Islam, Women's Rights and the Headscarf Question

Islam, Women's Rights and the Headscarf Question

The Democratic Paradox (Yeşim Arat) Religion Politics Decrease in Gender Equality

Arat: main problem is not the lifting of the headscarf ban [or Sharia law]. It is the propagation of patriarchal religious values sanctioning secondary roles for women through the state bureaucracy, as well as through the educational system and civil society organizations.

Islam Pre/Post Republic Pre Republic Caliphate Sharia courts and partly Sharia based legal system Religious order and foundations

Republican reforms Control women s body as a site of modernization and secularization? No ban on veiling. But regulations made sure women in public service adopt western dress codes New modern Turkish woman: female role models around Mustafa Kemal Ataturk..dressed in Western style. Attending Republican balls in decolleté dresses assured the legitimacy of a Turkish Islam for women, in which women could express their sexuality in public life. Question: is this true?

Islam Pre/Post Republic Post Republic (reformations) Islam disestablished Constitution states that the country s secular nature cannot be changed New civil code Secular ministry of education State oversight of religious affairs Westernization of esthetic

Change 1920 s Islamic authority absent from public life Complete state authority over religion 1950 s 1960 s Turkey moved from single party to multi party regime Call to prayer in Arabic and Islamic schools established 1960 military intervention 1961 constitution expanding freedom of expression and civil liberties Arat

Current 2001 AKP founded: European oriented Signs CEDAW (UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) 2007 AKP Gain supermajority and attempt constitutional changes 2008 the Constitutional Court finds the AKP guilty of undermining secular principles» Arat

Intertwining Intertwining of of religion Religion and Politics It s about Women s rights AKP Recruits are mostly religious and endorse traditional gender roles AKP bureaucrats and politicians are uncomfortable working with women and resent the presence of women without headscarves in public places Arat

Intertwining of religion and Politics Discouragement of women in entering the labor market Greater deterioration of women's employment rate under the AKP Women's ability to benefit from their fathers health insurance repealed Arat

Public Education Mandatory religious courses, regardless of faith, violate decree of EU Court of Human Rights Textbooks advise the use of headscarves for girls Public high schools with prayer rooms Philosophy teachers expected to engage in drills that prove the existence of God Number of theology students increased fom 813 to 2724.

Patriarchal Norms at the Directorate of Religious Affairs/Government Claims that the head covering is a requirement of Islam Exhorts women not to use perfume outside their homes, not remain alone with non-related men or flirt Mayor of Tuzla: subservience is expected and domestic violence is acceptable Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them. As for those whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them. Then if they obey you, take no further action against them. Surely God is most high. Quran 4:34 Arat/ Koran

Alcohol 2005 2008, 12.6 percent decrease in premises selling alcohol in Turkey (Nielsen) Ministry of Internal Affairs decree severely restricts businesses ability to serve alcoholic beverages Individual municipalities issue harsh restrictive decrees against alcohol related businesses» Arat

Civil Society: The Gülen Movement 200 high schools, 400 dershane and 25,000 capacity student dormitories Scholarships Students are, gently guided into the pious culture of the group Arat Encouragement to adapt to conventional patriarchal roles Pressure to dress appropriately (Arat) Fethullah Gulen

Implications Horizons are drawn in relation to what is perceived as possible Anne Phillips If opportunities are restricted, women will adapt their preferences Is there a glass ceiling? Arat

What does Arat Propose as Remedy? Integration into the global community to bolster women's rights EU Empowerment through religion Emerging Muslim bourgeoisie has an interest in integrating with the West Cross-cutting alliances between Islamist and secular feminists, secular and religious liberals

Islamist feminist Hidayet Şefkatli Tuksal and her uncovered friends demounced: control over women s bodies whether in the name of modernity, secularism, the Republic, religion, tradition, custom, morality, honor or freedom.

Nora Fisher Onar & Meltem Müftüler-Baç Turkish women's role(s) in society are viewed as a measure of the country's Europeanness. Is there one Europeanness? Is there one modernity? One modernity has been criticized as being Euro-centric and exclusive (of non-westerners).

It has been proposed that there can be alternative modernities compatible with universal values such as democracy and equality and EU-niversal values.. Thus, Islamists can spearhead Turkey s EU ambitions. Tey can be both modern, European and Muslim: They can be authentic modernizers who represent an alternative modernity.

Fisher and Baç question this claim: Alternative modernities can be exclusive, too. In debates over over criminalizing adultery and permitting veiling in universities.. the positions of secularists of all ideological backgrounds tended to converge with mainstream EU/ European positions, whereas pro-religious arguments sought to fuse EUniversal and Islamic perspectives. Does celebration of modernist Islamic imaginaries gloss over the privileging of patriarchal norms and practices in conservative contexts to the detriment of women?

European Modernity and the Rise of Islam Rise of European Modernity always already late leads to rejectionism Principle of Group Rights are Enshrined Newly independent states remain subordinate Modernist concepts invoked in Colonial Struggles Fisher, Muftuler-Bac

Women and Turkish Modernity Early Republicanism Granted women rights and access to the public sphere But nipped grass roots feminism in the bud Contemporary Turkey Both pro religious and secular organizations are primarily male dominated Turkey was ranked 129 out of 134 in terms of gender equality (Saudi Arabia was 130) Less than ten percent of congressional representatives are women 200 honor killings per year (half of the murder rate)» Fisher, Muftuler-Bac

AKP Efforts 2003 labor law revised to assure equal treatment 2004 penal code implements stricter punishments for crimes against women 2007 campaign to combat domestic violence and promote women s political representation However, these advances occurred amidst a broader agenda that many consider to undercut women s place in society Fisher, Muftuler-Bac

The Adultery Debate background Adultery banned under Ottoman and Islamic law The woman and the man guilty of unlawful sex (adultery or fornication), flog each of them with a hundred stripes; let not compassion move you in their case in a matter prescribed by Allah if ye believe in Allah and the Last day; and let a party of the believers witness their punishment. (Koran 24:2) Women s status transformed by the secularist revolution By 2002 Turkey had brought its in line with non discrimination» Fisher, Muftuler-Bac

The Adultery Debate 2004 AKP considers criminalizing adultery Backers of the plan argue it empowers women Bans polygamy Empowers spurned wives legally Opponents label the proposal backwards an regressive Infringement on sexual freedom Attempt to undermine laicist democratic order with Islamic law Portrays Turkey as misogynist and backwards» Fisher, Muftuler-Bac

The Adultery Debate cont. Proposal is pulled Was the proposal a poorly worded gaffe or reflective of an existential gap between westernized elite and Turkeys pious populace?» Fisher, Muftuler-Bac

The Headscarf debate ECHR Religious rights may be curtailed if they impinge on the rights and freedoms of others As such, veiling is curtailed in some EU countries ECHR has never endorsed a Turkish Muslims challenge» Fisher, Muftuler-Bac

Sources: Arat, Yeşim (2010). Religion, Politics and Gender Equality in Turkey: Implications of A Democratic paradox? Third World Quarterly 31 (6): 869-884 Fisher Onar, Nora and Meltem Müftüler-Baç (2011). The adultery and headscarf debates in Turkey: Fusing EU-niversal and alternative modernities? Women's Studies International Forum 34 (5): 378 389