Islamic Womens’ Rights Essay

Islam since its inception has maintained the claim of universality – a message and a way of life applicable and appropriate to all peoples in all places and times. Now more clearly than at any other point in the history of the Islamic tradition, this claim seems to be manifested through the presence of Muslim communities literally across the world. The Muslim population is estimated in the range of one billion, approximately half of whom are women representing a great range of cultures, racial-ethnic identifications, interests, attitudes, and aspirations. While it may be rather daunting to attempt to generalize about Muslim women, it is nonetheless true that certain themes emerge with some regularity when one looks across the Islamic world. Muslims struggle with and attempt to reconcile the affirmation of their heritage with the challenges of the modern world and the ongoing legacy of Western imperialism. Muslim women in all societies are key to these discussions, both subjects and objects in a very important and continuing debate about what it means to be a Islamic woman. Women’s rights (both Islamic and constitutional) are under constant debate, as are matters of seclusion and segregation, the relationship of women’s circumstances to fundamentalist religious pressures, and the role of women in political struggles for independence and economic advancement. Some countries such as Egypt have stressed the importance of women’s education for the better part of the century. Others like Saudi Arabia have only recently begun to work toward this goal. It is clear that overall there is increased attention to the importance of education for Muslim females both as a right and a value in and of itself, and as an essential ingredient in the advancement of nations. As in many areas, it is also clear that enormous differences exist educationally for women in urban and in rural areas, a dichotomy that at least in the short run probably will become even more pronounced (Carroll 85). There is also the major concern of women’s employment in Muslim countries and the debate over which occupations are considered proper for women to pursue. In many countries shortages in the labor force are making it imperative for women to work, but the tide of traditionalism tends to mitigate strongly in limiting those opportunities. In many countries increasing numbers of women are engaged as wage earners, but they are limited primarily to such occupations as teaching and medicine (Hussein and Radwan 12). The oil wealth of the Gulf states had led both to better education and to more work opportunities, although the conservative Islamic ethos has severely complicated the situation. Kuwait offers the greatest opportunities for women’s employment, and Bahrain with its economic diversification is opening new doors for female employment (Hussein and Radwan 12). Whether because of or despite Islam or government policies, women across the Islamic world are becoming more economically active. This does not necessarily mean, of course, that they are pressing for increased work opportunities. Many women would prefer not to work, doing so only because of economic necessities and happy that the extra money earned means a more comfortable life for their families. Enhanced professional opportunity for women is not without its down side. Women in a number of cultures have come to realize that along with the societal and familial strains that occur when women work outside the home (including perceptions that men cannot support their families) is the reality of women taking on added responsibilities without the expectation that they will be able to do less in other areas of their lives. And the relationship of economically and politically active women to the advancement of the state adds further strains for many women (Mintjes 17). In Iraq, for example, women’s liberation and full integration into society is a part of the Ba’th party platform. But reforms in personal status laws lag behind the political rhetoric, adding to the burdens of women (Sanasarian 124-125). This is generally true across the Islamic world, and it means that these burdens will continue as long as there is no real resolve in the tension between needing women for national development and not being able to accord them full status in society because of socio-religious restrictions (Rassam 99). The other issue is, undoubtedly, the question of women’s dress which is one of the most pressing concerns of Islamic societies today. Sometimes the government in allegiance with the religious establishment and seeking its support insists on women wearing â€Å"appropriate† covering. In other instances governments are making every attempt to discourage the wearing of Islamic dress precisely because they fear the rising power of extremist fundamentalism (Yeganeh 26-27). Today controversy over the government’s ban on students wearing Islamic dress at the universities has become a major ideological and political issue. Islamic conservatives say that the Quran dictates the wearing of the turban, preferably with a kind of long loose overcoat covering the body to the feet. The government’s supreme educational council has recommended disciplinary action for any female students appearing in such dress. The debate has become a major one in the struggle between secularist ideology and Islamic revivalism in that country (Bahry 502). Besides, the question of birth control is a matter of major concern to many Muslim families. While a few of the ulama, if supported by state efforts, are saying that there is Islamic sanction for some preventive measures, the majority oppose any such control as un-Islamic. When young Iraqi men and boys were being killed in the war with Iran, the government waged a campaign stressing the role of women as mothers. Contraceptives were no longer allowed at the same time that men were encouraged to take second wives for the purpose of having more children. Clearly there are differences in men’s and women’s attitudes on the issue of birth control. In Tunisia, for example, where legislation concerning women is generally seen to be more progressive than in many other countries, a survey showed that far more women than men favored the use of contraceptives. Where official policy does not support the possibility of contraception more subtle measures are sometimes used. In Bahrain housing projects limit the number of bedrooms so that they are available only to families with two children (Bahry 509- 511). Finally, a word needs to be said about Muslim women and the rise of feminism. It cannot perhaps be emphasized too strongly that whatever stand Islamic women may take on issues of education, employment, and equal opportunities in society, they have serious reservations about what they understand to be feminism in the Western context. For the most part they find it too individualistic, too removed from genuine cooperation between males and females, and too much tied to forms of Western colonialism and imperialism. â€Å"Sexual behavior that may strike an American feminist as liberated,† said one young Tunisian woman, â€Å"may strike me as just another form of slavery, and a rather neurotic form at that† (Megademeni 10). Muslim women and men together are still very much in the process of working out ways in which to affirm their Islamic identity as members of societies and nations moving into a new century. The issues they face will not be quickly or easily resolved. Women are not only faced by a number of conflicting pressures and claims on their allegiance, but find themselves speaking to a number of different audiences – their husbands and families, their Islamic sisters, their Western critics, the clerics or government agencies responsible for determining many of the circumstances of their lives, themselves. There is little question that many women across the Islamic world are becoming increasingly aware of the rights that belong to them within the Islamic system, as well as of themselves as key players in the movements that will continue to redefine the Islamic way of life. The responses they give to their own changing circumstances may vary with the different situations to which they are called to respond, and they may change fairly dramatically in the next few years. But it is clear that whatever solutions are found to the issues that they face, for most women they will be discovered in conversation with other females as well as males in the Muslim community, and they will be – in one form or another – Islamic solutions. Works Cited Bahry, Louay. â€Å"The New Saudi Woman: Modernizing in an Islamic Framework.† Middle East Journal. Vol. 34: 4, 2002. Carroll, Lucy. â€Å"Nizan-I-Islam: Processes an Conflicts in Pakistan’s Programme of Islamisation, with Special Reference to the Position of Women. † In Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics. Vol. 20: 1992. Hussein, Freda and Radwan, Kamelia. â€Å"The Islamic Revolution and Women: Quest for the Quranic Model. † Freda Hussein, ed. , Muslim Women. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994. Megademeni, Negiba. â€Å"Muslim Women Developing a Theory of Islamic Feminism. † Unitarian Universalist World. Vol.16: 8, August 15, 1995. Mintjes, H. â€Å"The Doctor and the Ladies: A New Debate on ‘Women and Islam’ in Pakistan. † al-Mushir. Vol. 25: 1993. Rassam, Amal. â€Å"Revolution Within the Revolution? Women and the State in Iraq. † Iraq: The Contemporary State. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2002. Sanasarian, Eliz. The Women’s Rights Movement in Iran. New York: Praeger, 2001. Yeganeh, Nahid. â€Å"Women’s Struggles in the Islamic Republic of Iran. † Azar Tabari and Nahid Yeganeh, eds. , In the Shadow of Islam: The Women’s Movement in Iran. London: Zed Press, 1982.