hoooookai.... so i promised myself i had to write about this one, so i'm actually doing it now, unlike all the previous times i've promised myself. yaaaaaaa......
I spent four days at the Musawah conference for equality and justice in the Muslim family. The conference brought together over 200 participants from 47 different countries, mostly women's and humans rights activists from varying womens NGOs. I won't go into the technical details of Musawah (you can get all the info at www.musawah.org), rather i'll just rant about my experience there and some of the stuff i learnt.....
The first thing you notice looking around at all the participants at the conference is the diversity that is the muslim woman. From the arabs, to the africans, to the asians. From the older experienced ones, to the younger newcomers. The covered, and the not so covered. It just proves that there can be no stereotype of the muslim woman (arab muslims only count for 15% of the global muslim population apparently). Everyone had their own local issues that they were fighting for, or against. But all were united in the fact that women were being discriminated against in the name of religion. It was a very intimidating room to be in, with all these powerful and outspoken feminists around, but it goes to show the urgency, on a global level, of women's issues within Islam.
I was aware that here at home, there are existing islamic laws that discriminate against women, but having grown up with it being the 'norm', it makes it harder to step back and realize that actually, it can't be so that the Quran promotes this patriachy and discrimination when God created all things as equals. It is evident that Islam is not what holds us back from achieving equality, rather it is the patriachal systems and their interpretations of the Quran.
I think the thing that is the root of most misunderstandings in reference to interpretations of the Quran is that it is not put into context. Historical, social and political context. Any literal intepretations in this day and age is sure to be problematic. Also, selective interpretations. For example, in Malaysia, Islamic finance is very progressive. There are numerous interpretations, and new products that adhere to the everchanging economic landscape. But when the rhetoric changes to that of women and family law, it is said that interpretation isn't allowed, and we have to go back to culture. Why the double standards?
Am by no means an expert on the issue, and there's a hell lot of information that I took down, but it's a little hard to digest them into coherent sentences, so I'm just gonna do dot points :)
- Marriage is supposed to be a partnership between equals. Fighting against violence against women is frowned upon because it distrupts the power paradigm and questions the hegemony at home. It is the patriachal system of priviledge that subordinates women.
- Human rights activists are intimidated by the sensitivities of muslim countries. CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women http://un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/) and the convention on the rights of the child are the most ratified by countries, and yet it is the least implemented. Syariah law is used as an exemption of human rights, in the name of freedom of religion.
- The simple declaration of 'I pronounce you Man and Wife'. In marriage, a man remains a man, while the woman ceases to be an individual but merely an appendage, the wife.
- Female Genital Mutilation, which is still one of the biggest issues in the African nations, is used in the context of islam to control female sexuality by removing women's most basic human pleasure. It is not mentioned anywhere in the Quran or Hadith. Men's sexuality is seen as active, while women's are passive. This is why women are made to be covered so as not to invoke the active sexual man. (blegh!)
- In 2001 Turkey banned virginity testing. Many women were committing suicide because of it and there was a huge outcry by humans rights organizations.
- There are 30 million muslims in China. The Hui minority have had specifically female mosques with women imams for the past 300 years.
- The Iran/Iraq war in 1980 left thousands of widows behind, which forced for a change of custody law. Mass mobilization works and it reduces consequential risk for individuals. Iran had a One Million campaign of signatures to end laws that discriminate against women and just as many marched in the streets of Morocco (and it worked).
- I watched a documentary at the conference on the Iranian divorce system. It was always the women who wanted the divorce, and yet it was always their fault. The women were told by the judge to go home and make herself more attractive so as to lure her husband back to her. The women's files were almost always 'misplaced' which just prolonged their cases in the hope that they would return to their husbands. The women in most cases had to give up their marriage gifts (a sum of money promised at marriage which is about all they're entitled to) in order to get the divorce. And yet the women were fighters. A 16 year old girl wanted a divorce from her 37 year old husband (she got married at 14, he lied and said he was 27). She wanted to go back to school. She knew that the only thing she had to claim was her marriage gift and she wouldnt let it go even if it took half her life to get it. And she was drilling her husband, twenty years her senoir, into the ground. She sat in a room with about 6 other men, relatives of hers and her husbands, negotiating her gift, and she alone was shaming her husband with the sheer power of her voice and words. It was great! I tell you, don't underestimate women who live through little slits in their burkhas as just passive and demure.
- In Malaysia, ulamas usually use the excuse that there are more unmarried women than men to justify polygamy(?!). What is overlooked are the conditions in the Quran that apply to polygamy. Surah An-Nisa states that, "If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, Marry women of your choice, Two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice." And the fact is that the majority of polygamous families are unhappy and lack communication between each other, which really goes against the point of this surah.
Ok, so that's only a bit of what was mentioned at the conference. Of course all the laws are different depending on the context of the specific countries. The more secular countries like Morocco and Turkey have achieved much progress (e.g polygamy is prohibited in Turkey), while countries like the Gambia still have a tough time countering barbaric practices like female genital mutilation. But what was evident was that no matter which muslim country it was, be it the more secular or the more 'strict' (e.g women are still prohibited from driving in Saudi Arabia), there was discrimination everywhere. When you step back from the issues, it seems like a neverending uphill battle, an impossible task against such deep rooted patriachy. But looking at the individual women in that room, you can't help but be filled with inspritation and hope. These are women who would make any man quiver in his boots, and they're not going down without a fight. They acknowledge that it is a hard task and it's not going to happen overnight, but they have put so much into the cause that they can't back down until justice and equality prevails. No doubt, these women will change the world.
But we can't leave the task to these women alone. It is the responsibility of every muslim woman, hell, every woman to get informed and spread the word. The women at the conference do it on a large scale (India has a great domestic violence campaign called 'Ring the Bell' (www.bellbajao.org), that have ads showing that the simple act of ringing the bell, at a home where you suspect there is domestic violence, will help the victim). But not everyone has axcess or funds to organise something like that. Campaign for law reform if you can (argue from the lived realities, not necessarily theologically), know your rights, talk to people, be open to different interpretations of the Quran. Define yourself in your religion. Get out and learn! Join the Musawah facebook group and talk to some of the scholars and feminists who are experts on the issue. It is no longer a time for women to be passive. If it's one thing I've learnt from Musawah, it's that equality is possible, and very necessary.
