Seeking Gender Equality in the Burka and Hijab
At the WISE Conference the veil was glamorized to a point where it almost seemed like a defense of misogyny and patriarchy
By Farzana Hassan
Averroes Press
KUALA LUMPUR - The Second Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE) conference kicked off on July 16 2009 with high hopes.
Eminent women from all walks of life and all corners of the globe gathered to brainstorm ideas on how to improve conditions for Muslim women across the world. Artists, musicians, writers, authors, journalists and activists brought along their passion for gender equality - and for their cherished faith - to the event in the hopes of improving the lives of their less fortunate Muslim sisters.
Among the 250 or so attendees was the pioneer feminist theologian Amina Wadud, acclaimed Islamic scholar and author Asma Asfuruddin, award-winning journalist Mona Eltahawi and of course the host, Daisy Khan, the Executive Director of the ASMA Society.
Yet, despite the glamour and glitz, and despite the conference's aspirations of being an edifying experience for its participants, something seemed amiss. Throughout the conference, I could not help feel uneasy that things were headed in the wrong direction when it came to articulating a true vision for women's equality in Islam.
For example, I was quite taken aback by the volumes of defense for the hijab and burka. Respecting women's choices to adopt such attire is a long-standing argument in defense of the practice and it often surfaced in discourse at the conference.
But in respecting the choices of a few, defenders of the hijab ignored the severe curtailment of the choices of others who are often forced to adopt such headgear. Nonetheless, it was only this narrow focus on the choices of a few that came to be touted during the conference, the veil was glamorized to a point where it almost seemed like a defense of misogyny and patriarchy.
What offended me even more was the terminology employed to project a supposedly moderate message of Islam. An exercise with an express purpose of showcasing a more tolerant and moderate Islam was steeped in Islamist cliches. The usual Islamist words like "jihad," and "shura" flashed across the conference hall as if one were still living within a medieval political milieu.
At the close of the conference, the organizers extended an open invitation to commentators and writers on Islam to join the ranks of the existing members of the fifteen-member Shura Council, which includes a Canadian Muslim woman.
Described by WISE organizers as a "project of reclamation, consultation, consent and consensus", the Shura Council would render opinions on religious matters from time to time after deliberation and consultation, quite reminiscent of the retrogressive Wahabi Shura Council of Saudi Arabia.
From the outset I was clear about not joining the Shura Council. Apart from being opposed to the institution as a vestige of medievalism, I also questioned its potential to deliver sound and unbiased judgement on issues related to misogyny and extremism in Islam.
My main reason however, for not joining the council was that any message claiming to preach tolerance and moderation should have shunned the nomenclature of the extremists. Regrettably, WISE felt compelled to seek vindication for its positions in Islamist rhetoric.
With such undertones, I wondered if the conference would achieve the objectives it had originally set to achieve. For the most part, the narrative of the conference simply repeated the tired apologist arguments of gender equity rather than true equality for Muslim women.
An occasional glimmer of hope emerged in some pronouncements, such as the reference to the "relativity of fiqh" in delivering more benign interpretations of the Quran, but at no point was the idea of secular governance even suggested as a possible means to achieving gender equality in the Muslim world.
For Muslim women to move forward towards reform, an acknowledgment is now overdue that sharia wholly and blatantly discriminates against their very essence. No longer can polygamy, hijab or segregation be defended, for these entire institutions reek of patriarchy, sexism and misogyny.
It is my sincere hope that the next WISE conference will be open to some of these ideas and suggestions and march forward towards solving gender issues in Muslim countries with a far better grip on what actually ails the Islamic world in its treatment of women and minorities.
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Farzana Hassan is the author of Islam, Women and the Challenges of Today(Knight) and Prophecy and the Fundamentalist Quest: An Integrative Study of Christian and Muslim Apocalyptic Religion (MacFarland). She is the former president of the Muslim Canadian Congress
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