CriticalHalfA n n u a l J o u r n a l o f W o m e n f o r W o m e n I n t e r n a t i o n a l

The Impact of Religion on Women in the Development Process

2003 VOLUME 1 • NUMBER 1

On Feminism and National Identity: The Experience ofPalestinian Women in Israel and Muslim Women in India

HODA ROUHANA

Globalization, Religion, and WomenDR . ABDUL AZIZ SACHEDINA

Why Might Women Support Religious Fundamentalism?ZAINAB SALBI

Panacea or Painkiller? The Impact of Pentecostal Christianity on Women in Africa

CHARLOTTE SPINKS

Overcoming Women’s Subordination in the Igbo African Culture and in The Catholic Church

ROSE UCHEM

The Practice of Dowry From the Context of HinduismSUMONA VOHRA

In the Field: The Role of Religion in the Lives of Women in the New Afghanistan

LINA ABIRAFEH

Board of EditorsAzra Brankovic, Assistant Managing EditorHeather Fortuna, Managing EditorLinka MacriZainab SalbiAndree WynkoopJan Xaver

Critical Half is an annual journal of Women for Women International devoted to theexchange of ideas and issues encountered as practitioners in the field with women, devel-opment and post-conflict societies.

Each issue of Critical Half focuses on a particular topic within the field of gender anddevelopment. Topics for upcoming issues can be found on our website at along withadditional information including submission criteria and deadlines.

The contents of Critical Half are copyrighted. They may not be reproduced or dis-tributed without written permission. Commercial use of any material contained in thisjournal is strictly prohibited. For copy permission, notification of address changes, or tomake comments please e-mail Heather Fortuna at hfortuna@womenforwomen.org.

Copyright ©Women for Women International

THE IMPACT OF RELIGION ON WOMEN

IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Vol. 1 No. 1 2003

In this issue of Critical Half ZAINAB SALBI ...............................................................3

On Feminism and National Identity: The Experience of Palestinian Women in Israel and Muslim Women in India HODA ROUHANA ..................4

Globalization, Religion, and Women ABDULAZIZ SACHEDINA.............................10

Why Might Women Support Religious Fundamentalism? ZAINAB SALBI......14

Panacea or Painkiller? The Impact of Pentecostal Christianity on Women in Africa CHARLOTTE SPINKS ...........................................................20

Overcoming Women’s Subordination in The Igbo African Culture and in the Catholic Church ROSE UCHEM .......................................................26

The Practice of Dowry from the Context of Hinduism SUMONA VOHRA .............................................................32

IN THE FIELD: The Role of Religion in the Lives of Women in the New Afghanistan LINA ABIRAFEH ..............................................................36

CRIT ICAL HALF 1

CriticalHalf

After a decade of working to assist women sur-vivors of war, Women for Women Internationalhas become increasingly aware of the impor-

tant role religion plays in shaping women’s perceptions,decisions and lives. Women for Women International is anon-sectarian group and does not work on religiousissues. However through implementing our humanitar-ian and development programs in post-conflict areas,we have come to recognize the important role of reli-gion and its impact on development work, particularlyas it relates to women. Because of this, Women forWomen International has decided to dedicate its firstissue of Critical Half to the topic of religion.

Religion is a pervasive influence throughout cul-tures and societies. Its power is not limited to conser-vative countries like Afghanistan, where religion hasplayed a dominant role in the resistance movementagainst the Soviet invasion and the Taliban, butextends to what used to be known as secular nations,such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and nowIraq. All of these societies have encountered varyingwaves of religious adaptations during and after wars.For example, religion provides ways for people to dealwith the hardships associated with war and oftenpromises a better life. It also serves as a uniting forcefor populations in their resistance of unjust, corrupt orineffective governments and provides an identity forminority groups that otherwise don’t fit in. The danger,however, lies when individuals fall prey to religiousextremists who utilize religion for political gain andresort to violence as a means to obtain their goals.

Although not every religion is represented, thearticles in this journal address and interweave manysuch themes. They help point out the seemingly invis-ible yet critical threads associated with religion thatshape a woman’s life; threads associated with self-understanding and self-definition. Religious ideals pro-vide a haven of sorts for women through its glorifica-tion of traditional roles, among other ideals, inresponse to economic insecurity and the unattainabledemands of modernization and globalization. - Ifwomen cannot succeed in the economy, they can atleast be valued as mothers. Hence, understanding therole and impact of religion on women sheds light on

important components of a society that fundamentallyshape its population. This reality is often not capturedin data and is therefore misunderstood, particularly asit relates to women, since their contribution is oftenunremunerated.

Each contributor to this journal focuses on differ-ent aspects of religion and women. Dr. AbdulazizSachedina’s article, Globalization, Religion and Women,focuses on the tension between globalization of theinternational economy and universalization of“Political Islam.” While globalization engages the sub-ject of markets and commodities, “Political Islam” isconcerned with the establishment of institutions underdivine principles. These ideologies impart conflictingcultural significance. Women, Sachedina argues, arecapable of reconciling these movements by interpretingthem as facets of a shared humanitarian ethic. In thissense, in societies where these forces compete for pop-ular support, women have great potential as leaders andagents of change.

In contrast, Hoda Rohana’s article, entitled OnFeminism and National Identity: The Experience ofPalestinian Women in Israel and Muslim Women inIndia, is critical of a dichotomy weakening the feministmovement—namely, the tension betweennational/religious struggles and feminist movements.In societies comprised of different ethnic and religiousgroups competing for power, religious identity serves asa foundation for claims to political, social and eco-nomic rights, as well as the basis of movements forcountries asserting themselves as nation-states. As inthe cases of the Muslims in India and Palestinians inIsrael, women’s struggle for their rights as women hasbeen said to undermine the national/religious struggle.The one-dimensionality of insisting that communalidentity take precedence undermines feminist efforts; adialogic approach would help women reconcile theiridentities as minorities and as women, advancing abroader notion of rights.

Charlotte Spink’s article, Panacea or Painkiller?:The Impact of Pentecostal Christianity on Women inAfrica, assesses the beneficial impacts of PentecostalChristianity on women’s rights in Africa. Charismaticmovements like Pentecostal Christianity offer women

In this issue of Critical Half

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CRIT ICAL HALF 3

an alternative community in the midst of unstablestates, mainstream churches with conflicting messages,and patriarchal societies. At the same time, thePentecostal Gospel of Prosperity, which promiseswealth to the faithful, legitimizes and supports women’sstruggle for economic independence. The charismaticmovement has a message relevant to the realities of lifefor African women, at the same time provides for theirsocial needs, making the movement a promising forcefor the advancement of women in Africa.

Rose Uchem’s article, entitled Overcoming Women’sSubordination in the Igbo African Culture and in theCatholic Church, illustrates the need for change withinan established religion in order to accommodate egali-tarian views on women. The status of women amongthe Igbo has suffered under the perpetuation of reli-gious myths related to human origin and “female evil,”which have rationalized and legitimized the subordina-tion of women under colonial and missionary policies,reinforcing gender biases in Igbo culture.Reinterpreting these myths in light of other culturalmyths and scientific principle has the potential to re-shape Igbo consciousness of gender equality. In thissense, religious mythology becomes an important forcein instilling respect for women and ending practicesthat demean and disenfranchaise women.

Simona Vohra’s article entitled The Practice ofDowry from the Context of Hinduism focuses on theinternalization of female ideologies in Hinduism thathave resulted in a feeling of powerlessness amongIndian women. Dowry, which is given along with thebride as compensation for her weakness and inferiorityas a woman, is one of many traditions perpetuated bywomen out of their own sense of devaluation. Whilelaws related to women are in need of reform, so is theself-perception of Indian women. By reconstructing thenotion of gender in Hinduism, women may becomeaware of their rights and inherent worth as humanbeings, enhancing their confidence and self-reliance andencouraging them to work to improve women’s accessto property, employment and education.

And finally, my own contribution in the articleentitled Why Might Women Support ReligiousFundamentalism?, is focused on the effect the separa-

tion of “public” and “private” spheres has on women.Many societies have relegated both religion and womento the “private” sphere of life. The administration of reli-gious rather than secular laws regulating issues of con-cern to women, such as marriage, divorce, and wealthdistribution, may place the woman at a disadvantage.Women have petitioned for their grievances to be dealtwith by secular rather than religious laws, such as in theShahbanu case, in instances of dowry abuse, and byPalestinian women in Israel. Dismantling of thisdichotomy between the public and private sphereswould allow women’s issues to be governed by univer-salist principles advocating equality, which tend to char-acterize the public sphere, as opposed to the particular-ist principles which tend to perpetuate the subordina-tion of women.

With this in mind, Women for Women Internationaloffers this first publication as a forum for further dis-cussion and reflection of the impact religion has onwomen in the development process. We hope it invokesa greater desire and commitment to better understandthe reality of the women we are trying to help. Resourceallocations that are initiated in the North at large, as wellas the policies directing the spending of these resources,have both direct and indirect implications on the lives ofwomen we are trying to assist. The more we understandthe complexity of their reality, the better we areequipped to be supporters of their efforts to improvetheir conditions and to encourage recognition of theirrights within their societies.

Zainab SalbiPresident and FounderWomen for Women International

WOMEN IN MINORITY POPULATIONS experience a double

oppression: they are members of a minority group oppressed by the

majority, and they are oppressed within their own societies because

they are women. This necessitates women having to chose between

nationalist and feminist agendas in order to further their rights as

individuals. Identity needs to be reformulated, specifically the

nationalist/religious identity, in such a way as to make it compati-

ble with a feminist perspective. The possibility of combining the

national/religious and the feminist struggle of minority group

women has to be proposed in a way that will benefit them both

equally. Women’s participation in rebuilding the dominant dis-

course of their societies is essential to this process in order to

advance their interests. Men also play an important role in the

rebuilding and reformulation process and should be encouraged to

support women’s struggle for their rights not only against the

majority but within their own communities.

ON FEMINISM AND NATIONAL IDENTITY

4 FALL 2003

IntroductionThe role minority women play in the national or reli-gious project of their respective communities is rich inambiguity and often paradoxical. The foremost difficultythese women face is the double oppression levelledagainst them. They are members of a minority groupoppressed by the majority, and they are oppressed withintheir own societies. This fact presents a myriad of com-plicated questions for feminist movements operating inthese minority communities. According to Kandiyoti:

It may well be argued that there is no particu-lar reason to single women out as prisoners ofthe discourse they share with men. However,their gender interests may, at times, indicatetheir own demands and produce divided loyal-ties with men of their class, creed or nation.Women may choose to either openly expressor to suppress such divergences of interest,which they generally do at their own cost inboth cases.1

In this article, I address paradoxes and ambiguitiesthat result from this double oppression, and discuss someof the questions that arise from the formulation of thisdichotomy, which forces women to choose between fem-inist and nationalist agendas. I discuss who formulatesthis dichotomy, who identifies nationalism and feminism,and who benefits from this identification. To addressthese topics, I discuss two specific examples: Muslimwomen in India and Palestinian women within Israel.

The experience of Muslim women in IndiaThe Muslim minority in India numbers 100 million or11.5% of India’s population. The majority of the coun-try’s population is Hindu, and other, smaller minoritygroups include Christians and Jews. The Muslim-Hindu clashes that led to the partitioning of Indiaplaced the Muslim minority in a precarious position:

The decision of partition in India and the cre-

ation of the state of Pakistan in 1947 wasaccompanied by the worst communal riots theworld has ever witnessed. Yet all over India,Hinduism was rising with an ugly, violent,revengeful and aggressive face immediatelyafter 1947. Muslim life and property wereplaced in great danger. Their number had beenreduced and the community had been weak-ened in all respect by the emigration of theMuslim professionals, bureaucrats and thewealthy, and was virtually falling prey toHindu chauvinism.2

Muslims in India are governed by their own per-sonal status laws, codified by Britain in 1937 and pro-tected by India’s constitution. The constitutional com-mitment to secularism in India does not imply a sepa-ration of religion and state, however, but has meant theco-existence of various religions under the supervisionof the state.

Muslim women in India suffer from doubleoppression: as part of a patriarchal community in whichwomen are discriminated against and as part of aminority community subjected to discrimination byHindu fundamentalism. The Muslim population feelsinsecure and threatened, and thus clings tightly to itsown customs and practices. These traditions havebecome an important symbol in the struggle of Muslimgroups against attempts by the Hindu majority toassimilate and destroy their Muslim identity.

The ghettoization of Muslims in India has meantthat Muslim women fighting for their rights are dis-armed from the beginning. Any struggle to improvetheir condition is not only seen by Muslim fundamen-talists as undermining the community, but is actuallyused by the Hindu pluralists to do precisely that.3 TheShahbanu case is the example I shall examine.

In 1978, Shahbanu, a 70-year-old Muslim womanfrom India, filed an appeal to the judicial magistrate

On Feminism and National Identity: The Experience of Palestinian Women in Israel and Muslim Women in IndiaHODA ROUHANA

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under Section 125 of the Criminal Code, demandingalimony from her wealthy husband, MohammedAhmed Khan, who threw her out of her home after 43years of marriage. While the application was pending,Shahbanu’s husband divorced her, paid her Rs3,000 asmehr (dowry), and claimed she could no longerdemand anything from him. The magistrate, however,ordered him to pay Rs25 per month, and Shahbanu gotthe sum raised to Rs179.20 in the High Court.

Shahbanu’s husband appealed to the SupremeCourt, arguing that under Muslim Personal Law, hehad no responsibility to pay maintenance to hisdivorced wife, and therefore Section 125 did not applyto him. In April 1985, the Supreme Court ruled infavor of Shahbanu.

The Supreme Court’s ruling created a furor amongthe Muslim population. Muslim fundamentalists weredisturbed by what they perceived as the Hindu homog-enizing influence, which they believed would lead tothe assimilation and destruction of Muslim identity.Muslim leaders denounced the decision as the begin-ning of government attempts to interfere in the per-sonal issues of the Muslim minority. These leadersdeclared that “Islam is in danger,” and protests eruptedthroughout the country, with demonstrators demand-ing that Section 125 not apply to Muslim women.Shahbanu herself endorsed this demand, condemningthe court’s judgment in a public letter addressed to allMuslims, despite the fact that it supported her claims.4

The Muslim Personal Law Board intervened in thecase on behalf of Shahbanu’s husband and, unsuccessfulin the Supreme Court, carried the battle to theParliament. A Muslim member of Parliament intro-duced a bill entitled the Muslim Women (Protection ofRights in Divorce) Act, which was passed in May 1986.According to this new act, divorced Muslim women falloutside the purview of Section 125 of the CriminalCode. Under the law, the divorced woman’s husband isonly obligated to return the mehr, and pay alimonyduring the period of iddat (three months following thedivorce). If the divorced woman is unable to maintainherself after the iddat period, her children, parents orrelatives entitled to inherit her property upon her deathare responsible for her maintenance. If she has no rela-tives, or if they have no means to pay her alimony, themagistrate may direct the State Waqf Boards (adminis-trators of Muslim trust funds) to pay whatever alimonyis determined by the court.

The women’s movement found itself paralyzed bythe fact that all discussion concerning the decision wascommunal. Some groups found it difficult to be enthu-siastic about the Court’s judgment because Hindu lead-ers utilized it to undermine the Muslim minority. Othersfelt compelled to support the judgment against thoseMuslim leaders opposed to rights guaranteed forwomen. Other groups criticized Section 125 itself,pointing out that while the decision was not ideal, itshould be used as a last option for Muslim women.

The experience of Palestinian women in IsraelPalestinians in Israel are the minority that remained ontheir lands following the 1948 war and the establish-ment of the state of Israel. Members of this group wereeventually granted Israeli citizenship, and currentlyaccount for 18.3% of Israel’s population. Like Muslimwomen in India, Palestinian women in Israel sufferfrom discrimination as women living in a patriarchal,traditional Arab society, and as part of a national minor-ity suffering from discrimination by the Jewish state.

In Israel, issues involving personal status matters aregenerally decided by religious courts and laws. While insome personal status matters citizens have the right toapply to the state “family court,” marriage and divorceremain exclusively within the jurisdiction of religiouscourts. In some cases, Jews, Christian, and Druze indi-viduals can choose to bring their conflicts before thenewly-established state “family courts,” as long as thesedisputes are not pure marriage and divorce matters.Until November 2001, Muslims did not have theoption to choose between the state family courts andMuslim religious courts as the latter retained exclusivejurisdiction over personal status matters. Similarly,Christian courts retained exclusive jurisdiction overissues concerning wife maintenance. This presentedPalestinian feminists with the challenge of balancingtheir struggle as women with their struggle against thestate. This dilemma was highlighted when a group ofPalestinian women activists proposed a bill in 1996 tothe Israeli Knesset (Parliament) giving Israeli civil courtsthe authority to adjudicate personal status matters ofArab Muslims and Christians. The judges of theMuslim religious courts and some national and religiousleaders immediately opposed the bill. They saw it as aserious threat to the “Palestinian National Project,”which aims to achieve autonomy, or at least limited

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ON FEMINISM AND NATIONAL IDENTITY

autonomy, for Palestinians in Israel. They argued thatintervention of Israeli civil courts in personal statusmatters of Palestinians contradicts the aims of thisProject and weakens the identity of the Palestinianminority, and also that it is difficult to support such leg-islation since the state is defined as a Jewish state, andthus is not secular. The religious authorities argued thatthe intervention of civil courts in the personal statusmatters of Muslim women is against Islam, since thelaws applied in those courts are not “Islamic” laws.

Muslim women in India and Palestinian women inIsrael face a common dilemma: struggling for theirrights as women while attempting to retain theirminority (national or religious) identity. Formulatingthe dilemma in this way, as a dichotomy, forces womento choose between the feminist and the national/reli-gious struggle, therefore ignoring women’s multipleidentities. This dichotomy has the effect of eliminatingall feminist perspectives from the national/religiousstruggle of the minority group, even pitting feminismagainst this struggle.

The national/religious-feminist dichotomyThe fact that the national/religious-feminist debate waspresented as a dichotomy to Muslim women in Indiaultimately undermined feminist efforts. This wasdemonstrated by Shahbanu’s signature on the petitionagainst the court decision in her favor. She had littlechoice, having been accused of responsibility for theextensive communal bloodshed that followed thecourt’s decision. It was also very difficult for some fem-inist groups to enthusiastically support the Shahbanujudgment when they saw that Hindu groups used it toharm the Muslim minority.

The experience of the Palestinian minority fol-lowed a similar process but produced different results.Palestinian women have been forced to choose betweenthe nationalist and the feminist as two separate projects.In reality, though, they have not been given any choice,because in either case they will be accused of compro-mise at the least or betrayal at worst.

It is clear that if the dilemma is perceived as adichotomy, women will lose. The question is: Who doesthis dichotomy serve, and on what is it based? Beforetrying to answer these questions I will outline somenon-feminist attempts to resolve this struggle that haveapparently attempted to combine the national/religiouswith the feminist but have frequently harmed both.

The legitimacy of the courtsIn the Indian case, the Muslim Women Act was por-trayed by the government as a means of protectingMuslim minority rights, as well as Muslim women’srights by presenting new alternatives rather than forc-ing women’s dependence on their former husbands.The bill, however, encourages women’s dependence onfamily members instead of providing them withincome. The new bill failed to resolve what Muslimleaders claimed to be its primary flaw: preventing themajority from interfering in the internal issues of theminority because the bill infringes on the authority ofthe State Waqf Boards by obligating them to payalimony.

The sharia court judges in the Palestinian case hadargued that the religious courts, defined by them asArab national associations, could provide protection forArab women’s rights from within the community andwithout any fundamental changes. They claimed toachieve both goals simultaneously: protectingPalestinian women and protecting the national identityof the Palestinian minority. The courts’ actions, howev-er, demonstrate that there has been no real attempt toformulate a new interpretation of religious law, or toprotect the Palestinian minority’s identity in a progres-sive way. Any claims concerning the protection ofPalestinian women’s rights has been general, withoutdeep analysis of religious law or new interpretations.The word “protection” itself is problematic, as it carrieswith it an implicit hierarchical relationship between the“protector,” who has authority, and the “protected.”Using this terminology only provides camouflage thathides true intentions and power politics, and harmsfeminist interests.

Presenting the religious courts as an expression ofthe national and cultural identity of the Palestinians isalso problematic. It is difficult to see judicial institutionsbased on religion as an alternative to necessary, Arabnational institutions. This is not to say that Arab culturemust be devoid of Islamic influence, but the Islamicpresence in Arab secular culture is a cultural presence,not a religious one.

The bases of the religious project in India and thePalestinian Project in Israel have not been examined inany serious way or with a feminist perspective. To do so,there is a need to re-think and revisit several questions:what is group identity, who defines it, and who definesthe interests of the group.

CRIT ICAL HALF 7

The question of identityIn the case of India, fundamentalist Muslims definedthe identity and interests of Muslims as a whole, with-out considering the opposition from within the group.Arif Mohammed Khan, who resigned as Minister ofState when the Muslim Women Act was introduced toParliament, said: “The state is imposing a form of reli-gion as interpreted by a particular group of people, andthey are asking every Muslim, if you are Muslim youhave to accept this form.”5 An article in the Urdu Timesdemanded that “if some Muslim women opposeMuslim personal law in the name of the Shahbanu caseor want changes in it, or if they desire that a commoncivil code be imposed on the entire country, then suchwomen, though their names be Muslim, shouldrenounce Islam if they do not agree completely with theIslamic Shariat.” A similar process took place in Israel,where religious judges and nationalists defined Arabnational identity on behalf of all Palestinians, directlyrelating this identity to the use of the religious courts.

This one-dimensional interpretation of identityrequires a more general analysis of identity as a concept.For example, if we analyze the actions of Shahbanu, wesee that she possesses multiple identities. Her identity as awoman is what caused her to apply for alimony underSection 125, while being a member of the lower classallowed her to ignore the comments of upper-classwomen who accused her of lacking respect. Later, heridentity as a Muslim made her sign against the court deci-sion when she was told that “Islam is in danger.” This call,in fact, ignored the other dimensions of her identity.

In all the discussions surrounding the Shahbanucase, which was interpreted as a discussion of the reli-gious identity of Muslims in India, Shahbanu thewoman—her personal story, suffering, difficulties andinterests—were lost in the discourse of religious identity.The discussions surrounding Shahbanu and the resultingMuslim Women Act provide a vivid demonstration ofthe way in which the discourse of national/religious iden-tity is used to control women and to further personal,political power. In Israel, attempts to block thePalestinian women’s bill provide a similar example.

ConclusionIn this article, I discussed religious/nationalist and fem-inist identity, and attempted to dismantle the dichoto-my that necessitates choosing between the two. Suchtension distracts the focus of the feminist struggle. The

most important question remains the same: what proj-ects should feminist activists undertake in order to ini-tiate social changes and justice for women?

The reformulation of nationalist/religious identityin such a way as to make it compatible with a feministperspective is a very important project. Such a projectmust be built on changing the dominant culture fromwithin. Such a process is long-term, however, and untilit is achieved, women will continue to suffer. We cannotdemand that oppressed women wait until the rebuildingof the dominant culture is completed. In reality, there isthe possibility that utilizing secular courts will forcenational/religious institutions to make positive changes.

This perspective raises another, parallel question: Isit possible to force a religious identity (even if it is anenlightened one) on secular women who do not acceptreligious authority? Is it possible to find a space for sec-ular identity in the collective one? All these questions,and many others, must be critically investigated in orderto advance feminist interests. As such, there is a tremen-dous need for women’s participation in attempts torebuild the dominant discourse.

HODA ROUHANA is a Palestinian citizen of Israel. She is aProgram Officer in the International Coordination Officeof The International Solidarity Network Women LivingUnder Muslim Laws (WLUML) in London. Hoda has anM.A. in Gender and Ethnic Studies from GreenwichUniversity, London and has been involved in thePalestinian feminist groups in Israel, working mainly onviolence against women and on Personal Status Laws.

NOTESThis article was originally published in Arabic and Hebrew in Adalah’sReview, Volume 1, Politics, Identity and Law (1999).1 Deniz Kandiyoti, “Identity and Its Discontents: Women and the

Nation,” Millenium: Journal of International Studies 20.3 (1991).2 Ali Ameer, “The Quest for Cultural Identity and Material

Advancement: Parallels and Contrasts in Muslim Minority Experiencein Secular India and Buddhist Sri Lanka,” Journal of Muslim MinorityAffairs vol. 13, no.1 (1992).

3 Rohini Hensman, “Oppression Within Oppression: The Dilemma ofMuslim Women in India,” Women Living Under Muslim Laws,Working Paper no.1 (1987).

4 Shahbanu, “Open letter to the Muslims.” Inquilab newspaper, 13November 1985.

5 Hensman.

BIBLIOGRAPHYAmeer, Ali. “The Quest for Cultural Identity and Material Advancement:

Parallels and Contrasts in Muslim Minority Experience in Secular India

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and Buddhist Sri Lanka.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 13, no.1(1992).

Hensman, Rohini. “Oppression Within Oppression: The Dilemma ofMuslim Women in India.” Women Living Under Muslim Laws,Working Paper no.1, 1987.

Kandiyoti, Deniz. “Identity and its Discontents: Women and theNation.” Millenium: Journal of International Studies 20.3 (1991).

Latifi, Danial. “The Muslim Women Bill.” The Times of India, 13 March1986.

Shahbanu. “Open letter to the Muslims.” Inquilab newspaper, 13November 1985.

Yuval-Davis, Nira, and Floya Anthias, eds. Women Nation State. London:Macmillan, 1989.

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GLOBALIZATION RAISES LARGER QUESTIONS about the

role of women in the production and distribution of wealth, in the

preservation of cultural and religious identities of future genera-

tions, and in combating foreign political and cultural domination by

making important sacrifices that go unnoticed in most cases

throughout the world. It also competes with religious universalism

through the promise of a better world for humankind. The specif-

ic appeal of international religious organizations lies in institutions

that are created to provide charitable support to large numbers of

people who are neglected by international agencies and corrupt

governments perceived as lackeys of the West. Working to improve

the accountability of governments and fairness of political systems

must not be neglected and will help lessen the appeal of funda-

mentalist movements, which thrive in the absence of these institu-

tions. In addition, a universal caring ethic is needed to counter both

globalization and religious fundamentalism - two competing forms

of global militancy. Finally, intellectual constructs of “West versus

Islam” must be questioned. A better understanding of Islam would

help clear misconceptions, such as that Islam rejects secular

authority. It would also point to critical questions that must be

addressed in the new understanding of religion in the Islamic world

– questions like, is religion a private matter or can religious com-

mitment fuel political activism?

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GLOBALIZATION, RELIGION, AND WOMEN

Globalization in the post-colonial age Globalization has a central position in internationalrelations today. The topic has wide-ranging implica-tions for North-South and East-West relationships interms of the transfer of technology, the control of mar-kets, and the determination of material and ideologicalculture. In the post-Soviet era, globalization is oftenequated with the supranational role of Western indus-trialized nations, under the leadership of the U.S., inshaping the world’s social, political and economicfuture. The emerging supranational role of the U.S.—and its influence in global politics—is a source of fear,whether imagined or real, in much of the rest of theworld, including Europe.

Globalization is viewed as leading to increaseddomination by industrialized countries of the develop-ing world, and is seen by a number of native observersas a new type of colonization. Economic and politicalinterests are not separate, and globalization has to bestudied in light of the political interests that drive it,particularly in its relationship to “Political Islam” andthe latter’s agenda of recovering the political-culturallosses of colonial periods.

Globalization raises larger questions about the roleof women in the production and distribution of wealth,in the preservation of cultural and religious identities offuture generations, and in combatting foreign politicaland cultural domination by making important sacrificesthat go unnoticed in most cases around the world.Throughout history, women have been denied basichuman rights, through religiously imposed restrictionsor economically designed exploitation and manipula-tion of their position in family and in society.Globalization—as a new type of domination and a uni-versal ideology—presents new challenges relating towomen’s human rights, their use as cheap labor, andtheir exploitation by multi-national corporations andtheir male surrogates in developing countries. Evenmore threatening to women is the manner in whichreligious ideologies are used to perpetuate injustices to

women in male-dominated societies. The globalizationof the market place and the universalization of “PoliticalIslam” can be viewed as sharing a worldwide spatial andideological vision of domination. The former intends todominate economic-cultural turf, whereas the latterenvisions religious-cultural domination. In both cases,the well-being of women is threatened by those whoseek to justify, from ideological presuppositions, theirviews about the place of a woman in the world order.

Reassessment of religiosity The post-Enlightenment conceptualization of religion,which confines it to the private domain of human activ-ity in order to control its divisiveness and threat to civilsociety, is not very helpful in understanding the unfold-ing of “Political Islam” and the way it engenders notonly exclusivist religiosity but also a universalist secular-ity. This universalist secularity confounds most analystsas an unlikely feature of this Abrahamic tradition.Secularity is associated with modern, secularized socie-ty—how could Islam (when compared with the modernWest) be so retrograde and yet be convincingly modern?

Islam, with its comprehensive and even universalmandate to create an ideal society on earth, is a majorsource of tension in the modern world, which has setlimits on religion’s claims to represent a wide range ofhuman interests in the public domain. We have oftenheard that Islam does not make a distinction between the“church” and the “state,” or the spiritual and the tempo-ral. But, as I have shown in my work on democratic plu-ralism in Islam, based on the Koran, Islamic traditionrecognizes in practice the separation between the spiritu-al and the temporal by limiting human jurisdiction tothe sphere of interpersonal justice, while leaving the spir-itual realm entirely within God’s purview. In Islamic tra-dition human beings are guided and given power to cre-ate, regulate, and maintain all human institutions to fur-ther human relationships, but God’s relationship withhumanity is left strictly in the hands of God. Even theProphet, as God’s envoy, has no authority to mediate and

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Globalization, Religion, and WomenABDUL AZIZ SACHEDINA

interfere in God’s special relationship to humanity. Human institutions, then, are geared toward

enhancing interpersonal human relationships in such away that the Islamic division of jurisdictions, what Ihave identified as divine and human spheres of juris-dictions, actually sets the ground for secularity and withit modernity. The modern confinement of religion tothe private domain of human life is a kind of religiosi-ty that can perhaps achieve what we call civil society: asociety where different faiths and multicultural com-munities can co-exist in harmony, despite competingclaims to the truth. Although Islam reserves the right tospeak for both private and public domains, it recognizesthe secularity embedded in its message reminding theProphet that his duty is to deliver and not to enforce reli-gion: “There is no compulsion in religion” (The Koran,2:256). Hence, in the matter of faith, it is an individ-ual’s prerogative to negotiate his/her spiritual destinywithout interference from the state.

Two universalisms at oddsIn some unique sense, Islam—as a global religion withan international membership and a blueprint for anideal society—and economic globalization—with itspromise of opportunity and abundance for all regionsof the world—are both messianic. I am suggesting thateconomic globalization is in competition with religiousuniversalism through the promise each makes for thebetterment of humankind. But the agenda of both uni-versalisms has its concealed ambition. It has been sug-gested that economic globalization has as its goalincreasing the availability of markets for industrializednations, what the French call the “Cocacolanization” ofthe world. Religious globalization, on the other hand, istrying to win the souls of humanity by providing analternative to economic hegemony, by intensifying thedivine promise of a better life in this and the nextworld—the establishment of, to use the language of theChristian messianic promise, the Kingdom of God.International religious organizations are in the businessof creating parallel institutions that provide charitablesupport to large numbers of people who are neglectedby international agencies and corrupt governments per-ceived as lackeys of the West.

Economic dominance is also seen as cultural dom-inance through Western values. The Muslim world can-not watch the factual “mondialization” of CNN with-out concern: they are constantly reminded that the

“masters” of globalization are devouring their resources,both human and natural. Muslims, especially radicalpreachers and influential teachers of Islam, are not look-ing at news items passively: they are reacting aggressive-ly to Western value systems that do not fit well withtheir traditional cultures. These preachers see the condi-tion of women, the rise in divorce rates and the break-down of families in Middle Eastern metropolitan areasas evidence of the threat to traditional cultural and reli-gious values, and they call for a “Return to the Traditionof the Elders” (salafiyya) in order to wage holy waragainst Western domination. In the absence of account-able governments and just political systems, such a callfinds a ready response. Ironically, their ideology is farremoved from Islam or any other ideal system. TheTaliban, as well as the salafiyya version of Islam, havetargeted the basic human rights of women to be educat-ed and to earn their financial independence. TheTaliban doctrine was a home-spun response to thethreat of domination by the West, one facet of whichwas to deprive women of any age of their basic dignity.

Cultural warfare has its economic side, too. The mil-itant leaders point to imported values (e.g., equality ofgender, right to determine one’s future) as perpetrators ofthe cultural and material gap between Muslims and non-Muslims. Thus, even when there is an attraction to tech-nological advancement, there can be militant resistance toits accompaniments. According to this view, technologyis not neutral: it imports with it freedom to access infor-mation, which results in lifting restrictions that providecontrol mechanisms in patriarchal social systems. Evensome modern, Western-educated Muslim men prefer thetraditional patriarchal system that leaves them in a dom-inant position to control women and perhaps deprivethem of their financial independence—the main sourceof women’s autonomy in the traditional system.

Religion’s ascendancy Religion’s ascendancy in the world since the 1970s hasbeen marked by a change in people’s outlook and eval-uation of religion and religiosity. In its external formreligion is inclined toward less rigidity and more practi-cality than are the world’s confessional religions, and insubstance it seeks the realization of a global communitywith a common vision and destiny. Insofar as religion isconcerned with the creation of an international com-munity, it is naturally concerned with justice and peace.This sort of universal religiosity is visible, for instance,

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GLOBALIZATION, RELIGION, AND WOMEN

in the newly-established volunteer services mainly runby concerned women in Iran, Egypt, and other parts ofthe Muslim world, and in peace movements. In differ-ent parts of the world, one can find similar kinds ofissues bringing men and women together, whichemerge as global humanism, deeply spiritual and moral.

Organized religion appears to have less to offer inthese new international and religiously or spirituallyinspired movements. The language of correct theologyhas given way to correct attitude and religiosity. Theneed for a more general religion in modern society seemsto be an inevitable consequence of the irrelevance ofmuch of institutionalized religiosity. This explains theattraction of Sufism and other forms of mysticism thathave a capacity for bringing together non-confessionaland international groups of people for a common pur-pose. These groups are often interested not only in mys-ticism but in political, educational, and environmentalissues. Thus, a politicization of religion, even mysticalforms of it, takes place in for example Turkey (at annualgatherings of an international community celebratingthe birthday of Sufi mystic Rumi) and in other parts ofthe world that are considered “secularized.”

The emerging religiosity of modern society doesnot view institutionalized religion and religiosity asidentical. A growing number of people in every reli-gious community is in search of a tolerant creed to fur-ther human understanding beyond an exclusionary,intolerant, and even militant institutional religiosity.The militant ascendancy of Islam from the 1970s to thepresent comes not from religiosity per se but is largely aresponse to Western domination.

In our analysis of the role of religion as providing acounter to economic and cultural domination, we needto pay attention to the following questions: What is leftof religious commitment and conscience if religion isdebarred from dealing with issues relating to justice andpeace? The common understanding is that spirituality ispeace-generating. Does this mean peace is the result ofsimple, disinterested religiosity, or of overcoming injus-tices in society? This becomes a critical question in thenew understanding of religion in the Islamic world.

Religion in the New World OrderThe source of my caution concerns the role of religionand the real threat it poses to inter-communal, inter-personal, and believer-nonbeliever relationships. I amconcerned about coexistence and living in peace. The

globalization of world markets, the strong impetus toimplement what the West regards as the normative val-ues of the postmodern world order, and the U.S.’stelling the Muslim world: “We will tell you how to bedemocratic and how to be free,” are perceived as a mili-tant view of the world. It is interpreted to mean thatworld leadership through globalization will be realizedonly when the West pursues its brand of militancy,which is in competition with the militancy foundedupon the ideological glory of the fallen Muslim empire.

This empire, which stretched between the riversNile and Oxus, remains a strong element in the imagi-nation of Muslims, some of whom seek its revival as akind of supranational entity, not different from theAmerican supranational entity. This idea of a suprana-tional entity of empire is inspiring militancy, whichbecomes heightened as it is claimed in the name of ahigher authority, that of God. The danger lies herein:What will happen if the two competing forms of mili-tancy—one founded on secular ideology and the otheron religious ideology—become globalized. The essenceof this conflict can be seen in the “With us or against us”approach in the post-September 11 all-out war againstterrorism. The globalization of any form of militancy,whether religious or secular, needs to be tempered byethical, universal criteria to prevent it from becoming asource of further destruction in human life.

Women can teach world leadersOne of the major contributions of women in the devel-opment of humanitarian ethics has been their ability toreach out to those who have needed compassion andmerciful treatment. Throughout history, women haveremained the paragon of these divine attributes and, atthe most difficult times in familial, social, and now inter-national contexts, they have through their own sensitiveminds and sacrifices taught the world how to be humanand to care for those who need it. This universal ethicneeds to be globalized today. It is ultimately women whowill teach us to change “swords to ploughshares.”

Since 1976 ABDULAZIZ SACHEDINA has taught at theUniversity of Virginia, where he is Professor of ReligiousStudies. Professor Sachedina has written extensively aboutIslam over the years, focusing on topics as wide-ranging asjurisprudence, religious liberty, human rights, and medicalethics. His most recent book is The Islamic Roots ofDemocratic Pluralism (2001).

CRIT ICAL HALF 1 3

IN THE MODERNIZING AGENDA, women receive conflicting

messages of newly forged opportunities restricted by religious law

and economic insecurity. Because of this, women often feel failed

by modernization and find a return to traditional Islamic society

with pre-defined gender roles as offering more security. Within

such fundamentalist movements women continue to advance their

own interests through patriarchal bargains and wearing the veil.

However, until religious law and tradition better reflect modern

family structures and needs, the security and protection offered

will deteriorate.

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WHY WOMEN MIGHT SUPPORT RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM

IntroductionThe emergence of religious fundamentalist movementsin different parts of the world in the latter part of thetwentieth century is the result of a variety of historicaland socio-political processes. While there are somecommon denominators behind religious appealsthroughout history, one cannot ignore the fact that reli-gion, like other aspects of society, responds to differentpolitical, economic, and social realities in each particu-lar context, and is constantly shaped and reshapedaccording to the reality it is addressing.

While attempting to examine some of the commondenominators among different religions and the reasonsbehind women’s attraction to fundamentalist move-ments, this article, to avoid many generalizations, willfocus mainly on the Middle East1 and the resurgence ofIslamic revivalist movements. In the process, this articleargues that in their support of such movements, womenoperate as active agents seeking to advance their owninterests through the revival of religious traditions.

The public and private spheresThe confinement of religion to the sphere of private lifein many nationalist/secularist states around the world2

can be seen as one common denominator shared by dif-ferent religions in different contexts. Waylen argues that“most of the political theory which underlies Westernliberal democracy and liberal democratic theory has asits roots the separation of the public and the private.”3

While the public sphere is the focus of political and eco-nomic discourses, the private sphere is ignored andviewed as being personal and thus not related to thepolitics of the public. Despite the fact that women andmen are viewed as equal citizens in the public sphere,this sphere is masculine in its view of the general aspectsof life and how it is reflected in the socio-political andeconomic realities.4 Religion, in this case, can be seen asthe only movement that is addressing the private

sphere. This entails addressing issues ignored by thepublic sphere, which are mostly related to women.

In the Middle East, for example, post-colonialnationalist/secularist movements included women’s lib-eration as part of their slogans in their modernizingagenda. Women soon came to realize, however, that thenew modernizing agenda not only utilized the samepatriarchal notions they were supposed to fight but thatit was only related to the public sphere, leaving the pri-vate sphere untouched. In discussing this issue,Kandiyoti argues that “emancipatory measures directedat women (education, employment, legal reforms) bypost-colonial states were never intended to lead to arenegotiation of men’s existing privileges but merely toendow women with additional capabilities and respon-sibilities.”5

Furthermore, the process by which the moderniz-ing agenda dealt with the question of women’s rightsand roles was in many ways based on a Western woman’sreality rather than the grass-roots experience of womenin the region. In other words, the discussion of women’srole in the “public” was based on an imported notion ofwomen’s role, and the “private” was left to be regulatedby religious traditions. This has led to the creation ofmultiple layers of challenges faced by women: thoseinherited by traditions that maintained certain practicesand expectations despite the change in circumstances,and those imposed by an alien notion of the meaning ofwomen’s emancipation.

Secular and Religious LawThroughout the Middle East, secular laws were adoptedin all aspects of governing except those related to thefamily code. Religious law known as the sharia was main-tained only to regulate the “private” or the family code.So despite the changes in the economic and social reali-ty of Middle Eastern women, for instance in terms oftheir mobilization to work in the labor force, tradition-

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Why Might Women SupportReligious Fundamentalism?ZAINAB SALBI

al/religious laws continued to regulate family codes thatinclude marriage, divorce, inheritance, and otheraspects directly affecting women. Thus after working allher life and contributing her income to her family,upon divorce a woman would only get her delayeddowry that is accorded to her by sharia law and noth-ing of the family’s accumulation to which she may havecontributed. Compounding the problem, religious lawis interpreted strictly from a perspective of male privi-lege, in a manner often more restrictive than actuallyexercised in Islamic history. Women in this case findthemselves losing on both ends: they are neither enjoy-ing the freedom brought about by modernization northe protection dictated by religious traditions.

Patriarchal bargains and motherhoodThus, as we talk about the emergence of the Islamistmovements and the support women lend to them, the“discussion must be based upon a prior acknowledg-ment of the imperfect nature of women’s citizenship inthe Middle East under purportedly secularist regions,”known for their adoption of Westernized modernizingpolicies.6 Finding themselves constrained between thelimitations of the “public,” which is controlled by themodernizing agenda of the state, and that of the “pri-vate,” which is controlled by religion, women findthemselves having to enhance their position through“patriarchal bargains.”7 Through this process, womenseek to increase their security by engaging in a bargain-ing process that may seem to lead them to sacrifice cer-tain rights.

Women in the Middle East may view bargainingwith the religious movement as a more viable option thanthat with the state. For the religious movement is also themain opposition movement to the state. It carries politi-cal as well as religious promises for improvement in thepersonal lives of citizens. In such a context, religion prom-ises a change in not only the “private” but also the “pub-lic.” Thus, while “patriarchal bargains” can be carried onwith both the state and religious movements, in the caseof the Middle East, religion provides promises for a com-prehensive protection or improvement.

Indeed, the very essence of the Islamist move-ments’ promise of a return to the “golden age” ofIslamic civilization can be viewed as one of the mainreasons behind women’s support for such movements.Many women Islamists argue that “unlike capitalismand much of feminist discourse, Islam recognizes the

importance of women’s life cycles; they have been givendifferent roles and responsibilities at different times oftheir lives and at each and every stage they are honoredand respected for that which they do.”8 In dealing withnotions of motherhood, for instance, women may seereligious views as more supportive than those of thestate, regardless of the religion in question.

In her discussion of the spread of Christianity inSouth Africa, Gaitskell points out how religion was seento be one of the most “powerful ideological forces con-tributing to the ongoing centrality of the notion ofmotherhood in African women’s organizations.”9

Although Gaitskell does not fail to mention that thestate (in South Africa as in other countries) has mobi-lized notions of motherhood as prudent in the processof nation building, the state’s handling of this notion iswithin the boundaries provided by the modernizingagenda, where women were expected to balance theirpublic role as citizens with their private role as mothers.

Similarly, Islamist movements’ reiteration of thevalue of motherhood in Islam sounds as an attractivealternative to many women who are faced with the dou-ble burden brought about by the clashes of modernityand tradition. Through historic religious sayings such as“heaven lies underneath mothers’ feet,”10 religion offersmotherhood a safe and a stable position in Islamic soci-ety. Motherhood as a social identity in religious think-ing thus provides a “positive and assertive self-identityamong women” and a “sense of self-worth from whichto challenge various forms of oppression and, in theprocess, develop new strengths and capacities.”11

While there are merits to Kandiyoti’s descriptionsof the different kinds of patriarchy in her discussion of“patriarchal bargains,” her discussion has to be viewedfrom a contextual point of view. Kandiyoti’s grouping ofvarious parts of the Muslim world that may only sharea common religion but not a common history or polit-ical experience into models of classic patriarchy can beproblematic. One cannot talk about the rise of religiousfundamentalism in a country without studying the spe-cific impact of colonization, modernization, and urban-ization, among other issues, and their impact on thedefinition of the family.

The changes in the family structure in the MiddleEast were very specifically related to the economic poli-cies introduced by the nationalist/secularist states. Suchpolicies emerged in response to the Western notion offamily as a privatized unit of obligations and exclusions12

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WHY WOMEN MIGHT SUPPORT RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM

and not the local formation of an extended family withmulti-layered relationships and responsibilities. Alongwith changes brought about by urbanization, these poli-cies created a situation in which women found them-selves caught between dealing with the lack of protectionprovided by the state in their new roles while at the sametime facing a reduction in the protection provided towomen by the traditional family structure.

A secure identity In a time when the state is dealing with economic inse-curity, increased poverty, and unemployment, womenmay find a return to traditional Islamic society withpre-defined gender roles as offering more security thanthe options provided to them by modern requirements.In that sense, the value of women’s role is no longerdetermined by their “production, which is an importantdeterminant of their status within the home and thepublic sphere, but [by] their control over what is pro-duced.”13

Perhaps the most public manifestation of this phe-nomenon has been the widespread adoption of the veil,through which women express their endorsement of areturn to traditional Islamic law. In fact, womenIslamists see the veil as providing them with a freedomof mobility that is “liberating, and not an oppressiveforce. They maintain that the veil enables them tobecome the observers and not the observed.”14 The veilbecomes the symbol available to Muslim women tocounter the unattainable demands imposed by modernand Western values through globalization. TheseWestern values are seen as introducing foreign imagesand values of women that are often dismissive ofMuslim women’s images and role in society.

The discourse of the veil was, in many ways, start-ed by Western feminist and colonial images of Muslimwomen, from the colonial era until now, as oppressedand immobile. Muslim women’s adaptation of that verysame discourse and transforming its meaning to repre-sent Muslim women’s freedom and autonomy shouldnot be surprising.15 The adoption of negative imagesand their transformation into positive ones has alwaysbeen part of the periphery’s attempt to take control ofits image from the center. As Ahmed suggests, “the veilcame to symbolize, in the resistance narrative, not theinferiority of the culture and the need to cast aside itscustoms in favor of those of the West, but, on the con-trary, the dignity and validity of all native customs, and

in particular those customs coming under fiercest colo-nial attack—the customs relating to women—and theneed to tenaciously affirm them as a means of resistanceto Western domination.”16

This is not the first time women’s bodies, images,and movements have been used to demonstrate politicalviews and ideologies. Women have historically beenseen as the carriers of their people’s honor, heritage, andculture. Thus, political movements always attempt tocontrol women’s images to reflect political, national andcultural ideologies. In Muslim countries, the usage ofthe veil has been regulated by the government in reflec-tion of its policies. The Iranian government, for exam-ple, forces women to wear the veil to reflect the religiousfoundation of the state, while the Turkish governmentforces women not to wear the veil to reflect the secularfoundation of the state.

Nevertheless, it would be wrong to assume thatwomen are passive recipients of the policies advocatedby current Islamist movements in the Middle East. AsKandiyoti argues, “[p]olitical Islam speaks to the gapcreated by the breakdown of patriarchal bargains and tothe turmoil and confusion created by rapid and oftencorrosive processes of social transformation.”17 The factof the matter is that the vast majority of Middle Easternwomen are choosing to wear the veil despite its negativeimage in the West.

Many Middle Eastern women feel that they werefailed by the modern nationalist states that promisedfreedom and prosperity in modern life and did notdeliver on these promises. They found themselves“being victimized by Orientalism on the one hand andby neopatriarchy […] on the other.”18 Their demandsand need to create a locally developed image and politi-cal agenda is part of a cry many in the Middle East fromdifferent economic classes are uttering.

Among all the political ideologies available (nation-alist, communist, capitalist, secularist), most of whichare imported from the West, the Islamist revivalistmovements’ appeal for a return to a familiar history,known only for its glory, is in many ways the only local-ly developed political agenda to emerge since the end ofthe colonial era in the Middle East. In searching toadvance their interests or to improve their conditionwithin the family and the state, many Islamist women,like women who support different religious movementsin various countries, are finding more promise of pro-tection provided by tradition than provided by the

CRIT ICAL HALF 1 7

modern state. For that religious protection to become areality, though, religious law and tradition will have tobe redefined and renegotiated to reflect modern familystructures and needs. Until that happens, the religiouspromise for safety and security for women will remainmythical. But, when talking about the Middle East,myths and promises are all that is available now.

ZAINAB SALBI founded Women for Women Internationalto provide support to women survivors of war and conflict.In 1995, President Clinton honored the organization forits accomplishments in Bosnia. Salbi has written and spo-ken extensively on the role of women in war and post-con-flict situations; her work has been featured in both televi-sion and print. She holds a BA in Sociology and Women’sStudies from George Mason University and a MastersDegree in Economics and Development Studies from theLondon School of Economics.

NOTES1 Discussion of the Middle East will be focused particularly on the Arab

world, from North Africa to central Asia. While each country has itsown specific experience, they all share a common history from theperiod of the beginning of Islamicate civilization in the mid-600s tothe period of modern colonialism well into the late twentieth centu-ry. Most post-colonial governments in the Arab world identifiedthemselves as being committed to socialist values. The emergence ofpost-colonial Islamist movements swept the Arab world first after the1967 Israeli-Arab War, and the defeat of the Arab states by Israel.Islamist movements were further heightened in the last two decadesfollowing the populist Islamic revolution in Iran.

2 This excludes countries that identify themselves as theological statessuch as Saudi Arabia and Iran or religious-ethnic states such as Israel.

3 Georgina Waylen, “Analyzing Women in the Politics of the ThirdWorld,” in Women and Politics in the Third World, ed. Haleh Afshar(London: Routledge, 1996), 8.

4 Ibid.5 Deniz Kandiyoti, “Islam and Feminism: a misplaced polarity,” in

Women Against Fundamentalism 8 (1996), 11.6 Ibid., 10. 7 Ibid. 8 Haleh Afshar, “Women and the Politics of Fundamentalism in Iran,”

Women Against Fundamentalism 5, vol. 1 (1994), 16. 9 D. Gaitskell, “Devout Domesticity? A Century of African Women’s

Christianity in South Africa,” in Women and Gender in SouthernAfrica to 1945, ed. C. Walker (Cape Town: David Philip, 1990), 271.

10 This saying is attributed by Muslims to Mohammed, the prophet ofIslam. Mohammed’s sayings, known as al-hadith, along with theQur’an, the holy book for the Muslims, and the traditions ofMohammed’s life, known as al-sunna, are some of the main bases fortraditional Islamic law, known as al-sharia. Some Islamic schools ofthought have a more pronounced emphasis on jurisprudence andindependent reasoning which might conceivably allow women greaterfreedom in interpreting or re-interpreting Islamic law in the future asadvances in countries such as Malaysia and Iran indicate.

11 C. Walker, “Conceptualizing Motherhood in Twentieth Century

South Africa,” Journal of Southern African Studies 21.3 (1995), 436.12 Patricia Jeffrey, Frogs in a Well: Indian Women in Purdah (London:

Zed, 1979).13 Ibid., 42. 14 Afshar, 16. 15 Leila Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam (New Haven: Yale

University Press, 1992), 166. 16 Ibid., 164.17 Deniz Kandiyoti, “Islam and Patriarchy: A Comparative Perspective,”

in Women in Middle Eastern History, eds. N. Keddie and B. Baron(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), 38.

18 Jan Naderveen Pieterse, “Fundamentalism Discourses: EnemyImages,” Women Against Fundamentalism 5, vol. 1 (1994), 4.

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Al-Qaradawi, Yusuf. The Voice of a Woman in Islam. http://www.jannah.org/sisters/qaradawi.htm

Ammar, Nawal H. Motherhood and Womanhood in Islam. Legal Researchand Resource Center for Human Rights, Cairo. http://www.geocities.com/lrrc.geo/Women/nawal2.html

Arat, Yepim. “Islamist Women, Their Headscarves, and Democracy inTurkey.” Department of Political Science and International Relations,Bogazici University, Istanbul, 2000. http://www.bgu.ac.il/humphrey/seminar/yasim

Ayubi, Nazih. Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Arab World.London: Routledge, 1991.

Badran, Margot. “Competing Agenda: Feminists, Islam and the State inNineteenth and Twentieth Century Egypt.” In Women, Islam and theState, ed. Deniz Kandiyoti. Philadelphia: Temple University Press,1991.

Badawi, Jamal. The Status of Woman in Islam. Originally published in Al-Ittihad Journal, vol. 8, no. 2 (September 1971). http://www.jannah.org/sisters/womeninislam

Bibars, Iman. Islamic Welfare Programs: Impact on Women. Legal Researchand Resource Center for Human Rights, Cairo, 2000. http://www.geocities.com/lrrc/Women/iman

Clark, Kate. “Is It Fundamentalist? Patterns in Islamism.” Women AgainstFundamentalism 5, vol. 1 (1994).

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IN THE ABSENCE OF A STRONG STATE and the perceived

irrelevance and hypocrisy of traditional churches, individuals turn

elsewhere for support and guidance. Modern religious Christian

movements like Pentecostalism offer a new panacea of opportuni-

ties to fill this void. Women in particular stand to gain through a

newfound independence from traditional patriarchy and gerontoc-

racy, and through leadership and responsibility in a new religious

system. However, the long-term implication of movements like

Pentecostalism are still unknown. The potential threat of women’s

re-marginalization remains - Will Pentecostalism change the overall

environment or remain in a vacuum?

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PANACEA OR PAINKILLER?

IntroductionThe constraints preventing African females from attain-ing socio-economic independence provide the contextfor an increasing attraction to strong religious commit-ment, with women in Africa particularly drawn toPentecostal Christianity. Such groupings provide anexpression of identity beyond the socio-cultural con-straints of traditional patriarchal African society, butthus far have been underrepresented and underestimat-ed in the literature.1 This article seeks to redress thisdeficiency, and charts the modern rise of PentecostalChristian movements in Africa in order to determinewhy women are attracted to these movements, and toassess their impact on women in Africa.

BackgroundTerminology There are numerous terms for modern Christian move-ments in Africa, including Pentecostal, charismatic,(neo-)fundamental, and born again; several Churchgroupings are known as Assemblies of God (AoGs) andAfrican Independent Churches (AICs). Although eachterm has a different meaning, all essentially refer to thesame Christian ethos promoting the personal experi-ence of spiritual gifts (e.g., speaking in tongues, healing,prophecy) and Baptism in the Spirit (seen as vital tobeing “born again”) over the primacy of theology andreligious doctrine (as in orthodox religions). For thepurposes of this article, the different labels are usedinterchangeably. In fact, these new movements evolveso rapidly that many specific labels are now obsolete orfar-removed in practice from their official definition.2

Rise of Pentecostal ChristianityThere has been a rapid growth of charismatic religiousmovements worldwide, and if indicators that 16,400Africans become Christians every day3 are accurate,

clearly “Christianity is a significant force in the lives ofa good part of the [African] population.”4 Although thegrowth of Pentecostalism has occurred since the 1970sas a result of the influx of American evangelists,5 the late1990s witnessed an explosion of radical Christian activ-ity among Africans in the context of national crises.6

The absence of a strong state or civil society and the per-ceived irrelevance and hypocrisy of mainline Churcheshave led Africans to turn elsewhere for solutions to theirproblems.7 Pentecostal movements are especially attrac-tive to women because of the contrast they offer to thecultural marginalization they experience in Africa’s tra-ditionally patriarchal society.8 While mainline Churchesand state structures have often failed to recognize theconcerns of African women, Pentecostal Christianityhas filled the void in “answering needs left entirelyunaddressed [elsewhere].”9

The ethos of Pentecostal Christianity The Pentecostal emphasis on a personal conversionexperience (becoming “born again”) encourages a focuson personal inspiration, prosperity teaching, spiritualpower and miracles, extreme commitment, and strongmethods of zealous evangelism. The strict Pentecostalmoral code (abstention from alcohol, tobacco, drugs,sexual promiscuity, etc.) is promoted amid an emotion-al atmosphere of singing and dancing in which mem-bers can be re-birthed by receiving an infilling of theHoly Spirit, often symbolized by speaking in tongues.

The Gospel of Prosperity teaches that God desiresevery Christian to be wealthy, and that true faith leadsto prosperity (thus confirming the converse: that pover-ty is a self-inflicted sin, or a consequence of insufficientfaith). While not all Pentecostal movements adhere to oreven agree with this doctrine, it has an obvious attrac-tion for those engulfed in poverty and those seeking tolegitimize extreme wealth. The prosperity ethos, which

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Panacea or Painkiller?The Impact of Pentecostal Christianity on Women in AfricaCHARLOTTE SPINKS

hails from North America, has been criticized foropposing mainline Church teachings that treasures can-not be stored on earth10 and traditional African culturesthat teach against accumulating more than one’s neigh-bor and view wealthy individuals with suspicion.11

The origins of African Pentecostal ChristianityThere is uncertainty about the origins of this movementand the extent of American influence upon it. WhileGifford condemns African “charismania” as U.S.-origi-nated and controlled, Marshall and Aigbe believe modernPentecostal movements have evolved in response (bothpositive and negative) to previous African Churches.Whichever interpretation of origins one favors, the mod-ern African charismatic religious renewal is a dualresponse to the perceived bureaucratization, religiosity,and irrelevance of the mainline Churches on the onehand,12 and to a state perceived as corrupt, authoritarian,and unable to maintain societal order on the other.13

Role of womenWomen identify easily with the charismatic movementin two key respects. First, Pentecostal movements’ rejec-tion of the socio-cultural status quo appeals to thoseaspiring to escape from marginalization in patriarchalsocieties. Second, prosperity teaching supports andlegitimizes ambitious young women seeking to breaktraditional bonds (family ties and traditional forms ofwealth distribution) in order to achieve economic,social, and political independence.

The success of the new churches is explained by twosets of factors. The first push away from the perceivedracism and sexism of mainline Churches and the disin-terest of state and society in recognizing women’s needs,while the second pull toward Pentecostalism as identify-ing and meeting female needs and African spirituality.The originators of most African Pentecostal movementstend to be women and young men, who have fewerstakes in the old order and are thus willing to challengesocio-cultural structures. As Anderson and Daneel note,women join these new churches not only because theyreject established Christianity and patriarchal structuresbut also because they are attracted to the “proclamationof a relevant message”14 providing an indigenous bibli-cal interpretation relevant to their socio-economic aspi-rations. Pentecostal African women are not simply pas-sive objects of push and pull factors, but active creatorsof a culture-in-the-making. For disillusioned African

women, becoming “born again” offers new hope along-side personal and community strength to overcomehardships and secure socio-economic independence.15

Why are women attracted to Pentecostal movements?Opportunities Although Pentecostal movements are criticized forignoring external social problems, women are ironicallyattracted to the movements’ internal opportunities,such as job prospects within the structure of the Church(e.g., child-care workers, administrators)16 and the inde-pendence and hope that is encouraged within the safetyof group solidarity.

The Pentecostal message is unsurprisingly popularamong Africa’s “upwardly-mobile” young women, asthese Churches encourage them to rise above their cir-cumstances.17 Those aspiring to succeed are given sup-port, and the focus on achievement serves to increaseambition and determination. These movements do notexclusively attract educated, ambitious women, however,as the Pentecostal focus on “personal reformation” isequally relevant to poorly-educated women in impover-ished areas. Indeed, the intensity of the Pentecostal move-ment provides an alternative route for breaking out ofsocio-economic poverty, with charismatic phrases such as“breaking through” and “victorious” encouraging womento rise above their individual and national struggles.18

Worship and entertainmentThe Pentecostal style of worship is exuberant, with anemphasis on singing, dancing, and the use of popularmusic. This participatory and exhilarating style of wor-ship provides an alternative not only to the staid andtraditional hymns of mainline Churches, but also a freeversion of nightclubs, where young women can interactwithout restraint. Some Ghanaian Churches even runtheir own music-label,19 and Zambian inter-Churchconferences are easily mistaken for rock-music festi-vals.20 Given the “dearth of other entertainment…theelement of show time increases in importance.”21

Instead of spending scarce money on nightclubs,teenage women can dance, vent their frustration, andmeet young men at Church.

Social support The Churches provide a network of support at a timewhen extended family support has been fractured by

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mobility and change. Pentecostal networks are bothglobal, where “saved” members identify with an inter-national community of “born agains,” and local, wheresupport takes root in the wake of weakening family tiesand consequent uncertainty.22

Pentecostal movements provide a “new world” formembers, offering a secure “social space” away from theharsh realities of poverty and social marginalization.23

Members are equal and free individuals within a mutu-al support system, thus enabling individuals to takecharge of their lives.24 This network of support is obvi-ously attractive to insecure females unable to attain eco-nomic or social independence yet keen to rise abovetheir circumstances.

Challenging the dominance of male eldersPentecostal emphases on personal inspiration as the truesource of power and authority rather than institutionalhierarchies provide the means for women and youngpeople to challenge traditional African social structures.Female frustration with marginalization is not necessar-ily new, but Pentecostalism provides a platform to exer-cise this frustration, with the “born again” identity legit-imizing the rejection of patriarchal gerontocraticauthority.25

Although African charismatic Churches are criti-cized for accentuating gender tensions and seeking to“re-order society” for the benefit of women, they arecrucial in empowering women.26 While mainlineChurches and traditional African cultures preserve lead-ership positions for men and the elderly, in PentecostalChurches women and youth are encouraged to exerciseresponsibility. Newer Churches prioritize leadershiptraining, to which gender and age is no barrier.27 As VanDijk notes, this provides “opportunities for [womenand youth] … to assert [themselves] vis-à-vis the posi-tions of authority occupied by the elderly.”28 As the pos-session of spiritual gifts acquires socio-political status, itis used to claim moral superiority over traditional maleelders who are not considered “real” Christians.

This legitimization of women’s rejection of tradi-tional patriarchal society, however, has long-term nega-tive implications for family bonds, cultural continuity,and social stability. Indeed, the extreme commitmentrequired by Pentecostalism may cause women to feel astronger obligation to Church than to family. Forteenage women this undermines parental authority,while for adult women it antagonizes family structures.

Making friends and match-makingPentecostal Churches also address the personal needs ofwomen, especially young females, by providing a mar-riage service. In polygamous societies, only the elite canafford to marry many wives, resulting in fierce competi-tion for wives among the rest. The Church offers anopportunity to meet partners, and young women areencouraged to dress themselves up to this end, as the“match-making function is openly admitted.”29

Furthermore, the Pentecostal rejection of polygamylegitimizes those unwilling or unable to afford partici-pating in this socio-cultural practice.

However, not all AICs are against polygamy. AsAnderson argues, the popularity of these Churchesstems from their resentment of Western missionary prej-udice against African culture and family structures. As aresult, many embrace polygamy as an Old Testamentpractice.30 Nevertheless, it seems likely that women areattracted to the Pentecostal form of polygamy because itincreases their chances of meeting young men, asopposed to the elders and the elite who traditionallyhave a monopoly over women.

African Pentecostalism: Panacea or painkiller?While the immediate attractions of Pentecostal move-ments for marginalized African women have been dis-cussed in this article, there is uncertainty regarding thelong-term implications of this trend. The extent towhich African Pentecostalism is a panacea or a tempo-rary painkiller for Africa’s long history of female mar-ginalization is unclear, as the movements are so young.

Despite concerns that Pentecostal movements causecultural shifts and social disorder, there is clear evidencethat their focus on individualism and personal choicebrings social advancement for women. Additionally, themovements’ egalitarian structures provide women withleadership positions,31 and the vast numbers of womeninvolved are testimony to the strength of the benefits inmitigating disadvantages (e.g., family separation andresentment). In fact, the ability of charismatic religiousmovements to challenge patriarchal structures and cre-ate a new system of social relationships indicates theirlong-term “potential beyond other Christian move-ments” to contribute positively to Africa’s future.32

Experience elsewhere, however, reveals the declin-ing importance accorded to women as movements growin age and prominence. For example, Quedendeaux’sstudy on the 1970s origins of U.S. and U.K. neo-

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Pentecostalism emphasizes the key role played bywomen and young people in the movement’s initialstages, similar to the African experiences.33 But hisresearch reveals a decrease in the numbers and promi-nence of women and young people once movementsgrow in size and local influence.34 This “re-marginaliza-tion” of women and youth has also been identified inLatin American Pentecostalism,35 but African Churchesare not yet sufficiently established to ascertain if thepattern will apply wholesale.

At the extreme, Gifford believes thatPentecostalism is incapable of empowering Africanfemales in the long-term, arguing that more immediatestructural change is necessary.36 Clearly, there is a needfor further field-level research to ascertain the long-term consequences of Pentecostal movements forwomen in Africa. But for the short-term at least, theyprovide a powerful platform for previously marginal-ized and excluded African women to develop theiridentity and socio-economic role in society.

In opposition to Gifford’s pessimism, Marshallpraises the Pentecostal conceptualization of a newworld order as providing the tools necessary for womento overcome long-term oppression. By creating“autonomous spaces of practice which defy the oppres-sive logic of current power monopolies,” thePentecostal emphasis on individualism presents a pow-erful means of challenging oppression by creating newpower relations and survival mechanisms.37 The per-sonal empowerment of spiritual rebirth cannot bedetached from the subsequent “practical power totransform [one’s] social world.”38 If Marshall’s analysisproves accurate, Pentecostal Christianity could be theleading force in renewing Africa not only from the bot-tom up, but also with a clear agenda of gender equali-ty. Such a renewal may prove to have far more perma-nent consequences than the top-down attempts cur-rently promoted by Western economic, governmental,and humanitarian bodies.

CHARLOTTE SPINKS is a DPhil student at the School ofGeography, Oxford University, undertaking research onthe nature of cross-race social integration in post-apartheidurban South Africa. Previously, she worked as a Researchand Teaching Assistant in the Development Planning Unitat University College London, specializing in the field ofsocial development practice. She completed her MSc inDevelopment Management at the London School of

Economics, and prior to that worked as a social develop-ment practitioner among disadvantaged youths in urbanSouth Africa.

NOTES1 Bayart, J-F, 1999, ‘The Social Capital of the Felonious State, or the

Ruses of Political Intelligence’, in Bayart, J-F, Ellis, S., & Hibou, B.,The Criminalization of the State in Africa, James Currey, 41.

2 Hunt S., Hamilton M., & Walter T., 1997, ‘Tongues, Toronto and theMillennium’, in their (eds), Charismatic Christianity: sociological per-spectives, Macmillan, 2.

3 Gifford, P., 1995, ‘Democratisation and the Churches’, in his, TheChristian Churches and the Democratisation of Africa, Leiden, 2.

4 Gifford, P., 1998, African Christianity: Its Public Role, Hurst & Co,103.

5 Gifford, P., 1987, ‘Africa shall be saved’: an appraisal of ReinhardBonnke’s pan-African crusade’, in Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol 17No 1, 63-92.

6 Maxwell, D., 1998, ‘editorial’, in Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol 28No 3, 255.

7 Gifford, P., 1993, Christianity and Politics in Doe’s Liberia, CUP, 313.8 The explosion of charismatic Christian movements has been particu-

larly well-documented in specific countries. In Southern Africa:Malawi (Van Dijk, 1992, 1995), South Africa (Gifford, 1990;Hexham & Poewe, 1994; Garner, 2000), Zambia (Gifford, 1998),and Zimbabwe (Gifford, 1990; Maxwell, 1995, 1998). In West Africa:Cameroon (Gifford, 1998), Ghana (Atiemo, 1993; Gifford, 1998;Meyer, 1998), Liberia, (Gifford, 1993), and Nigeria (Ojo, 1988;Aigbe, 1993; Marshall, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998; Olawale, 1997). InCentral and East Africa: Kenya (Gifford, 1995), and Uganda (Gifford,1998).

9 Gifford, P., 1998, op cit, 392.10 As preached by Jesus: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on

earth”, Matthew 6:1911 Gifford P, 1990, ‘Prosperity: a new & foreign element in African

Christianity’, Religion, Vol 20.4, 373-388.12 Hunt S, Hamilton M, & Walker T (eds), 1997, Charismatic

Christianity: sociological perspectives, Macmillan, 3.13 Marshall, R., 1993, ‘Power in the Name of Jesus: Social

Transformation and Pentecostalism in Western Nigeria Revisited’, inRanger, T., & Vaughan, O., (eds), Legitimacy and the State inTwentieth-Century Africa, Macmillan, 214-215.

14 Anderson, Allan., 2001, African Reformation: African InitiatedChristianity in the 20th Century. Trenton, New Jersey and Asmara,Eritrea: Africa World Press, p34; and Daneel, M., 1987, Quest ForBelonging, Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 101.

15 Marshall, R., 1992, ‘Pentecostalism in Southern Nigeria’, in Gifford,P., (ed), New Dimensions in African Christianity, Act Prent, 20-21.

16 Ibid, 91.17 Gifford, 1998, op cit, 82.18 Ibid, 169-70.19 Ibid, 88-90.20 Ibid, 234.21 Ibid.22 Marshall-Fratani, R., 1998, ‘Mediating the global and local in

Nigerian Pentecostalism’, in Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol 28 N 3,p283; and Maxwell, D., 1998, ‘Delivered from the spirit of poverty?:Pentecostalism, Prosperity and Modernity in Zimbabwe’, in Journal ofReligion in Africa, Vol 28 No 3, 256-257.

23 Van Dijk, R., & Pels, P., 1996, ‘Contested authorities and the politicsof perception: deconstructing the study of religion in Africa’, in

24 FALL 2003

PANACEA OR PAINKILLER?

Werbner, R., & Ranger, T., (eds), Postcolonial Identities in Africa, ZedBooks, 180.

24 Gifford, 1995, op cit, 5-6.25 Van Dijk, 1992, ‘Young Born-Again Preachers in Post-Independent

Malawi: the significance of an extraneous identity’, in Gifford, P., (ed),New Dimensions in African Christianity, Act Prent, p76; and Van Dijk,1996, op cit, 181-182.

26 Gifford, 1998, op cit, 437.27 Gifford, P., 1988 The New Crusaders: Christianity and the New Right

in Southern Africa, Pluto press, 171.28 Van Dijk, R., 1992, op cit, 58-59.29 Gifford, 1998, op cit.30 Anderson, 2001, op cit, 18 – 32.31 Gifford, 1998, op cit, 347.32 Maxwell, D., 1995, ‘Witches, Prophets and Avenging Spirits: the sec-

ond Christian movement in north-east Zimbabwe’, in Journal ofReligion in Africa, Vol 25 No 3, 334.

33 Quedendeaux, R., 1983, The New Charismatics II, 2nd edn, Harper& Row.

34 Ibid, 130.35 The Latin American example is important, not only in having wit-

nessed unprecedented growth in charismatic Christianity at least adecade prior to the African explosion, but also because it is extremelywell documented (unlike African experiences), and thus provides apotential parallel and forerunner of trends for African Pentecostalism.

36 Gifford, 1998, op cit, 348.37 Marshall, 1993, op cit; and Marshall, R., 1995, ‘God is Not a

Democrat’; Pentecostalism and Democratisation in Nigeria’, inGifford, P. (ed), The Christian Churches and the Democratisation ofAfrica, Leiden, 239-260.

38 Marshall, 1993, op cit, 242.

BIBLIOGRAPHYAigbe, S.A. Theory of social involvement: a case study in the anthropology of

religion, state, and society, University Press of America, 1993.Anderson, Allan. African Reformation: African Initiated Christianity in the

20th Century. Trenton, New Jersey and Asmara, Eritrea: Africa WorldPress, 2001.

Atiemo, A. The rise of the charismatic movement in the mainline Churchesin Ghana, Asempa Publishers, 1993.

Bayart, J-F. “The Social Capital of the Felonious State, or the Ruses ofPolitical Intelligence”, in Bayart, J-F, Ellis, S., & Hibou, B., TheCriminalization of the State in Africa, James Currey, 1999.

Daneel, M. Quest For Belonging, Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press, 1987.Garner, R.C. ‘Religion as a source of social change in the new South

Africa’, Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol 30 no2, pp310-343, 2000.Gifford, P. ‘Africa shall be saved’: an appraisal of Reinhard Bonnke’s pan-

African crusade’, in Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol 17 No 1, pp63-92,1987.

Gifford, P. The New Crusaders: Christianity and the New Right in SouthernAfrica, Pluto press, 1988.

Gifford P, ‘Prosperity: a new & foreign element in African Christianity’,Religion, Vol 20.4, pp373-388, 1990.

Gifford, P. Christianity and Politics in Doe’s Liberia, CUP, 1993.Gifford, P., ‘Democratisation and the Churches’, in his, The Christian

Churches and the Democratisation of Africa, Leiden, 1995.Gifford, P. African Christianity: Its Public Role, Hurst & Co., 1998.Hexham, I., & Poewe, K., ‘Charismatic Churches in South Africa: a cri-

tique of criticisms and problems of bias’, in Poewe, K., (ed),Charismatic Christianity as a Global Culture, University of South

Carolina, pp50-72, 1994. Hunt S, Hamilton M, & Walker T eds. Charismatic Christianity: socio-

logical perspectives, Macmillan, 1997.Marshall, R. ‘Pentecostalism in Southern Nigeria’, in Gifford, P., ed. New

Dimensions in African Christianity, Act Prent, pp7-32, 1992.Marshall, R., ‘Power in the Name of Jesus: Social Transformation and

Pentecostalism in Western Nigeria Revisited’, in Ranger, T., &Vaughan, O., eds., Legitimacy and the State in Twentieth-Century Africa,Macmillan, pp213-246, 1993.

Marshall, R., ‘God is Not a Democrat’; Pentecostalism andDemocratisation in Nigeria’, in Gifford, P. ed. The Christian Churchesand the Democratisation of Africa, Leiden, pp239-260, 1995.

Marshall-Fratani, R. ‘Mediating the global and local in NigerianPentecostalism’, in Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol 28 No 3, pp278-315, 1998.

Maxwell, D. ‘Witches, Prophets and Avenging Spirits: the secondChristian movement in north-east Zimbabwe’, in Journal of Religion inAfrica, Vol 25 No 3, pp309-339, 1995.

Maxwell, D. ‘editorial’, in Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol 28 No 3,pp255-7, 1998.

Maxwell, D. ‘Delivered from the spirit of poverty?: Pentecostalism,Prosperity and Modernity in Zimbabwe’, in Journal of Religion in Africa,Vol 28 No 3, pp350-373, 1998.

Meyer, B. ‘Make a complete break with the past: memory and post-colo-nial modernity in Ghanaian Pentecostal discourse’, in Journal ofReligion in Africa, Vol 28 No 3, pp317-349, 1998.

Ojo, M.A. ‘Deeper Christian Life Ministry: a case study of the charis-matic movements in Western Nigeria’, Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol18 No 2, pp141-162, 1988.

Olawale, A. ‘Kano: Religious fundamentalism and violence’, in Herault,G., & Adesanmi, P., eds. Youth, street culture and urban violence inAfrica, IFRA, pp285- 324, 1997.

Quedendeaux, R. The New Charismatics II, 2nd edn, Harper & Row,1983.

Spinks C. ‘Pentecostal Christianity and Young Africans’, de Waal A &Argenti N eds. Young Africa: Realising the Rights of Children, AfricaWorld Press, 2002.

Van Dijk, R. ‘Young Born-Again Preachers in Post-Independent Malawi:the significance of an extraneous identity’, in Gifford, P., ed. NewDimensions in African Christianity, Act Prent, pp55-79, 1992.

Van Dijk, R., & Pels, P. ‘Contested authorities and the politics of percep-tion: deconstructing the study of religion in Africa’, in Werbner, R., &Ranger, T., eds. Postcolonial Identities in Africa, Zed Books, pp245-270,1995.

CRIT ICAL HALF 25

WOMEN’S CULTURAL SUBORDINATION is rooted in biblical

and cultural myths. The literal interpretation of biblical stories such

as that of Adam and Eve and of Hindu religious epics where male

gods are superior to female gods results in the belief of women’s

inferiority to men and women’s acceptance of their own oppres-

sion. Reinterpretation of these stories and myths through a more

symbolic reading in addition to pointing to historical inconsisten-

cies is necessary to help change negative stereotypes of women. A

model for women’s modern empowerment can be found in the

egalitarian way of life found in pre-colonial Igbo African society.

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OVERCOMING WOMEN’S SUBORDINATION

IntroductionA number of scholars have pointed to the loss of tradi-tional Igbo egalitarian political institutions that accord-ed women a more integral role in pre-colonial Nigeriathan exists now. This indicates that silencing women’svoice and limiting their exercise of leadership, asobserved in many Igbo communities within and outsideNigeria today, are not intrinsic to Igbo culture. They arean aftermath of the introduction of medieval WesternChristian notions of women’s inferiority into Nigeria byBritish colonizers, Christian missionaries, and theNigerian male elite favored by the change.1 Many pres-ent-generation Igbos have no memory of these empow-ering traditions. Consequently, they oppose change andwrongly accuse Igbo women who resist male oppressionof not knowing their culture or of having lost it throughexposure to the Euro-American women’s movement.Incidentally, women’s current participation in govern-ment both in civil society and in Catholic Church lead-ership in the predominantly Moslem north of Nigeriafar surpasses that in the more Christian southeast,where women are often thought to be freer.

This essay explores the seeds of gender equality inthe egalitarian traditions of pre-colonial/pre-ChristianIgbo society as possible sources of women’s emancipa-tion today. It also demonstrates how Judeo-Christianbiblical cultural myths, which reinforce current IgboAfrican cultural beliefs that control women, can be re-interpreted to facilitate real equality in inter-genderrelationships.

Women’s autonomy in pre-colonial Igbo societyThe Igbo people live in southeastern Nigeria.Historically, they have been predisposed to democraticand egalitarian social arrangements, which accordedwomen a degree of autonomy. “Women’s participation

in the governance of their community was ensuredthrough the ‘dual-sex political system’ … Each sex gen-erally managed its own affairs and had its own kinshipinstitutions, age grades, and secret and title societies.”3

The dual-sex political system “allowed women and mento carry out their responsibilities without infringing onthe others’ territory. As elsewhere, men rule and domi-nate.”4 Seeing this patriarchal framework, “manyobservers misinterpreted the position of women in thesesocieties and produced a distorted picture.”5

Patrick K. Uchendu contrasts the pre-colonial sta-tus of women in Igboland with that of European andAmerican women, who at that time were treated as per-petual minors and “legal non-beings.” “Igbo women,”he maintains, “had distinct lives of their own.” Uchendunotes how women were barred from certain professionsin Europe and the U.S. on account of their gender,whereas women had no corresponding socio-economicrestrictions in Igboland.

In a commissioned study following the Women’sWar of 1929, anthropologist Margaret M. Green6 stud-ied the power of women as custodians of morality in anIgbo village. Her findings showed the “Otu Alutaradi,”the Association of Wives married to men of the samevillage, provided women with collective bargainingpower to safeguard against excesses of male dominanceand to deal with men who jeopardized women’s interestsor behaved abusively toward their wives. Daughters ofthe lineage who were married and living elsewhere, the“Umuada,” had a big say in their families of origin.Their decisions, affecting both men and women in thevillage, were “always final.”7 Women as daughters, sis-ters and aunts (Umuada) in their natal families hadmore power than they did as wives (Alutaradi) in theirmarital families. On the whole, the women’s associa-tions protected not only women’s interests but also those

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Overcoming Women’s Subordination in the Igbo African Cultureand in the Catholic ChurchROSE UCHEM

of the entire community, and ensured peace.8 A systemof checks and balances maintained a subtle balance ofgender power before colonial policies upset the system,tilting it in favor of men and in the direction of theWestern Christian cultural inferiorization of women.9

Women’s traditions of empowermentNkiru Nzegwu provides the key to understanding Igbowomen’s empowering traditions, including the abilityto impose sanctions ranging from “sitting on men whodevalued women”10 to mass boycotts of funerals andother kinds of “activity in which inter-gender relation-ship was implicated … until their demands weremet.”11 According to Nzegwu:

Women’s independence was fostered by culturaltraditions that placed a premium on female assertive-ness and collectivity, and did not define power as social-ly deviant. If men usually capitulated and were orseemed “helpless” before the collective strength ofwomen, it is not because they were being passive ortimid. It was more that they were accustomed towomen being in positions of power and influence.13

Protesting the British marginalization of women The system of government, commerce and educationintroduced by the British marginalized women andfavored men. This is better understood in light ofAgbasiere’s observation that in Nigeria “on an econom-ic level, the woman, not the man [was] the mainprovider.”14 When colonial and missionary policies, fol-lowing European customs, turned things around bytreating men as “the main providers” and women ashousewives and dependents, they took away women’spower and along with it men’s respect for women. Thismarginalization was the main reason for the women’sprotest in 1929, although the issue of taxing thewomen without consulting them was the “last straw”that precipitated the crisis. The resistance took the colo-nial administration completely off guard. The womenvehemently protested their marginalization through aseries of demonstrations variously known as “theWomen’s Riots of 1929”15 or “the Aba Riots,” but morecorrectly as “Ogu Umunwanyi, the Women’s War.”15

The strategy employed by the women was one oftheir political conflict-resolution schemes included inthe concept of “sitting on a man,”16 geared simply tobringing the other party to negotiation. The colonialofficials panicked at their sheer numbers and called in

armed police and troops, who fired at the women.“Officially, 50 of the women were killed and another 50wounded.”17 Their casualties notwithstanding, thewomen continued their protest and demand to be rep-resented in government.

Nzegwu concludes that:

the significance of the women’s war was not justa matter of courage on the part of the Igbo andIbibio women who protested their marginaliza-tion. It is ultimate proof that women’s inde-pendence in pre-colonial Nigeria was an estab-lished fact; and that these traditions could stillbe called upon to empower women today.18

Similarly, Van Allen points out that:

Conventional Western influence has been seenas “emancipating” African women … What hasnot been seen by Westerners is that for someAfrican women—and the Igbo women are astriking example—actual or potential autono-my, economic independence and politicalpower did not grow out of Western influencesbut existed already in traditional “tribal” life.19

Philomena Okeke,20 Toboulayefa Agara-Houessou-Adin,21 and others have lamented the lasting damagedone to Igbo women’s status through the structuralgender inequalities introduced by the British system ofeducation, government, commerce, and wage employ-ment. Thus, despite their relative gain from formal edu-cation and Western Christian civilization, Igbo womenare comparatively in a worse place than were their fore-mothers who marched in the Women’s War of 1929.

Western Christianity’s role in reinforcingwomen’s inferiorizationThe educational system introduced by the British didnot prepare women for the labor market. It focusedsolely on domestic roles in marriage, as defined byWestern norms for housewives—a notion entirely for-eign to Igboland, where women had operated equally inthe public and private spheres.23

Western Christianity’s role in disempowering Igbowomen was fourfold: the educational system and labormarket entrenched gender stratification; a pre-ecumeni-

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cal spirit forbidding Christians from associating withtraditional worshippers and Christians of other denom-inations divided the women and weakened their soli-darity; and Western cultural provisions of marriage andmyths of female evil projected on to Eve and all womenactivated and reinforced gender bias in Igbo culture.24

The challenge of women’s cultural subordination Despite the relatively positive status of women in Igbosociety past and present, they face cultural subordina-tion. By “cultural subordination” I am referring tomales being accorded priority over females in culturaland religious aspects of everyday life. This differs from“marginalization,” which is an offshoot of subordina-tion and is experienced as being left out, rejected anddiscriminated against in the political, economic andsocial spheres of life.

Cultural subordination manifests itself in male-child preference; rigid gender-specific roles; certainmarriage and burial customs, including harmful wid-owhood practices; and exclusion from certain privileges,inheritance entitlements, and rituals like the Kolanutblessing. The Kolanut is a seed usually presented to vis-itors as a sign of welcome and unity. It is solemnlyblessed, broken, shared and eaten as an act of prayer andcommunion. As in the Catholic Eucharist, women areexcluded from officiating at the blessing and breakingof the Kolanut, especially in mixed-gender gatherings.

Beneath the reasons given for excluding womenfrom presiding over the Eucharistic and Kolanut bless-ings are negatively-operating cultural and biblical mythsabout women that must be explored in order to chal-lenge women’s secondary status.

Reinterpreting biblical and cultural myths Myths are stories that shape a people’s consciousnessand worldview and forge their collective sense of iden-tity. The gender biases of a culture are reflected in itsmyths of origin. According to Abanuka,25 the (Igbo)Nri Myth of origin explains the designation of yam asmen’s crop and cocoyam as women’s crop.

The creation myths in Genesis also display a gen-der bias. The most detrimental misogynist myth derivesfrom a literal reading of Genesis chapter 2—thatwomen were created as an afterthought and occupy asecondary position in the order of creation. Othermyths proceed from this, suggesting women’s subordi-nation is willed by God. Unless these myths are decon-

structed and re-constructed, they will continue tomanipulate women into accepting their devaluation andresisting efforts to change their situation.

One way to address this problem is by reviewing thebiblical creation myths in relation to other culturalmyths26 and the scientific evolutionary myth27 of origins.To get beyond the impasse created by a literal reading ofthe Adam and Eve story, I propose an African culturalsymbolic hermeneutics.28 This evokes the African conceptof story and symbols as found in many animal stories likethose of Mbe, the tortoise, familiar to many Africans.

No one takes these stories literally; everyone getsthe moral lessons in them. The stories in Genesis couldsimilarly be read with a symbolic and non-literal mind-set; especially that of Adam and Eve, which is chieflyinvoked to legitimize women’s subordination.

While Genesis Chapter 2 denotes monogenesis andsees the human race as originating from a first couple,Adam and Eve, chapter 1: 1-24 does not specify thenumber of human beings involved but insists they wereof both sexes, meaning they were more than one. Ispolygenesis admissible? What is the significance of thisfor fresh biblical interpretation?

Finally, contemporary biblical interpretation musttake into account scientific information about originsand the spherical nature of the earth (reversing the hier-archical model of relations in the universe still operatingin many people’s idea of woman’s place as lower thanman’s) and the consequent change in human conscious-ness about the social order. This should pave the way fora critical approach to inculturation.

Toward liberative inculturation Inculturation must be accompanied by a consciousnessof gender and social justice. Male theologians often donot address issues of subordination that impinge onwomen. They preach and write gloriously about women,yet when it comes to making real changes to implementwomen’s equality with men, some of them are evasivewhile others resort to an ethic of “dignity and role” ofwomen, which I think betrays a functional approach towomen and downplays women’s humanity.

In light of the tendency to tolerate and rationalizewomen’s oppression by invoking proof-texts from theBible, and because sacred scriptures are tinged with cul-tural elements29 that are largely male-centered and patri-archal, it is important to establish criteria for decidingwhich biblical claim corresponds to the Good News of

CRIT ICAL HALF 29

Christ. The Good News, in my view, is that which is lib-erating and life-giving for both women and men. In thissense of inculturation, all customs, traditions and cul-tures, sacred or secular, biblical or otherwise, are to besifted in the light of Christ’s Good News, which liber-ates men and women from “all oppressive situations.”30

ROSE UCHEM is a member of the Missionary Sisters of theHoly Rosary. Born in Nigeria, West Africa, Rose has hadexperiences in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ireland and theUnited States of America. She studied at the University ofIfe, Ile-Ife, Nigeria; the Milltown Institute of Theologyand Philosophy, Dublin, Ireland; the Irish MissionaryUnion Mission Institute, Dalgan Park, Navan, Ireland;Fordham University, New York and the GraduateTheological Foundation, Indiana. She hold a MastersDegree in Religion from Fordham University, New York,and a Doctor of Philosophy in Theological Studies fromthe Graduate Theological Foundation, Indiana. She cur-rently lectures in Systematic Theology at the SpiritanInternational School of Theology, Attakwu, Enugu(Affiliate of the University of Nigeria Nsukka).

NOTESThis article summarizes the dissertation by R. N. Uchem, Overcomingwomen’s subordination: An Igbo African and Christian Perspective:Envisioning an inclusive theology with reference to women. (Florida:Dissertation.com and Enugu: SNAAP Press, 2001). It reflects a furtherdevelopment of some of the author’s ideas. Available. E-mail: nkeony-ereu4@hotmail.com.1 Uchem 2001a, 46.2 Kamene Okonjo, “The Dual-Sex Political System in Operation: Igbo

Women and Community Politics in Midwestern Nigeria”Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Nigeria,Nsukka (Nigeria) Women in Africa: Studies in Social and EconomicChange (Stanford: Stanford UP, 1976), 47.

3 A. E. Afigbo, The warrant chiefs: indirect rule in southeastern Nigeria1891-1929 (N.Y: Humanities Press, 1972). Also see T. Agara-Houessou-Adin, The concept of “Sitting on a man”: Igbo women andpolitical strategies. (Doctoral dissertation, Temple University, 1998).Dissertation Abstract International, 59, 3925, 298.

4 Kamene Okonjo, 45.5 P. K. Uchendu, Education and the changing economic role of Nigerian

women. (Enugu, Nigeria: Fourth Dimension Publishing, 1995), 10.6 M. M. Green, (1964). Ibo village affairs. Frank Cass & Co Ltd. Green

(original work published in 1947), 169.7 J. T. Agbasiere, Women in Igbo life and thought, (NY: Routeledge,

2000), 41-42.8 See Uchem 2001a, 54-55.9 Ibid, 111-113.10 N. Nzegwu, “Recovering Igbo traditions: A Case for indigenous

women’s organizations in development” in M., C. Nussbaum & J.Glover (Eds.), Women, culture, and development: A study of humancapabilities. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), 446-447.

11 Ibid. Also see Van Allen, J. (1972). Sitting on a man: Colonialism and

the lost political institutions of Igbo women. Canadian Journal ofAfrican Studies. VI (2), 165-181.

12 N. Nzegwu, “Recovering Igbo traditions: A Case for indigenouswomen’s organizations in development” in M., C. Nussbaum & J.Glover (Eds.), Women, culture, and development: A study of humancapabilities. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), 447.

13 Agbasiere, 6.14 O. A. Onwubiko, African thought, religion and culture. (Enugu,

Nigeria: SNAAP Press, 1991),133.15 J. Van Allen, “‘Aba Riots’ or Igbo women’s war? Ideology, stratification

and the invisibility of women” in N. J. Hafkin & E. G. Bay (Eds.),Women in Africa: Studies in social and economic change, 59-85(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1976), 62.

16 Agara-Houessou-Adin. The concept of “Sitting on a man”: Igbowomen and political strategies. (Doctoral dissertation, TempleUniversity, 1998). Dissertation Abstract International, 59, 3925, 298.;Nzegwu, note 11, 449; Uchem, note 1, 50.

17 Aba Commission of Inquiry Report 1930, 263. See Nzegwu, note 11,449.

18 Nzegwu, note 11, 450.19 J. Van Allen, 62.20 Okeke, P.E. (1994). Patriarchal continuities and contradictions in

African women’s education and socio-economic status: An ethno-graphic study of currently employed university educated Igbo womenin Nigeria. (Doctoral dissertation, Dalhousie University, Canada,1994). Dissertation Abstract International, 56, 0318.

21 Agara-Houessou-Adin, note 17. 22 Ibid.23 Uchem, note 1, 113-115.24 Abanuka, Bartholomew, CSSp. (1999). Lecturer, Spiritan School of

Philosophy, Isienu, Nsukka, Nigeria, Myth and The African Universe.Spiritan Publications, Onitsha, Nigeria, 77-79

25 Rev. Bruce Vawter, C.M., S.S.D. Late Professor of Religious Studies,DePaul University. Editor, Old Testament Abstracts. Creation Stories.Microsoft Encarta. Online Encyclopedia 2001. http://encarta.msn.com

26 Eugenie C. Scott, B.S., M.S., Ph.D. Executive Director, NationalCenter for Science Education, Inc. Evolution. Microsoft Encarta®Online Encyclopedia 2001. http://encarta.msn.com O’Murchu, D.(1997). Reclaiming Spirituality. Dublin: Gateway, 120-140.

27 See Uchem, note 1, 174, 179-190.28 Dei Verbum, no. 12, Vatican II Documents.29 Synod of Bishops Second General Assembly. (1971). Justice in the

World. No. 6.

BIBLIOGRAPHYAbanuka, B. Myth and the African Universe. Onitsha, Nigeria: Spiritan

Publications, 1999.Agara-Houessou-Adin, T. “The concept of ‘Sitting on a man’: Igbo

women and political strategies (Nigeria).” Ph.D. diss., TempleUniversity, 1998. Dissertation Abstract International, 59, 3925.

Agbasiere, J. T. Women in Igbo Life and Thought. New York: Routledge,2000.

Bishops Second General Assembly, Justice in the World. Synod of BishopsSecond General Assembly, 1971.

Flannery, Austin, ed. Dei Verbum. In Vatican II: The concilliar and post-concilliar Documents, Vol. 1., Dublin: Dominican Publications, 1992.

Green, M. M. Ibo village affairs. London: Frank Cass & Co., 1964.Nzegwu, N. “Recovering Igbo traditions: a case for indigenous women’s

organizations in development.” In Women, culture, and development: Astudy of human capabilities, eds. M. C. Nussbaum & J. Glover. Oxford:Clarendon Press, 1995.

Okeke, P. E. “Patriarchal continuities and contradictions in African

30 FALL 2003

OVERCOMING WOMEN’S SUBORDINATION

women’s education and socio-economic status: An ethnographic studyof currently employed university educated Igbo women in Nigeria.”Ph.D. diss., Dalhousie University, Canada, 1994. Dissertation AbstractInternational, 56, 0318.

Okonjo, Kamene. “The Dual-Sex Political System in Operation: IgboWomen and Community Politics in Midwestern Nigeria.” In Womenin Africa: Studies in Social and Economic Change, eds. Nancy J. Hafkinand Edna G. Bay. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1976.

O’Murchu, D. Reclaiming Spirituality. Dublin: Gateway, 1997.Onwubiko, O. A. African thought, religion and culture. Enugu, Nigeria:

SNAAP Press, 1991.Scott, E. C. Evolution. In Microsoft Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001.

http://encarta.msn.com Uchem, R. N. Overcoming women’s subordination: An Igbo African and

Christian Perspective: Envisioning an inclusive theology with reference towomen. Ph.D. diss., Enugu: SNAAP Press. Available at http://www.dissertation.com and from nkeonyereu4@hotmail.com.

Uchendu, P., K. (1995). Education and the changing economic role ofNigerian women. Enugu, Nigeria: Fourth Dimension Publishing.

Van Allen, J. (1972). Sitting on a man: Colonialism and the lost politicalinstitutions of Igbo women. Canadian Journal of African Studies. VI(2), 165-181.

Van Allen, J. (1976). ‘Aba Riots’ or Igbo women’s war? Ideology, stratifi-cation and the invisibility of women. In N. J. Hafkin & E. G. Bay(Eds.), Women in Africa: Studies in social and economic change. pp. 59-85 Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Vawter, B. (2001). Creation Stories. Microsoft Encarta. OnlineEncyclopedia 2001.

CRIT ICAL HALF 3 1

AWARENESS OF WOMEN’S STATUS IN INDIA is a key ele-

ment for change and abolition of dowry abuse. Hindu religious

notions have ingrained a sense of powerlessness in the psyche of

many Indian women. Women are discouraged from making com-

plaints of dowry harassment and abuse in the name of defending

“family honor”. But, families should be encouraged to defend the

rights of its women. This needs to extend outward so greater soli-

darity among women can be built since women are often the ones

inflicting and perpetuating the abuse of young brides. All such

behavior would help to alter the core attitudes that victimized

women develop of themselves. In these ways, women can empow-

er their existence within the context not only of policymaking, but

also within a world that will promote equality, respect, and dignity

for all living beings.

32 FALL 2003

THE PRACTICE OF DOWRY FROM THE CONTEXT OF HINDUISM

Ramayana. Lord Rama’s wife, Goddess Sita, sees Him asa God; she is a devotee of His every Being. Goddess Sitarepresents the ideal Indian wife, the one with impecca-ble purity. This purity is Her obedience of HerHusband’s belief. This obedience, in turn, reflects Herfaithful devotion toward Him. This doctrine is the rea-son many Hindu men expect some form of obedience orrespect from their “devoted” wives.

Lord Shiva plays the ‘lead’ role of the Destroyer ofEvil. Goddess Parvati was separated from His body,incarnating other Goddesses such as Kali Ma (Goddessof Destruction) and Durga Ma (Goddess of Strength).Although many Hindus devote their prayers to DurgaMa as the Giver of Strength and Power, Lord Shiva over-shadows Her potential. People of the Hindu faith regardHim as the Ultimate Destroyer of Evil. In essence,regardless of the power a woman may possess, her manoutshines her. The man leads and the woman follows.

An examination of the relationship between reli-gious texts and the origins of women’s social and eco-nomic inequality could suggest ways to reinterpret reli-gious doctrine in order to help advance women’s statusin India today.

LawsDuring the period of British colonial rule in India,many British writers condemned Indian religion, cul-ture, and societal pressures regarding women. For exam-ple, James Mill, the author of History of British India,“learned about Hindu society through readings of theCode of Manu, some religious works, and accountswritten by travelers and missionaries. He concluded that‘nothing can exceed the habitual contempt which theHindus entertain for their women…They are held,accordingly, in extreme degradation.’”2

Ironically, the British did not view their oppressionof India as analogous to the Indian suppression ofwomen. Instead, they interpreted India’s ancient texts

CRIT ICAL HALF 33

Religious TraditionHinduism is a complex religion that plays a crucial rolein many Indian women’s lives. The practice of dowry-giving derives from intricate religious traditions as wellas from the broader historical, social, and cultural con-texts of India. The origins and evolution of dowry reachback to Hindu marriage traditions. Many of those cus-toms focused on the characteristics of inheritance andproperty where there was a prominent relationshipbetween property, women’s inheritance rights, and mar-riage. Women’s economic inferiority was correlatedwith their sexual subordination to men. Within thispatriarchal system, property was a symbol that dividedpower between men and women. The elements of hus-band and ancestor worship, and respect for legitimatemotherhood, were also factors in the patriarchalarrangement of marriage.

According to the ideology of stridharama advocat-ed by the literature of Brahma, money or materialgoods given to the girl by her parents were a stridhan,meaning “woman’s treasure.” This gift was a sole andsecure property for the bride in time of need. Also,dharmya represents the need for the bride’s father toarrange the marriage and offer the gift of daughteraccording to the scriptures of Manu. This form of ‘reli-gious non-reciprocal gift-giving’ is one of the founda-tions of the patriarchal dowry system in India.

Hindu doctrine is explicit about the social positionof women. Portrayals of women in the Vedic agelikened women to Devis (goddesses), with “priests cre-ating an idealized portrait of submissive, houseboundwomen” (though at the same time “evoking the imageof mothers as powerful, protective and supportive”).1

Important deities include Lord Rama and His wife SitaDevi, and Lord Shiva and His wife Parvati Devi. LordRama is known for His convictions of truth, justice,and most of all, dharma (duty). He conveys these vitalideologies in the important Hindu religious epic The

The Practice of Dowry from the Context of HinduismSUMONA VOHRA

within the context of the societal changes that were tak-ing place in the country as a result of the British colo-nial presence. The colonial period marked an era oftransformation in Indian socio-religious institutionsthrough the observation and criticism of the tradition-al functioning of Indian society. Hence, before Britishrule, kanyadan, known as proper ‘bride-price,’ was anenforced traditional ritual, whereas during and afterBritish rule, dowry had become a separate entity fromthe marriage custom of kanyadan.

There is, however, no denying that Indian womenbenefited from the gradual improvement of enforcedlaws through the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 and theDowry Prohibition Act of 1961. These “acts” were thefirst steps toward the emancipation of women. TheHindu Marriage Act removed all “legal disabilities” ofwomen in marital relations. A woman was entitled tofair treatment, without the abuse of her husbandthrough cruelty, rape, emotional and sexual assault, ordesertion. Moreover, she had additional legal rights todivorce. The legislation recognized the existing Hindumarriage ceremonies, but “in order to facilitate decisionin case of litigation, registration was recommended.”4

There has always been difficulty in implementingthese laws, however, because of the social and tradi-tional obligations of giving expensive ornaments, jewel-ry, and clothes to a bride. This points to a major prob-lem in Indian society, the obsession with reputationand family honor. The commodities earned through“marriage bargains” enhance the status of the groom’sfamily. Ironically, the transaction also displays a rep-utable “giving” nature from the bride’s side. Many fam-ilies would do almost anything, even murder youngwomen, to uphold their prestigious status. It seems thatno law can stop this. The fact that laws and proposalsalone cannot change the mentality of a particular soci-ety is critical to understand.

Education and awarenessSocial traditions such as dowry-giving place Indianwomen in a fragile and often dangerous environment.In the Hindu religious epics, women manage to holdtheir own place in a male-dominated society. In tradi-tional and modern India, however, women have toovercome stereotypes, legal barriers, and social accept-ance to assume an active and vital role in Indian cul-ture. Religious notions have ingrained a sense of pow-erlessness in the psyche of women. Awareness-raising is

a key initial step in breaking down traditional barriersand changing attitudes .

It has been held that dowry is a means to compen-sate for the “weakness” symbolized by a girl. This justi-fication counters the notion of a dishonorable gain onthe part of a son through the demanding of dowry. Theblame goes to the girl’s “inferiority,” enhancing malechauvinism and leaving women in a subservient posi-tion. Arranged marriages thus place the boy’s family inan advantageous position to make demands.

The solution to such an unfair distribution ofpower is in the hands of the youth themselves. Theyhave an obligation to lead a crusade against the dowrysystem and to bring about a healthy change withinIndian society. Ingrained religious orthodoxy does notmake the situation simple. Furthermore, “The anti-dowry act is rarely enforced. It also needs to be strength-ened. A penalty of Rs2,000 and six months imprison-ment is hardly adequate punishment for those whoinflict physical and mental torture on helpless youngwomen”.5 The punishment does not fit the crime andreflects the anti-dowry battle from a decade ago. Even atpresent, the laws do not prevent abuse and violenceagainst innocent young women.

Many women do not have the courage to come for-ward with complaints of dowry harassment and abusedue to fear of putting their “family honor” to shame.Radha Kumar believes that “no one (including thepolice) had ever bothered to investigate [these com-plaints] or even categorize them. And mostly they hadbeen passed off as private affairs that took place withinthe family and were of no concern to the state.”7 Indeed,the accusers of dowry abuse can easily bribe corruptedpolice officers to get away with the violence they inflicton brides.

The solutions to the problems of dowry abuse lienot only in laws, but also in the core attitudes of the vic-timized women themselves. Women do not value theirown lives, and thus endure massive physical, mental andemotional abuse from their husbands and in-laws. Anunfortunate irony is that many of the cruelties areinflicted on these innocent women by women them-selves. One would expect that mothers-in-law wouldcompassionately understand new brides’ fears and anxi-eties. Paradoxically, their blind obsession with moneytakes away this sense of support. Mallika Sarabhai, awell-known dancer and women’s rights activist, pointsto the significance of women supporting each other:

34 FALL 2003

THE PRACTICE OF DOWRY FROM THE CONTEXT OF HINDUISM

Women are suppressed, tortured and killed formany different reasons in India. . . If everyIndianwoman promises to herself that she willnot torture another woman, that she will pro-tect each woman, that she will respect woman-hood, India will change tomorrow.8

Education plays a crucial role in building this sup-portive attitude between women. Despite the increase inliteracy rates for women, most women are not educatedin the real sense of the term. According to Dr. VinayBharadwaj, a professor at the University of Delhi, “theIndian education system, which should help change thethinking of the society, is not doing that.”9 The Indianeducation system produces engineers, doctors, and pro-fessionals, but it is not liberating the mind. There is nosocial or moral orientation within education.

On the other hand, Kailash Rekhi,10 a social work-er who helps dowry victims receive legal and financialassistance through non-government and governmentagencies, optimistically believes the situation is gettingbetter, due to the fact that many Indian girls are becom-ing aware of their rights and their rightful place in soci-ety. They are rejecting marriage proposals where dowryis demanded. They believe they are not worth less thanany boy because their parents have given them a goodeducation and they are financially independent. If ayoung man wants to marry one of them, he has toaccept her on her own merit and not for money.

In addition, young people are taking responsibilityfor their own lives which provides optimism for themovement against the consumerist treatment ofwomen. They are “raising their voices and asking theirparents why they are being used as commodities with aprice tag?”11 Indeed, many Indian girls are rejectingmen who see them as property, rather than as living,breathing, and feeling human beings. Traditional valuesare difficult to mold in one day. Nevertheless, there hasbeen a gradual yet prominent improvement in the han-dling of pertinent issues of dowry.

Awareness-building and education will increaseconfidence and self-reliance in the psyches of women,who will then incorporate the basic transformationsnecessary to fight effectively against the injustices offemale infanticide and dowry abuse. Ultimately, themovement to combat dowry revolves around the corenotion that men and women are equals and should have

equal access to education, employment, and property.One should, indeed, “seek the possibility to bring aboutequality between the sexes and wipe out the vile institu-tion of dowry.”12

SUMONA VOHRA is from New Dehli, India, and has abackground that includes a B.A. in French from GeorgeMason University, as well as a Graduate Certificate forWomen’s Studies from George Washington University.Currently, she works at Heldref Publications in WashingtonD.C., which promotes scholarly magazines and journals.She is also a dedicated student of Bharatanatyam, which isa South Indian Classical Dance, for the past 12 years. Shestill continues her passion by being an active performer,guiding her to the direction as a professional dancer and aBharatanatyam dance guru in the future.

NOTES1 Sakuntala Rao Sastri, Women in the Vedic Age (Bombay: Bharatiya

Vidya Bhavan, 1952). 2 Geraldine Forbes, The New Cambridge History of India: Women in

Modern India (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 13.3 M.N. Srinivas, Some Reflections on Dowry (New Delhi: Oxford

University Press, 1984), 368. 4 Kanta Grover, Burning Flesh (New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House,

1990), 60. 5 Radha Kumar, The History of Doing: An Illustrated Account of

Movements for Women’s Rights and Feminism in India 1800-1990(London: Verso Publications, 1993), 67.

6 Interview.7 Rashmi Shukla, “Dowry: The Continuing Curse” (Interview by VOA

Hindi Correspondence. November 18, 1999). 8 Ibid. 12 Srinivas, 32.

BIBLIOGRAPHYForbes, Geraldine. The New Cambridge History of India. Women in

Modern India. Cambridge University Press. New York, 1996.Gover, Kanta. Burning Flesh. Vikas Publishing House Pvt. LTD. New

Delhi, 1990.Kumar Radha. The History of Doing: An Illustrated Account of Movements

for Women’s Rights and Feminism in India 1800-1990. VersoPublications. London, 1993.

Sastri, Sakuntala Rao. Women in the Vedic Age. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.Bombay.

Sheel, Ranjana. The Political Economy of Dowry: Institutionalization andExpansion in North India. Manohar Publishers & Distributors. NewDelhi, 1999.

Shukla, Rahmi. “Dowry: The Continuing Curse”. Interview by VOAHindi Correspondence. November 18, 1999.

Srinivas, M.N. Some Reflections on Dowry. Oxford University Press. NewDelhi, 1984.

CRIT ICAL HALF 35

The Islamic State of Afghanistan is clearly aMuslim country. On the surface the country isunited by religion, yet it is ethnically and lin-

guistically diverse. Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Pashtuns,and others all co-exist within the Islamic State, speakinga variety of languages, of which Pashto and Dari are themost prominent. Beneath the umbrella of Islam, Afghansare governed by tribal and kinship-based groups that fol-low an Islam merged with their own traditional customs.

The majority of the population is Sunni Muslim.Roughly 10% are Shi’a. The fractional percentage ofAfghan Sikhs and Buddhists were driven out by theTaliban, and are only just beginning to return. Thecountry itself is revitalizing its indigenous Islam, notthe alien interpretation of the Taliban.

Afghanistan gained world attention because of reli-gion – its interpretations, disagreements, conflicts. TheTaliban’s unique brand of Islam was not compatiblewith the cultures, traditions, and religious beliefs of theAfghan people. The Taliban’s religious ideology was asmuch social as political. So-called fundamentalism –whether Christian, Muslim, or any other - is a reactionto accelerated change. This manifests itself throughwomen first as they come to represent the symbol of themost drastic changes. During processes of revolutionand cultural change, women become the marker ofpolitical goals and national identity. In Muslim coun-tries, on a superficial level, the unveiled woman repre-sents modernity, progress, and development, while thecovered woman is a symbol for tradition and culturalpreservation. In such a way, woman’s rights and statusare politically charged and representative of the nationas a whole. Such was the case in Afghanistan, where reli-gious leaders bound women in accordance with theirideologies to represent their agenda of the day. However,the Afghan population did not support their claims.

It is now for Afghan women to determine whatbrand of Islam they choose to apply. Beyond the sur-face, what are women’s sentiments about their religionand its mutations? After being led on a socio-religiousroller-coaster, have Afghan women found a balance intheir religious lives?

In dialogues with Afghan women, they all say that

they are Muslim and were raised Muslim. They all prac-tice, but in varying degrees. They all agree that Islam isa complete religion, and they are content within itsparameters. They accept Islam fully. And only afterlengthy discussions did other issues begin to emerge.

From the earliest days as children, some womenexplained that they were never taught why they shouldbe Muslim. They were told to do so, and they havenever been given the opportunity to question it. Onewoman explained: “When a baby is born, the familysays ‘you are Muslim, you are Muslim’ but the child isnever taught why… so they have a hard time differenti-ating between the culture and religion”.

Women feel that their role in Islam is the same as aman’s role. It is their duty to be good Muslims. “Everyonehas a limited right. There is no difference between Allah’screatures,” one woman explained. But they blame invad-ing cultures and customs for tainting the religion andimposing strict edicts on women. These women oftenfind ways to defend their rights in an Islamic context.They want to search for answers in the Koran, or throughanother practicing Muslim. And they want to know moreabout Islam and the rights that it affords them.

The women believe that they must perform thereligious duties to the best of their abilities. But do theypractice Islam fully? “We accept five important rulesand foundations of Islam, but we can’t perform it 100%because no one can do a task without any mistake,” onewoman explained. Still, they seek to be better Muslims.“We can’t perform our prayers regularly, because we arenot educated,” one woman said. “We don’t performsome rules, but we can’t bring changes to the HolyKoran”. Most of the women said that they do their bestand feel that they are not blamed for practicing Islamincompletely. “Islam doesn’t force anybody,” they said.“But we hope to perform all regulations of Islam”.

Afghan women feel strongly that Islam, more thanany other religion, guarantees equal rights to men andwomen. The women are well aware of the existence ofwomen’s rights in Islam. “Women have the right towork, to study. Women have lots of rights,” they said.“Women have rights in Islam. They can work outside ofthe house,” one woman added. But they could not elab-

36 FALL 2003

IN THE F IELDThis section highlights a perspective from one of Women for Women International’s fieldoffices. This month our Afghanistan Office is featured and illustrates how religion is viewedand practiced in the life of the Afghan woman.

THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN THE LIVES OF WOMEN IN THE NEW AFGHANISTAN by Lina Abirafeh

orate much further. There was a need to learn abouttheir rights. The women explained that education wasthe primary obstacle to their understanding of women’srights in Islam. They rely on others to understand wheretheir place is within the religion. But they want verymuch to know and understand for themselves. “Thereare lots of rules for women in Islam, but people weren’teducated enough and didn’t have much informationabout their religion. So people preached some wrongwords about Islam.” The women agreed that they want-ed to seek knowledge in order to defend their rights.

“Islam provides and respects any opportunities forwomen, but unfortunately a non-respectable culture hasbeen mixed with Islam,” one woman said. The womenknow that the Koran safeguards their rights. They knowthat many of the interpretations and edicts are incorrect.Yet they do not have access to the evidence that they canuse to defend themselves. Many of the women are illiter-ate, and are therefore not able to read the Koran for them-selves. They are thus compelled to rely on the words ofothers. Many Mullahs are to blame, they say. “They wantto change Islam and mix it with culture and custom”.

When asked how the men in their lives feel aboutthe role of women in Islam, the responses became moreanimated. “He will teach us his religion. We can’t say any-thing because he is our husband and we respect him”.

The women disagreed regarding their views aboutcovering and the veil. “The practice of hijab only meansto have a clean heart,” one woman explained. “If she hasthat, she can do anything”. Another woman said: “If wedon’t wear the veil, it doesn’t matter, because are heartsare pure and clean”. Others disagreed. It is for womento be modest and cover their hair and appendages. Mostof the women felt that each woman could do as shepleased in this regard. But what about their daughters?The women want to teach their daughters to be good,modest, and respectful.

Most of the women felt that Islam was complete.“We can’t change it,” they said. “It is all complete, whyshould we change it?” others responded. Another said:“There are different ideas about it. One is that womenshouldn’t work and go outside. One is that a fathermust let his daughter go to school when she becomes 8years old”. “Islam says we have rights, but men don’taccept. Everything that they want for themselves, theydo it”. Only one woman specified. “I would change theidea that a man can marry four wives,” she said. And itwas the only thing she wanted to change.

Women are making distinctions between Islam astheir religion, and Afghan culture and customs. Andthey are beginning to teach their children about Islamin this way. The women say they would allow theirchildren to practice whatever level of the religion they

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find comfort in. And, they would be allowed to marrya non-Muslim. Many of the women said they wouldalso have married a non-Muslim, had they felt love forthat person. Others said that they would prefer that theperson convert to Islam and accept their religion. “It isfor mothers to conduct their children, to accept a goodand right way. These are the women who fought for thesuccess of the true Islam”.

In the end, the women said, religion does not mat-ter. It is a private relationship with God. “If someonedies,” they said, “we are very sorry about it. It does notmatter whether she is American, Russian, or from anyother country or any other religion”.

When asked about the Taliban, Afghan womenresponded fervently that the Taliban were not Muslim.“They tried to act like Muslims and they tried to alterIslam and disrespect the culture of Afghanistan,” onewoman said. “During the Taliban regime, it was just thename of Islam, but not real Islam. They were like wildanimals”. “All of their ideas were wrong. They said thatwomen should wear a bourka. They said we must cover.All things were wrong.” “Taliban regime was a darkregime,” one woman said. “They forced people to dothings that they wanted”. “Taliban were against Islamicregulations. They hit people… it wasn’t important tothem. The hitting of women isn’t allowed in Islam, butthey hit women”.

Some women explain that they were under so muchpressure, that they were powerless to fight. “I was asother Afghan women… opposed to Taliban rule,” onesaid. If a similar ideology were to return, the womensaid, they would fight them as they fought the Taliban,and stronger. “We pray and get help from Allah that thedark regime of the Taliban didn’t come into being againbecause Islam doesn’t say to wear a boukra”. “Now weare a little bit free,” one woman explained. “I will not bea servant of human beings,” an Afghan woman said. “Iam only a servant of God”.

LINA ABIRAFEH is the former Country Director for Womenfor Women International - Afghanistan. Lina has workedwith women’s issues in a variety of organizations, fromCatholic Relief Services in Morocco to Grameen Bank inBangladesh to the World Bank and the InternationalHuman Rights Law Group in Washington DC. Her previ-ous position was Communications Associate at the WorldBank for the Development Gateway portal working onICT and development issues. Lina spent four years with theBank and still maintains strong links with the institution.Lina received her MA in International Relations andDevelopment from Johns Hopkins School of AdvancedInternational Studies (SAIS).

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Women for Women International provides women survivors of war, civil strife, andother conflicts with tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty into stabilityand self-sufficiency, thereby promoting viable civil societies.

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