|
A friend told me that women’s rights in
democratizing or democratic Muslim societies are like canaries in a
coalmine during the industrial age of the West. If the canaries are
safe, so is the coalmine. Thus if women’s rights are strong, so is
the society. On the extreme end, fundamentalist interpretations of
Sharia endanger the equality between men and women, as
ultra-orthodox Ulama move for interpretations close to the Taliban
model of Sharia.
If the democratization process is
homegrown and nurtured, it will take root and balance the more
radical influences. For instance, even as more fundamentalist
interpretations of Islamic jurisprudence are entering Southeast Asia
from the Middle East, our Malaysian and Indonesian sisters
continuously engage the male-dominated leadership of the community
to define a more gender-fair, more just, legal framework for both
women and men.
Unfortunately, many leaders have
become adept at promising democratic reforms while delivering more
oppression. This has created an environment of great disappointments
and frustration, especially among women.
What can we Muslim women do?
On March 20, 2007, Muslim women
had a forum with their sisters at the Miriam College, organized by
the Women and Gender Institute and the Philippine Council for Islam
and Democracy. Former Senator Rasul, Commissioner Sahara Malawani of
the ARMM’s Regional Commission for Bang-samoro Women, UNFPA’s
Jurma Tikmasan, young activist Fatima Allian and I presented the
situation of our communities—our problems and what we are doing to
change our condition. Miriam College President Patricia “Tattie”
Licuanan and WAGI head Aurora “Oyie” de Dios invited women’s
organizations to help us establish possible cooperation to
collectively address the implementation of the Convention for the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in
the Muslim areas.
How do we participate in the
areas of welfare and development? Do women have a role in the
development of the economic agenda vis-à-vis social policies? Are
women’s capabilities enhanced or undermined? In the field of
governance, do we use our powers to make government accountable and
responsive to its constituents and our agenda? In the political
arena, do we have a role to play? Do we have a constituency? Are
women effectively represented in political parties and in national
legislatures? Are we a political force? Lastly, as conservatism
rises in the Islamic world, are our rights being suppressed? What do
we do?
Globalization, mass education and
mass communication are processes that are beginning to change
perceptions of women in the Moslem world. We need to learn how to
live in a world that is rapidly modernizing. In a world where
information highways connect communities in the blink of an eye,
there can be no isolated islands. There can be no veils that obscure
our view of the outside world.
There is an emerging women’s
activism in Muslim communities, a direct response to the double
burden women bear. Primarily responsible for the welfare of their
families, we lack access to programs and support. So much
responsibility is laid on the shoulders of women and yet women are
not heard but only seen. When seen, women are relegated to a minor
sector, together with children and youth, as if to say that we are
intrinsically powerless.
In the areas of conflict, as we
search for peace as equal partners, Muslim women face obstacles from
within our own communities. National policy-makers and our own
Muslim leaders need to treat us as partners in the struggle for
freedom, for dignity, for a better way of life.
Not only must we Muslim women
engage the state elites, dominated by men wishing to retain the
power that they currently enjoy; we must stand firm against the
predominating patriarchal values that continually oppress us. We
must fight our exclusion from the political and economic systems.
Sura 49, Verse 13 of the Holy
Koran states: “O mankind! We created you from a single pair of a
male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may
know each other, not that ye may despise each other.” not only are
we Muslims enjoined to be part of a pluralistic society. Muslim men
and women are recognized equally as father and mother of all
nations. Thus, Muslim men and women are recognized equally as
members of society.
We women must join the war for
this is a war for our hearts and minds, to defend our space here on
earth. We must therefore fight with our hearts and minds.
|
