want to have a healthy and relaxing sleep.

4- Poor teachers may impede good students

Original Articles: Taylor, J. et al., Science 328, 512 (2010).

Scholars know that educational environment, including both tasks and the social environment of a classroom, affects children’s achievement just as much as genetic factors. But the teacher plays a main role, because the quality of the educational environment depends on teachers’ performances. A new study underlined the importance of qualified teachers and how they can make a difference in education. The researchers examined the influence of teacher quality by studying 280 identical and 526 fraternal twin pairs in the first and second grades in different Florida schools representing a diverse environment. Identical twins share 100 percent of their genes and fraternal twins share half, and some of the twins were taught by the same teacher but some were in different classes. The researchers used an Oral Reading Fluency test which is based on how many words in a paragraph a child can accurately read in a minute in order to assess the reading skills of children. The researchers recorded the reading scores of students in the beginning of the semester and at the end of the semester, and they followed the students’ improvements during the year. To measure teacher quality, they used the scores of twins’ classmates. By studying twins’ groups, researchers were able to eliminate some other factors such as genetics and socio-economic conditions. According to the findings, the teachers played a role in “moderating” students’ achievements, and they helped the students to grow to their full potential. When teacher quality is very low, genetic variance is constricted, whereas, when teacher quality is very high, genetic variance blooms. As the study’s lead author, Jeanette Taylor, said “Better teachers provide an environment that allows children to reach their potential.”

Women in politics

I attended a lecture by Iceland’s Olof Olafsdottir, who is the head of the division for Equality between Women and Men at the Council of Europe a very long title to carry along with the heavy responsibilities that follow

The topic was women in politics in the 43 Council of Europe member states. First of all, it is worth noting that voting rights for most European women were achieved only after World War I (1919 for the US). Statistics on the percentage of women in the government are extremely astonishing,1 although the trend is rather expected. As we move toward southern and eastern Europe, the female percentage decreases. Sweden, Finland, and Norway, are at the top of the list. Half of all Swedish government officials are women. On the other hand, Italy has only 8%, the lowest among European Union member countries.

Certain countries have undertaken serious reforms to increase female participation. For instance, Spain moved up to 21% when, in the post-Franco era, women took advantage of the rebirth of democracy. France, the symbol of equality, fraternity, and liberty, recently reformed its constitution to grant equal opportunities for women to participate in politics. Even though women had the right to vote and be elected since 1949, the French government was only 27% female as of 2001.

Political systems are a major factor. If political parties and politicians have too much power, the competition is tougher. As a consequence, it is believed that women find it too difficult to deal with process as well as with the power of the positions. Turkey and France are perfect examples of this phenomenon, and so women are likely to be discouraged by the ensuing harsh power struggle.

Paternal leave for fathers

Why does the decision-maker’s gender make a difference? Many people might pose this question. The most current and concrete answer is the case of Sweden, where 50% of the decision-makers are women. A paternal leave law exists in many democratic countries. However there is a major flaw almost all cases only the mother uses her paternal leave while the father does not interrupt his career. The Swedish Parliament passed a law offering a month-long paternal leave to the father that cannot be passed on to the mother. As a result, many fathers who had used the excuse that their jobs were more important and any interruption would be considered a major reversal suddenly decided to use this opportunity to be with their new-born children!

Another major result of the high female presence in the Swedish Parliament is the seen in legislation related to prostitution: both the prostitute and the customer are punished!

Cultural reasons for lower political participation in Muslim countries

Two related factors can account for the major gap between countries having high and low rates of women in their governments: democratic identity and culture. Efficient and older democracies have established a real democratic culture in which individuals are valued and politics is close to the people. Also, culture tends to affect the role of men and women immensely. For instance, Turkish women are very powerful in the household. The division of duties has developed according to Islamic teachings, which assigns specific social roles to men and women according to their nature. Women are more emotional, intuitive, and affectionate, and so are more fit to run the family and the household and to educate the children. Men, on the other hand, are responsible for struggling outside the house to maintain the family. Thus, in most Muslim-majority countries the percentage of women in politics is rather low. However, as the family structure is very strong, fewer social problems are observed.

Gender Equity in Qur’an

It was hard for me to accept this view until I realized that, according to the Qur’an:

– Men and women have the same spiritual human nature.

– Both genders received the divine breath, for they were created with the same human and spiritual nature.

– Both genders are dignified and are trustees of Allah on Earth.

– Woman is not blamed for humanity’s fall. Pregnancy and childbirth are not seen as punishments for eating from the forbidden tree. On the contrary, the Qur’an considers them to be grounds for love and respect due to mothers.

– Men and women have the same religious and moral duties and responsibilities, and both face the consequences of their deeds.

– The Qur’an does not state that one gender is superior to the other. Some mistakenly translate qiwamah (responsibility for the family) as superiority. The Qur’an makes it clear that the sole basis of superiority is piety and righteousness instead of gender, color, or nationality.

– The absence of women as Prophets or Messengers of Allah is due to the demands and physical suffering associated with such figures’ roles, not because of any spiritual inferiority.2

Conclusion

There is no evidence from the Qur’an to preclude women from leading a state. Islam does not forbid or discourage the education of women. On the contrary, Islam authorizes women to have careers in fields such as teaching and medicine. However, a woman’s most essential responsibility is to educate her children and raise a sound family. Raising children is a key social function, for a society’s future and efficient functioning depends on educated generations. Thus, from this perspective, a woman’s responsibility is rather significant and challenging.

I hope that those who are having a hard time with gender equality in Islam take the time to do a little research, because the most logical and convincing answers are there to be discovered.

Footnote

1. All statistics are from the 2001 Report of the Directorate General of Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Women in Politics in the Council of Europe Member States.

2. Jamal A. Badawi, Gender Equity in Islam. Online at: www.iad.org/books/GEI.html.