Feminism! Islam!

1. Maryam, Assiya, Balquis, & Khadija:
THE “F” WORD
Anwar Omeish

2. What Feminism IS NOT:
 Hating men
 Blaming everything bad on men
 Being a lesbian
 White people “saving” Muslim/non-white women
 A Western movement
 A result of “daddy issues”
 The idea that men and women are the same

3. What Feminism IS:
 A general term for something that can take many forms
 “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people.”
 bell hooks: “Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression” – patriarchy
 “it is a definition which implies that all sexist thinking and action is the problem, whether those who perpetuate it
are female or male, child or adult.”
 An ideology that “opposes the political, economic, and cultural relegation of women to positions of
inferiority.”
 Feminism is a diverse, competing, and often opposing collection of social theories, political
movements, and moral philosophies, largely motivated by or concerning the experiences of women,
especially in terms of their social, political, and economic inequalities.
 Tess Lantos: “Feminism is a movement that includes women and men who wish to see a world where
discrimination based on gender and the idea that men are superior to women is abolished.”

4. What is Patriarchy?
 “the rule of men as a social group over women as a social group”
 “a system based on sexual hierarchy,” with men at the top and
women below
 A structure in which men dominate positions of power and
influence, usually at the expense of women
 Institutionalized sexism (whether done consciously or unconsciously)
 A system in which males and their needs are the norm, while
women and their needs are often stereotyped or ignored
Patriarchy is harmful to both men AND women.

5. Patriarchy in Our Societies
Male dominance in political representation
 Cultural restrictions on movement
 Disparity in education rates
Gaslighting/emotional dismissal
 Stereotypical portrayals of women
 Violence against women & lack of safety
 Standards of hypermasculinity

6. What Do Feminists Want?
 To replace patriarchal structures with structures that include the
contributions of both genders equally
 To recognize the individuality of each woman and the differences in
personality – basically, to reject stereotypes
 To ensure that women have the freedom to choose how to live their lives
without double standards or baseless concepts of what is “improper”
(عيب)
 To combat economic, political, and cultural forms of violence against
and exploitation of women
 To understand and confront the thought processes that maintain the
survival of patriarchy in our cultures

7. FEMINISM IS FUNDAMENNTALLY
ABOUT CHOICE.
“Not all liberation looks the same.”

8. A Brief History of Feminism (the term)
 Coined in France in the 1880s
 Appeared in English in the early 20th century
 American feminism had three waves:
 First wave: confronting de jure/apparent discrimination
 This wave was incredibly white-women-centered and exclusive of women of color
 Second wave: confronting de facto/hidden discrimination
 This wave was more inclusive than the first, but still relatively exclusive
 Third wave: analyzing the intersections of women’s rights and a plethora of other factors
 By 1920s spread in Egypt as “nisa’iyya”
 Because of widespread imperialism in the Muslim world at the time, as well as French relationship to secularism,
it was widely seen as a Western, anti-Islamic construct

9. A Brief History of Feminism (the idea)
 It’s literally impossible for this history to be brief.
 Almost every society, at almost every point in time, has had some sort of feminist thought.
 These forms of thought are indigenous to their regions and often differ from each other in
priorities and application.
 Using the umbrella term is unspecific, but it does allow for global solidarity and for analysis
of trends
 For this reason, feminism is a GENERAL TERM that necessitates subsets of nationality,
political ideology, and value systems (which includes religion)
 Feminism is NOT a secular, Western phenomenon. It is universal.

10. How Do Feminist Subsets Differ?
 The way that they define “liberation” (or if they don’t define it at all)
 The method that they think is best for improving society (chipping
away at institutions, completely dismantling them, etc.)
 The factors that they think contribute to oppression of women
 Equality vs. Equity (whether or not they emphasize the difference
between men and women)

11. Liberal (“White”) Feminism
 Emphasizes equality of women and men
 Does not consider external factors (racial, economic, etc. oppression)
 Wants to work within the system to change it from the inside
 Idealizes the Western classical liberal value system (and often fails to
consider others)
 We need to “save” them!!11!!ONE!!
 Dominated 1st and 2nd wave – now generally rejected
 e.g. FEMEN and the American government

13. Radical Feminism
 Emphasizes the difference between women and men and promotes separatism
 Calls for a dismantling of structures and rebuilding them all over again (radical
change)
 Often go to the extreme (and constitute many people’s view of feminism)
 “Womyn” instead of women, “herstory” instead of history
 Various types:
 Marxist/Socialist feminism – believes that capitalism is the source of oppression
 Lesbian feminism – argues against heteronormativity and advocates sexual exploration
 Anti-pornography feminism – believes that porn contributes to violence against and
oppression of women (in contrast to liberal feminism which believes it is a matter of
freedom of speech)

14. Intersectional/Diverse Feminism
 The needs and perspectives of non-Anglo, non-Western, and non-affluent women must be
considered. (Liberal feminism ignores different perspectives.)
 Considers race, culture, socioeconomic status, etc.
 For this reason, intersectional feminism often includes other movements like racial justice, anti-war,
etc.
 Women’s issues change across cultures and across time; no single feminist voice or
viewpoint.
 Allows for development of indigenous feminisms as stated before
 Women experience oppression differently
 Answer of equality vs. equity becomes culture specific
 People have the right to define what they believe is liberation – stringently against the
idea of “freeing the women”
 Example is black feminism in the US – Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Angela Davis, etc.

16. عيب!

17. Postcolonial Feminism
 Analyzes the role of imperialist and colonialist structures on women’s rights
 Considers colonialism a large source of oppression and works to dismantle
its effects
 A large part of this is analyzing the way exporting Western feminism has
adversely affected women’s rights
 Postcolonial studies include physical and cultural imperialism
 Often goes hand-in-hand with intersectional feminism in rejecting the
“white savior complex”

18. Notes About Feminist Terminology
Subsets can and often do overlap
Rejecting parts of an ideology does not necessitate
rejecting it as a whole
Rejecting “feminism” as a label if you believe in the
fundamental principles but disagree with the history is
OKAY
 For example, black feminists in the United States rejected the title of “feminist”
because of its racist history in the US and instead embraced “womanism”

20. THE ISLAMIC “F” WORD
(Just kidding; good Muslims don’t use bad words.)

21. What is Islamic Feminism?
 “It is a feminist discourse and practice articulated within an Islamic paradigm.
Islamic feminism, which derives its understanding and mandate from the Qur'an,
seeks rights and justice for women, and for men, in the totality of their existence.”
 “Advocates of the movement seek to highlight the deeply rooted teachings of
equality in the religion, and encourage a questioning of the
patriarchal interpretation of Islamic teaching through the Qur'an, hadith,
and sharia towards the creation of a more equal and just society.”
 “"Islamic feminism" is not simply a feminism that is born from Muslim cultures, but
one that engages Islamic theology through the text and canonical traditions. A
distinctly "Islamic" feminism, at its core, draws on the Quranic concept of equality
of all human beings, and insists on the application of this theology to everyday
life.”

22. IMPORTANT NOTES
Islamic feminists question interpretations of Islam,
not Islam itself
 They believe that Islam is fundamentally feminist, but our
understanding of it may not be
Islamic feminists deal with today’s realities of
Muslim societies, not ideals of the Prophet’s
 So don’t try the “Islam gave women their rights 1500 years ago” thing

23. What do Islamic Feminists Want?
To use the Quran and the Sunnah to dismantle sexist and
misogynistic structures that exist in current Muslim societies
i.e. to differentiate between culture and religion
To promote female scholarship in Islamic topics,
particularly in issues of jurisprudence (fiqh)
You can’t regulate what you don’t understand

24. How Does Islam Approach Patriarchy?
Islam’s approach to patriarchy is two-fold:
Protecting women from patriarchal structures
Working to dismantle these patriarchal
structures

25. Protecting Women from Patriarchy
 Hijab
 Husbands provide fully for their wives because of the lack of economic freedom
for women in patriarchy
 Orphaned girls are provided for by their guardians and guaranteed an
inheritance just as “useful” orphaned boys
 Women have the option of being supplied provisions by their ex-husbands three
months after divorce (also lack of economic freedom) in the event they are
pregnant
 Giving women the last word in allegations of adultery and discrediting the
testimony of a false man for the rest of his life
 Forbidding burying girls alive
 Safe spaces in prayer

26. Working to Dismantle Patriarchy
 Women’s full personhood
 Property and inheritance rights
 Rights to education and work (Khadija)
 Right to be Islamic scholars and teachers (Aisha)
 Rights in initiating marriage and divorce (Khadija)
 Sexual rights
 Limitation of polygamy
 Basically EVERYTHING

27. So… What’s the Point?
 You can be a Muslim and a feminist!
 You can be an Arab and a feminist!
 You can be religious and be a feminist!
 In fact, you should be a feminist if you’re religious.
 You can love your culture and be a feminist!
 You can be pretty much anything and be a feminist as long as you believe in
justice and dismantling structures of oppression!
 Islam is fundamentally feminist and feminism is fundamentally Islamic!
 Feminism is not a bad word, it just gets a bad rap!
 Feminism is for everybody!