The Muslim Woman

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the various Muslim cultures and their attitudes towards women. Women in Afghanistan suffer from human rights abuses, females are not allowed to work, they receive no education and are often denied health care services. This paper discusses the numerous Muslim women's organizations that have emerged around the world. These organizations have active women participants and deal specifically with issues of relevance to women. Many Muslim women are critical of the ideals of equality formulated in the western world, and question the values of sexual equality. The writer of this paper also delves into the use of the veil which is the hallmark of Islamist women worldwide. Once seen as a symbol of oppression and backwardness in the discourse of colonial domination, the veil was given up by most upper class and middle-class Muslim women in the early part of the 20th century. However, it has recently made a global comeback with the Islamic revival. Islamist discourse portrays a contradictory attitude towards gender. There are still Islamic condoned practices and institutions, which gender activists find difficult to explain and reinterpret. For example, even the most committed gender activists have difficulties in explaining the issue of polygamy.

From the Paper:

"Many Muslim women are critical of the ideals of equality formulated in the Western liberation paradigms. They ask whether 'sexual equality' is a good thing after all. Islamist women seem to have opted for complementarity of the sexes and strictly defined gender roles. Many non-Islamist women feel the Islamist 'return to Islam' to be regressive and backward. These non-Islamist women have internalized the popular media image of 'fundamentalism' as being fanatical, irrational, anti-modem and misogynistic. So, is Islamism always opposed to women's rights and autonomy? Does it deny women educational and employment opportunities? Have the movements succeeded in making their 'ideal Muslim woman' (the home-making, self-sacrificing mother and wife) a reality?"

More papers on The Muslim Woman:

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