As an academic, I must admit I enjoy conferences. Alright, not all conferences nor everything about them, but I do enjoy the prospect of learning new things, expanding my mind, and meeting new people. Last week saw two conferences on and for Muslim women. One was held in Barcelona, Spain, and the other in New Delhi, India, and both with very different agendas and attendees.

Unfortunately the MMW team weren’t able to attended neither, but we thought we would highlight them and their coverage here nonetheless, in an effort to demonstrate that Muslim women are indeed helping themselves. Eat your hearts out, Islamphobes!

October 24th through to the 27th saw the Third International Congress on Islamic Feminism being held in Barcelona, Spain. The perspective of Islamic Feminism that the conference forwards is as follows:

Islamic feminism is a Koran-centered reform movement by Muslim women with the linguistic and theological knowledge to challenge patriarchal interpretations and offer alternative readings in pursuit of women’s advancement and in refutation of Western stereotypes and Islamist orthodoxy alike. Islamic feminists are critical of women’s legal status and social positions and agree that women are placed in subordinate positions –by law and by custom– in the family, the economy, and the polity. In particular, they are critical of the content of Muslim family laws and the ways that these laws restrict women’s human rights and privilege men. And yet they vigorously disagree that Islam is implicated in this state of affairs. Their alternative argument is that Islam has been interpreted in patriarchal and often misogynistic ways over the centuries (and especially in recent decades), that Sharia law has been misunderstood and misapplied, and that both the spirit and the letter of the Koran have been distorted. Their insistence that what appears as God’s law is in fact human interpretation is an audacious challenge to contemporary orthodoxy. (…) Islamic feminism is part of what has been variously called Islamic modernism, liberalism, and reformism –a transnational effort to marginalize patriarchal, orthodox, and aggressive forms of Islamic observance and emphasize the norms of justice, peace, and equality.

Speakers attended from around the world and included both men and women, though mainly women. Muslim feminists such as Asma Barlas from the U.S./Pakistan, Amina Wadud, and Margot Badran from the U.S., Sabin Malik (pictured below right) from the U.K., Subhashini Ali from India, and the list goes on.

BBC News highlighted this conference on the 27th by presenting the words of some of the speakers themselves – an approach I felt appropriate for a conference meant to give voice to Muslim feminists – and the common theme among all speakers was a critique of traditional interpretations of Islam which have been seen as misogynistic. Thus, these women contend, un-patriarchal and non-misogynistic re-interpretations are required in the Muslim theological world. For instance, Rafiah Al-Talei of Oman stated “Sharia is fair, but it is the wrong interpretations that are the problem,” and Norani Othman of Malaysia said “[o]ur arguments are rooted within Islam – we want renewal and transformation within the Islamic framework.” This desire to work within the Islamic framework was also seconded by Dr. Amina Wadud of the U.S. when she said “Islam has much more flexibility, but patriarchy tends to have the same objective, and that is to limit our ability to understand ourselves as Muslims.” As can be seen from the above description, and the words of these women, this desire to remain within the framework of Islam but RE-interpret it was the common theme of the conference.

However, the conference in Spain was obviously for those who could afford to travel halfway around the world. As necessary and important as their work is, it is not accessible to all. And this leads us to the second conference, which had a much different tone.

This conference took place in New Dehli, India and the women attendees and speakers were from within the country. As this Telegraph report tells us, the focus of this conference was not on Islamic feminism but rather the everyday living problems of Muslim women in India, problems that mainly stem from poverty and lack of education.The story makes apparent the difficult situation within which many Muslims in India live. And these difficulties do not stem from clothing issues or honour killings, as many news reports would have us believe to be the main problem of Muslim women.* Rather, these difficulties stem from unfair wages that make it difficult for these women to survive, let alone support families. This particular news report tells us of many Muslim women’s heart-wrenching stories of trying to survive on minimal finances. However, these women do not have their stories told passively, but tell their stories actively, as the reporter, Githa Hariharan, tells us:

But these are not merely heartrending stories told by pathetic victims. Onstage, Naseem, Malka and Mujiba hold the audience with their articulate description of their living and working conditions. They know their rights. They know they can fight for these rights more effectively if they pool their individual strengths together to construct a collective strength. They know that a collective struggle will give greater meaning to their demands as struggling individual women.

There may be a world of difference between the women at the two conferences, but their ultimate message was the same – making changes to better the lives of Muslim women. While one conference tackled the issue of theology, sharia, and the need to re-interpret patriarchal readings of Islam, the other, not concerned with theology, vowed to ensure fair wages and thus an increase in financial security for the Muslim women of India. Both are necessary parts of a larger dialogue and discourse to improve the situation of Muslim women from within the Muslim world. To ensure that the issues important to Muslim women are addressed fairly and in a just manner, the involvement of Muslim women at all levels of change is necessary and these conferences are proof that Muslim women are aware of their responsibilities and capabilities.

*Though many Muslim women do face problems related to the aforementioned issues but for most Muslim women these are not the most pressing problems, nor are they that common in the Muslim world. Nonetheless they are problems which need attention.