Women and

Islam: Advanced

Topics

Week#3By Dr. Monia Mazigh

Fall, 2019 ©

Women in Two “Islamic Countries”: The

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and The

Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI)

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Title of the book: “A Most Masculine

State: Gender, Politics and Religion in

Saudi Arabia”

Author: Madawi Al-Rasheed

Cambridge University Press, 2013

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Women in Saudi Arabia

She is Saudi-Arabian-born. She is a visiting professor at the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

She is the granddaughter of Mohamed bin Talal Al-Rasheed, the last prince of Emirate of H’ail.

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Madawi Al-Rasheed

Saudi women are either superstars

or victims of their own society and

within their religion

“Are society, culture, and religion

responsible for the extreme

marginalization of Saudi women in

the public sphere?”

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Introduction to the book

Women discrimination in Saudi Arabia

is situated in the evolution of the state

from one relying on religious revival to

one anchored in religious nationalism

Women are central to these political

(nationalistic) and religious projects

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Her main arguments

“If there is anything unique about

Saudi Arabia, it is the long historical

association between the state and

religion to which women have been

central”

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Important Point

WahhAbism Wahhabism is named after an 18th century

preacher: Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792)

He started a reform movement in the remote, sparsely populated region of Najd

He called for a purging from widespread Sunni practices as the veneration of saints and the visiting of their tombs and shrines

“A corpus of doctrines", and "a set of attitudes and behaviour, derived from the teachings of a particularly severe religious reformist who lived in central Arabia in the mid-eighteenth century" Gilles Kepel

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1945: Oil for Military ProtectionKing Ibn Saud converses with President F.D. Roosevelt

The insurgents called for the

overthrow of the House of Saud that

they accused of corruption and

religious permissiveness

Consequences: stricter adherence

to Wahhabism

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The Seizure of the Grand

Mosque in Mecca: 1979

Several and major unrest in Qatif (Eastern region)

Shia presence in Saudi Arabia: about 10% or 15% of the population (about 20 million native Saudi)

Sectarian outburst of violence between Shia minority and Sunni Majority

Beginning of Shia mobilization in Saudi Arabia

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1979: The Iranian Islamic

Revolution

In the 1990s, a new Saudi Arabian

culture started to emerge: post

capitalism, globalized, consumption

culture, neo-liberal market

economy

How religious authorities reacted to

this new economic environment?

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Economic and Religion:

Strange Bedfellows

How to keep this immorality away

from Saudi youth and especially

from women

They would issues fatwas to

dissuade the youth from adopting

this “impious” way of life…

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Religious Challenges

“The political and religious forces have combined to generate the seeming obsession separating men and women in the public sphere, from the market to mosque, university, and school; the regulation of marriage to foreigners, subject to the requirement of obtaining permission from the Ministry of Interior; the guardianship system imposed on women; and many other legal restrictions”

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Roots of the Obsession with

Women’s Lives

On one hand, you have a state that encourages a neoliberal type of economy: consumption, malls, urban shopping, flourish the cosmopolitan fantasy

On the other hand, we have a state that forbids mixed encounters, control sex and desire to remind people about their commitment to “religious nationalism”

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Contradictory Society

The oil economy had a

tremendous impact on gender

relations, marriage, and sexual life

The state turned a natural instinct

into an obsession

Is this segregation model viable?

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The Impact of Wealth Oil on

Gender Relations

The oil economy contributed to the

consolidation of the obsession with

women bodies

Enforcement of moralities and sex

segregation

Monetization, privatization, consumption,

and excessive advertising

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Oil Economy and its Social

Impacts

“While secular Arab nation states

have, since the 1950s, espoused

women and their emancipation as

legitimate causes under the rhetoric

of national development, the Saudi

state declared women in need of

protection, welfare, and paternalistic

support under the umbrella of Islam”

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Concluding remarks by al-

Rasheed

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In 1955: the first school for girls was established

In 1970: the first university for women in Saudi Arabia was opened: The Riyadh College of Education.

Very few access to social, political and legal rights

During King Abdallah’s reign: increasing women’s political and economic rights and enhanced access to higher education

In 2001: Women were issued national ID cards for the first time

In 2009: first female vice-minister was appointed

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2015: Women running for the first tie in municipal elections

Saudi women had achieved high levels of education and social awareness (with literacy rates of more than 90% for young women) and exceeded men in university enrollment

in June 2018, women were given the right to drive cars

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President Trump, Oct. 2, 2018

“We protect Saudi Arabia. Would you say

they’re rich. And I love the King, King

Salman. But I said ‘King — we’re

protecting you — you might not be there

for two weeks without us — you have to

pay for your military,’

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Mohamed Ben Salman (MbS): the New

Face of Saudi Arabia?

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MbS: Women at the Forefront

of Vision 2030

January 2019, the Kingdom announced

the Women in the Workplace Initiative:

equal pay for equal work

Women make up approximately 20% of

the Saudi domestic labour force but earn

54% of what men make for equivalent

work

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The new initiative does not demand complete gender segregation of the work environment

The government plans to raise the share of women in the labor force to 30% by 2030

The Saudi government is promoting women-only industrial parks and workspaces

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August 2019, Saudi women were allowed

to apply for a passport and travel without

the permission of a male guardian

September 2019, KSA has relaxed the

mandatory dress code for tourists

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Women in the Islamic Republic

of Iran

Women participated in the Iranian Revolution

between 1977-1979 against the Shah

Their reasons for opposing the Shah were

varied: economic deprivation, political

repression, identification with Islam

Middle-class and working-class women

protestors were wearing the veil as a symbol

of opposition to Pahlavi bourgeois or

Westernized decadence

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In 1981, the Islamists were able to make

veiling compulsory and to enforce it

During the first half of the 1980s, the

Islamic Republic (IRI) banned women

from acting as judges and discouraged

women lawyers

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The Shah’s Family Protection

Law of 1967 and 1973

It had restricted polygyny

Raised the age of marriage for girls from 9

to 15 years of age

Allowed women the right to divorce

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The ”good” Muslim woman came to symbolize the moral and cultural transformation of society

The success of the revolution and the return of Islamic values depended on the appearance and comportment of women—a responsibility that some women gladly assumed but which others found extremely onerous or simply opposed

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The death of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989

The presidency of Hashemi Rafsanjani (1989-1997), in the context of economic liberalization and integration into the global economy

The Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988): employment opportunities for educated women in the public sector, particularly in health, education, and (to a lesser extent) public administration

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Women were strongly discouraged from public roles

However, they were not formally banned from the public sphere

The regime rewarded Islamist women by allowing them to run for Parliament and giving them jobs in the civil service

These Islamist women made demands on the government for equality and greater opportunity.

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After the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, the

government reversed its opposition to

family planning and embarked on a

vigorous campaign to stabilize population

growth

The total fertility rate declined in Iran from

3.2 to 2.3 children per woman

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In 1990s

Women were encouraged to enter

gynecology, pharmacology, midwifery,

and laboratory work

The government also opened the field of

law to women in the 1990s. “Women legal

consultants” were permitted in the

Special Civil Courts, although women still

could not serve as judges

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About 35%t of public sector employees

today are women. Most work in the

Ministries of Education and Health and

about 35 percent have university degrees

During the academic year 2002-2003,

women’s enrollments exceeded those of

men for the first time since universities

were established in Iran in the 1930s

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The Quiet Revolution

Soheila Jelodarzadeh

Jamileh Kadivar

Fatemeh Rakai

Fatemeh Haghighatjoo

Elaheh Koulai

They became outspoken advocates of reform and women’s rights. They called for changes in the patriarchal family laws as well as more political freedom

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Temporary marriage

Temporary marriage or sigheh.

Women who agree to sigheh would do so

out of financial need ( widows or

divorcees)

In most cases, the man is married and

much older than the woman

Younger generations are opting for “white

marriage”

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Polygamy or polygyny: polygamy is almost

non-existent in Iran but the law still allows it

Post-Divorce Financial Arrangements: women

obtained the right to claim compensation for

household services rendered during marriage

Extending a wife's access to divorce

Granting women more grounds for requesting

a divorce

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Sources KSA https://www.abouther.com/node/13416/people/fea

tures/mbs-puts-womenforefront-vision-2030

https://intpolicydigest.org/2019/10/20/women-s-rights-reforms-in-saudi-arabia-under-mohammed-bin-salman/

IRI https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Vale

ntineMoghadamFinal.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vaafty1YK6M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYaRb070r8E

https://www.amazon.ca/Politics-Womens-Rights-Iran/dp/0691135479

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Your thoughts…

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