Female subordination in the Arab world:Religion or Culture?

Are Islamic societies naturally oppressive to women? This question forms the foundation of an ongoing debate in both the Muslim world and the West. To a large extent, this debate has been triggered by the cultural encounter between Islam and the West. The current Islamic revival sweeping the Arab world has reinforced Western perceptions of Muslim women as victims of a sexist rule and in need of liberation. This, in turn, has generated a defensive Islamic response, causing tightened social control of women. The return to Islam by Muslim women, a trend which highly puzzles Western writers, have shown how, contrary to popular belief, religion can be utilized as a means through which gender identity and power can be expressed. The many studies conducted on Muslim women share two common faults.

Firstly, Muslim women are looked on as a social problem and, secondly, the criteria on which they are judged stems from Western ideals of womanhood. Discussions are influenced by the surrounding environment and thus any debate on women and gender in Islamic countries have to include the study of the societies in which they are rooted. In the context of the Arab world it was in certain societies and certain periods in history that shaped, institutionalised and legalised the dominant religious norms and values. In the contemporary times, it was the impact of colonialism and the socio-political disorder that followed and still persists today, which further elaborated the issues of women and gender in this region of the world. The adoption of the veil, for instance, is believed to have occurred as a result of the indirect integration of the people conquered by the Muslims. Furthermore, the veil and segregation between the two sexes were practiced in the Christian regions of the Middle East at the time of the rise of Islam. Thus, factors such as the local culture and class differences are crucial in the debate on women and gender in the Arab world. The objective of this essay is to look up the factors of sexuality, family law, economic independence and participation in political life and evaluate the extent to which Islam influences them in granting or restricting the rights of Arab women. One must highlight here that the focus on Islam is due to the fact that it is the dominant cultural tradition of the Arab world and not to imply that the Middle East is only Islamic.

Sexuality

It has been argued that one of the ways in which the female is subjected to the will of man is through the control of her sexuality. In the Arab world, there are two main ways in which this is presumed to be achieved; circumcision and the hijab. Despite modernization and the spread of education, circumcision is still practised in some of the countries in this region, including Egypt and Yemen. This age-old practice still exists to this day due to the cultural emphasis put on virginity and chastity. By removing parts of a girl’s genital organs, it is believed that her sexual desires will at least be minimized if not totally eradicated. This is done before the menstrual period starts, around the age of seven or eight. Explaining the procedure, Nawal El Saadawi, an Egyptian doctor and writer on problems facing Arab women, tells us the following:

“On the scene appears the daya or local midwife. Two women members of the family grasp the child’s thighs on either side and pull them apart to expose the external genital organs and to prevent her from struggling...A sharp razor in the hand of the daya cuts off the clitoris” (El Saadawi, 1980,p.33).

Contrary to popular belief, circumcision was not introduced by Islam. The Prophet (SAW) opposed it due to the devastating effect it had on women’s health and because he considered sexual desire as something natural which was to be released through virtuous channels (i.e. marriage) and not eliminated. He is reported to have advised Umm Attiah, who used to conduct the procedure, that “the woman will have a bright and happy face, and is more welcome to her husband, if her pleasure is complete” (Prophet Mohammed cited in El Saadawi, 1980,p.39). As such, this barbaric act was not introduced nor encouraged by the teachings of Islam. As a matter of fact, the roots of the practice has been traced back to the ancient Pharaoh Kingdoms of Egypt, some seven centuries prior to Christ’s advent. Furthermore, circumcision was practiced in Europe as late as the 19th century and is still practiced today in many African countries, including Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Nigeria.

Another factor which has been used to control an Arab woman’s sexuality, at least in some people’s view, is the hijab or head-scarf. It is safe to say that no religious symbol has caused as much controversy and debating as the little piece of garment Muslim women wrap around their head and neck. Yet it is interesting to note that the reactions produced by the hijab differs according to the person who wears it. Although both Christianity and Islam see the hijab as a manifestation of piety, a Muslim woman cannot expect to wear one without being viewed as either being oppressed or fanatic. So why does the hijab adopt different meanings according to its bearer?

Anne Sofie Roald believes it is “because the nun represents commitment to the prevailing religious tradition” while a “Muslim woman...symbolises the intrusion of alien beliefs contrary to the prevailing religious tradition” (Roald, 2001, p254). Perhaps the negative stereotyping of the hijab by Westerners has been reinforced by Arab secular feminist writers who, although Muslims, oppose and view the hijab as a symbol of oppression. They make the claim that Islam does not require women to cover themselves and the passages in the Quran discussing the veil only applies to the wives of the Prophet (SAW). In addition, El Saadawi, for instance, has argued that women who covered their hair in effect also covered their minds. This she concluded after she was no longer able to have a decent discussion with a veiled woman whom she previously used to debate with. The arguments put forward by the anti-hijab Muslim feminists have been highly refuted by leading Muslim female writers, such as Samira Fayyad, an activist for female influence in Islamic movements in Jordan. Fayyad believes that an imitation of Western women will not lead to the liberation of the Muslim woman. Rather these women should be proud of their identity and religious values and should seek their liberation through their religion. In her research of women in the Emirates, Soffan found that the abandoning the hijab would lead to a decline in morality. They echoed Fayyad’s opinion and argued “that traditional Islam must not be sacrificed for progress” (Soffan, 1980,p.38). Furthermore, the fact that three of the four verses which discusses the hijab, deal with women in general disputes the exclusivity of the hijab for the Prophet’s wives.

One may ask why Islam preaches the covering of women. Afzular Rahman informs us that “the whole wisdom of this injunction of the Quran was to...create an atmosphere of goodness, purity and modesty in society...” (Rahman, 1986, p.421). Furthermore, Islam encourages chastity of both females and males. One of the verses of the Quran starts with the men first, commanding them to lower their gaze protect their chastity before ordering women to do the same. This shows that it is not only Muslim woman’s body that is regulated but also that of the Muslim man.

Marriage & Divorce

Many Muslim feminists have pinpointed the family laws which govern the rules of marriage and divorce as the main area in which Arab women have achieved least success in liberating themselves. Gerner asserted that “As long as marriage and divorce laws and other regulations dealing with personal status continue to favour men...full emancipation cannot take place”(Gerner cited in Hussain, 1984,p.90). Many have argued that the divorce laws based on the Shariah, which gives the husband full right to divorce as he pleases, have trapped Muslim women in a position of subordination to man. Divorce in Islam occurs with the saying "I Divorce Thee" by the husband three times. This, some believe, has not made divorce too simplistic, but also unstabilized the family unit and put the wife under constant fear of being deserted by her husband at his will. However, as Abdul-Rauf, an Egyptian Islamic scholar, has pointed out, this is an oversimplified misinterpretation of the Islamic divorce laws. Although Islam has made it easy to conduct marriage and divorce, it takes the actions involved very seriously. He argued that a “ marriage contract...entails deep commitments and serious responsibilities. Similarly, divorce involves moral, financial, psychological, spiritual, legal and social consequences and therefore it cannot be taken lightly no matter how simple the procedure might seem to be” (Abdul-Rauf, 1977,p.120). What many also tend to forget is that Islam gives women equal rights for divorce provided she included it as a condition in the marriage contract. Furthermore, Abdul-Rauf also reminds us that the Muslim woman “has always had the right to seek divorce on certain grounds such as cruelty and the failure by the husband to provide her with maintenance” (ibid).

One question commonly asked Muslim concerns the permissibility of polygamy in Islam. Many Westerners tend to hold the view that this practice was introduced and encouraged by Islam. However, this is not quite the case. Polygyny existed prior to the advent of Islam and, when Islam came, it restricted it to a maximum number of four wives per man. Writing on this issue, Mohammed Abduh, one of the first advocates for women’s rights in the Arab world, argues that polygyny is an exception in Islam, not the rule. However, he does not call for it to be abolished as he believes, like many other Arab scholars, in “the need for the option of polygyny to remain open in case of necessity, such as for instance in times of war or when the woman is infertile” (Abduh cited in Roald, 2001, p202). Explaining Islam stance on polygyny Badawi, a Muslim scholar based in the West, sums up that ”it is neither required nor encouraged, but it is simply permitted and not outlawed” (Badawi cited in Roald, 2001,p.203).

This essay has hitherto discussed the controversial issues in the debate of women’s rights in Islam and will move on to the perhaps seemingly less provocative issues of economic independence and political participation.

Economic Independence

Conventional wisdom states that the more developed a country is the more chances there are for women to move on to economic activities that do not involve primary produce. In the Arab world, this wisdom does not hold. The major factor blamed for this is the traditional attitudes prevalent in these societies, which prevent women from receiving education. Cultural beliefs state that allowing a woman to work, unnecessarily exposes her to men, which in return will negatively affect her prospects for marriage. Furthermore, female employment puts men into shame as it indicates their incapability to financially take care of their womenfolk. These beliefs have such a stronghold on the society that education, particularly of males, seems to be unable to eradicate them. A study conducted of United Arab Republic male youth in 1968, showed that nearly half of these well-educated men would not like their wives to work, while 57.6% of them did not believe women deserved equal pay for equal work (Hussain, 1984, p.84). The governments in this region have not been inactive in regards to the enhancement of female employment and a number of legislations have been passed to encourage women. In Egypt, for instance, the Labour Code of 1959 commanded employers to provide social services for their female workers, including a two and a half hours break per day for mothers with children up to eighteen months. However, these legislations have done little for the majority of Arab women who tend to be poor, rural and uneducated.

But, to what extend are traditional values which prevent women from working established and encouraged by Islam? It is clear that Islam does not prevent women from engaging in working life. Khadijah, the wife of the Prophet (SAW), was herself a highly successful business woman. Afzular Rahman writes that women during the Prophet’s time “carried on their work as usual at home, in the fields and in the markets without any interruption...”(Rahman, 1986,p.158). Indeed, it could be argued that one of the main functions of the hijab is to enable women to participate in public life, as it is only required for women to cover in the presence of men who are not from the immediate family.

Political Participation

The denial of political participation has been cited to be one other way in which Arab women are oppressed by their male counterparts. The right to vote and stand for elections is considered to be the basic political right. Only Kuwait denies this to women. Saudi Arabia disallows this for both male and females and, although Jordan officially allows males and females to vote, this right is quite useless due to the fact that the country is a monarchy. The number of appointed positions held by women is also used as an indication of level of political participation. Despite governmental support for policies of equality, very few women occupy positions at the highest levels of Arab governments. Yet using the right to vote and the number of positions held by women as indicators for female political influence in the Arab world could be misleading. This is so because Arab women have tended to influence the politics of their countries through their traditional roles. The older women get in this region, the more political power they gain. In nomadic tribes, for instance, a woman who has passed her child-bearing years is permitted “to argue with the men of the community on a more or less equal basis, and has a great deal of control over her family, especially her male children and their wives” (Gerner cited in Hussain, 1984, p.90). In modern times, Arab women interfere with state affairs through the influence of their husbands. Jihan as-Sadat, the wife of the late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Wasila Burqiba, the wife of Habib Burqiba of Tunisia, has been cited as examples illustrating how a wife can influence in politics. The secular and Muslim feminists views on the political role of the Muslim women are far from unitary. While the former seeks to promote female leadership, the latter take to empower women by getting them politically active. The stance taken by Muslim feminist scholars could be due to the controversy surrounding female leadership in Islam. Those who stand against female leadership tend to refer to the saying of the Prophet “A people which has a woman as leader will never prosper” (Prophet Mohammed cited in Roald, 2001, p.187). Although Islam’s stance on this issue seems to be straightforward, it has caused disagreements amongst Muslim scholar throughout history. The most prominent scholarly work on this topic was produced by Sheikh Muhammad al-Ghazzali. Analysing the issue from a Quranic perspective, he points to the story of Queen Sheba in the Quran. In the chapter entitled The Bee, Bilquis, as the Queen is referred to, is described as a wise and just female ruler who consults her advisers in state matters. If Islam did not permit women to became state leaders, al-Ghazzali believes, then it would not portray the Queen in the manner she was. Badawi, another well-known Muslim scholar, supports al-Ghazzali in this point and refers to the truce of al-Hudaybiyah in which Umm Salamah, one of the wives of the Prophet, took the role of, if were to use today’s terms, a chief advisor of the head of state. While those opposing female leadership take a clear position, those who are in favour of it take a rather vague stand. Roald argues that this is due to the “sensitivity of this matter...in which the common view has generally been against women as heads of states” (Roald, 2001, p.191). While there are disagreements regarding female leadership amongst Muslim scholars, majority of them agree on the permissibility of women to participate in political activities.

Conclusion

This essay has attempted to investigate the claim that Islamic countries are inherently oppressive to women and has looked at the factors of sexuality, family law, economic independence and participation in political life to determine the truth of the matter. It will no conclude with the following. The never-ending debate on women in Islam has raged since the cultures of the Islamic and Western world met. As modernisation (or perhaps Westernization is more of a correct term) was equalized with progress and civilisation, the common perception of Westerners in regards to Arab women was that of victims of a sexist religion. As Leila Ahmed asserted, “The custom of veiling and the position of women in Muslim societies became...the proof of inferiority of Islam...”(Ahmed, 1992, p237). However, subordination of Arab women stems from the feudal structures that existed in the pre-Islamic societies and still lives on today. Investigating the history of Islam, one would come across strong women such as Fatima (the daughter of the Prophet), Khadijah and Aisha (both wives of the Prophet) whom through “their struggle, chivalry and their relations to their husbands and other members of the community point out the multi-faceted role of Muslim women...”(Hussain, 1984,p5). The position of Muslim women started to deteriorate following the emergence of scholars whom reinterpreted Islam so to suit the needs and wants the rulers, whom they had close relations with. It was through this that the patriarchal norms and values that govern Arab societies today have subordinated Muslim women. Nawal El Saadawi provided us with a good answer to the question, which this essay started with, when she proclaimed “We the women in Arab countries realise that we are still slaves, still oppressed, not because we belong to the East, not because we are Arab or members of Islamic society, but as a result of the patriarchal class system that has dominated the world since thousands years” (El Saadawi, 1980,p XV).