Who says you can’t be a Muslim and a feminist?

There are far too many hang ups about why people of faith can’t or shouldn’t be feminists, writes Shelina Zahra Janmohamed

For too long the idea that a woman of faith can aspire to the highest level of freedoms has been rejected. Achmad Ibrahim /AP Photo

There are far too many hang ups about why people of faith can’t or shouldn’t be feminists

The world needs Muslim feminists to be in a better place. Feminism needs Muslim women to carry the energy of the current resurgence in feminist consciousness and to have meaning to the world’s women. Muslims too need Muslim feminists to improve the situation of Muslim communities and countries.

With the world’s Muslims soon to exceed one quarter of the global population their inputs are vital to the women’s rights movements and achieving outcomes suited to everyone’s aspirations.

There are too many hang ups about why people of faith can’t or shouldn’t be feminists. Let’s get over the word: these men as well as women believe that the oppression of women simply for being women should end. We could use any word to describe it, but since feminism already exists, and we can build coalitions and alliances, let’s go with that. Any word or movement has its shortcomings, but the point here is that the ultimate goal is shared. It’s shorthand for an end to a pervasive, dangerous and often fatal form of the oppression.

Of course, what that final utopia looks like is the point of our discussion, and that’s why we need Muslim feminists, to ensure that the various manifestations of a world where women’s oppression (and men’s) is eradicated, meets the aspirations of all women.

I’ve heard some people criticising women who call themselves feminists – loud, angry, obnoxious, man-hating, anti-Islam. They say it’s all about human beings so what about just calling it human beings rights. Well, motherhood and apple pie. The point of highlighting the fact of women’s rights is because this is the specific focus. Every movement has a goal, and the women’s rights movements focus on women. Because across all societies women suffer disproportionately.

Muslims need this. While Islam in its ethos has laid the blue print for women to live free self-determining lives, frankly, Muslims have not delivered. So instead of feigning away from the problem by picking holes in the word, take a good hard look at the message itself.

For too long the idea that a woman of faith – or from a non-European non-white non-middle class background – can aspire to the highest freedoms for women has been implicitly sniffed at. Muslim women, for example, are asked to leave their faith at the door. But so important has been the women’s rights struggles for all these different groups of women, including Muslim women, they’re fighting their own fights for women’s improvements. And the world needs all of them to be a better place.

We need Muslim feminism to bring back into focus some of the original reasons for feminism such as removing the oppressive structures of society that we see emerging again today - how men are also suffering, how poverty and racism are endemic. Muslim feminism has the opportunity to re-examine based on Islam’s radical ideas of equality and social justice and the framework of men and women’s equality how both men and women’s lives can be improved.

We need new ideas to tackle the issues of public and private space. We need fresh thinking about the objectification of women, about sexualisation. We live in a visual age, and women are still defined by their looks.

There’s a lot of talk about motherhood, but we need new models of support and childcare, which Muslim elevation of motherhood as well as entrepreneurial women can offer.

It’s the kind of proposition designed to raise one’s hackles. But the best opportunities are the ones that first seem counter-intuitive. Muslim feminists have great ideas and fresh thinking. And they can make the world better.

Shelina Janmohamed is the author of Generation M: Young Muslims Changing the World

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