WUNRN
Direct Link to Document:
Hiba Arshad
April 28, 2008
George Washington University
Islamic Feminism & the Role of UNESCO
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Past event Link re: UNESCO &
Islamic Feminism:
Colloquium
at UNESCO : "What is Islamic Feminism ? "
A Colloquium 18 and 19 September 2006 UNESCO
The status of women in the Muslim world has been the subject of considerable study and debate, often provoking polemics, nourishing prejudices, and evoking stereotypes that are often disconnected from a far more complex reality. Less known or discussed is the discourse and emerging movement known as Islamic feminism.
The colloquium seeks to draw attention to the work of the increasing number of Islamic feminists – among them Americans, Pakistanis, Indians, Spanish, Nigerians, Malaysians and French – and their involvement in social change, particularly in connection with the struggle against patriarchy and gender inequality, which is carried out from within a Muslim framework but is part of the global women’s rights movement. The colloquium will provide insights from research and personal experiences, presented by participants from different parts of the world who will engage in an intercultural dialogue while also sharing their reflections on Islam and women’s rights with the public.
Around the world, women intellectuals and activists search for and develop strategies to challenge inequalities in their societies. Strategies and priorities may differ, but there is consensus that education is the key to women’s empowerment. Islamic feminists question women’s status in Muslim societies and provide an alternative concept of women’s rights in Islam, based on a return to the original sources and their own reading and interpretation of the holy texts. This is an endeavor by women that has taken place in other religions, too. As such, the colloquium provides insights into the dialogues that have occurred among religious women and secular feminists from diverse social and national backgrounds, who have addressed concepts of rights and freedoms in religion and in society.
It is important to follow the debates on Islam and women’s rights, and in particular to become familiar more people with Islamic feminism. In Europe, the issue of women’s position and role in Muslim society often has been misunderstood or misrepresented. Deconstructing the stereotypes and understanding the discourse and emerging movement of Islamic feminism is an objective of the colloquium.
Background Note
Valentine M. Moghadam
Social and Human Sciences, UNESCO
“Islamic feminism” has been the subject of analysis and debate for close to a decade. The term was coined by expatriate Iranian feminists in the early 1990s to describe a new discourse among believing women in the Islamic Republic of Iran, who put their ideas in print in a magazine called Zanan (Women). A debate ensued, revolving around questions such as : Is Islam compatible with feminism ? Can there be such a thing as a feminism that is framed in Islamic discourse ? Is Islamic feminism an alternative to fundamentalism, or is it a threat to secular discourses and movements ?
Scholarly research came to define Islamic feminism in Iran as a reform movement that permitted dialogue between religious and secular feminists while also opening the door to new possibilities for gender equality and women’s involvement in religious doctrine and practice. In the pages of Zanan, it was argued that gender asymmetries had a social rather than a natural (or divine) basis, and that much of what was known as Islamic law constituted patriarchal interpretations of the Qur’an and early Muslim history. This raised the issue of ijtehad (independent reasoning, religious interpretation) and the right of women to (re)interpret Islamic law. In Iran and elsewhere, the discourse of Islamic feminism was accompanied by movements to challenge discriminatory Islamic family laws.
Islamic feminism is a discourse of educated urban women (and a few men) who re-read the Qur’an and early Islamic history to recuperate their religion from patriarchal and violent interpretations, to make the case for women’s participation and rights in a religious idiom, and to give theological legitimacy to the movement for women’s rights in the Muslim world. Islamic feminists claim the right to ijtihad along with the right to take part in prayers and even to lead prayers. This trend is not accepted by all within the Islamic community. But it is part of a larger reform movement within Islam.
Along with Islamic feminists, many Muslim scholars are engaged in a kind of religious reformation, some of which is Qur’an-centered and some of which addresses issues such as Islam and democracy, Islam and human rights, and Islam, science, and philosophy. Islamic feminism has arisen on the cusp of this new alternative formulation and religious reformation.
In addition to its theological enterprise, Islamic feminism may be seen sociologically as a response or a reaction on the part of women who have been either disappointed with the promises of Islamic movements or who rejected the fundamentalist project at its inception and sought to recuperate their religion from what they regarded as a flawed or dangerous political movement.
Among the most prominent Islamic feminists are Shahla Sherkat of Iran ; Amina Wadud, Asma Barlas, Riffat Hassan, Azizah al-Hibri, Leila Ahmed, and Margot Badran, who are based in the United States ; and Ziba Mir-Hosseini of the UK and Iran. Important scholarly contributions have been made by the Moroccan sociologist Fatima Mernissi. The Malaysian women’s group Sisters in Islam and the Nigerian women’s group Baobob are affiliated with the transnational feminist network Women Living under Muslim Laws. In working for women’s human rights, they draw on both Islamic norms and international conventions.
The First International Congress on Islamic Feminism was organized in Barcelona, 27-29 October 2005, by the Junta Islamica Catalan with the support of the UNESCO Catalan Center in Barcelona. Women and men from Muslim communities across the globe came to discuss – with their Spanish co-religionists – the need for a liberal, pluralist, egalitarian and emancipatory Islam. In the same spirit, Junta Islamica calls for a gender jihad.
In March 2005, and at the invitation of the U.S.-based group Muslim Wake-Up, the African-American Muslim scholar Amina Wadud led a mixed prayer service in New York. This path-breaking act was criticized by conservatives and applauded by reformists. Professor Wadud attended the Barcelona congress, and her presentation there showed the depth of her faith along with her strong belief in women’s equality.
Reflecting the continuing analysis of Islamic feminism, the promotion of women’s participation and rights, and UNESCO’s interest in cultural diversity and change, a conference on Islamic Feminism will be held at UNESCO Headquarters on 18-19 September 2006, co-sponsored by UNESCO and Commission Islam et Laïcité. Participants will come from Egypt, France, Iran, Morocco, Malaysia and the United States. Associations represented will include Sisters in Islam, Commission islam et laïcité, Collectif des Féministes pour l’égalité, Participation et spiritualité musulmanes, Présence musulmane, the Moroccan Islamic movement Al-Adl wal Ihsan, the European Muslim Network, the Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.
At the dawn of the 21st century, a “critical mass” of educated, enlightened, and empowered Muslim women has emerged, and their fundamental questions about Islam, women, and rights may help to realize gender justice, transform Islamic laws, and bring about modern, egalitarian Muslim societies.
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