Shirin Ebadi epitomizes women's jihad

Muhamad Ali, Ph.D Student, History, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, muhamad@hawaii.edu.

Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian Muslim woman, recently won a Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her ideas and activities promoting the rights of women, children and refugees in Iran over the past three decades. Despite some criticism that her selection had a European political objective, Ebadi, the first Muslim woman, the third Muslim, and the 11th woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, provides a good example of "gender jihad" in the Muslim world.

Jihad has been long and mostly associated with holy war, a male custom closely connected with military-like and violent acts. The term jihad is used as an antithesis to the West, as summed up by "McDonalds versus McJihad", "Jihad against America", and other similar slogans.

On the other hand, many Islamic organizations are accustomed to employing the term jihad to describe their struggle against what they perceive as enemies. Some even justify suicide bombings by using the term jihad. Thus, jihad has come to signify male- related violent struggles.

Yet Muslim women have been playing a great role in jihad, not in its military-like associations, but in the struggle against discrimination, domestic violence and social injustice. This type of jihad involves the struggle for basic women's rights both in the domestic and the public spheres.

Muslim women have demonstrated multiple voices of jihad, but most have emphasized the moral and spiritual struggle against backwardness, poverty and social injustice. Muslim women also believe in the universal applicability of jihad and agree on the high status of women accorded by Islam, but they interpret and implement jihad according to different perspectives in their local contexts.

Aisyiah, the women's wing of the Muslim organization Muhammadiyyah, and Muslimat, that of Nahdlatul Ulama, have been among the active Indonesian women's organizations in such "gender jihads". Both organizations engage in religious propagation, and educational and political activities. They run orphanages, maternity clinics, hospitals and day-care centers. They are actively involved in establishing cooperatives in villages. Most of their activities are conducted in rural areas where they attempt to help eradicate illiteracy and to encourage women to be more independent.

Other, more recently established organizations, such as Rahima, Puan Hayati, Cut Nyak Dien and the Liberal Islam Network, involve many young and educated Muslim women working in groups and developing networks in pursuit of their goals.

They have raised various issues such as domestic violence, unequal domestic relations (including the issue of polygamy), a greater role for women in politics, and economic independence.

In dealing with such issues, Muslim women have attempted to use different channels and means, including the media, the Internet, publications, workshops, and advocacy. They never use violent, military means to promote their ideas. Some join demonstrations, but every time women are involved, demonstrations turn out to be peaceful, including demonstrations involving Muslim and non-Muslim women demanding an end to the violence in Maluku.

In addition, Muslim women are concerned with resistance against state oppression, which in their eyes contributes to gender inequality. Through its laws and regulations, they take the view that the state has contributed to much of the political and legal climate that allows male dominance in the public sphere. They have thus enjoined the state to guarantee quotas in the legislature as a form of affirmative action to ensure that more women get political opportunities.

Another important issue is religious interpretation, which these women view as favoring men. Rethinking religious texts (the Koran, the hadith, or sayings of the Prophet, and fiqh), the interpretation of which has been male-biased to date, also represents part of their jihad.

Moderate and liberal Muslim women believe that gender inequality in Muslim families and societies has primarily resulted from improper religious interpretation and practice. They maintain that religion should never discriminate against human beings on a sexual basis.

One striking feature of this contemporary jihad is the networks established by individual Muslim women and institutions across national borders. Thus, Muslim women's institutions in Indonesia are linked to the Sisters in Islam in Malaysia and other women's organizations around the world. They hold conferences and other joint activities, not only to solidify their networks but also to provide a space where Muslim women can discuss their concerns, problems and proposed solutions.

A number of Muslim women's organizations also work with non- Muslim organizations. Interfaith women's networks and movements are made possible by the fact that women's problems cross religious lines. Jihad for them does not mean converting others to their faith, as some understand the term, but rather helping women understand their basic human rights and working out ways in which they can be liberated from social injustice.

Yet across the Muslim world, such active, progressive women are a tiny minority. Many more Muslim women are needed to take initiatives and work with men in such jihads, to focus on the empowerment of women as part of the true struggle against backwardness, illiteracy, poverty and social injustice.

The writer is also a fellow at the East-West Center, Honolulu, U.S.A.