What do Muslim women want? Finding women’s rights in Islam

[theHandpuppet]

Open Democracy
What do Muslim women want? Finding women’s rights in Islam
Xaviera Medina
1 October 2014

In Muslim countries, where I’ve spent most of my professional life, complex relationships between women and Islam are defined by Islamic texts, as well as by the historical, cultural and social contexts. Often, the same passage can be interpreted in multiple ways depending on the religious leaders, resulting in stark differences in practice within various Islamic societies.

Even though the Koran proclaims equality between the sexes, men’s superiority is also clearly indicated: “Men are in charge of women by right of what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend from their wealth. So righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in the husband's absence what Allah would have them guard. But those wives from whom you fear arrogance—advise them; forsake them in bed; and, strike them. But if they obey you, seek no means against them.”

For rights activists in Muslim societies, this passage is difficult to reconcile with claims that men and women are equal. How do we address this contradiction in a way that allows Muslim women to remain true to their faith?

In the past few years, there has been increasing debate on women’s legal rights in Islam, especially in areas such as inheritance, marriage and divorce, as well as laws about the position of women in court procedures. These changes indicate that it may be possible for Muslim doctrine to be reconciled with an interpretation arguing against women’s discrimination. There is also an ongoing debate as to whether women living in Islamic countries are governed by international law treaties or only by Muslim declarations. The Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam specifically states that, "woman is equal to man in human dignity", but it doesn’t mention women’s rights. In areas under strict interpretations of Shari’ah law that do not acknowledge any form of international human rights law, women are especially vulnerable....

MORE at https://www.opendemocracy.net/openglobalrights/xaviera-medina/what-do-muslim-women-want-finding-women%E2%80%99s-rights-in-islam

[Scootaloo]

1. Best way to find out is to ask them.

Tjere really is a history of western feminists telling Muslim women what they should feel, think, and want, how htey should look, dress, behave, and speak, the whole patronizing mess that comes with the assumptions of white supremacy.

[theHandpuppet]

2. Yes, that was pointed out in the article

As for my personal opinion, women's rights should not be defined within parameters set by patriarchal religions -- any of them.

[AtomicDryad]

3. Patronizing...?

Unfortunately, you are right, *some* western feminists do. What's worse, however, is getting this sort of response whenever islam and feminism intersect.

Cultural relativism should *not* excuse *institutionalized* discrimination.

Concern and a desire for *everyone* to have the same human rights is not white supremacy or orientalism. When a culture disregards such things, it's not inferior, but certian *aspects* of that culture should be criticized. Case in point, American & European culture kept 'others' as second class citizens for a long time. That was a cultural *flaw* (and still is in some places).

The universal nature of human rights is not a fantasy floating in closed minds shaped by western culture. There are quite a bit of women in muslim countries that don't want to be second class citizens, but in many cases speaking up is dangerous due to the state, societal pressure, or the possibility of being labelled a heretic.

Yes, some might be perfectly happy with the situation, but not all. Muslims are individuals too. Despite the distasteful examples in the Quran, Islam itself is all over the map where the status of women are concerned...but minority sects such as Alevi face discrimination or practice taqiyya because of the same intolerant mindset of the majority religion.

And on that note, seperation of church/mosque and state is a perfectly reasonable thing to expect..

[Scootaloo]

4. Yes. Patronizing

when you tell Muslim women that Muslim women are wrong about what Muslim women want, and then ignore them to tell them what muslim women really want, think, and feel, that is incredibly fucking patronizing.

Is this a concept you struggle with? I'm sure you can take a class. A workshop or something.

[AtomicDryad]

5. Perhaps I wasn't clear

...because I did not, infact, tell a muslim woman what she really wants. Instead, I noted there's a range of opinions, and directed my ire at the heavy-handed aspects of societies that oppress women who disagree.

Are you suggesting they don't exist? That all muslim women are dialed into the same wavelength and are perfectly OK with the misogyny around them? That's rather short sighted. I would provide example links, but that would involve too much effort so I'll suggest googling "saudi drive", "complementary tunisia", "erdogan laugh", "virginity protest", or "iran feminism" to start with.

Is agreeing with these muslim women patronizing? Are they perhaps cultural traitors, tempted by Western Ideas(tm) such as gender equality?

Or does the need to protect a religion or culture from criticism - or, more precisely, not come off bigoted - outweigh the rights of individual women?

At any rate, you illustrated my point. Too many knee-jerk 'STFU Islamophobe' reactions and strawmen arguments from the progressive(?) feminist crowd. Because it's all black and white, apparently.

[theHandpuppet]

7. I consider myself a progressive feminist and I understood your argument perfectly.

The "knee-jerk 'STFU Islamophobe' reactions and strawmen arguments from the progressive(?) feminist crowd" really wasn't necessary.

[AtomicDryad]

8. Hm, well

...perhaps that's the wrong prefix, and a reflection of my jadedness as far as mainstream leftism which loves 'progressive'.

And, yes, apologies to Scootalo, you didn't bring up islamophobe nor tell me to stfu. =^.^=

[theHandpuppet]

6. All women have the right to self-determination

There is no monolithic goal for "muslim women". As you can see by scores of threads posted to this very group, there are countless women's rights groups among Muslim populations and though the end goals may differ, the common thread is the demand for equality of choice.