Can Islam be Feminist?

Why do Muslim women in America refuse to take off their hijab? Why does Linda Sarsour, the executive of the Arab American Association NY, one of the Women’s March organizers, support Sharia Law and cover herself head-to-toe in a democratic country? One could simply, and superficially, answer that by stating the obvious – “It’s her freedom of choice.” However, I believe that it’s important for us to delve deeper into what Islam means for the millions of women like Linda Sarsour, and why should we care. Linda Sarsour is mostly famed for her intersectionality; i.e., she’s never missed an opportunity to be inclusive in her causes that range from fighting anti-Semitism to supporting the LGBT community. Thus, I will be taking the opportunity to establish a connection between Sharia law, and Feminism – yes, a connection does actually exist. But before we bridge those two seemingly distinct ideas, I would like explain what Sharia Law actually is.

Contrary to popular belief (even amongst Muslims), Sharia Law isn’t some hardlined set of rules and regulations that start off with “Kill homosexuals, marry children, and bomb infidels.” Rather, Sharia Law is a set of principles that govern your own moral compass. Inclusive of ethical concerns ranging from freedom of religion to environmental protection, Sharia mandates that you follow the law of the land in which you’re in (kind of self contradictory when you think of it as strict set of oppressive values, isn’t it?) So by practicing Sharia Law in the United States, which I try my best to completely uphold, I automatically adopt the Bill of Rights, and everything else on the constitution, to follow.

Now that we’ve briefly covered Sharia Law, it should make more sense as to why many Muslim women in the Western World identify as Feminists. Now, why does this matter? Many people are under the assumption that wearing the Hijab automatically means you’re oppressed, regardless of marital status, age, and current residence. Let’s take a look at the Middle East for instance. While women in Saudi Arabia are subject to oppressive laws, women in the United Arab Emirates are granted governmental leadership positions, encouraged to pursue higher education, and provided with the freedom to practice their religion however way they want. Both countries, mind you, follow “Sharia Law”; this goes to reinforce the point that Sharia Law is very dependent on your own moral code and values.

Women in the United Arab Emirates comprise around 70% of college graduates. In addition, they constitute 66% of all governmental jobs in the country, and 30% of all decision making positions in the governmental sector. While it falls short of the perfect 1:1 ratio of male to female most of us would like to see, it still sets the bar for other developed countries, such as the United States, to follow. Meanwhile, women in Saudi Arabia comprise only 13% of the workforce, and hold less than 1% of all decision making positions.

Shamma Al Mazrui, the youngest minister in the world, and a Rhodes Scholar, is the United Arab Emirates’ youth minister.
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So after analyzing the workforce of the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, one can see that the correlation of how Sharia negatively affects women in the constituent countries at which the law is implemented is extremely divided. Considering that both countries examined are Islamic, we can argue that Islam is not the determining factor at which women are treated oppressively. While it is true, that women in certain Muslim countries are heavily oppressed by conservative Islamic extremists, to claim that that is an accurate representation of all 50 Islamic countries combined, and 1.8 billion Muslims around the world, is illogical.

Conservatives in the United States claim that modern-day feminism is decades late, and has no place in the world except when directed to countries in the Middle East and Africa. Yes, there are tremendous issues at hand when it comes to dealing with gender equality and sexism in Africa and the Middle East. However, the claim that the United States has somehow established itself as a role model of gender equality falls short when presented by facts and statistics. For instance, Tunisian women are elected to serve in 27% of the Tunisian parliament. This number shines bright when placed next to the United States’ 17%.

This isn’t to glorify the feminism of the Arab World as there’s still much to be done before true equality is achieved. However, we need to start realizing the sharp contrasts between different Arab countries and Muslim countries all over the world. To lump up the whole of Muslim women around the world as one defeats the purpose of empowering them into becoming the substantial contributing members of society they all have the potential to become. Thus, realizing that Islam is not interchangeable with misogyny is the first step into solving the anti-feminist movement in some Muslim-majority countries.

3 Comments

  1. kvc5604 Reply

    This was a really interesting read and very different from most other perspectives I have read on this topic. It is excellently written and you make an important point. It is extremely unfair to lump all Muslim countries into one hyper-generalized group. Americans often talk about this topic with a subtle air of superiority – as if they’re trying to say “we would never allow this to happen here in America”. But the thing is, although gender equality could definitely be worse here, it definitely could be better as well. Although that shouldn’t stop us as Americans for advocating for the rights of women abroad, but we cannot forget the work there is to do at home.

  2. njs24 Reply

    This is a really important read for all Americans. The lack of knowledge and ignorance is cause for a lot of the problems we face today. Well written and informative

  3. Nishat Reply

    While UAE may be doing well in electing women representatives to important position, i just want to enquire why is there a moral police asking women to cover up and why is it implicitly (if not explicity) understood that women in these countries have a dress code to follow? If they are so fiercely independent (courtesy the state which ‘allows’ them the right to be), why should their clothes be monitored? Also, I come from India and the sharia that goes around here dictates that women will get an unfair share (1/3) of inheritance from their parents with all male family members laying claim to everything that could potentially go to her. Sharia is not something that I harmoniously choose to live with. It is oppressive. Appealing to people’s moral codes and values has hardly been a rewarding experiences with outrageous cases of exploitation.
    Having socially conditioned dress codes for women is nothing but an extension of the patriarchial construct, exerting control over women’s agency. And as for the impressive women’s higher education figures you have given, I would like to anecdotally relate that just as Iran hosts the world’s largest number of sex change operation, does not mean sex change operations are permitted for Iranian nationals. Just because you select your way into modernity, does not mean you have freed yourself of oppressive norms.

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