Western image of women in Islam is frequentlydistorted image of a complex situationrelating more to issue of theory vs. practice

Qur’an and Islamic law assume patriarchalsociety with clearly defined gender roles:male as breadwinner, female as nurturerof children

Modern pressures and women’s aspirationsrequire women to be active in public sphere

Muslim feminists seek solution to dilemma inIslam, rather than rejecting it

N.B. Making general comments here!

Traditionally...

Women discouraged from attending prayersat mosque, expected to pray at home...

So women active in non-traditional/non-gender-reserved forms of worship e.g. Sufism

Women also “net-working” in other ways

Veiling and Seclusion (Hijab/Purdah)

Seclusion rarely practiced

Qur’an says to dress modestly

Veil as: control on behaviour, statement of IDor way to avoid unwelcome attention?

Other issues in Qur’an

Woman’s testimony worth half that of man

Women get smaller shares of inheritance

Men can divorce more easily

Religion of family dictated by husband -women cannot marry non-Muslims

Concern for paternity and purity of family line

Frequent rationalisation is complementaryrelationship - men and women withdifferent roles - but difficult to maintainin face of modern life

Seeming assumption in Qur’an and othersources that women need to be controlled -seen by feminists as expression of maleinsecurity

Feminists maintaining that Islam is not theproblem; the problem is the interpretationof it by (usually male) authorities.Therefore scriptures need to be re-assessed

Equality = equal access to opportunities, notsimply equal treatment that does not payattention to physical differences

Status of women before appearance of Islam isdebatable, but is it relevant?

Debates about women’s rights are primarilyurban phenomenon. Women often enjoygreater rights in rural communities, thoughproblems (honour killings, domesticviolence) do arise. However, restriction ofwomen’s rights more frequent in urbansettings

Remember, talking in general terms, and many ofissues at hand occur in non-Muslim societies