Islam and Feminism: Poles Apart?
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- Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 13:36:49 -0500
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Islam and Feminism: Poles Apart?
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
The Sunday Herald - May 7, 2006
http://www.sundayherald.com/
Op-Ed:
ISLAM & FEMINISM: ARE THEY POLES APART?
By Dr Mona Siddiqui
Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies
Glasgow University
Have women's rights activists in the West failed to engage with the
oppression of females in Islamic countries? This is the view of American
feminist Phyllis Chesler, author of a book provocatively titled The Death Of
Feminism . She criticises contemporary feminists for hiding behind notions
of multicultural relativism in their refusal to speak out against some of
the more oppressive, even barbaric, practices in Muslim countries. "Because
feminist academics and journalists are now so heavily influenced by left
ways of thinking," she wrote recently, "many now believe that speaking out
against headscarves, face veils, the chador, arranged marriages, polygamy,
forced pregnancies or female genital mutilation is either imperialist or
crusadist." In a recent Guardian interview, she spoke of a kind of
politically correct hierarchy of sins, "an intellectual culture in which
racism trumps gender concerns". Chesler is right to a point. Can we continue
to make exceptions to holding absolute standards on human rights and
freedoms, for fear of upsetting the Muslim world? My concern about her
critique is that, notwithstanding the reality of misery and oppression which
many women face in some Muslim contexts, the underlying charge is that
Muslim women are generally powerless victims in a male-dominated society
because of the Islamic faith itself. Cultural diversity and lifestyles are
ignored, as are the many voices that are speaking out, taking action and
empowering women across much of the Muslim world.
For two decades, female writers and activists in the East and West have been
calling for women's participation at cultural, religious and political
levels. They have been prominent in highlighting the plight of Muslim women,
who are so often the victims of a gendered reading of the Koran, in which
male dominance is at times simply a reflection of the crude tribalism of
seventh century Arabia. The first problematic implication here is that
Western feminism has bolstered Western women in their struggle for equality
and respect , whereas the Muslim world is still drowning in primitive
attitudes . The reality is that Western feminism has given women a voice,
albeit a sometimes muffled one, that has allowed them to call for changes .
Secondly, feminism emerged largely through the concerns of Western women who
used their own texts and contexts to make their arguments for equality.
Despite many successes, contemporary feminist approaches are reviewing the
whole notion of gender relations in a quest to explore the weaknesses and
strengths of the various women's rights movements of the past century.
Similarly, if feminism in all its guises is to succeed within Muslim
societies, it must do so through organic growth, a consciousness and
struggle that stems from the theological, sociological and political
contexts of these landscapes. But the real problem lies in viewing feminism
as the main champion of human rights. If female genital mutilation, killing
or incarceration of women, all in the name of honour or family pride, are
still practised in some countries as a strong basis for a moral society,
their acceptance, even tenuously, as part of "Islamic culture", immediately
legitimises these actions. These practices should be condemned unequivocally
by men and women, and no cultural or religious apologetics should get in the
way of outlawing them.
The biggest obstacle is that it is often women's own silent approval of such
customs that allows them to continue. Unless both halves of society have the
education, the courage and the will to speak out against all violations of
human dignity, change will be a very slow process. The heterogeneity of the
Muslim world, the different voices, moralities and lifestyles, are
completely lost in many of the generalisations made about women and Islam.
An immense amount of work is being done by academics, activists and ordinary
women across the Islamic world to raise consciousness of many of the issues
to which Chesler rightly refers. Importantly, however, most of these women
are not rejecting the Muslim faith in their struggle for better societies.
Most, like Pakistani-born feminist, Riffat Hasan, are revisiting the
scriptural traditions in the claim that the Koranic worldview is essentially
egalitarian in spirit and that society has failed to translate this world
into any meaningful reality. It would be naive to suggest that true religion
lies only in the unadulterated pages of a text. Religion has always been
expressed within cultural contexts. The fact women are demanding more agency
in their lives is itself reflective of the changing cultural expectations in
many Muslim societies. But in many social systems, economics, education and
kinship rules are central factors in keeping women in lower positions to
men. Women often lack the opportunity to work outside the home and acquire
professional skills; and too often, marriage within family structures
imposes pressures on their lives. The value of promoting education lies not
only in helping women gain qualifications, but in encouraging thinking
outside traditions that carry the mask of religious truths.
Most feminist struggles in the Muslim world are about protecting women
against certain practices, and then the empowerment of women. This process
requires the vision to make them understand that they are free. Freedom is a
scary word for many women who are psychologically, emotionally and
physically tied in structures that at times, barely allow them to breathe,
but from which the possibility of escaping is even scarier. This has long
been an issue , and many parts of the Muslim world are still grappling with
the social instability that often accompanies female emancipation. The
illusion that such societies have created is that such autonomy is
un-Islamic. Feminism is still a very revolutionary idea. It demands that
women's rights to make choices are recognised but also, more importantly,
that the choices they make hold real value within our societies. For many
Muslim women, the real struggle is in reconciling their faith, their
cultural tradition and their immediate familial contexts with the
overarching impetus of feminism which is driven on the right to self-
autonomy. This means at times taking risks, going against community
expectations; for some it can be the biggest jihad of their lives. Feminism
is about acting to improve the quality of people's lives, rather than
perpetually contesting theoretical paradigms. Recog nising cultural
differences is not the same as accepting them and voices should speak out
against the dehumanisation of women, not simply social inequalities. We
musn't lose ourselves in ideological debates about "whose feminism" -
Islamic or Western? The first step towards achieving a truly civilised
society is getting men on board. This involves looking critically at their
own roles in the family and moving away from the bigotry of being moral
arbiters whenever it suits them. For example, the increasingly strict
segregation in many Muslim communities, combined with the fear of
dishonouring the family, often tempts young people to engage in
relationships, sexual and otherwise, in secret. If young people don't want
arranged marriages, how will the family respect that right while still
retaining healthy communication between parents and children? Issues
concerning personal freedoms are the most contentious, and the most urgent.
We need productive debates between men and women, about how Muslim societies
can deal with the many challenges posed to youth in the absence of such
debates in scriptural traditions. This is not a gender question, it's about
the very dialectic of society where men and women need to discuss together
without fear of any reprisals or social backlash. Many Muslims in the West
live multiple identities - this can also mean multiple and competing
moralities. We need honesty and integrity around these debates, rooted in
the reality of people's lives; what we don't need is the constant use of
women as reflections of liberal or conservative societies.
) The Sunday Herald
*
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