Women and Feminism: A Discourse Analysis of Contemporary Theories and Islamic Teachings

Modern social activists through media present Islam’s view about women as an oppressed figure linked to her sexuality through so-called liberalism; her oppression is particularly symbolized by obsessive concern with sex, women’s bodies, the veil, and female isolation. While on factual grounds such mind set and groups have oppressed women by judging their worth as persons based on physical attractiveness. Such modern trends and feministic approaches have turned the image of woman as tool of entertainment or attraction. Those who are convinced by such modern values regard woman‘s status in Islam as inferior on the basis of several issues including; guardianship in marriage, polygamy, divorce right. Unfortunately this horrible disease has crept into Muslim societies in the name of cultural interrelation which is in total disregard for our purity and distinguishing values. The magnitude of women rights in Islam with comparison to feminism has been covered in this brief paper. The first part of the paper gives image of women in western society and bases for initiatives taken for feminism movement in west. Second part of the paper gives a comparison between Islamic approach of women rights and feminism. Third part of the paper describes the view of women liberation and modernity in western society. In fourth part of the paper discussion about women oppression has been presented. In fifth part Islamic view of women rights has been given through Quranic verses and references which is followed by findings and conclusion of the whole discussion

Dynamics of Osrglp1 Gene During Fungal Exposure in Transgenic Potato

Germin like proteins (GLPs) are large group of related and ubiquitous plant proteins. These proteins are considered to be involved in most of the processes important for the development of plant and defense mechanism. Although multiple copies of this gene family have been reported in a number of species (wheat, barley, rice, soybean, mosses and liverwort), even then the up-regulated expression of GLP transgenes has demonstrated additional defense capabilities. Due to reported role of GLPs in conferring fungal resistance, there is a need to explore their antifungal activity. For this purpose potato was selected as experimental material. It is a vegetable crop and produces, on average, additional food energy and protein than cereals. Potato with immense nutritive value, large yield, and significant cash return to farmers, has become a major crop for both farmers and consumers in Pakistan. Potato is susceptible to many kinds of diseases, especially to fungal pathogens, therefore genetic engineering of potato for disease resistance is an important strategy study and apply disease resistance. GM technology can be an effective tool for crop improvement. The transgenic approach was pursued to introduce rice (Oryza sativa) germin like protein gene OsRGLP1 using two recombinant vectors pC:OsRGLP1 and pG:OsGLP1 via Agrobacterium mediated transformation. Confirmation of presence of gene was carried out by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). One-step reverse transcriptase PCR was used for transcriptional analysis and expression was quantified in real time in all PCR positive putative transgenic lines. Functional status of transgene was studied in selected high expression lines from two vectors. It was observed that OsRGLP1 possesses super oxide dismutase activity and it is heat resistant and is sensitive to H2O2. These characteristics make it a Fe like SOD. A high H2O2 level was detected in transgenic lines. Fungal assay with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. tuberosi showed xvi enhanced foliar resistance in transgenic lines in comparison to untransformed control plants. OsRGLP1 may be used as source for nonspecific fungal resistance in plants and the antioxidant activity of heat resistant SOD may be explored for abiotic stress tolerance.