Islam And Feminism

An attack I've seen levelled at feminists is that we don't pay enough attention to the struggles of women in the third world. We 'ignore' the abuse of women under Islam and we 'turn our backs on' them as they suffer horrible abuse at the hands of regressive, patriarchal, fundamentalist regimes.

To an extent, there is a grain of truth in these charges, but as with everything it's not as simple as the attackers would make out.

This echoes a charge levelled at second-wave feminists by such writers as bell hooks: that feminism was just for white, middle-class, English-speaking women. And yes, that's a fair call, and today, a lot of the conversations going on in western feminism are all about wealthy white women's concerns. Such as plastic surgery, or childcare vs. stay-at-home motherhood, or whether nannies are a good thing or not, or delaying having children to have a career.

These issues are supremely middle-class and belong to the privileged of the western world. I'm not discounting their importance, but we as feminists do have to recognise for the vast majority of women in the world, the idea of a 'career' is laughably alien. These women struggle to survive, to feed children, to feed themselves. They face violence, rape, abuse, starvation, disease. Every single day.

And yes, I, for one, haven't written much about women's conditions in the third world. So I thought I'd speak about my own silence. And as I've pointed out elsewhere, other feminists are NOT silent on the abuse of women in the third world and under Islamic fundamentalist regimes.

First of all, I've been wary about writing too much about this issue because I don't have many answers. I wholeheartedly condemn violence against women, and this, I feel, goes without saying. Apparently it doesn't, so let me repeat it: violence against women (and really, any violence against anyone, at all) is unacceptable.

How do we solve the problems of violence and oppression of women across the world? How do we make countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia safe for the women who live there? How do we solve poverty in Africa and Asia, which will go a long way towards improving the life of women in these parts of the world?

Personally, I think the best way to do this is to support local women's rights groups working in these countries, to encourage local feminism that is grown in specific cultures. Importantly, we need to encourage our own government not to look away from human rights abuses around the world.

If a country has appalling laws which treat women like second class citizens -- say, Saudi Arabia -- other governments around the world need to make it clear to that country that this is inappropriate, by whatever means are necessary. Just as South Africa was sanctioned due to apartheid, so should nations like Saudi Arabia and Iran be treated harshly because of the abuses against women, as well as the abuse of men and children.

I'll repeat my stand for those who care: I condemn stonings and harsh Shariah law, and customs such as enforced marriage and female circumcision. I condemn governments that do not protect their citizens, especially women, and those governments which codify oppression. I condemn any person who believes women can be treated like property or slaves or animals.

Now to the difficult side of the equation. I want to help women across the world become free from the oppression of the patriarchy, which means free from rape, violence, enforced child-bearing, disease, poverty, genital mutilation and the whole list of horrors that face third world women.

At the same time I realise I cannot force my version of feminism upon non-western women. And this is where those much-despised cultural sensitivities come in.

I think the hijab is a good example of this: I believe the hijab is a product of the patriarchal nature of Islam. As I understand it, a woman wears the hijab to be modest, to 'protect' herself from the eyes of men. This places all responsibility for male behaviour on women. If a woman lets a man glimpse her hair, it's her fault if he has impure thoughts about her, rapes her, beats her, spits on her.

This thinking is, as far as I'm concerned, precisely allied with the western view that if a girl wears a miniskirt she deserves to be raped.  Different cultures, different religions, same patriarchal repression.

However. Many Muslim women say they wear the hijab out of choice. They point out that by wearing the hijab, they are removing themselves from an equally damaging patriarchal construct. They say, in our society, that women are also highly sexualised. The difference is that women here are expected to reveal flesh, to be youthful and provocative, to be sexually available. This, they say, is damaging, just as the wear-a-burqa-or-be-stoned repression of Iran is damaging. They say they can reclaim the hijab as a symbol, not of oppression, but of their faith.

I don't necessarily agree with this view, but I understand precisely how difficult it is to be female in our highly sexualised world, where women's bodies are used to sell everything from soap to cars to beer. Not buying into the beauty/sexuality/flesh nexus of popular culture can be liberating.

But more importantly, who am I to insist that a woman wearing a hijab is not a feminist? Who am I to speak for her?

And I do think it's possible for a Muslim woman to be a feminist and to wear a hijab. Just as I think it's possible for a western woman to be married and to be a feminist. I think it's possible for a woman to be a Christian, Jewish or Hindu feminist. And so on.

The point is, that you have to let women make their own choices, otherwise you become as bad as the thing you're supposed to be 'protecting' them from. The key, here, is this: if a Muslim woman, with no provocation or force or threat of violence, chooses to don the hajib, then it is not my place to tell her that choice is wrong.

It would be a wonderful world if there were no pressures on Muslim women at all to don the hijab. Frankly, if every Muslim woman in the world threw off her hijab, refused to be "modest", and became a rad-fem activist, it'd suit me perfectly. Just as I'd be happy if every Christian woman threw away her rosary beads, and every Orthodox Jew threw away her wig.

I'm not a fan of any religion, actually, and it's not just Islam which is based on a patriarchal culture thousands of years passed. But that's another rant for another day.

Of course, it's not up to me. It's up to Muslim women to decide, just as it's up to any woman to decide what to believe, what to wear, and what compromises to make.

(As an aside I think the hijab is a secondary issue when compared to women's material problems in the Middle East.)

Finally, I long for the day when women under Islam are free from oppression, and this a goal worth of working towards. But anyone who thinks that fundamentalist Islam or the third world are the only sites for the oppression of women is kidding themselves.

Sadly, my own culture has problems of its own. And for me, the fight for a better world for women begins in my own home, on my street, in my city, in my country. I thank my lucky stars that I live in Australia and not Saudi Arabia, but that doesn't mean I am blind to the violence, rape, abuse and patriarchal pressures in my own society.

On a positive note, last week the first international Congress of Islamic Feminism was held in Spain.

Edited to add: this piece by Melbourne Muslim activist and lawyer Waleed Aly is worth reading.

Comments

[Sallie]

That was amazingly succinct and well-written. And I agree completely with your points. We cannot force anyone to see the world from our point of view. I have found myself wishing I could teach my junior high girls (I teach in rural Japan) to be a little stronger, a little more opinionated, and to defer a little less to the boys in their classes. But that's not my role. I try to lead by example, but I know I can't expect to change their behaviour when all around them they see the women serving the men tea and behaving properly while their husbands hit on the foreign girl. I really enjoyed that. Thanks.

[Anna]

When I started reading I thought I was in for another 'lets tell the rest of the world that they should live by Western standards' post. Thanks for pointing out that it's not our job to tell any women how to live their lives, but rather to support them and help them achieve what *they* want.

[cozalcoatl]

Great post, i wish i knew the answers. I wish just supporting and helping women achieve what they want was that easy. Being terrified of speaking out is a great way of keeping people in line.
I'm sooo very lucky never to have faced that.

Not sure if this is relevent but it is something i have been thinking about for a bit now, and your comments on women wearing the hijib is part of it.
I go to the Olympic Aquatic centre in Sydney, 2-4 times a week. I was doing aqua aerobics for a while after i broke my leg last year, now i do cardio and weights. Anyway there is always alot of kid's swimmings lessons, families etc there. Alot of Muslim families aswell. Mothers covered up, men running around in speedos, kids doing their thing.
I thought one of the reasons for women covering up was so men don't get all lustful at the sight of us. (somehow its always our fault)
Now at a pool most women are barely dressed, and somehow society continues.
I wonder how long the tradition will hold up when this generation and the next of muslims see that men and women can coexist. Girls who up the to age of 16 or so who have been swimming, playing sport now are expected to stop, when the rest of society carries on ( i don't know the age when they don the hajib, it may be later)
I'm not sure if pity is the correct word for what i feel but its strange to see it at a pool. If you really believe in the religion well i cant agree but its hard to argue without screaming alot, but why expose your children to the corrupt, secular half nude society.

[harry]

"An attack I've seen levelled at feminists is that we don't pay enough attention to the struggles of women in the third world."

It's a cheap and worthless attack. It's akin to saying you can't be a true animal liberationist because you haven't made mention of dancing bears in Azerbijan.
Or, you can't be a real doctor because you don't know anything about secondary infection in Togo.

The thing is: the ideas are transferrable.
Your stuff about feminism has always been about giving women choice. Isn't that the essence of feminism? So, take the umbrella of 'giving women choice' and expand it so it covers third world women. Tadaaa! That's how ideas work; and only an abject moron would suggest otherwise.

Nice post Kate. When you are unemployed or have time I highly recommend the biography written by Queen Noor (the American who married the previous King of Jordan) "Leap of Faith". She brought power to women in Jordan by instituting micro-economics and other empowering programs.

[Laura]

On the other hand, I'm rather convinced by arguments (made very effectively by people like Twisty) that the concept of freedom to choose something like wearing the hijab hasn't got terribly much meaning inside a blatantly woman-hating culture. I don't see it as about telling women what's good for them. I see it as about telling men and women that any kind of rule which creates a sexualised difference between men and women is bad news for everyone, and I object to it.
I know what Coz means about the swimming pool issue. Tuesday mornings the local Muslim primary school brings the BOYS to swimming lessons at my pool. They are brought in by female class teachers swathed in cloth and handed over to female swimming teachers wearing one piece bathing suits. I look at that and think, well, it's sending a bizarrely mixed message, but whatever, because the critical problem as far as I'm concerned is that
The GIRLS don't get swimming lessons AT ALL. The pool staff are not happy about that, and nor am I.

[Kate]

Coz, I know what you mean. And what does happen to the 16 year old girls when faced with that dichotomy? And the 16 year old boys?

Yes, Laura, I agree that the idea of choice is pretty paltry under a patriachal society.

But by that same token, the choices made by western women are also circumspect -- is choosing to have breast implants much of a choice, for example? Yes, extreme example, I know... But I suppose I understand when some Muslim say that the choice of being western and buying into that set of woman-hating is unappealing, as unappealing as the idea of wearing the hijab is for me.

I suppose that's why I don't want to dictate to another woman what she can do: because then I'm just being proscriptive as well, and it's hypocritical of me to say "well you're just giving into the patriarchy by wearing the hijab." Meanwhile, how am I giving in to the patriarchy every day? What compromises do I make in my life?

I am certainly not denying the extreme problems for women under Islam. Of course, I personally don't think there's much feminist liberation to be gained in any religion.

[Kate]

By the way, I'm not trying to be dictatorial or anything, I hope people don't read this as some sort of manifesto or anything. I really struggle with this set of issues and writing about it here helps me get my thoughts in order. Thanks to everyone for the comments, I really appreciate it -- especially Coz and Laura for your thoughtful responses.

[Laura]

I didn't read your post or subsequent comments as anything manifesto-like. Breast implants, yes, that's it exactly - like Harry says, the ideas are transferrable - breast implants are depressing and awful. The thing is, though, I don't have any embarrassment about saying that I think breast implants are a bad thing, so it feels odd to bite my tongue about similar issues in other cultures. FWIW I don't have settled ideas about any of this either, and I appreciate your willingness to think things through, it's more than I can usually work up the energy to do on my own.

[Kate]

Thanks Laura. I also don't think we should be quiet about abuses in other cultures. Say, stonings of women who've been raped, as a particularly non-western practise which we should all find abhorrent. Or FMG, which is just appalling, or the practise of arranged marriage. Yes, these are extreme but from my perspective, we should focus on the extreme stuff first. Save lives, and then talk about the meanings behind clothing etc.

I guess the thing about the hijab is that it is over-determined. Unlike, say, a stoning, it is neither good or bad on it's own: just a piece of cloth. It's hard to find a feminist perspective on it because it's so open to multiple readings. But in the end, if a woman is forced to cover up by social/familial pressure, or a girl is denied access to the same opportunities as boys -- as in the swimming lessons you wrote about -- then we should have no qualms about saying it's wrong. Because... it is.

[Kim]

Tried to send you a trackback on this post, Kate, but it doesn't seem to have come through.

My post which references this one is at:

http://larvatusprodeo.redrag.net/2005/11/15/women-face-exceptional-challenges/

[Rob]

Kim's post (tracked back above) is the one of the most morally obnoxious things I've read on the blogosphere.

For her, the murder of a poet and free spirit counts for nothing if it cannot be marshalled in support of an anti-American narrative.

The death at the hands of her husband's violence of this fantastic and courageous woman means nothing to Kim except it affords her the occasion for some gratuitous Bush-bashing.

[Kate]

Really Rob? I thought Kim was saying that one of the rationales for the US going into Afghanistan was to improve the lives of the people who live there. As the tragic death of Nadia Anjuman seems to indicate, things haven't really improved for a vast majority of women in Afhanistan.

I think she was also suggesting that the US has an appalling record of supporting tyrants and warlords when it suits them, regardless of how such things affect human rights.

So I guess I disagree with your assessment.

[Rob]

No, this is what she said:

'Indirectly, the American installed government of the CIA-affiliated President Hamid Karzai should answer for her death, as Afghani human rights groups have insisted. Despite the hypocritical and tendentious rhetoric of George W. Bush in claiming that one of the reasons America went to war against the Taliban was to liberate women from a horrendous regime.....'

This is just nonsense. The US went to war in Afghanistan to punish the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks of September 11 and those who harboured them.

[Rob]

And unfortunately the US cannot legislate, even through its 'proxies', to eliminate evil from the hearts of men - or women.

[Kate]

Yes Rob, but there always the subtext about "liberating the people" from the abusive regime of the Taliban, as with Iraq.

Which I frankly agreed with. I supported the military incursion into Afghanistan, and I believe the country quite clearly still requires international help.

The conditions of the Afghani people under tha Taliban were appalling, especially for women.

However, under the Northern Alliance, things have improved only slightly.

[Rob]

With respect, the US didn't go to war for a subtext, it went for a military purpose.

Nadia Anjuman was rejected even by her own family. You can't change that kind of mindset in a day, a month or a year. it will take decades - perhaps a whole generation. But at least, thanks to the US, the process has started.

[Kate]

Yes Rob, but humanitarian concerns were raised at the time by the US government as a 'back-up' to their military goals.

Ousting the Taliban and finding Osama Bin Laden were the major aims but "making things better for the people" were a huge part of it as well. At least that was part of the spin...

Anyway, I think you'd best argue this with Kim as it was her post.

[Kate]

Rob, I don't mean to be dismissive by saying that, only that it's Kim's thesis and if you're deeply offended perhaps you should take that up with her.

I agree with Kim's take that part of the rhetoric for the US going into Afghanistan -- and then Iraq -- was to help the people, (you clearly don't). I'm not denying the other reasons, I'm just saying that this was part of the justification.

Anyway, don't we all agree that there needs to be more done in these countries to bolster the rights of women?

[Rob]

I went two rounds with Kim over this at LP. I'm angry and upset and furious about this murder, and I don't know why the world isn't on fire over it - not just because she's a woman and was killed because of that, but because she's also a poet. Maybe I'm not thinking straight.

[Kate]

Rob, I agree, it was sickening. And the treatment of women across the world is sickening.

Nadia Anjuman's husband was to blame for her death, and so was the patriarchal society of Afghanistan in which women are treated like animals. And Kim's anger is that supposedly 'civilised' countries like the US talk the rhetoric of human rights and yet... nothing seems to change.

One thing I was trying to say in my post was that the violence perpetrated against women acoss the world is a huge problem and one feminists need to focus upon.

But it's not just in the third world either.

Just today, for instance, a man in Perth was given a 6 year sentence for bashing his wife to death over the course of the three days.

[God's Child]

>>I understand precisely how difficult it is to be Not buying into the beauty/sexuality/flesh nexus of popular culture can be liberating.

I really appreciate the line above. Found you on sour duck. Congrats. I look forward to reading more of what you have to say.

[God's Child]

oops--I misquoted you but I think you realize what I meant.

"Not buying into the beauty/sexuality/flesh nexus of popular culture can be liberating."

[nadz]

an interesting post, but i still find the whole "who-am-i-to-judge?" argument extremely problematic. it's seems that in the name of political correctness and cultural relativism, too many western feminists are afraid to discuss the (lack of) rights for arab and muslim women.

as an arab-american feminist, i feel frustrated by the silence of feminists over the islamofacsist oppression of women. it seems that they are more concerned about being labelled "ethnocentric" than fighting blantant misogyny. arab and muslim women are entitled to the same rights an choices as women everywhere else - culture and tradition should not affect that.

[Kate]

God's child, thanks. I understood what you meant!

Nadz, thanks for your comments, and I agree that Arab women need more rights. Actually, I think Arab women should have the same level of rights as all people.

What concrete steps do you think western feminists should take towards achieving this goal? You seem to suggest it begins with discussion and I had hoped this post was contributing to the discussion.

But beyond saying things like "I condemn the government and the patriarchal society of Saudi Arabia for the oppressive treatment of women" (which I do!) what can we do?

I'm not being rhetorical. I genuinely think we need to think of concrete ways we in the west can assist the women in arab countries (and Africa, and the rest of the third world).

[flowers]

thank you this is a really necessary writing. we are students in turkey and we discuss this writing in our class. this is very enjoyable.