Religious fundamentalism and the threat to women

Religious fundamentalism and the threat to women

Eva K. Sundari, School of Economics Center for Women Studies,
Airlangga University, Surabaya

Recently, we have witnessed a large number of women holding
street rallies, protesting the presidential decree on price hikes
for fuel and utilities. In a patriarchal society, these hikes
land a stronger blow on women than on men. Increasing living
costs means added pressure on the domestic role of women, which
is directly related to their practical needs.

Similarly, crowds of women also demonstrated against the plan
of the United States and its allies to launch a military strike
against Saddam Hussein. The mobilization of women was prompted by
Islamic solidarity.

Interestingly, these two occasions for protests may both be
viewed as a reaction against two global forces, the neo-liberal
economy and (Islamic) fundamentalism, which share a similar
feature, the marginalization of women.

For Indonesian women, the threat to the interest of women --
poor women in particular -- in this globalization era comes not
only from the global economic policies sponsored by international
financial institutions like the IMF or the World Bank, but also
from religious fundamentalism.

The latter threat has a more significant effect on women, as
it is directly related to the social position of women.

The collapse of socialism in the late 1980s not only paved the
way for the neo-liberal forces, but also created a yawning
ideological gap later filled by religious fundamentalism, whether
based in Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism or Islam.
Unlike the fundamentalist movement during the colonial period,
which resisted colonizers, today's fundamentalist movement is a
modern political movement based on religious tenets.

So, as befits a modern political movement, fundamentalism
tries to win or consolidate power, through the language of
religion, among other means.

Interestingly, all conservative religious movements share a
patriarchal world view. Women have been made the target of
religious, radical movements. In the West, this movement promotes
a social agenda derived from patriarchal values, anti-abortion
principles and restrictions on women's rights as moored in family
values.

Besides having been domesticated, women in the East have also
been made an object of the curtailment of their rights for access
to social, economic, cultural and political arenas.

As is expected of religious fundamentalism, in Islamic
fundamentalism, a fundamentalist regime has made women the
primary target in its response to the post-Cold War identity
crisis. This kind of regime usually politicizes and determines
the standards of propriety in gender relationships. The Iranian
feminist Haleh Afshar wrote that the outstanding character of
Islamic fundamentalism -- and other religious fundamentalism --
is its emphasis on male domination, or the oppression,
subordination and marginalization of women.

Meanwhile, the aggressiveness of the neo-liberal economy in
accumulating capital can be highly pragmatic. This is why a neo-
liberal economy may be applied to any political system, such as
the Israeli or Kuwaiti regimes, the military rule of Myanmar or
the democratic regime of South Africa.

In Indonesia, neo-liberal proponents once supported
Abdurrahman Wahid as president, but in a matter of months they
made an about-face and agreed to have him removed when they saw
the threat he posed to capitalists' interests.

The neo-liberal scenario, through the package of structural
adjustment programs -- including the removal of subsidies -- and
free trade, has also dealt a blow on the interests of the poor in
developing countries.

Data from various anti-globalization movements show that this
scenario is more beneficial to capitalists in wealthy countries.
Policies of privatization and the removal of subsidies have
promoted the growth of trans-national businesses, but this goes
hand-in-hand with an increase in women's workload.

Culturally, the impact on civil society is quite tragic. Under
the pretext of facilitating neo-liberalism in developing
countries, the role of the public has been weakened.

Fiscal decentralization, or regional autonomy in Indonesia,
for example, has resulted in the erosion of the people's economic
and social rights. Abuse of regional budgets by legislative and
executive agencies have taken place, coupled with the policy to
place the education and health sectors within the framework of
regional autonomy following the World Trade Organization's
General Agreement in Trade and Services (GATS).

It is only logical that issues later emerged as to how the
state would fulfill its role to guarantee the rights of its
people as mandated by the Constitution. For women, the collusion
among the regional political elite can only aggravate the
situation.

An alarming signal is the rising number of regional rulers
working with local religious leaders to implement the functions
of the state in the name of religion.

The marginalization of the minority, in this respect women, is
usually a short-cut for the application of this political
exercise. Nevertheless, apart from further lowering the status of
women, the politicization of religion has the potential to worsen
inter-minority conflicts and also encourages the emergence of an
authoritarian government.

Given their pragmatism, the macroeconomic policies in the neo-
liberal style, which are neither pro-poor nor gender-sensitive,
often support the agenda of fundamentalism, albeit unwittingly.
This obviously contradicts the concept of entitlement of the
United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Although UNDP promotes its human development global strategy
by means of indicators called the Gender Development Index and
Gender Empowerment Measure, at the same time, the two global
counterproductive forces of neo-liberalism and fundamentalism
operate in a more systematic fashion.

Life must be a celebration of all humankind. What option
remains for the women's movement? The movement must be fully
aware of the patriarchal agenda, as assumed either by neo-
liberalism or fundamentalism.

The relationship between the two is complicated, as it is
highly reliant on their interests in economic sources. In the
case of a possible war in Iraq, the issues of oil and weapons of
mass destruction have become the reported origin of the dispute.

History also teaches that in those countries where religion is
included in the power structure, this condition will only lead
to, and has already been proven to bring about human rights
violations.

So protests against various legislations or policies drawn up
in the name of religion -- particularly those which are gender-
biased -- must start now, particularly at the grassroots level.
The creation of a secular and democratic atmosphere is the only
way to provide space for the struggle to enforce the human rights
of women.

Efforts to expand the autonomic realm of women constitute the
main strategy of a women's movement. This movement must also
consistently promote tolerance, support justice, and must be both
secular and humanistic in character.

This sounds like a cliche suggestion, but one which remains
true throughout time -- and of course, it is easier said than
done.