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THIRD WORLD QUARTERLY - SPECIAL
ISSUE: THE UNHAPPY MARRIAGE OF
RELIGION & POLITICS - PROBLEMS
& PITFALLS FOR GENDER EQUALITY
Vol.
31, No. 6, 2010
Authors:
Shahra Razavi, Anne Jenichen
Contributor(s):
Farida Shaheed, Yeşim Arat, Homa Hoodfar,
Shadi Sadr, Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, Yaacov Yadgar, Charmaine Pereira, Jibrin
Ibrahim, Zoya Hasan, Rada Drezgić, Virginia Guzmán, Ute Seibert, Silke
Staab, Ana Amuchástegui, Guadalupe Cruz, Evelyn Aldaz, María Consuelo Mejía,
Jacqueline Heinen, Stéphane Portet, Elizabeth Bernstein, Janet R. Jakobsen
Routledge - Taylor & Francis Group
The special issue explores how religion as a political force shapes and
deflects the struggle for gender equality in contexts marked by different
histories of nation-building and challenges of ethnic diversity, different
state-society relations (from the more authoritarian to the more democratic),
and different relations between state power and religion (especially in the
domain of marriage, family and personal laws). It shows how "private"
issues, related to the family, sexuality and reproduction, have become sites of
intense public contestation between conservative religious actors wishing to
regulate them based on some transcendent moral principle, and feminist and
other human rights advocates basing their claims on pluralist and
time-and-context specific solutions. Not only are claims of "divine
truth" justifying discriminatory practices against women hard to
challenge, but the struggle for gender equality is further complicated by the
manner in which it is closely tied up, and inseparable from, struggles for
social and economic justice, ethnic/racial recognition, and national
self-determination vis-à-vis imperial/global domination.
Table of Contents:
An Introduction. The Unhappy Marriage of Religion and Politics: Problems and Pitfalls
for Gender Equality
Shahra Razavi and Anne Jenichen
Contested Identities: Gendered Politics, Gendered Religion in Pakistan
Farida Shaheed
Religion, Politics and Gender Equality in Turkey: Implications of a Democratic
Paradox?
Yeşim Arat
Islamic Politics and Women’s Quest for Gender Equality in Iran
Homa Hoodfar and Shadi Sadr
Between Universal Feminism and Particular Nationalism: Politics, Religion and
Gender (In)equality in Israel
Ruth Halperin-Kaddari and Yaacov Yadgar
On the Bodies of Women: The Common Ground Between Islam and Christianity in
Nigeria
Charmaine Pereira and Jibrin Ibrahim
Gender, Religion and Democratic Politics in India
Zoya Hasan
Religion, Politics and Gender in the Context of Nation-state Formation: The
Case of Serbia
Rada Drezgić
Democracy in the Country but Not in the Home? Religion, Politics and Women’s
Rights in Chile
Virginia Guzmán, Ute Seibert and Silke Staab
Politics, Religion and Gender Equality in Contemporary Mexico: Women’s
Sexuality and Reproductive Rights in a Contested Secular State
Ana Amuchástegui, Guadalupe Cruz, Evelyn Aldaz and María Consuelo Mejía
Reproductive Rights in Poland: When Politicians Fear the Wrath of the Church
Jacqueline Heinen and Stéphane Portet
Sex, Secularism, and Religious Influence in the US Politics
Elizabeth Bernstein and Janet R. Jakobsen
______________________________________________________________
THE UNHAPPY MARRIAGE OF RELIGION
& POLITICS:
PROBLEMS & PITFALLS FOR GENDER
EQUALITY
Authors: Shahra Razavi; Anne
Jenichen
Abstract
This
article explores how religion as a political force shapes and deflects the
struggle for gender equality in contexts marked by different histories of
nation building and challenges of ethnic diversity, different state-society
relations (from the more authoritarian to the more democratic), and different
relations between state power and religion (especially in the domain of
marriage, family and personal laws). It shows how 'private' issues, related
to the family, sexuality and reproduction, have become sites of intense
public contestation between conservative religious actors wishing to regulate
them based on some transcendent moral principle, and feminist and other human
rights advocates basing their claims on pluralist and time- and
context-specific solutions. Not only are claims of 'divine truth' justifying
discriminatory practices against women hard to challenge, but the struggle
for gender equality is further complicated by the manner in which it is
closely tied up with, and inseparable from, struggles for social and economic
justice, ethnic/racial recognition, and national self-determination vis-a-vis
imperial/global domination. _______________________________________________________________________ |
ISLAMIC POLITICS & WOMEN'S QUEST
FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN IRAN
Authors: Homa Hoodfar, Shadi Sadr
Abstract
The
unification of a strong and authoritarian state with religious laws and
institutions after the 1979 revolution in Iran has resulted in the creation
of a dualistic state structure in which non-elected and non-accountable state
authorities and institutions—the majority of whom have not accepted either
the primacy of democracy nor the premise of equality between men and women
(or Muslims and non-Muslims)—are able to oversee the elected authorities and
institutions. The central question posed by this paper is whether a religious
state would be capable of democratising society and delivering gender
equality. By analysing the regime's gender policies and political
development, the paper suggests that, at least in the case of Iran and
Shi'ism, the larger obstacle to gender (and minorities') equality has more to
do with the undemocratic state-society relations that persist in Iran and
less to do with the actual or potential compatibility (or lack thereof) of
religious traditions or practices with democratic principles. ______________________________________________________________________ |