International Perspectives on Gender
Lecture 15:Multiple Meanings: Islamic Women and the ‘Veil’
Introduction
Aims:Consider feminist reinterpretations of the Qur’an
Consider contemporary Orientalist narratives about Islam
Consider explanations of the contemporary popularity of Islam
Consider the multiple meanings attached to the ‘veil’ for and by women
1.Islamic Feminists Reinterpreting the Qur’an
a) Patriarchal interpretations of Islam oppress women, not Islam per se
b) Feminist reinterpretations of Islamic texts:
Emphasis on rights for women in Islamic doctrine
- Right to refuse marriage;
- Right to keep their own property in marriage;
- Right to economic support in marriage;
- Right to divorce men it stipulated at the time of marriage (Sunni);
- Right to participate in religious activities;
- Right to contraception and abortion (Sunni);
- Right to sexual pleasure.
- Outlawing of female infanticide
c) Contextualising gender inequalities
i)Polygamy
The practice of polygamy – a man marrying more than one woman – is discussed in the religious texts but
Pre-dates Islam and Islam imposed limits
it’s ambiguous whether in practice the Qur’an gives men this right.
Historically has helped to ‘share out’ men when war has led to a shortage.
1961 ordinance in Pakistan requires first wife’s permission
ii)Divorce
Popular myth that a man can divorce just by saying ‘I divorce you’ three times
Women can claim the right to divorce, or curtail her husband’s right, although in practice women are often unaware of these rights.
iii) Evidence
A woman’s evidence being worth half of a man’s is highly discriminatory, but when placed in the context of the historical practice of female witnesses appearing with a femalefriend for moral support its origins look less discriminatory.
But very problematic for women today, especially in cases of rape.
Moghissi’s caution:‘If, in the past, Muslim women could not be seen as anything but victims of male aggression, now they are represented as independent-minded, gender-conscious citizens who participate in the social and political life of their societies; have adopted the veil as a brave act of defiance against the social corruption of a Western-oriented market economy and against consumerism; and are challenging the ulamas’ hegemonic power over the interpretation of the sacred texts’ (1999, p. 41).
- What’s the attraction of Islam?
a)alternative to modernization, which has failed to bring progress, affluence or justice?
b)new direction for jaded nation-building projects?
Out of their ‘tattered and defeated remains’ the idea of a unified Islamic nation rises (Shukrullah, 1994).
c)‘home-grown’ alternative to imperialism and the shame it brings, to ‘defeat, humiliation and impoverishment’?
d)utopia?
e)status and economic security for poor?
f)filling gap left by collapse of Communism?
g)harking back to an (imaginary) golden past – a quick fix for today’s problems?
Shukrullah: Islamic discourse involves a selective telling and re-telling of a mythical pre-colonial past and the conferring on it of divinity.
The conflicts, struggles, dispossessions and inequalities of the pre-colonial past are ignored.
The ups and downs of history disappear into a homogeneous past that offers the potential of a homogeneous future if only we can get back to what we were.
3.Contemporary Orientalist Narratives of Islam
Today Orientalist narratives about gender and Islam are being used to justify war.
Madeleine Bunting: ‘Few gave a damn about the suffering of women under the Taliban on September 10 – now we are supposed to be fighting a war for them [the bombing of Afghanistan]… The west’s arrogant assumption of its superiority is as dangerous as any other form of fundamentalism… If we are asking Islam to stamp out their fundamentalism, we have no lesser duty to do the same’ (Guardian, October 8 2001).
Katherine Viner:‘George Bush is not the first empire-builder to wage war in the name of women… [he’s] taken on the previously-unknown cause of Iraqi women to justify another war… Where next? China because of its anti-girl one-child policy? India because of widow-burning outrages? Britain because of its criminally low rape conviction rate? At home, Bush is no feminist. On his very first day in the Oval office, he cut off funding to any international family-planning organisations which offer abortion services or counselling… When George Bush mouths feminist slogans, it is feminism which loses its power. But such a theft is in the spirit of the times. Feminism is used for everything these days, except the fight for true equality – to sell trainers, to justify body mutilations, to make women make porn, to help men get off rape charges, to ensure women feel they have self respect because they use a self-esteem-enhancing brand of shampoo. No wonder it’s being used as a reason for bombing women and children too…. [This is] Feminism as imperialism’ (Guardian, September 21 2002).
4.Women and the ‘veil’
‘Veil’ = inadequate to cover variety over space and time.
Egyptian dress codes for women, according to Ahdaf Soueif:
a)Early twentieth century:
Yashmak – a veil worn under the eyes by elite women with a
Tarha - thin black or white material used to cover the hair.
Bisha – very light material covering face, worn with
Tarha
Burqu’ - fishnet material that hung under the eyes worn by ordinary women
b)1960s:
Tarha very common - scarf covering the hair worn with loose clothes.
Burqu’ – now rare
c)Today:
Hijab - long, loose garment topped with a large plain scarf fastenened below the chin so no hair, ears or neck show.
Niqab - fully covers the head, with only the barest slit for the eyes, and body (rare)
How can we explain the popularity of the ‘veil’? Is about women volunteering to be oppressed?
a)In accordance with Qur’anic tradition that dress must be modest?
b)Expressing autonomy and anti-western sentiments?
c)As a way of signalling identity (inc. religious, class and ethnic identity)?
d)A means of women accessing the public sphere?
A way for women to renegotiate the conjugal contract?
e)Women reclaiming their sexuality?
Mernissi: Western non-Muslim women and Muslim women all seek to reclaim their sexuality but they do it in opposite ways
d)A social leveller?
e)An expression of women’s agency, but one they can’t control thereafter?