Feminism and Women's Rights in the Muslim World | Middle East And North Africa

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WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE MUSLIM WORLD

Muslim women praying

John L. Esposito wrote in the “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”: The Qur’an declares men and women to be equal in God's eyes, to be equal parts of a pair (51:49) or like each other's garment (2:187). Their relationship should be of "love and mercy" (30:21). The Qur’an states, "The Believers, men and women, are protectors of one another; they enjoin what is just, and forbid what is evil; they observe regular prayers, pay zakat and obey God and His Messenger. On them will God pour His mercy: for God is exalted in Power, Wise. God has promised to Believers, men and women, gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein" (9:71–72). This verse was the last to be revealed, and as a result some scholars believe that it defines the ideal, a relationship of equality and complementarity. [Source: John L. Esposito “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”, 2000s, Encyclopedia.com]

Nonetheless, one of the most controversial issues in Islam today is the status of women and their lack of legal rights in family law. Many of the problems, however, can be traced not to Islam but, rather, to the customs of the patriarchal societies in which Islamic laws were originally interpreted. Until the twentieth century women were not actively engaged in interpreting the Qur’an, hadith, or Islamic law. For example, in order to control a husband's unbridled right to divorce, the Qur’an requires the man to pronounce his intention three times over a period of three months before the divorce becomes irrevocable (65:1). The delay allows time for a possible reconciliation and time to determine if the wife is pregnant and in need of child support. Despite these guidelines an abbreviated form of divorce, allowing the man to say "I divorce you" three times in succession, became a common phenomena. Although considered a sinful abuse, this kind of divorce was nevertheless declared to be legal, and it affected women's rights in many Muslim countries.

Using the Qur’an and the courts, many Muslim countries have instituted reforms to control divorce and to improve women's rights. In many countries today, Muslim women can obtain a divorce in court on a variety of grounds, although there are other patriarchal Muslim societies in which custom continues to allow extensive rights of divorce for men but only restricted rights for women. There also have been significant reforms in women's rights in other spheres. In the overwhelming majority of Muslim countries, women have the right to a public education, including education at the college level. In many countries they also have the right to work outside the home, to vote, and to hold public office. Among the most important reforms have been the abolition of polygamy in some countries and its severe limitation in others; expanded rights for women to participate in contracting marriage, including the stipulation of conditions favorable to them in the marriage contract; expanded rights for financial compensation for a woman seeking a divorce; and the requirement that a husband provide housing for his divorced wife and children as long as she holds custody over the children. There also have been reforms prohibiting child marriages and expanding the rights of women to have custody over their older children.

Websites and Resources: Islam IslamOnline islamonline.net ; Institute for Social Policy and Understanding ispu.org; Islam.com islam.com ; Islamic City islamicity.com ; BBC article bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam ; University of Southern California Compendium of Muslim Texts web.archive.org ; Encyclopædia Britannica article on Islam britannica.com ; Islam at Project Gutenberg gutenberg.org ; Muslims: PBS Frontline documentary pbs.org frontline

Muslim Views Towards Women’s Rights

According to Pew Research Center: Muslims’ attitudes toward women’s rights are mixed. In most parts of the world, Muslims say that a woman should be able to decide whether to wear a veil. Yet when it comes to private life, most Muslims say a wife should always obey her husband. There is considerable disagreement over whether a wife should be able to initiate a divorce and whether a daughter should be able to receive an inheritance equal to a son’s. [Source: Pew Research Center, April 30, 2013]

Across five of the six major regions included in the study, majorities of Muslims in most countries say a woman should be able to decide for herself whether to wear a veil in public. Medians of roughly seven-in-ten or more take this view in Southern and Eastern Europe (88 percent), Southeast Asia (79 percent) and Central Asia (73 percent). But fewer say women should have this right in South Asia (56 percent) and the Middle East-North Africa region (53 percent). Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region where a median of less than half (40 percent) think a woman should be able to decide for herself whether to wear a veil. (For more details on views toward veiling, see Women and Veiling in Chapter 4: Women In Society.)

Although many Muslims endorse a woman’s right to choose how she appears in public, overwhelming majorities in most regions say a wife should always obey her husband. Medians of more than eight-in-ten Muslims express this view in Southeast Asia (93 percent), South Asia (88 percent), and the Middle East and North Africa (87 percent). Even in Central Asia, a region characterized by relatively low levels of religious observance and strong support for a woman’s right to decide whether to wear a veil, seven-in-ten Muslims agree that a wife should carry out her husband’s wishes.11 Only in Southern and Eastern Europe do fewer than half (median of 43 percent) share this view.

Views on a women’s rights to divorce and inheritance vary considerably across the regions surveyed. Muslims in Southern and Eastern Europe and Central Asia clearly support a wife’s right to initiate a divorce (regional medians of 86 percent and 70 percent, respectively). However, fewer in the other regions think this should be a woman’s prerogative. Similarly, medians of six-in-ten or more in three regions — Southern and Eastern Europe (69 percent), Southeast Asia (61 percent) and Central Asia (60 percent) — think daughters and sons should have equal inheritance rights. But far fewer agree in South Asia (46 percent) and the Middle East-North Africa region (25 percent).

As in the case of support for religious courts and making sharia official law, attitudes toward equal inheritance appear to reflect, at least in part, a society’s legal and social norms. For example, at least three-quarters of Muslims say children should be able to inherit equally, regardless of gender, in Turkey (88 percent), Bosnia-Herzegovina (79 percent) and Kosovo (76 percent) — all countries where laws do not require that sons should receive greater inheritance than daughters. By contrast, in Jordan (25 percent), Iraq (22 percent), Morocco (15 percent) and Tunisia (15 percent) — countries where laws specify unequal inheritance based on gender — a quarter or fewer say daughters and sons should have equal rights to their family’s wealth. (See Inheritance Rights for Women in Chapter 4: Women In Society.)

Overall, the survey finds that Muslim women are often, but not always, more supportive of women’s rights.12 For example, in about half of the 39 countries surveyed, women are more likely than men to say that a woman should decide for herself whether to wear a veil in public. Yet in the remaining countries, women are just as likely as men to say that the question of veiling should not be left to individual women. When it comes to divorce and equal inheritance, there are even fewer countries where Muslim women are significantly more supportive of women’s rights than are Muslim men.

Efforts to Reform Laws Regarding Women

Women in Egypt

Wassyla Tamzali, an Algerian lawyer and UNESCO woman's right expert told the New York Times, "Islamic countries have modernized many laws—in the economy, education, commerce, politics, you name it. But there is practically no movement in the status of women. When it comes to women's rights, religion and theology are invoked.”

Tamzali added, "Change is so difficult because in Islam, women symbolize tradition and cultural identity. It is as if the whole burden of the Islamic tradition rests on their shoulders." The main problem seems to be that clerics and theologians who are in a position to change or reform the laws are all men, and many have conservative views."

Many Muslim women see the Qur’an as upholder of women’s rights not a justification for oppression and argue that the denial of equal rights of marriages, divorce and property is a betrayal rather than refection of Islam. According to he Qur’an, men and women are equal in their submission to God. Many traditions that oppress women are upheld not the Qur’an but by religious texts that date back to the Middle Ages. One Islamic feminist told U.S. News and World Report, "The challenge is to let Islam become a tool for elevating women rather than for oppressing them." Tamzail said, "the way to reform seemed to be that we had to re-examine and reinterpret the religious texts. But efforts to reform Islam from within keep failing.”

Using Sharia to Improve Women’s Rights

Sharia — the broad set of ethical principles rooted in the Qur’an and teachings of Muhammad and commonly translated as Islamic law — is often depicted as backward and a source of discrimination against women. But that is not necessarily the case. Professor Mark Fathi Massoud wrote: “I interviewed nearly 150 women’s rights activists, religious leaders, officials and aid workers in Somalia and Somaliland, where more than 99 percent of the population is Muslim. “Women activists I met saw an inherent feminism in Sharia. Muslims “can find support for almost everything” in Sharia, a Somali activist reminded me. It’s just that women “have to know their rights in the Qur’an,” she added. [Source:Mark Fathi Massoud, Professor of Politics and Legal Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, The Conversation, August 15, 2021]

“These activists help their local communities understand women’s rights in Islam. For example, one activist fighting for girls’ education explained to local parents how Sharia demands that both “boys and girls have the right to education.” Billboards put up by human rights groups referred to the Islamic teaching that to educate a girl is to educate a nation. They emphasized that Prophet Muhammad himself taught women and men and encouraged his followers to do the same. Another activist I talked with invoked Sharia to explain that girls should be allowed to play sports. She explained to parents that not allowing their daughters to play goes against Sharia, which “gives rights to human beings.” Yet another called the Qur’an — one of the sources of Sharia — her guide to persuade women to run for public office. Allowing women to stand for election, she publicly insisted, “is Islamic.”

These women argued that Sharia could not be used to permit child marriage and female genital mutilation. Protecting women “is so clearly written in the Qur’an,” said one activist who added that “Islam always promotes the person, health, and dignity.” Many of the Somali women I met were reviving a centuries-old tradition — of women teaching and interpreting Sharia. In the seventh century, Aisha, the Prophet Muhammad’s surviving spouse, was among the first Muslim authorities to render decisions on sacred law that men had to follow.

“Not just in Somalia and Somaliland, but in many parts of the world, Muslim women are reclaiming their rights by studying and sharing Qur’anic verses and prophetic teachings. In Malaysia, for example, groups like Sisters in Islam and Musawah have been publicly putting forward feminist interpretations of Qur’anic verses to teach women about gender equality and inheritance rights.

“In Egypt, women have invoked Sharia to expand access to divorce. In my research in Sudan, I saw women lawyers teach women displaced by civil war that their rights come from God. On the Day of Judgment, these women said to one another, God will judge those who tried to take away women’s God-given rights. And in Los Angeles, California, a women’s mosque offers women-led sermons, classes and events.

Feminism in the Arab-Muslim World

Islamic feminists have been described as survivors rather than seekers of freedom and choice. Initially, their emphasis was on freeing women from religion. But now many feminist believe that equality can be obtained within the framework of the Qur’an and Islam. Some describe their struggle as “gender jihad.” Some outsiders regard the whole concept of feminism among Muslims as an oxymoron.

Hoda Shaarawi is regarded as the mother of Muslim feminism. In 1923, she caused a major incident when she tore off her veil in Cairo’s central Station. Leading Muslim feminists today include Moroccan writer Fatima Mernissi and Kecia Ali, a professor at Boston University.

Many Muslim women want be freed of Muslim extremist oppression but do not want that replaced with Western-style feminism. As one activist said, “bring your democracy, not your bikinis.” Issues that Muslim feminists are concerned about include mandatory veiling, gender segregation, polygamy, female circumcision, domestic violence, death for extramarital sex, forced early marriages and strict gender roles.

Muslim women are often suspicious of Western ideas of feminism. Nadira Artyk, an Uzbekistan-born women’s rights journalist, wrote in the International Herald Tribune, Feminist from Muslim countries “confided that when they tried to educate women about their rights based on the Western human rights agenda, they were often regarded with suspicion and asked whether those principles were compatible with Islam. Women responded with far greater enthusiasm to arguments based on the Islamic teachings, to solution to their social problems that originated from within their faith.” [Source: Nadira Artyk, International Herald Tribune, October 28, 2008 |=|]

Nadira Artyk wrote in the International Herald Tribune, I “decided to educate myself on the original sources - the Qur’an and the Hadith (the sayings and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad). That's how I discovered progressive Islam and Islamic feminism. I came to understand that my faith had strong egalitarian messages within it; that the Qur’an and the Hadith, having been interpreted for 14 centuries by men, had layers of patriarchal bias stuck on them like layers of dust.

The goal of Islamic feminism Artyk wrote, “is to recuperate the egalitarian voice of the Qur’an. Its main struggle is to uphold gender equality within families. That’s were the Muslim feminists differ from classical feminists —they say a woman will only be capable of practicing all her rights in the public sphere if her rights within her family are respected.”

“With the global rise of political Islam, the traditional messages of secular, Western-style feminism based on the concepts of democracy and human rights seem not to work any longer. Women responded with far greater enthusiasm to arguments based on the Islamic teachings, to solutions to their social problems that originated from within their own faith. Islamic feminism is a fledgling movement, but it is fast spreading its wings. Its aim is to recuperate the egalitarian voice of the Qur’an.

Ijihad and the Fragility and Complexity of Women Rights in the Arab World

In a review of the book “Paradise Beneath Her Feet: How Women Are Transforming the Middle East” by Isobel Coleman, Tara Bahrampour wrote in the Washington Post, Tara Bahrampour wrote in the Washington Post, “Women's rights have been slow to blossom in the Middle East, Coleman writes, in part because the principle is often associated with Westernization. Twentieth-century West-leaning modernizers such as Mustafa Kemal Ataturk bluntly denounced the veil without acknowledging its complex effect on society, while current politicians seek legitimacy by catering to anti-Western religious conservatives and sacrificing women's rights along the way. "Islamic feminism" can be a loaded term among those who see feminism as an illegitimate Western import. [Source: Tara Bahrampour, Washington Post, June 27, 2010 ***]

“But according to Coleman, reform within an Islamic framework is the most promising avenue toward women's advancement. She introduces us to Muslims, both religious and secular, who engage in ijtihad, "the process of arriving at new interpretations of Islamic law through critical reasoning, rather than blindly following the views of past scholars." They use the Qur’an to show that gender inequality isn't an Islamic concept so much as a cultural one, and that extreme practices against women represent "a subversion of Islamic teaching, its corruption by tribal customs and traditions." ***

“Traditional societies do not tend to tolerate change imposed from the top, however, and turning ijtihad into action requires delicate maneuvering by insiders who can work with mullahs and politicians and resist the urge to superimpose Western-style feminism on Eastern societies. "I don't want to criticize the work of foreigners," says Sakena Yacoobi, an Afghan woman Coleman meets who runs a women's health and education nonprofit, "but when they come here and start teaching the women about their rights, the women often go home and criticize their husbands and their life just gets worse. We are helping the women learn how to negotiate with their husbands. The Quran is most helpful for that." ***

“Coleman's feminists use modern technology to promote their message: Advocacy groups bombard policymakers with e-mail, and activists use YouTube to broadcast abuses captured on cellphone videos. An Egyptian television sex therapist who is popular across the Arab world uses the Qur’an to recommend foreplay, and an actor portraying a religious leader on a radio soap opera in rural Pakistan deprecates women to spark discussion among the show's characters and listeners. ***

“Coleman acknowledges the fragility of women's advancement. Hard-won rights have withered in the face of war, revolution and restrictive religious trends. In Iraq, for example, women in the early secular years of Baathist rule enjoyed some of the region's highest levels of female literacy and workforce engagement. But after Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, when women's rights were subverted in an attempt to gain clerical support for the Baathist regime, female literacy plunged from 75 percent to less than 25 percent.” ***

Books: “Paradise Beneath Her Feet: How Women Are Transforming the Middle East” by Isobel Coleman, Random House, 2010; “In Search of Islamic Feminism” by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea (Doubleday). Fernea teaches Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas in Austin.

Rise of Women’s Rights in Iran

political cartoon from Egypt addressing the Arab-Spring Tahrir Square protests

Tara Bahrampour wrote in the Washington Post, “After Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, women were barred from working as judges or attending soccer matches, forced to wear hijab, and declared unequal to men in the realms of inheritance, testimony and divorce -- all under the pretext of hewing to Islamic tenets. [Source: Tara Bahrampour, Washington Post, June 27, 2010 ***]

“But something interesting happened on the way back from the revolution, as Isobel Coleman describes in her new book, "Paradise Beneath Her Feet." As Iran's mullahs tightened control, women from conservative religious families who had never had a voice began to ride the very Islamic wave that seemed to be rising against them. Those who had been active in the revolution now elbowed their way into political and civil society, and universities were soon packed with women. If unintentionally, "the Islamic takeover made formal girls' schooling acceptable to even the most conservative families," Coleman writes. "Now that society was Islamized — with girls wearing hijab and schools and many public places segregated — how could a father say no?" ***

“As fathers began to say yes, Iran's male-dominated leadership was busy isolating itself from the international community. But Iranian women were connecting with the outside world: Their One Million Signatures campaign against discriminatory laws drew global recognition; the human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize; and one year ago last week, when Iranians took to the streets to protest suspicious election results, the symbol of the Iranian resistance became Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman whose death was broadcast on YouTube.” ***

Arab Spring Bad for Women's Rights in the Arab-Muslim World?

Marie-Louise Gumuchian of Reuters wrote: “In post-revolution Libya, Egypt and Tunisia, women are exploring what the Arab Spring means for them. Since long-time leaders were toppled in the three north African states, many fret the power vacuum will leave the door open for Islamist groups to take power and force changes that will damage women’s rights. In Tunisia Islamists have already risen to power while in Egypt, they are leading staggered elections and have pledged to govern by Islamic laws. [Source: Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Reuters, December 20, 2011 /~]

“In Libya, National Transitional Council (NTC) chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil alarmed many when he pledged to uphold Islamic law and ease polygamy rules in a speech to mark Libya’s “liberation” from Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule, though he has since played down any suggestion of radical Islamist rule. “I think where the Islamic laws will eventually bite is the rights of women. They already have declared (in Libya) that polygamy rules will be relaxed and who knows where that is going to go,” said Laleh Khalili, senior lecturer in Middle East Politics at the University of London. /~\

“In Tunisia, where the Arab Spring was born “secular” women have mobilized to defend their western lifestyles after the Islamist Ennahda party swept to power in the country’s first free election, including claiming almost all the seats won by women. Women are lobbying the political parties to protect a pioneering 1956 law granting them full equality with men and to counter the pressure mounting from radical Muslims keen to push them back into traditional roles. ”I have never been so worried about women’s freedom as I am now,“ said Saida Garrach, a lawyer and activist in the Tunisian Association of Democratic ”omen. “The threat is everywhere - on what women wear, how they think. If you are not with them (Islamists), they will insult you, harass you. I’ve been sworn at in the street because of things I have said on television.” /~\

While Ennahda has promised not to impose strict Muslim rules on society and to respect women’s rights, many secularist women say they do not believe these promises. A small contingent of Salafists - hardline Islamists not associated with Ennahda - have sought to implement their purist interpretation of Islam and overturn secularist laws. Some have demanded segregated classes and the right for women to wear full face veils at university, spurring clashes with secular students.

“In Egypt, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and the ultra-conservative Salafi party have claimed the most seats in the first two rounds of a parliamentary poll, the first free ballot in the Arab world’s most populous nation since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February. Both parties advocate a more Islamic society but tell voters although they want more morality in public life they won’t impose Islamic moral codes and veils on women. Campaigners say Egyptian women face some of the harshest treatment in the world: domestic violence, harassment and discrimination at work and in the law. Forced marriage of young girls is still common outside big cities.”

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Internet Islamic History Sourcebook: sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Arab News, Jeddah; “Islam, a Short History” by Karen Armstrong; “A History of the Arab Peoples” by Albert Hourani (Faber and Faber, 1991); “World Religions” edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File Publications, New York); “Encyclopedia of the World’s Religions” edited by R.C. Zaehner (Barnes & Noble Books, 1959); Metropolitan Museum of Art, Encyclopedia.com, National Geographic, BBC, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Library of Congress and various books and other publications.

Last updated April 2024