On Thursday the group presented the film “Two Women”. I felt this was a very appropriate movie both in terms of the group and in terms of what we are trying to learn in this class. With the film being about two Islamic women in different parts of life you understand that while one is struggling to survive the other is floating along quite pleasantly. I however found some things to disagree with such as the male dominant society and the lack of credit the men give to the women in their lives. Fereshteh is quite educated yet she is subjected to this horribly patriarchal society that does not give her any credit and in fact looks down upon her. She tries in vain to stand up for herself and defend her rights and her own opinion yet she is not respected the way her counterpart demands respect from her. It is a very one-sided relationship when she gives him everything and expects so little yet he will not let her out of the house or even allow her to use the telephone. This movie intensified the ideas and thoughts I previously had about stereotypical males in the Middle East. It did show me some of the things that can result from women receiving a proper education, such as Roya the other woman of the story who ran a architectural business with her husband and supervised men at the worksite giving them jobs and other menial tasks to accomplish and they respected her and observed her wishes. That is the difference I believe between women who run their own lives and women who have their lives run for them, education. A woman with an education can think for herself and know that what is happening to other women is wrong. Women that have received little or no education do not understand that there are better thing out there for them and they settle for what they have or fight against it to no avail. Both lines of following were showed in this movie and Fereshteh at the end was quite confused on what to do, take care of her children or go to school or both. Women in the Middle East have gained over the last few years, though not without losing a lot in the process.