Women in Muslim societies
Women in the Middle East and North Africa might be ones that experience the most hardship, as discrimination against women has been institutionalized (Moghadam 2009, 10). In Saudi Arabia, women are banned from driving.
In Egypt, women suffered from massive sexual harassment and the practice of genital mutilation and many women are trafficked, making Egypt the worst country to violate women’s rights (BBC 2013). Other than that, the practice of forced child marriage is still very common in North African countries, such as in Yemen. Upon presenting the US State Department Award for International Women of Courage to seven female activists from various countries at the State Department on 11 March 2009, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton praised the courage of a 12-year-old girl, Reem Al-Numery, who was forced by her family to marry her 30-year-old cousin, in challenging Yemeni legal authority (Clinton 2009). Despite her young age, Reem was considered fit to get married and to become a wife. When she filed for divorce, the court required her to provide consent from her father, because it considered her too immature to make such a decision on her own. Only with the consent of her father would the court approve her plea. Child marriage is seen as part of Yemeni culture and tradition. Economic difficulties often used to be reason for this practice, as parents no longer have responsibility for their daughters once they get married.Likewise, in Sudan, a female journalist, Lubna Ahmed Hussein, was arrested while at a restaurant with 12 female colleagues on 3 July 2009 in Khartoum. She was arrested for wearing ‘indecent’ clothing, because she wore trousers. Under Islamic law in Sudan, Lubna faced 40 lashes and a fine of 250 Sudanese pounds, which is about AUD$ 122, if the court found her guilty (Sudanese Tribune 2009).1 In Malaysia, officers caught a mother, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor (also a part-time model), drinking beer in a hotel lobby in December 2007 (Bernama 2009).
She pleaded guilty in the Kuantan Syariah High Court on 11 July 2008. The court ordered that she receive six lashes and pay 5,000 Malaysian ringgit, about AUD$ 1,644.2 On 9 February 2010, three Malaysian Muslim women were caned after being found guilty by the Kuala Lumpur Syariah High Court for having sexual relations outside marriage, or adultery (The Malaysian Insider 2010). In Indonesia, about a dozen Acehnese women have also been caned since 2005 for failing to uphold the newly-implemented Islamic law.3 Another Indonesian woman, Lilis Lindawati, was falsely accused in Tangerang district in Banten province of being a prostitute, as she was caught out alone at night without being in the company of her immediate kin, and with a makeup compact and a lipstick in her bag (The Jakarta Post 2006).4 The above incidents are the result of rigid application of Islamic law as it is purportedly divine (Bowen 1996, 12).Of all these practices, veiling is often depicted as a symbol of women’s oppression. Muslim feminists have argued, however, that to see veiling mainly as a form of oppression is simplistic and sometimes even totally misleading (Abu-Lughod 1993; Parker 2008; Mahmood 2005; Robinson 2009). These relegated understandings of Muslim women with veiling derive from a failure to understand that there are some practices found in Muslim societies that should be seen as a matter of women’s choice (Afshar 2008, 413). Women choose to veil because they perceive it as their choice and a responsibility to their earlier commitment to being followers of Islam (Mernissi 1991; Mahmood 2001; Anwar 2001). Many Muslim women believe, for example, that certain parts of their bodies are awra5 and should not be seen by men, except their husband and immediate kin, such as brothers and fathers.
Abu-Lughod (2002) denounced the portrayal that ‘women of cover’, or those who choose to wear chador, have no freedom.6 She discussed how Bedouin women in Egypt voluntarily cover their faces with the ‘black head cloth’ when they are in front of older and respected men.
Women perform this act because of their deep commitment to being ‘moral’ and to give ‘a sense of honour’ to their family. In a similar vein, Brenner (1996), Robinson (2009), Smith-Hefner (2007) and Ong (1990) emphasize the importance of not seeing the practice of veiling as a form of religious oppression. In her recent observations, Mahmood (2001, 214) reveals that Egyptian Muslim women who become part of the mosque movement perceive veiling as ‘a critical marker’ of their identity and part of the process of becoming a pious Muslim.7Scholars, however, have acknowledged the continuing oppression and discrimination against women and the poor in Muslim societies. Muslim feminist scholars such as Mir-Hosseini (1996, 629) question, for example, why women who live under Islamic law are treated as second-class citizens, and have to live under men’s domination, if justice and equality are believed to be intrinsic principles of Islam and sharia.8 It is believed that inequality and discrimination against women in Muslim societies appear because Islam is used as the source of power of the male elites (Mernissi 1991). The fact is that men have the ability to manipulate the Qur’an, which is then used ‘to legitimate men’s egoistic, highly subjective and mediocre view of culture and society’ (Mernissi 1991, ix). Gender inequality in Muslim societies appears because the version of Islamic law that is being applied is the product of the interpretations of male jurists who are the sole authority to interpret Islamic texts and their interpretation, in most cases, ‘goes contrary to the very essence of divine will as revealed in the sacred texts of Islam’ (Mir-Hosseini 2003, 20).
At the heart of the discussion on women in Muslim societies is sharia and ideas of Islamic law. In looking at Muslim women’s experiences in Muslim societies, there is a need to assess if inequality and discrimination are in fact generated from sharia. It is therefore the objective of the next section to consider how sharia should be understood in the context of this discussion.