The Star Online (http://thestar.com.my)
‘Islam must not be used to discriminate against women', 14 February 2009
by SHAHANAAZ HABIB
KUALA LUMPUR: Muslim women activists championing equality and justice in the Muslim family said they will no longer accept the use of Islam to justify discrimination against women.
Project director of Musawah (the global meeting for equality and justice in the Muslim Family) Zainah Anwar said that, very often, Muslim women who demand justice and want to change discriminatory laws and practices were told that this was 'God's law' and, therefore, not open for negotiation or change.
She also said, often, reports were made against them to the police, religious authorities to take action against them, to silence them and charge them for purportedly insulting Islam to have their group banned.
"But we will not be silenced and intimidated. As activists, we all know that in order to bring change, we must not be afraid to speak the truth as we see it, to be angry in the face of injustice, to take difficult positions and to be marginalised and condemned.
"For many of us, it is an article of faith that Islam is just and God is just. If justice is intrinsic to Islam, then how can injustice and discrimination result from the codification and implementation of laws and policies made in the name of Islam.
"This is the 21st century. And today, we once again assert there cannot be justice in this world, without equality," she said in her opening speech on Saturday.
The Musawah brings together 250 participants from 47 countries.
Zainah believed it is possible to find equality and justice within the framework of Islam.
She said it should not be left to the conservative forces to define and dominate the parameters of what Islam was and what was not.
She stressed that these conservative forces had prescribed laws and policies that have kept women "shackled as second class Muslims and citizens", so far, and that, as a Muslim, a woman and a citizen, she was now claiming her right to speak up.
At a press conference later, Zainah said people uncomfortable with the push for reform, often hurled accusations at them that they were "Westernised elites" to demonise and de-legitimise them from speaking up.
"We should be aware that these are strategies and not fall into their trap. We know that even those who are against us - know in their hearts - the oppression, injustice and suffering that Muslim women have to go through," she said.
On objections raised by the Persatuan Ulamak Pulau Pinang and PAS Youth over the Musawah programme, Zainah said, she felt rather sorry for them.
"The world is about change. This is the galloping reality that is taking place in Malaysia," she said, adding that statistics showed that 47% women in Malaysia were working and 60% to 70% of students at universities were women and women now wanted laws and practices that recognised these realities in their lives today.
She said that, now, there was an "incredible disconnect" between laws and today's realities with regards to Muslim women.
Zainah said the activists would be happy to sit down with the ulamaks and other Muslim groups to discuss the evidence on the table and the changing realities.
"We believe a solution can be found within the Islamic framework and within the Constitution.
"There is a problem out there because men are being left behind and men feel threatened about women in the public sphere and holding positions of power.
"We will be happy to work with each other and understand each other. Men have been privileged for so long.
Now, women are saying that they want to be treated as human beings with equal worth and don't want to be discriminated against," she said.
At the press conference, Asma' U Joda from Nigeria who is part of the Musawah working committee, said it was not an issue of convincing the men to allow women their rights."
It is an issue of the community and men are part of that community. What we are demanding is going to happen," she said.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Prof Yakin Ertuk, said the women's agenda should not be defined in terms of a battle of the sexes but rather should be seen as a battle against oppression.
"Men also fight against oppression so this is part of a common struggle," she added.
・1995-2009 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)
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