Islamic Perspectives on the New Millennium

10. Muslim Women and Human Rights in the Middle East and South Asia: Occupying Different Spaces

161 Muslim Women and Human Rights in the Middle East and South Asia 10 MUSLIM WOMEN AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA Occupying Different Spaces Samina Yasmeen1 Social movements are not new phenomena. Human beings have long organized themselves into non-hierarchical groups that bypass political structures to bring about desired change. In the early nineteenth century, a number of religious, feminist, nationalist, and class movements attempted to change the prevailing conditions and notions of social organization. This process gained momentum in the twentieth century, with the number and activities of such movements markedly increasing by the 1960s. Since then, the notion of social movements has gradually evolved. “New” or contemporary social movements are seen as distinct from political parties and interest groups. These movements are characterized by loose and often non-hierarchical networks of disparate individuals, groups, or organizations that focus on specific issues or activities. The process creates or modifies the “collective or shared identity” that aims at bringing about or opposing social change at a systemic or non-systemic level. By their very nature, these movements are oriented more towards civil society than the state, and they have an inherent suspicion of bureaucracies.2 Nevertheless, they can still engage with state structures, and their influence can be local, national, 161 Samina Yasmeen 162 regional, or international. There is little exclusivity in membership: being a member of one movement does not exclude participation in several other movements. Globalization and easier communication across national boundaries have enabled social movements to proliferate. Such movements focus on many issues: for instance, women’s rights, the rights of the child, the rights of indigenous people, environmental issues, and sustainable development. Membership changes with time, as does the significance that is attached to the “agenda of social change” by members. It is obvious that these movements have emerged as significant international actors: non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been given observer status at a number of international forums, including the United Nations. Women in many countries actively participate in these movements. However, the question is whether Muslim women from the Middle East and South Asia are also participating in such movements or are silent observers. This chapter will answer that question with respect to the participation of Muslim women in human rights movements. Participation in social movements can be seen in terms of recently developed understandings of citizenship. Like women across the globe, women in the Middle East and South Asia are gradually expanding their areas of operation beyond the family sphere. This process is paralleled by the emergence of a number of organizations that deal specifically with the rights of women. The language and approach that are used by these women can be understood in terms of a spectrum of ideas. At one end of the spectrum, women from these areas subscribe to secular ideas of human rights. They couch their arguments in terms of the evolving global regime of women’s rights. At the other end of the spectrum are the views of feminists who think about the issue of women’s rights in terms of Islamic teachings. They generally subscribe to absolutist interpretations of Islam that bring their views and language into conflict with secular points of view. Women who combine their Islamic and secular identities to various degrees occupy the middle of the spectrum. The multiplicity of these views will remain a reality for Middle Eastern and South Asian societies, which is a fact that needs to be accepted when looking at the role of Muslim women today. The first part of this chapter deals with the socio-economic context in which Muslim women from the region are operating. The second part discusses the multiple views on women’s rights in the region, and draws detailed examples from Pakistan. 163 Muslim Women and Human Rights in the Middle East and South Asia MUSLIM WOMEN AND EXPANDING SPHERES OF CITIZENSHIP The notion of citizenship has traditionally been approached from three different directions.3 The legalistic approach has restricted the concept to a relationship between an individual and a state, which is generally viewed as finding expression in political acts that include voting in elections and membership in political organizations. The spatial approach to the concept identifies citizenship in terms of an individual’s relationship with a multitude of spheres within a nation-state. T. H. Marshall first acknowledged this broader notion of citizenship in his...