Friday, January 20, 2012
Building Societies and the surburbanisation of Zimbabwe: A history
The essay traces the development of Zimbabwean housing finance and it's impact from the 1950s up to the present day. The essay argues that, consistent with the political landscape up to 1980 building societies largely benefitted the white minority and in the post independence period the emerging African bourgeois class were the immediate beneficiaries. The colonial and post-colonial trend contradicts the traditional mandate of building societies: providing housing to the small man. The essay also explores the responses of the small man as he sought inclusion in the urban housing landscape. To this end housing co-operatives are posited as the small man's response to a financial system marked by exclusion of the low income earners.
Zimbabwean musical discourses and the HIV/AIDS pandemic
The essay explores the various images that are projected in Zimbabwe popular music with regard to the AIDS pandemic. Sustained use of compositions by Oliver Mtukudzi, Thomas Mapfumo, Charles Charamba, and Leornard Zhakata interalia is made.
Social Networking and the creation of identities a Foucauldian analysis
The definition of self in a context of competing gazes on social networks forms the core of this forthcoming essay. The individual is caught up in a web of gazes that create contradictions in one's identity and self as he juggles around the various audiences that he interacts with on different social networks.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
RENEGOTIATING CITIZENSHIP: TOWARDS A NEW PARADIGM FOR AFRICA'S DEVELOPMENT
PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS
RENEGOTIATING CITIZENSHIP: TOWARDS A NEW PARADIGM IN AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT
This paper is an attempt to revitalize the debates on African development thought. Whatever shortcomings that may arise from the writer’s inexperience the paper would have achieved its aim if at its perusal the reader would stop and rethink Africa’s development or at least if at the end of it all the question : “Whither Africa?”, will ring in the reader’s mind. The overall call of this paper is for the revolutionizing of citizenship. The anatomy of the world this paper is calling to revolutionize is broadly made up of three groups identified as follows: the conservatives and reactionaries who are scattered across the globe [concentrated in the Western countries and in whose ranks belong the capitalist barons whose capital dominate the global capitalist system], the revolutionaries and ex-revolutionaries , and the world masses in whose ranks belong the world’s three-close-to-four billion poor.
Years ago I remember watching a vampire movie. What was particularly interesting was a conflict between the ‘pure bloods’ and those that were once human and had become vampires. The ‘pure bloods’ considered themselves more vampire than the other vampires. In the contest that followed the ‘pure bloods’, who occupied the leadership positions, were completely wiped out and a new leadership hierarchy, dominated by those vampires that were formerly human beings, emerged. The contest in the vampire world can be reduced to a contest for citizenship where one group of vampires sought recognition in a system which denied them that recognition. Though the leadership of the vampire kingdom changed the question of citizenry remained unresolved because the old divisions persisted and the process of change which had taken place was in essence a substitution of one form of tyranny for another. The vampire story though dissimilar with the African story in many respects provides an interesting starting point for an understanding of Africa’s current challenges, especially the challenge of citizenship in such countries as Zimbabwe and South Africa. The vampire story raises the following questions which are relevant for African development, [especially civic, political and economic development]:
1. What is the qualification for vampireship?
2. How should resources, leadership positions etc. be appropriated given the various and different ways that makes one a vampire?
3. Should these differences be used as justification to discriminate against other vampires?
4. Given the past where such discrimination was considered normal and in essence determined one’s access to economic and social goods resulting in entrenched inequalities can policy be neutral?
The answers to the above questions are especially important for Africa’s development given the various positions and statuses which the continent has enjoyed since her earliest interactions with the European Civilisations and their diasporas. Starting with the slave trade, through the advent of legitimate commerce, the evangelical missions of the 19th Century, colonialism, decolonization and the advent multi-lateral institutions and the much over-rated globalization, Africa has always come out second best. This observation should not be used as justification for reverse racism neither should neo-liberal thought take advantage of the condemnation of reverse racism to perpetuate inequalities which were deliberately constructed in the said periods of interaction.
In the African case issues of citizenship should be looked at from a global and local perspective; global in the sense that Africa has always interacted and continue to interact with the rest of the world; local in the sense that this interaction resulted in the rise of a variegated African landscape where ethnicity, language and race, politico-military and economic power among other variables continue to define citizenship.
THOUGHTS, JUST THOUGHTS!
RENEGOTIATING CITIZENSHIP: TOWARDS A NEW PARADIGM IN AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT
This paper is an attempt to revitalize the debates on African development thought. Whatever shortcomings that may arise from the writer’s inexperience the paper would have achieved its aim if at its perusal the reader would stop and rethink Africa’s development or at least if at the end of it all the question : “Whither Africa?”, will ring in the reader’s mind. The overall call of this paper is for the revolutionizing of citizenship. The anatomy of the world this paper is calling to revolutionize is broadly made up of three groups identified as follows: the conservatives and reactionaries who are scattered across the globe [concentrated in the Western countries and in whose ranks belong the capitalist barons whose capital dominate the global capitalist system], the revolutionaries and ex-revolutionaries , and the world masses in whose ranks belong the world’s three-close-to-four billion poor.
Years ago I remember watching a vampire movie. What was particularly interesting was a conflict between the ‘pure bloods’ and those that were once human and had become vampires. The ‘pure bloods’ considered themselves more vampire than the other vampires. In the contest that followed the ‘pure bloods’, who occupied the leadership positions, were completely wiped out and a new leadership hierarchy, dominated by those vampires that were formerly human beings, emerged. The contest in the vampire world can be reduced to a contest for citizenship where one group of vampires sought recognition in a system which denied them that recognition. Though the leadership of the vampire kingdom changed the question of citizenry remained unresolved because the old divisions persisted and the process of change which had taken place was in essence a substitution of one form of tyranny for another. The vampire story though dissimilar with the African story in many respects provides an interesting starting point for an understanding of Africa’s current challenges, especially the challenge of citizenship in such countries as Zimbabwe and South Africa. The vampire story raises the following questions which are relevant for African development, [especially civic, political and economic development]:
1. What is the qualification for vampireship?
2. How should resources, leadership positions etc. be appropriated given the various and different ways that makes one a vampire?
3. Should these differences be used as justification to discriminate against other vampires?
4. Given the past where such discrimination was considered normal and in essence determined one’s access to economic and social goods resulting in entrenched inequalities can policy be neutral?
The answers to the above questions are especially important for Africa’s development given the various positions and statuses which the continent has enjoyed since her earliest interactions with the European Civilisations and their diasporas. Starting with the slave trade, through the advent of legitimate commerce, the evangelical missions of the 19th Century, colonialism, decolonization and the advent multi-lateral institutions and the much over-rated globalization, Africa has always come out second best. This observation should not be used as justification for reverse racism neither should neo-liberal thought take advantage of the condemnation of reverse racism to perpetuate inequalities which were deliberately constructed in the said periods of interaction.
In the African case issues of citizenship should be looked at from a global and local perspective; global in the sense that Africa has always interacted and continue to interact with the rest of the world; local in the sense that this interaction resulted in the rise of a variegated African landscape where ethnicity, language and race, politico-military and economic power among other variables continue to define citizenship.
THOUGHTS, JUST THOUGHTS!
Friday, August 21, 2009
RELIGION AND GENDER ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT
TENDAYI ISAAC MAWANGO 2009
RELIGION AND GENDER ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle , and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. [Genesis 1: 26-27]
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. [Galatians 3: 28]
Whosoever performs good deeds , whether male or female, and is a believer, we shall surely make him live a good life, and we will certainly reward them for the best of what they did. [Qur’an 16: 97]
A woman is a flower in a garden; and her husband is the fence around it. [ Ghananian proverb]
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. [I Corinthians 14: 34-35]
Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because God has given the one more [strength] than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in [ the husband’s] absence what God would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them [ first], [next] refuse to share their beds, [ and last] beat them [lightly]; but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means [ of annoyance]: for God is Most High, Great [above you all]. [Qura’n 4: ]
The above quotations provide a window to appreciate gender relations as constructed in religion on the African continent. They capture, on the one hand, the ideal of equality, partnership and complementarity between the sexes; and on the other hand the reality of inequalities, oppression, suppression, exclusion and deprivation in Africa’s triple heritage of traditionalism, Islam and Christianity. The ideal picture of a religious arena which provides for equality among the sexes is however locked up somewhere in mythology, antiquity, or some other historical past where it is generally inaccessible. For the African traditionalist, a combination of colonialism, modernity and Christianity has made this ideal religious arena inaccessible. Christian and Muslim activists have thrown up arguments against a mis-constructed theology and an inflexible interpretation of the holy writings as being responsible for the marginalisation of the ‘weaker and fairer’ sex.[1] These excuses and arguments whether valid or otherwise bring us face to face with the reality that religion [in its multiple forms] in Africa has by and large led to greater inequalities between the sexes. By its very nature, religion, “as a set of common beliefs and practices held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual and religious law”[2], affect almost every area of human existence and endeavour and as such the inequalities arising as a result of religion are not restricted to the religious sphere but rather pervade all areas of human life. The Muslim religion clearly exemplifies this by denoting Islam: “a way of life”.
Most religions have at their core “man expressing his acknowledgement of a god”.[3] This acknowledgement involves assigning an identity and personality to the god. The construction of the identity of God in the different religions on the African continent has by and large been responsible for gender inequalities. Christianity and Islam construct the identity of God in masculine terms. In the Old Testament God is described as a “man of war.” [4] Throughout the Qur’an and the Bible God is: “the Father”; “the King”; “the Lord” and all His acts and promises are expressed in masculine terms. This is further compounded by the fact that His injunctions are either directed to the Prophet or men and emphasis is given to the “overlordship of the patriarch.”[5] Though both the Qur’an and the Bible are explicit in their distinction between God and man the identification of God in masculine terms has resulted in theologies which regard men as gods and in turn the subordination of women.[6] Traditional African religion presents a variegated picture in its construction of the identity of the divine. This, in part, is because of the polytheistic character of some of the African religions and the diverse forms of traditional religion on the continent. Among the Yoruba of Nigeria, the Bemba, the Ganda of Uganda, the Mende of Mali, and the San in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia both male and female deities are acknowledged. Among the Shona and the Ndebele of Zimbabwe, the Zulu and Xhosa in South Africa the identity of God is masculine [the terms Mwari, Umnkulunkulu are neutral but are generally perceived in a masculine sense]. An interesting point to note is that the female deities of the African continent are in most cases the wives and mothers of the male deities or the supreme-being. In addition they are only revered in the domestic settings with the male deities assuming a communal orientation.[7] This translates into the domestication of both the female deities and their human female counterparts hence religion is a carrier of gender inequalities.
Religion across Africa, be it in its traditional or Abrahamic character,[8] is interested in trying to explain the origins of human and other forms of life. Various myths have been generated as religion tried to grapple with this subject and this has had unfavourable effects on the status of women. This, is especially so in both Christianity and Islam. Biblical stories on the creation in the first three chapters of Genesis present a woman as one who was created out of a man’s rib. Contrary to God’s intention to provide “a helper meet” for man[9] woman has now been turned into s lesser being in current African theologies. The concept of a helper who is an equal is discarded in favour of one who occupies a servile position. African men therefore derive authority from being the first of God’s creation. Though the Qur’an does not carry a full account of the story of the creation it echoes the traditions of the Bible and many a muslim scholar uses the Judeo-Christian position.[10] In the Egyptian context the stories of the creation have generated the belief that a man is worth two women.[11] Traditional African religion, characterized by its diversity and complexity,[12] does not present a single front on the origins of human life. In East Africa, as observed by John Mbiti, human life is linked with God sharing the secrets and mysteries of birth and life with a woman.[13] Such myths empower women. In West Africa the biblical account is re-echoed in some myths. Among the Kwotto of Nigeria, for example, man was created first and woman was created last and when God was tired thus she turned to be a weaker being.[14] The overall picture which emerges from the myths and accounts of the origins of human life is one which impacts negatively on the status of women resulting in the perpetuation of gender inequalities.
The beginnings of human in the various myths is situated in glorious settings reminiscent of paradise and perfection succeeded by a process of decay and the banishment of man and woman from the perfect world of the creation. The construction of the process decay has been done at the expense of the women. Women are presented as the authors and mothers of sin. The account in Genesis 3 on the separation of man from God places the blame on the woman. The woman was the one who was beguiled by the snake resulting in both man and woman eating the forbidden fruit. Various theologies have developed around this story and these are reinforced by Pauline teachings which attribute sin to women.[15] In the Qur’anic tradition the responsibility for sin is carried by both man and woman.[16] Eve is not the temptress, but just as disobedient as Adam. Traditional African religions like Christianity have also apportioned the blame for separation from God to women. The Ashanti in Ghana allege that it was woman’s noise, generated from pounding fufu, which drove God higher into the sky and away from man.[17] The Bambuti also allege that it was a pregnant woman who ate the forbidden fruit resulting in God punishing the people with death. The apportionment of the blame for the explusion from paradise to women creates inequalities between the sexes in the religious arena. In fact women assume the character of evil which has to be resisted.
The definition of the relationship between spouses in marriage by the various religions on the African continent is detrimental to the status of women. The prescription by both Christianity and Islam carries a lot of contradictions which in the main has resulted in the subordination of women. The two religions urge husbands to be considerate in their dealings with their wives.[18] This presents the picture of a marriage premised on compassion and love and equality. In practice, however women are made subordinate to the husbands by theologies which emphasize those scriptures which call on women to submit to their husbands. An overemphasis on the requirement that a wife should honour and submit to her husband which, as captured in Pauline doctrine by drawing on the case of Sarah who called Abraham “my Lord” is severely inimical to the equality between the sexes in Christianity.[19] This is further compounded by the doctrine that man is the head of the household which, impacts negatively on women’s opportunities to influence decision making in the home. Though the subject of submission between spouses in a requirement for both men and women conventional teachings in the African Church and Mosque trivializes woman who is described as a weaker vessel. In Islam the gender imbalances are further worsened by the permissibility of polygamy and the authorization of physical punishment against the wife.[20] Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a naturalized Somali-Dutch parliamentarian, articulates the violence common in Islamic marriages as a direct result of the inflexible interpretation of the scriptures which is part of the Islamic idea of preserving the teachings of Mohammed in their original state.[21] In her opinion muslim women are trapped in a cycle of hopeless tyranny.[22] Traditional African practice generally re-echoes and reinforces the position captured in the case of Islam and Christianity. In the case of the Shona of Zimbabwe, there is this generally held view that in the first few days of marriage a man must assert his authority in the house by assaulting the wife. In addition the man is for all purposes the head of the family and the wife is no less than a child.
The construction of marriage and divorce in Africa’s three religions is also inimical to gender equality. Christianity emphasizes a monogamy which reduces women to the status of sheep which, have to be organized by men.[23] In addition the church rules out divorce and as such unwittingly condones the abuse and exploitation of women and promotes male domination.[24] In Islam and traditional African religion there is a tendency towards polygamous marriages. Though there are explicit calls in both religions that men should treat their wives fairly the situation on the ground is far cry from that ideal. Marriage is by and large an unhappy affair of neglect and abuse. Islam makes an effort at being sensitive to women in cases of divorce whether the woman or the man is the one suing for divorce by guaranteeing the upkeep of the woman for the three months immediately succeeding divorce. The man also has an obligation to look after the offspring after the divorce. In traditional Shona culture for example, divorce is a sad affair for the woman who literary loses the husband’s support and custody of the children. In the event of a divorce a suckling infant continues to stay with the mother until it is weaned. The parting gift (gupuro) is more an expression contempt than anything else because the amounts involved are ridiculously low to the extent that it can not give the woman meaningful sustenance. In some instances the parting token is the woman’s family.
The articulation of sexuality in Africa’s religious landscape is for all purposes and intents disempowering to the women. The three major religions recognize the importance of women in reproduction and hence the perpetuation of the family and the nation. An African proverb succinctly captures this in the following manner: “To beget a woman is to beget a man.”[25] This proverb recognizes and carries the hope that the wife will bear both girls and boys after marriage. The Shona equate the woman/wife with the perpetuation of the household. In Ghana the belief is that a serviceable wife will be blessed with the birth of the tenth child. [26]This recognition of a woman’s importance in perpetuation of life can degenerate into a situation where women become child-bearing machines and nothing else. Though important in guaranteeing the perpetuation of the society, a woman’s sexuality is also looked at in negative terms. The three religions on consider women as unclean and unsafe during their menstrual cycles. A woman’s beauty is also derided and is reduced to something that a woman should be ashamed of. Among the Tsonga and Shangana it is generally held that one should not desire a woman with beautiful breasts if one has no money.[27] The situation is even worse in Islam where a woman’s beauty should be hidden behind the veil and virginity is guarded jealously to the extent that women are generally secluded hence Ali’s characterisation of women in Islam as being in a cage.[28] Christianity also carries the same message as Islam but in a rather diluted form. It should be noted the Bible carries a whole book, Songs of Songs which, celebrates the beauty of a woman.
The economic positions articulated by religion for both men and women are also responsible for gender imbalances and inequalities. In traditional African practice economic goods are constructed and understood in a gendered manner which disadvantages the woman. In Shona society, for example, the man controls the family granary and the staple food, maize, is a male crop. This scenario also extends to livestock where women generally own small stock and chickens. In Islam the man has a mandate to look after the family and as such there is an injunction on man to actively pursue economic prosperity whereas the wife should be looked after and as such she is schooled into ignorance and laziness.[29] Women in Islam can own and control property and are under no obligation to contribute to the family’s upkeep, whatever income they have they can dispose of it as they please.[30] The situation in Islam is premised on the theology that women should be spared from the struggles and worries for livelihood and give attention to home making.[31] This translates to the neglect of the development of women hence the earlier comment that women are schooled into ignorance and laziness. In Judeo-Christian heritage, as understood and practiced on the African continent, the man should work for the upkeep of the family. The link between Christianity and the liberal west dilute the extent to which women are excluded in the economic arena in Christianity. The Pentecostal Church in Zimbabwe has of late been striving towards the economic empowerment of women through taking up the challenge of the virtuous woman of the Proverbs who is actively involved in income generating activities and managing the estate.[32]
The extent to which the sexes access education and opportunities to develop their intellect in Africa has also been influenced by religion. Historically and theoretically Islam was pro the education and intellectual development of both man and women. During the Sokoto Jihad led by Usman dan Fordio women were encouraged to read and be enlightened. In fact the Jihadists actually condemned men for denying their wives a chance to study.[33] In the Koranic verses all believers irrespective of sex are encouraged to read and study. The quest for knowledge is an important part of the Islamic faith hence “only those of his servants who are learned truly fear God”.[34] These ideals were responsible for the active scholarship which transcended the sexual divide in 19th century West Africa. In present day Africa muslim women are by and large secluded and excluded from the intellectual arena as result of ‘religious decay’.[35] Traditional African practice expects the man to go out and hunt and feed the family thus education as a modern form of hunting which equips the man to feed the family is considered the domain of man. This is especially the case where resources are limited and the man child is given priority over the girl child. A Shona construction views the girl-child as one who enriches another family [this is based on the premise that upon marriage the girl-child joins the husband’s family] and as such should not be given priority when it comes to sharing resources for financing education. The advent of Christianity on the African continent in the nineteenth century was accompanied by the transfer of Western cultures and their biases hence in the case of former British colonies the heritage of Victorian male chauvinism found it’s way into the colonies. This means that though women had and have access to education, missionary education was primarily concerned with producing good wives and thus it reinforced the biases carried in traditional African practice.
Religion’s definition of the utilization of space by sexes also exacerbates gender inequalities. A woman’s participation is restricted to the household whereas the man has the whole of God’s world to explore and milk for his benefit. In Islam the domain of the woman is to a greater extent restricted to the household. When a woman goes into the streets or some public space [occassionally] she has to be veiled. The veil is synonymous with seclusion and the definition of social space into male and female space.[36]The woman’s space being private and the man’s public. The veil becomes an expression of the invisibility of the woman in the public arena and in turn strips her of the chance to participate in it.[37] Though the veil is physically absent in both Christianity and traditional religion the woman’s participation in the public arena is severely handicapped by the emphasis on “decent” and “modest” conduct.
The extent of participation and the roles taken by the different sexes within the religious establishment also demonstrates the extent to religion also militates against gender equality in Africa. In all the three religions the spiritual equality of the sexes is recognized.[38] This equality, however, is restricted to membership as leadership positions are to a larger extent monopolized by man. Mercy Oduyoye laments the situation in the Church where the ecclesia remains male in outlook.[39] Musa Wenkosi Dube reiterates the point by presenting women in a vicious circle in which they are “the daughters of their fathers, the mothers of their children and are led by males in the Church”. [40] In Islam leadership is also monopolized by the men. In African religion a complex power sharing relationship exists. The situation echoes Winnie Wanzala’s view that power relations are not always uni-dimensional, that is the existence of an all powerful male group which dominates women.[41] Power becomes situational and decentralized. Women derive authority by presiding over certain rituals which man can not perform for example the initiation of girls into womanhood.[42] Thanksgiving rituals for the birth of a child and subsequent dedication are performed by the father and the mother. In addition female spirit mediums are common if not dominant. Kilson shoots down female authority derived from spirit possession by pointing out that the respect accorded is only limited to the time when one is actually possessed by the spirit. She extends her argument by pointing out that female mediums are only important in as much as they are given authority and space to participate by the male priests who have overall authority in the cult.[43] Female spiritual healers also pervade the African landscape and essence these are gendered males.[44]
The systems and laws regulating inheritance in religion have the effect of disempowering women culminating in the perpetuation of gender inequalities. In Islam an heiress receives half the portion that an heir receives. This is premised on the position that it is man and not woman who has the responsibility of looking after the family. An important point to concede is that whatever the woman receives she assumes full ownership. The Judeo-Christian heritage defines inheritance from a patriarchal stance hence in the biblical stories the male children enjoy the father’s estate and girls are simply married off.[45] In traditional African religion the practice of giving a smaller share of the parental estate to the female heir is justified on the grounds that she is likely to receive an additional portion from her marriage.[46] In Shona culture married women are viewed as “vatorwa” (outsiders) and hence the chances of inheriting the marriage estate are always in doubt.
The doctrines of both Islam and Christianity are also insensitive to gender. Women are treated as the others. Biblical accounts rarely mention the names of the women irrespective of whether or not there are at the centre of the account. The account of the healing of the woman with the issue of blood and Jairus’s daughter in Mark’s gospel clearly exemplifies this.[47] The stories of the feeding of the 4000 and 5000 deliberately exclude women from the number of those who were fed. This has led to rise of a theology which trivializes women. In Islam women are also treated as the “others” and are by and large faceless and nameless in the accounts of the Qur’an. Mary the mother of Jesus is amongst the few women who receive attention in the Qur’anic verses and still one can argue that she still an insignificant other because she primarily is the mother of a great prophet who at the end of the day assumes centre stage. The household of God in both Islam and Christianity is therefore a theatre of gender inequalities which are enshrined in the doctrines of the faiths.
What becomes apparent from the preceding discussion is that religion affects almost every area of life. Its direct and indirect effects on relations in marriage, within the religious establishments, and society at large negatively impact on the status of women and promote male domination. In this regard therefore religion has to a larger extent worsened gender inequalities by creating its own and reinforcing other social, economic and political inequalities.
REFERENCES
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman’s Cry for Reason, London, Simon and Schuster UK Ltd, 2007.
Balghis Badri (Ed), The Gender and Women’s Studies Textbook, Khartoum, Ahfad University, 2001.
Bodman Herbert and Nayereh Tohidi (ed.s), Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity within Unity, London, Lynne Reinne Publishers, 1998.
Dube M.W., ‘Little Girl, Get Up”, in Njoroge N.J. and Dube M.W., Talitha cum!Theologies of African W omen, Pietermaritzburg, Cluster Publications, 2001
Lemu Aisha B. and Heeren, Woman in Islam, Leicester, Cromwell Press ltd, 1976.
Muchiri, N., “Book Review: Women and Land in Africa: Culture, Religion and Realizing Women’s Rights”, Wanyeka Muthoni L. (ed), London, Zed Books, 2003” in JENDA, Vol. 7, 2005.
Mufema E., “Empowerment and Development of Women in Egypt: Salient challenges of the 1990S” in McFadden P(ed), Reflections on Gender Issues in Africa, Harare, Sapes Books, 1999, pp.85-108.
Wanzala Winnie, “Towards an Epistemological and Methodological Frame of Development” in McFadden P. (ed), Southern Africa in Transition: A Gendered Perspective, Harare, Sapes Trust, 1998.
Internet Sources
http:// www.afrikaworld.net/afrel.
http:// www.thecirclecawt.org.
http:// www.webstar.co.uk.
http:// www.en.wikipedia.org.
http:// www.godonthe.net
[1] The reference to woman as the weaker sex is dominant in Islamic and Christian theologies.
[2] http:// www.en.wikipedia.org.
[3] http:// www.godonthe.net. The term man in this case should be understood in its neutral aense.
[4] Genesis 15: 3
[5] Herbert L. Bodman, “Introduction”, in H.L. Bodman and N. Tohidi (ed.s) Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity Within Unity, London, Lynne Reinne Publishers, 1998, p.4.
[6] http:// www.thecirclecawt.org.
[7] Marion Kilson, Women in African Traditional Religions: http:// www..jstor/ Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol.8.2
[8] The term establishes the common roots of both Islam and Judeo-Christian religions.
[9] Genesis 2: 18.
[10] Herbert L. Bodman, “ Introduction”, in Bodman H..L. and Tohidi N. (ed.s), Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity Within Unity, p. 5
[11] Edmore Mufema, “Empowerment and Development of Women in Egypt: Salient challenges of the 1990S” in McFadden P(ed), Reflections on Gender Issues in Africa, Harare, Sapes Books, 1999, p.98.
[12] Marion Kilson, Women in African Traditional Religions.
[13] http:// www.afrikaworld.net/afrel.
[14] Ibid.
[15] I Timothy 2: 15. Elsewhere Paul says sin entered the world through man, but it is the first dimension of his “contradictory” message which has greater sway in the Church in A frica. Maybe the overall domination of the Church hierarchy by man is responsible for this.
[16] Herbert L. Bodman, “Introduction”, p.5.
[17] http:// www.afrikaworld.net/afrel.
[18] Qura’n 30:21 and Ephesians 6.
[19]
[20] Qur’an 4:34.
[21] Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman’s Cry for Reason, London, Simon and Schuster UK Ltd, 2007, p.3-7.
[22] Ibid, p.7.
[23] Mary Nyambura Muchiri, Book Review: Women and Land in Africa: Culture, Religion and realizing Women’s Rights, in JENDA, No.7, p.1.
[24] Ibid.
[25] http:// www.afikaworld.net/sfrel.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Ibid.
[28] Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin.
[29] Ibid
[30] B. Aisha Lemu, Woman in Islam, Leicester, Cromwell Press Ltd, 1976, pp.22-23.
[31] Ibid, p.19.
[32] Proverbs 31: 10-27. The Zimbabwe Assemblies of God (ZAOGA) is actively pursuing the mandate in the said scriptures in its women’s organisations.
[33] http:// www.webstar.co.uk.
[34] Qur’an, Sura 35: 28.
[35] http:// www.webstar.co.uk.
[36] Herbert L. Bodman, “ Introduction”, in Bodman H..L. and Tohidi N. (ed.s), Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity Within Unity, p. 5.
[37] Ibid, p.4.
[38] Qur’an 16: 94 and I Corinthians 14: 34-35.
[39] http:// www.thecircleawt.org.
[40] Musa Wenkosi Dube, “Little Girl, Get Up”, in Njoroge N.J. and Dube M.W., Talitha cum!Theologies of African W omen, Pietermaritzburg, Cluster Publications, 2001
p.35.
[41] Winnie Wanzala, “Towards an Epistemological and Methodological Frame of Development” in McFadden P. (ed), Southern Africa in Transition: A Gendered Perspective, Harare, Sapes Trust, 1998, p.1.
[42] http:// www.afrikaworld.net/afrel.
[43] Ibid
[44] http:// www.thecircleawt.org. Gendered males in the opinion of the circle are women who have a type of authority over men which can be equated to that which white women had over African men in a colonial set up. These women are also gendered males because they are not representative of the broader group of women in their society. In fact these gendered males are also the oppressors and exploiters of other women.
[45] In the book of Genesis Abraham was concerned about getting a son who would inherit his wealth. Jacob extended his blessings to his twelve sons and no mention is made of his daughters.
[46] Mary Nyambura Muchiri, Women and Land: Culture, Religion And Realizing Women’s Rights, p.4.
[47] Mark 5 and Musa Wenkosi Dube, “Little Girl, Get Up”, p.3-8.
RELIGION AND GENDER ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle , and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. [Genesis 1: 26-27]
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. [Galatians 3: 28]
Whosoever performs good deeds , whether male or female, and is a believer, we shall surely make him live a good life, and we will certainly reward them for the best of what they did. [Qur’an 16: 97]
A woman is a flower in a garden; and her husband is the fence around it. [ Ghananian proverb]
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. [I Corinthians 14: 34-35]
Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because God has given the one more [strength] than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in [ the husband’s] absence what God would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them [ first], [next] refuse to share their beds, [ and last] beat them [lightly]; but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means [ of annoyance]: for God is Most High, Great [above you all]. [Qura’n 4: ]
The above quotations provide a window to appreciate gender relations as constructed in religion on the African continent. They capture, on the one hand, the ideal of equality, partnership and complementarity between the sexes; and on the other hand the reality of inequalities, oppression, suppression, exclusion and deprivation in Africa’s triple heritage of traditionalism, Islam and Christianity. The ideal picture of a religious arena which provides for equality among the sexes is however locked up somewhere in mythology, antiquity, or some other historical past where it is generally inaccessible. For the African traditionalist, a combination of colonialism, modernity and Christianity has made this ideal religious arena inaccessible. Christian and Muslim activists have thrown up arguments against a mis-constructed theology and an inflexible interpretation of the holy writings as being responsible for the marginalisation of the ‘weaker and fairer’ sex.[1] These excuses and arguments whether valid or otherwise bring us face to face with the reality that religion [in its multiple forms] in Africa has by and large led to greater inequalities between the sexes. By its very nature, religion, “as a set of common beliefs and practices held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual and religious law”[2], affect almost every area of human existence and endeavour and as such the inequalities arising as a result of religion are not restricted to the religious sphere but rather pervade all areas of human life. The Muslim religion clearly exemplifies this by denoting Islam: “a way of life”.
Most religions have at their core “man expressing his acknowledgement of a god”.[3] This acknowledgement involves assigning an identity and personality to the god. The construction of the identity of God in the different religions on the African continent has by and large been responsible for gender inequalities. Christianity and Islam construct the identity of God in masculine terms. In the Old Testament God is described as a “man of war.” [4] Throughout the Qur’an and the Bible God is: “the Father”; “the King”; “the Lord” and all His acts and promises are expressed in masculine terms. This is further compounded by the fact that His injunctions are either directed to the Prophet or men and emphasis is given to the “overlordship of the patriarch.”[5] Though both the Qur’an and the Bible are explicit in their distinction between God and man the identification of God in masculine terms has resulted in theologies which regard men as gods and in turn the subordination of women.[6] Traditional African religion presents a variegated picture in its construction of the identity of the divine. This, in part, is because of the polytheistic character of some of the African religions and the diverse forms of traditional religion on the continent. Among the Yoruba of Nigeria, the Bemba, the Ganda of Uganda, the Mende of Mali, and the San in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia both male and female deities are acknowledged. Among the Shona and the Ndebele of Zimbabwe, the Zulu and Xhosa in South Africa the identity of God is masculine [the terms Mwari, Umnkulunkulu are neutral but are generally perceived in a masculine sense]. An interesting point to note is that the female deities of the African continent are in most cases the wives and mothers of the male deities or the supreme-being. In addition they are only revered in the domestic settings with the male deities assuming a communal orientation.[7] This translates into the domestication of both the female deities and their human female counterparts hence religion is a carrier of gender inequalities.
Religion across Africa, be it in its traditional or Abrahamic character,[8] is interested in trying to explain the origins of human and other forms of life. Various myths have been generated as religion tried to grapple with this subject and this has had unfavourable effects on the status of women. This, is especially so in both Christianity and Islam. Biblical stories on the creation in the first three chapters of Genesis present a woman as one who was created out of a man’s rib. Contrary to God’s intention to provide “a helper meet” for man[9] woman has now been turned into s lesser being in current African theologies. The concept of a helper who is an equal is discarded in favour of one who occupies a servile position. African men therefore derive authority from being the first of God’s creation. Though the Qur’an does not carry a full account of the story of the creation it echoes the traditions of the Bible and many a muslim scholar uses the Judeo-Christian position.[10] In the Egyptian context the stories of the creation have generated the belief that a man is worth two women.[11] Traditional African religion, characterized by its diversity and complexity,[12] does not present a single front on the origins of human life. In East Africa, as observed by John Mbiti, human life is linked with God sharing the secrets and mysteries of birth and life with a woman.[13] Such myths empower women. In West Africa the biblical account is re-echoed in some myths. Among the Kwotto of Nigeria, for example, man was created first and woman was created last and when God was tired thus she turned to be a weaker being.[14] The overall picture which emerges from the myths and accounts of the origins of human life is one which impacts negatively on the status of women resulting in the perpetuation of gender inequalities.
The beginnings of human in the various myths is situated in glorious settings reminiscent of paradise and perfection succeeded by a process of decay and the banishment of man and woman from the perfect world of the creation. The construction of the process decay has been done at the expense of the women. Women are presented as the authors and mothers of sin. The account in Genesis 3 on the separation of man from God places the blame on the woman. The woman was the one who was beguiled by the snake resulting in both man and woman eating the forbidden fruit. Various theologies have developed around this story and these are reinforced by Pauline teachings which attribute sin to women.[15] In the Qur’anic tradition the responsibility for sin is carried by both man and woman.[16] Eve is not the temptress, but just as disobedient as Adam. Traditional African religions like Christianity have also apportioned the blame for separation from God to women. The Ashanti in Ghana allege that it was woman’s noise, generated from pounding fufu, which drove God higher into the sky and away from man.[17] The Bambuti also allege that it was a pregnant woman who ate the forbidden fruit resulting in God punishing the people with death. The apportionment of the blame for the explusion from paradise to women creates inequalities between the sexes in the religious arena. In fact women assume the character of evil which has to be resisted.
The definition of the relationship between spouses in marriage by the various religions on the African continent is detrimental to the status of women. The prescription by both Christianity and Islam carries a lot of contradictions which in the main has resulted in the subordination of women. The two religions urge husbands to be considerate in their dealings with their wives.[18] This presents the picture of a marriage premised on compassion and love and equality. In practice, however women are made subordinate to the husbands by theologies which emphasize those scriptures which call on women to submit to their husbands. An overemphasis on the requirement that a wife should honour and submit to her husband which, as captured in Pauline doctrine by drawing on the case of Sarah who called Abraham “my Lord” is severely inimical to the equality between the sexes in Christianity.[19] This is further compounded by the doctrine that man is the head of the household which, impacts negatively on women’s opportunities to influence decision making in the home. Though the subject of submission between spouses in a requirement for both men and women conventional teachings in the African Church and Mosque trivializes woman who is described as a weaker vessel. In Islam the gender imbalances are further worsened by the permissibility of polygamy and the authorization of physical punishment against the wife.[20] Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a naturalized Somali-Dutch parliamentarian, articulates the violence common in Islamic marriages as a direct result of the inflexible interpretation of the scriptures which is part of the Islamic idea of preserving the teachings of Mohammed in their original state.[21] In her opinion muslim women are trapped in a cycle of hopeless tyranny.[22] Traditional African practice generally re-echoes and reinforces the position captured in the case of Islam and Christianity. In the case of the Shona of Zimbabwe, there is this generally held view that in the first few days of marriage a man must assert his authority in the house by assaulting the wife. In addition the man is for all purposes the head of the family and the wife is no less than a child.
The construction of marriage and divorce in Africa’s three religions is also inimical to gender equality. Christianity emphasizes a monogamy which reduces women to the status of sheep which, have to be organized by men.[23] In addition the church rules out divorce and as such unwittingly condones the abuse and exploitation of women and promotes male domination.[24] In Islam and traditional African religion there is a tendency towards polygamous marriages. Though there are explicit calls in both religions that men should treat their wives fairly the situation on the ground is far cry from that ideal. Marriage is by and large an unhappy affair of neglect and abuse. Islam makes an effort at being sensitive to women in cases of divorce whether the woman or the man is the one suing for divorce by guaranteeing the upkeep of the woman for the three months immediately succeeding divorce. The man also has an obligation to look after the offspring after the divorce. In traditional Shona culture for example, divorce is a sad affair for the woman who literary loses the husband’s support and custody of the children. In the event of a divorce a suckling infant continues to stay with the mother until it is weaned. The parting gift (gupuro) is more an expression contempt than anything else because the amounts involved are ridiculously low to the extent that it can not give the woman meaningful sustenance. In some instances the parting token is the woman’s family.
The articulation of sexuality in Africa’s religious landscape is for all purposes and intents disempowering to the women. The three major religions recognize the importance of women in reproduction and hence the perpetuation of the family and the nation. An African proverb succinctly captures this in the following manner: “To beget a woman is to beget a man.”[25] This proverb recognizes and carries the hope that the wife will bear both girls and boys after marriage. The Shona equate the woman/wife with the perpetuation of the household. In Ghana the belief is that a serviceable wife will be blessed with the birth of the tenth child. [26]This recognition of a woman’s importance in perpetuation of life can degenerate into a situation where women become child-bearing machines and nothing else. Though important in guaranteeing the perpetuation of the society, a woman’s sexuality is also looked at in negative terms. The three religions on consider women as unclean and unsafe during their menstrual cycles. A woman’s beauty is also derided and is reduced to something that a woman should be ashamed of. Among the Tsonga and Shangana it is generally held that one should not desire a woman with beautiful breasts if one has no money.[27] The situation is even worse in Islam where a woman’s beauty should be hidden behind the veil and virginity is guarded jealously to the extent that women are generally secluded hence Ali’s characterisation of women in Islam as being in a cage.[28] Christianity also carries the same message as Islam but in a rather diluted form. It should be noted the Bible carries a whole book, Songs of Songs which, celebrates the beauty of a woman.
The economic positions articulated by religion for both men and women are also responsible for gender imbalances and inequalities. In traditional African practice economic goods are constructed and understood in a gendered manner which disadvantages the woman. In Shona society, for example, the man controls the family granary and the staple food, maize, is a male crop. This scenario also extends to livestock where women generally own small stock and chickens. In Islam the man has a mandate to look after the family and as such there is an injunction on man to actively pursue economic prosperity whereas the wife should be looked after and as such she is schooled into ignorance and laziness.[29] Women in Islam can own and control property and are under no obligation to contribute to the family’s upkeep, whatever income they have they can dispose of it as they please.[30] The situation in Islam is premised on the theology that women should be spared from the struggles and worries for livelihood and give attention to home making.[31] This translates to the neglect of the development of women hence the earlier comment that women are schooled into ignorance and laziness. In Judeo-Christian heritage, as understood and practiced on the African continent, the man should work for the upkeep of the family. The link between Christianity and the liberal west dilute the extent to which women are excluded in the economic arena in Christianity. The Pentecostal Church in Zimbabwe has of late been striving towards the economic empowerment of women through taking up the challenge of the virtuous woman of the Proverbs who is actively involved in income generating activities and managing the estate.[32]
The extent to which the sexes access education and opportunities to develop their intellect in Africa has also been influenced by religion. Historically and theoretically Islam was pro the education and intellectual development of both man and women. During the Sokoto Jihad led by Usman dan Fordio women were encouraged to read and be enlightened. In fact the Jihadists actually condemned men for denying their wives a chance to study.[33] In the Koranic verses all believers irrespective of sex are encouraged to read and study. The quest for knowledge is an important part of the Islamic faith hence “only those of his servants who are learned truly fear God”.[34] These ideals were responsible for the active scholarship which transcended the sexual divide in 19th century West Africa. In present day Africa muslim women are by and large secluded and excluded from the intellectual arena as result of ‘religious decay’.[35] Traditional African practice expects the man to go out and hunt and feed the family thus education as a modern form of hunting which equips the man to feed the family is considered the domain of man. This is especially the case where resources are limited and the man child is given priority over the girl child. A Shona construction views the girl-child as one who enriches another family [this is based on the premise that upon marriage the girl-child joins the husband’s family] and as such should not be given priority when it comes to sharing resources for financing education. The advent of Christianity on the African continent in the nineteenth century was accompanied by the transfer of Western cultures and their biases hence in the case of former British colonies the heritage of Victorian male chauvinism found it’s way into the colonies. This means that though women had and have access to education, missionary education was primarily concerned with producing good wives and thus it reinforced the biases carried in traditional African practice.
Religion’s definition of the utilization of space by sexes also exacerbates gender inequalities. A woman’s participation is restricted to the household whereas the man has the whole of God’s world to explore and milk for his benefit. In Islam the domain of the woman is to a greater extent restricted to the household. When a woman goes into the streets or some public space [occassionally] she has to be veiled. The veil is synonymous with seclusion and the definition of social space into male and female space.[36]The woman’s space being private and the man’s public. The veil becomes an expression of the invisibility of the woman in the public arena and in turn strips her of the chance to participate in it.[37] Though the veil is physically absent in both Christianity and traditional religion the woman’s participation in the public arena is severely handicapped by the emphasis on “decent” and “modest” conduct.
The extent of participation and the roles taken by the different sexes within the religious establishment also demonstrates the extent to religion also militates against gender equality in Africa. In all the three religions the spiritual equality of the sexes is recognized.[38] This equality, however, is restricted to membership as leadership positions are to a larger extent monopolized by man. Mercy Oduyoye laments the situation in the Church where the ecclesia remains male in outlook.[39] Musa Wenkosi Dube reiterates the point by presenting women in a vicious circle in which they are “the daughters of their fathers, the mothers of their children and are led by males in the Church”. [40] In Islam leadership is also monopolized by the men. In African religion a complex power sharing relationship exists. The situation echoes Winnie Wanzala’s view that power relations are not always uni-dimensional, that is the existence of an all powerful male group which dominates women.[41] Power becomes situational and decentralized. Women derive authority by presiding over certain rituals which man can not perform for example the initiation of girls into womanhood.[42] Thanksgiving rituals for the birth of a child and subsequent dedication are performed by the father and the mother. In addition female spirit mediums are common if not dominant. Kilson shoots down female authority derived from spirit possession by pointing out that the respect accorded is only limited to the time when one is actually possessed by the spirit. She extends her argument by pointing out that female mediums are only important in as much as they are given authority and space to participate by the male priests who have overall authority in the cult.[43] Female spiritual healers also pervade the African landscape and essence these are gendered males.[44]
The systems and laws regulating inheritance in religion have the effect of disempowering women culminating in the perpetuation of gender inequalities. In Islam an heiress receives half the portion that an heir receives. This is premised on the position that it is man and not woman who has the responsibility of looking after the family. An important point to concede is that whatever the woman receives she assumes full ownership. The Judeo-Christian heritage defines inheritance from a patriarchal stance hence in the biblical stories the male children enjoy the father’s estate and girls are simply married off.[45] In traditional African religion the practice of giving a smaller share of the parental estate to the female heir is justified on the grounds that she is likely to receive an additional portion from her marriage.[46] In Shona culture married women are viewed as “vatorwa” (outsiders) and hence the chances of inheriting the marriage estate are always in doubt.
The doctrines of both Islam and Christianity are also insensitive to gender. Women are treated as the others. Biblical accounts rarely mention the names of the women irrespective of whether or not there are at the centre of the account. The account of the healing of the woman with the issue of blood and Jairus’s daughter in Mark’s gospel clearly exemplifies this.[47] The stories of the feeding of the 4000 and 5000 deliberately exclude women from the number of those who were fed. This has led to rise of a theology which trivializes women. In Islam women are also treated as the “others” and are by and large faceless and nameless in the accounts of the Qur’an. Mary the mother of Jesus is amongst the few women who receive attention in the Qur’anic verses and still one can argue that she still an insignificant other because she primarily is the mother of a great prophet who at the end of the day assumes centre stage. The household of God in both Islam and Christianity is therefore a theatre of gender inequalities which are enshrined in the doctrines of the faiths.
What becomes apparent from the preceding discussion is that religion affects almost every area of life. Its direct and indirect effects on relations in marriage, within the religious establishments, and society at large negatively impact on the status of women and promote male domination. In this regard therefore religion has to a larger extent worsened gender inequalities by creating its own and reinforcing other social, economic and political inequalities.
REFERENCES
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman’s Cry for Reason, London, Simon and Schuster UK Ltd, 2007.
Balghis Badri (Ed), The Gender and Women’s Studies Textbook, Khartoum, Ahfad University, 2001.
Bodman Herbert and Nayereh Tohidi (ed.s), Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity within Unity, London, Lynne Reinne Publishers, 1998.
Dube M.W., ‘Little Girl, Get Up”, in Njoroge N.J. and Dube M.W., Talitha cum!Theologies of African W omen, Pietermaritzburg, Cluster Publications, 2001
Lemu Aisha B. and Heeren, Woman in Islam, Leicester, Cromwell Press ltd, 1976.
Muchiri, N., “Book Review: Women and Land in Africa: Culture, Religion and Realizing Women’s Rights”, Wanyeka Muthoni L. (ed), London, Zed Books, 2003” in JENDA, Vol. 7, 2005.
Mufema E., “Empowerment and Development of Women in Egypt: Salient challenges of the 1990S” in McFadden P(ed), Reflections on Gender Issues in Africa, Harare, Sapes Books, 1999, pp.85-108.
Wanzala Winnie, “Towards an Epistemological and Methodological Frame of Development” in McFadden P. (ed), Southern Africa in Transition: A Gendered Perspective, Harare, Sapes Trust, 1998.
Internet Sources
http:// www.afrikaworld.net/afrel.
http:// www.thecirclecawt.org.
http:// www.webstar.co.uk.
http:// www.en.wikipedia.org.
http:// www.godonthe.net
[1] The reference to woman as the weaker sex is dominant in Islamic and Christian theologies.
[2] http:// www.en.wikipedia.org.
[3] http:// www.godonthe.net. The term man in this case should be understood in its neutral aense.
[4] Genesis 15: 3
[5] Herbert L. Bodman, “Introduction”, in H.L. Bodman and N. Tohidi (ed.s) Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity Within Unity, London, Lynne Reinne Publishers, 1998, p.4.
[6] http:// www.thecirclecawt.org.
[7] Marion Kilson, Women in African Traditional Religions: http:// www..jstor/ Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol.8.2
[8] The term establishes the common roots of both Islam and Judeo-Christian religions.
[9] Genesis 2: 18.
[10] Herbert L. Bodman, “ Introduction”, in Bodman H..L. and Tohidi N. (ed.s), Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity Within Unity, p. 5
[11] Edmore Mufema, “Empowerment and Development of Women in Egypt: Salient challenges of the 1990S” in McFadden P(ed), Reflections on Gender Issues in Africa, Harare, Sapes Books, 1999, p.98.
[12] Marion Kilson, Women in African Traditional Religions.
[13] http:// www.afrikaworld.net/afrel.
[14] Ibid.
[15] I Timothy 2: 15. Elsewhere Paul says sin entered the world through man, but it is the first dimension of his “contradictory” message which has greater sway in the Church in A frica. Maybe the overall domination of the Church hierarchy by man is responsible for this.
[16] Herbert L. Bodman, “Introduction”, p.5.
[17] http:// www.afrikaworld.net/afrel.
[18] Qura’n 30:21 and Ephesians 6.
[19]
[20] Qur’an 4:34.
[21] Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman’s Cry for Reason, London, Simon and Schuster UK Ltd, 2007, p.3-7.
[22] Ibid, p.7.
[23] Mary Nyambura Muchiri, Book Review: Women and Land in Africa: Culture, Religion and realizing Women’s Rights, in JENDA, No.7, p.1.
[24] Ibid.
[25] http:// www.afikaworld.net/sfrel.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Ibid.
[28] Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin.
[29] Ibid
[30] B. Aisha Lemu, Woman in Islam, Leicester, Cromwell Press Ltd, 1976, pp.22-23.
[31] Ibid, p.19.
[32] Proverbs 31: 10-27. The Zimbabwe Assemblies of God (ZAOGA) is actively pursuing the mandate in the said scriptures in its women’s organisations.
[33] http:// www.webstar.co.uk.
[34] Qur’an, Sura 35: 28.
[35] http:// www.webstar.co.uk.
[36] Herbert L. Bodman, “ Introduction”, in Bodman H..L. and Tohidi N. (ed.s), Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity Within Unity, p. 5.
[37] Ibid, p.4.
[38] Qur’an 16: 94 and I Corinthians 14: 34-35.
[39] http:// www.thecircleawt.org.
[40] Musa Wenkosi Dube, “Little Girl, Get Up”, in Njoroge N.J. and Dube M.W., Talitha cum!Theologies of African W omen, Pietermaritzburg, Cluster Publications, 2001
p.35.
[41] Winnie Wanzala, “Towards an Epistemological and Methodological Frame of Development” in McFadden P. (ed), Southern Africa in Transition: A Gendered Perspective, Harare, Sapes Trust, 1998, p.1.
[42] http:// www.afrikaworld.net/afrel.
[43] Ibid
[44] http:// www.thecircleawt.org. Gendered males in the opinion of the circle are women who have a type of authority over men which can be equated to that which white women had over African men in a colonial set up. These women are also gendered males because they are not representative of the broader group of women in their society. In fact these gendered males are also the oppressors and exploiters of other women.
[45] In the book of Genesis Abraham was concerned about getting a son who would inherit his wealth. Jacob extended his blessings to his twelve sons and no mention is made of his daughters.
[46] Mary Nyambura Muchiri, Women and Land: Culture, Religion And Realizing Women’s Rights, p.4.
[47] Mark 5 and Musa Wenkosi Dube, “Little Girl, Get Up”, p.3-8.
RELIGION AND GENDER ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT
TENDAYI ISAAC MAWANGO 2009
RELIGION AND GENDER ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle , and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. [Genesis 1: 26-27]
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. [Galatians 3: 28]
Whosoever performs good deeds , whether male or female, and is a believer, we shall surely make him live a good life, and we will certainly reward them for the best of what they did. [Qur’an 16: 97]
A woman is a flower in a garden; and her husband is the fence around it. [ Ghananian proverb]
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. [I Corinthians 14: 34-35]
Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because God has given the one more [strength] than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in [ the husband’s] absence what God would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them [ first], [next] refuse to share their beds, [ and last] beat them [lightly]; but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means [ of annoyance]: for God is Most High, Great [above you all]. [Qura’n 4: ]
The above quotations provide a window to appreciate gender relations as constructed in religion on the African continent. They capture, on the one hand, the ideal of equality, partnership and complementarity between the sexes; and on the other hand the reality of inequalities, oppression, suppression, exclusion and deprivation in Africa’s triple heritage of traditionalism, Islam and Christianity. The ideal picture of a religious arena which provides for equality among the sexes is however locked up somewhere in mythology, antiquity, or some other historical past where it is generally inaccessible. For the African traditionalist, a combination of colonialism, modernity and Christianity has made this ideal religious arena inaccessible. Christian and Muslim activists have thrown up arguments against a mis-constructed theology and an inflexible interpretation of the holy writings as being responsible for the marginalisation of the ‘weaker and fairer’ sex.[1] These excuses and arguments whether valid or otherwise bring us face to face with the reality that religion [in its multiple forms] in Africa has by and large led to greater inequalities between the sexes. By its very nature, religion, “as a set of common beliefs and practices held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual and religious law”[2], affect almost every area of human existence and endeavour and as such the inequalities arising as a result of religion are not restricted to the religious sphere but rather pervade all areas of human life. The Muslim religion clearly exemplifies this by denoting Islam: “a way of life”.
Most religions have at their core “man expressing his acknowledgement of a god”.[3] This acknowledgement involves assigning an identity and personality to the god. The construction of the identity of God in the different religions on the African continent has by and large been responsible for gender inequalities. Christianity and Islam construct the identity of God in masculine terms. In the Old Testament God is described as a “man of war.” [4] Throughout the Qur’an and the Bible God is: “the Father”; “the King”; “the Lord” and all His acts and promises are expressed in masculine terms. This is further compounded by the fact that His injunctions are either directed to the Prophet or men and emphasis is given to the “overlordship of the patriarch.”[5] Though both the Qur’an and the Bible are explicit in their distinction between God and man the identification of God in masculine terms has resulted in theologies which regard men as gods and in turn the subordination of women.[6] Traditional African religion presents a variegated picture in its construction of the identity of the divine. This, in part, is because of the polytheistic character of some of the African religions and the diverse forms of traditional religion on the continent. Among the Yoruba of Nigeria, the Bemba, the Ganda of Uganda, the Mende of Mali, and the San in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia both male and female deities are acknowledged. Among the Shona and the Ndebele of Zimbabwe, the Zulu and Xhosa in South Africa the identity of God is masculine [the terms Mwari, Umnkulunkulu are neutral but are generally perceived in a masculine sense]. An interesting point to note is that the female deities of the African continent are in most cases the wives and mothers of the male deities or the supreme-being. In addition they are only revered in the domestic settings with the male deities assuming a communal orientation.[7] This translates into the domestication of both the female deities and their human female counterparts hence religion is a carrier of gender inequalities.
Religion across Africa, be it in its traditional or Abrahamic character,[8] is interested in trying to explain the origins of human and other forms of life. Various myths have been generated as religion tried to grapple with this subject and this has had unfavourable effects on the status of women. This, is especially so in both Christianity and Islam. Biblical stories on the creation in the first three chapters of Genesis present a woman as one who was created out of a man’s rib. Contrary to God’s intention to provide “a helper meet” for man[9] woman has now been turned into s lesser being in current African theologies. The concept of a helper who is an equal is discarded in favour of one who occupies a servile position. African men therefore derive authority from being the first of God’s creation. Though the Qur’an does not carry a full account of the story of the creation it echoes the traditions of the Bible and many a muslim scholar uses the Judeo-Christian position.[10] In the Egyptian context the stories of the creation have generated the belief that a man is worth two women.[11] Traditional African religion, characterized by its diversity and complexity,[12] does not present a single front on the origins of human life. In East Africa, as observed by John Mbiti, human life is linked with God sharing the secrets and mysteries of birth and life with a woman.[13] Such myths empower women. In West Africa the biblical account is re-echoed in some myths. Among the Kwotto of Nigeria, for example, man was created first and woman was created last and when God was tired thus she turned to be a weaker being.[14] The overall picture which emerges from the myths and accounts of the origins of human life is one which impacts negatively on the status of women resulting in the perpetuation of gender inequalities.
The beginnings of human in the various myths is situated in glorious settings reminiscent of paradise and perfection succeeded by a process of decay and the banishment of man and woman from the perfect world of the creation. The construction of the process decay has been done at the expense of the women. Women are presented as the authors and mothers of sin. The account in Genesis 3 on the separation of man from God places the blame on the woman. The woman was the one who was beguiled by the snake resulting in both man and woman eating the forbidden fruit. Various theologies have developed around this story and these are reinforced by Pauline teachings which attribute sin to women.[15] In the Qur’anic tradition the responsibility for sin is carried by both man and woman.[16] Eve is not the temptress, but just as disobedient as Adam. Traditional African religions like Christianity have also apportioned the blame for separation from God to women. The Ashanti in Ghana allege that it was woman’s noise, generated from pounding fufu, which drove God higher into the sky and away from man.[17] The Bambuti also allege that it was a pregnant woman who ate the forbidden fruit resulting in God punishing the people with death. The apportionment of the blame for the explusion from paradise to women creates inequalities between the sexes in the religious arena. In fact women assume the character of evil which has to be resisted.
The definition of the relationship between spouses in marriage by the various religions on the African continent is detrimental to the status of women. The prescription by both Christianity and Islam carries a lot of contradictions which in the main has resulted in the subordination of women. The two religions urge husbands to be considerate in their dealings with their wives.[18] This presents the picture of a marriage premised on compassion and love and equality. In practice, however women are made subordinate to the husbands by theologies which emphasize those scriptures which call on women to submit to their husbands. An overemphasis on the requirement that a wife should honour and submit to her husband which, as captured in Pauline doctrine by drawing on the case of Sarah who called Abraham “my Lord” is severely inimical to the equality between the sexes in Christianity.[19] This is further compounded by the doctrine that man is the head of the household which, impacts negatively on women’s opportunities to influence decision making in the home. Though the subject of submission between spouses in a requirement for both men and women conventional teachings in the African Church and Mosque trivializes woman who is described as a weaker vessel. In Islam the gender imbalances are further worsened by the permissibility of polygamy and the authorization of physical punishment against the wife.[20] Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a naturalized Somali-Dutch parliamentarian, articulates the violence common in Islamic marriages as a direct result of the inflexible interpretation of the scriptures which is part of the Islamic idea of preserving the teachings of Mohammed in their original state.[21] In her opinion muslim women are trapped in a cycle of hopeless tyranny.[22] Traditional African practice generally re-echoes and reinforces the position captured in the case of Islam and Christianity. In the case of the Shona of Zimbabwe, there is this generally held view that in the first few days of marriage a man must assert his authority in the house by assaulting the wife. In addition the man is for all purposes the head of the family and the wife is no less than a child.
The construction of marriage and divorce in Africa’s three religions is also inimical to gender equality. Christianity emphasizes a monogamy which reduces women to the status of sheep which, have to be organized by men.[23] In addition the church rules out divorce and as such unwittingly condones the abuse and exploitation of women and promotes male domination.[24] In Islam and traditional African religion there is a tendency towards polygamous marriages. Though there are explicit calls in both religions that men should treat their wives fairly the situation on the ground is far cry from that ideal. Marriage is by and large an unhappy affair of neglect and abuse. Islam makes an effort at being sensitive to women in cases of divorce whether the woman or the man is the one suing for divorce by guaranteeing the upkeep of the woman for the three months immediately succeeding divorce. The man also has an obligation to look after the offspring after the divorce. In traditional Shona culture for example, divorce is a sad affair for the woman who literary loses the husband’s support and custody of the children. In the event of a divorce a suckling infant continues to stay with the mother until it is weaned. The parting gift (gupuro) is more an expression contempt than anything else because the amounts involved are ridiculously low to the extent that it can not give the woman meaningful sustenance. In some instances the parting token is the woman’s family.
The articulation of sexuality in Africa’s religious landscape is for all purposes and intents disempowering to the women. The three major religions recognize the importance of women in reproduction and hence the perpetuation of the family and the nation. An African proverb succinctly captures this in the following manner: “To beget a woman is to beget a man.”[25] This proverb recognizes and carries the hope that the wife will bear both girls and boys after marriage. The Shona equate the woman/wife with the perpetuation of the household. In Ghana the belief is that a serviceable wife will be blessed with the birth of the tenth child. [26]This recognition of a woman’s importance in perpetuation of life can degenerate into a situation where women become child-bearing machines and nothing else. Though important in guaranteeing the perpetuation of the society, a woman’s sexuality is also looked at in negative terms. The three religions on consider women as unclean and unsafe during their menstrual cycles. A woman’s beauty is also derided and is reduced to something that a woman should be ashamed of. Among the Tsonga and Shangana it is generally held that one should not desire a woman with beautiful breasts if one has no money.[27] The situation is even worse in Islam where a woman’s beauty should be hidden behind the veil and virginity is guarded jealously to the extent that women are generally secluded hence Ali’s characterisation of women in Islam as being in a cage.[28] Christianity also carries the same message as Islam but in a rather diluted form. It should be noted the Bible carries a whole book, Songs of Songs which, celebrates the beauty of a woman.
The economic positions articulated by religion for both men and women are also responsible for gender imbalances and inequalities. In traditional African practice economic goods are constructed and understood in a gendered manner which disadvantages the woman. In Shona society, for example, the man controls the family granary and the staple food, maize, is a male crop. This scenario also extends to livestock where women generally own small stock and chickens. In Islam the man has a mandate to look after the family and as such there is an injunction on man to actively pursue economic prosperity whereas the wife should be looked after and as such she is schooled into ignorance and laziness.[29] Women in Islam can own and control property and are under no obligation to contribute to the family’s upkeep, whatever income they have they can dispose of it as they please.[30] The situation in Islam is premised on the theology that women should be spared from the struggles and worries for livelihood and give attention to home making.[31] This translates to the neglect of the development of women hence the earlier comment that women are schooled into ignorance and laziness. In Judeo-Christian heritage, as understood and practiced on the African continent, the man should work for the upkeep of the family. The link between Christianity and the liberal west dilute the extent to which women are excluded in the economic arena in Christianity. The Pentecostal Church in Zimbabwe has of late been striving towards the economic empowerment of women through taking up the challenge of the virtuous woman of the Proverbs who is actively involved in income generating activities and managing the estate.[32]
The extent to which the sexes access education and opportunities to develop their intellect in Africa has also been influenced by religion. Historically and theoretically Islam was pro the education and intellectual development of both man and women. During the Sokoto Jihad led by Usman dan Fordio women were encouraged to read and be enlightened. In fact the Jihadists actually condemned men for denying their wives a chance to study.[33] In the Koranic verses all believers irrespective of sex are encouraged to read and study. The quest for knowledge is an important part of the Islamic faith hence “only those of his servants who are learned truly fear God”.[34] These ideals were responsible for the active scholarship which transcended the sexual divide in 19th century West Africa. In present day Africa muslim women are by and large secluded and excluded from the intellectual arena as result of ‘religious decay’.[35] Traditional African practice expects the man to go out and hunt and feed the family thus education as a modern form of hunting which equips the man to feed the family is considered the domain of man. This is especially the case where resources are limited and the man child is given priority over the girl child. A Shona construction views the girl-child as one who enriches another family [this is based on the premise that upon marriage the girl-child joins the husband’s family] and as such should not be given priority when it comes to sharing resources for financing education. The advent of Christianity on the African continent in the nineteenth century was accompanied by the transfer of Western cultures and their biases hence in the case of former British colonies the heritage of Victorian male chauvinism found it’s way into the colonies. This means that though women had and have access to education, missionary education was primarily concerned with producing good wives and thus it reinforced the biases carried in traditional African practice.
Religion’s definition of the utilization of space by sexes also exacerbates gender inequalities. A woman’s participation is restricted to the household whereas the man has the whole of God’s world to explore and milk for his benefit. In Islam the domain of the woman is to a greater extent restricted to the household. When a woman goes into the streets or some public space [occassionally] she has to be veiled. The veil is synonymous with seclusion and the definition of social space into male and female space.[36]The woman’s space being private and the man’s public. The veil becomes an expression of the invisibility of the woman in the public arena and in turn strips her of the chance to participate in it.[37] Though the veil is physically absent in both Christianity and traditional religion the woman’s participation in the public arena is severely handicapped by the emphasis on “decent” and “modest” conduct.
The extent of participation and the roles taken by the different sexes within the religious establishment also demonstrates the extent to religion also militates against gender equality in Africa. In all the three religions the spiritual equality of the sexes is recognized.[38] This equality, however, is restricted to membership as leadership positions are to a larger extent monopolized by man. Mercy Oduyoye laments the situation in the Church where the ecclesia remains male in outlook.[39] Musa Wenkosi Dube reiterates the point by presenting women in a vicious circle in which they are “the daughters of their fathers, the mothers of their children and are led by males in the Church”. [40] In Islam leadership is also monopolized by the men. In African religion a complex power sharing relationship exists. The situation echoes Winnie Wanzala’s view that power relations are not always uni-dimensional, that is the existence of an all powerful male group which dominates women.[41] Power becomes situational and decentralized. Women derive authority by presiding over certain rituals which man can not perform for example the initiation of girls into womanhood.[42] Thanksgiving rituals for the birth of a child and subsequent dedication are performed by the father and the mother. In addition female spirit mediums are common if not dominant. Kilson shoots down female authority derived from spirit possession by pointing out that the respect accorded is only limited to the time when one is actually possessed by the spirit. She extends her argument by pointing out that female mediums are only important in as much as they are given authority and space to participate by the male priests who have overall authority in the cult.[43] Female spiritual healers also pervade the African landscape and essence these are gendered males.[44]
The systems and laws regulating inheritance in religion have the effect of disempowering women culminating in the perpetuation of gender inequalities. In Islam an heiress receives half the portion that an heir receives. This is premised on the position that it is man and not woman who has the responsibility of looking after the family. An important point to concede is that whatever the woman receives she assumes full ownership. The Judeo-Christian heritage defines inheritance from a patriarchal stance hence in the biblical stories the male children enjoy the father’s estate and girls are simply married off.[45] In traditional African religion the practice of giving a smaller share of the parental estate to the female heir is justified on the grounds that she is likely to receive an additional portion from her marriage.[46] In Shona culture married women are viewed as “vatorwa” (outsiders) and hence the chances of inheriting the marriage estate are always in doubt.
The doctrines of both Islam and Christianity are also insensitive to gender. Women are treated as the others. Biblical accounts rarely mention the names of the women irrespective of whether or not there are at the centre of the account. The account of the healing of the woman with the issue of blood and Jairus’s daughter in Mark’s gospel clearly exemplifies this.[47] The stories of the feeding of the 4000 and 5000 deliberately exclude women from the number of those who were fed. This has led to rise of a theology which trivializes women. In Islam women are also treated as the “others” and are by and large faceless and nameless in the accounts of the Qur’an. Mary the mother of Jesus is amongst the few women who receive attention in the Qur’anic verses and still one can argue that she still an insignificant other because she primarily is the mother of a great prophet who at the end of the day assumes centre stage. The household of God in both Islam and Christianity is therefore a theatre of gender inequalities which are enshrined in the doctrines of the faiths.
What becomes apparent from the preceding discussion is that religion affects almost every area of life. Its direct and indirect effects on relations in marriage, within the religious establishments, and society at large negatively impact on the status of women and promote male domination. In this regard therefore religion has to a larger extent worsened gender inequalities by creating its own and reinforcing other social, economic and political inequalities.
REFERENCES
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman’s Cry for Reason, London, Simon and Schuster UK Ltd, 2007.
Balghis Badri (Ed), The Gender and Women’s Studies Textbook, Khartoum, Ahfad University, 2001.
Bodman Herbert and Nayereh Tohidi (ed.s), Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity within Unity, London, Lynne Reinne Publishers, 1998.
Dube M.W., ‘Little Girl, Get Up”, in Njoroge N.J. and Dube M.W., Talitha cum!Theologies of African W omen, Pietermaritzburg, Cluster Publications, 2001
Lemu Aisha B. and Heeren, Woman in Islam, Leicester, Cromwell Press ltd, 1976.
Muchiri, N., “Book Review: Women and Land in Africa: Culture, Religion and Realizing Women’s Rights”, Wanyeka Muthoni L. (ed), London, Zed Books, 2003” in JENDA, Vol. 7, 2005.
Mufema E., “Empowerment and Development of Women in Egypt: Salient challenges of the 1990S” in McFadden P(ed), Reflections on Gender Issues in Africa, Harare, Sapes Books, 1999, pp.85-108.
Wanzala Winnie, “Towards an Epistemological and Methodological Frame of Development” in McFadden P. (ed), Southern Africa in Transition: A Gendered Perspective, Harare, Sapes Trust, 1998.
Internet Sources
http:// www.afrikaworld.net/afrel.
http:// www.thecirclecawt.org.
http:// www.webstar.co.uk.
http:// www.en.wikipedia.org.
http:// www.godonthe.net
[1] The reference to woman as the weaker sex is dominant in Islamic and Christian theologies.
[2] http:// www.en.wikipedia.org.
[3] http:// www.godonthe.net. The term man in this case should be understood in its neutral aense.
[4] Genesis 15: 3
[5] Herbert L. Bodman, “Introduction”, in H.L. Bodman and N. Tohidi (ed.s) Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity Within Unity, London, Lynne Reinne Publishers, 1998, p.4.
[6] http:// www.thecirclecawt.org.
[7] Marion Kilson, Women in African Traditional Religions: http:// www..jstor/ Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol.8.2
[8] The term establishes the common roots of both Islam and Judeo-Christian religions.
[9] Genesis 2: 18.
[10] Herbert L. Bodman, “ Introduction”, in Bodman H..L. and Tohidi N. (ed.s), Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity Within Unity, p. 5
[11] Edmore Mufema, “Empowerment and Development of Women in Egypt: Salient challenges of the 1990S” in McFadden P(ed), Reflections on Gender Issues in Africa, Harare, Sapes Books, 1999, p.98.
[12] Marion Kilson, Women in African Traditional Religions.
[13] http:// www.afrikaworld.net/afrel.
[14] Ibid.
[15] I Timothy 2: 15. Elsewhere Paul says sin entered the world through man, but it is the first dimension of his “contradictory” message which has greater sway in the Church in A frica. Maybe the overall domination of the Church hierarchy by man is responsible for this.
[16] Herbert L. Bodman, “Introduction”, p.5.
[17] http:// www.afrikaworld.net/afrel.
[18] Qura’n 30:21 and Ephesians 6.
[19]
[20] Qur’an 4:34.
[21] Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman’s Cry for Reason, London, Simon and Schuster UK Ltd, 2007, p.3-7.
[22] Ibid, p.7.
[23] Mary Nyambura Muchiri, Book Review: Women and Land in Africa: Culture, Religion and realizing Women’s Rights, in JENDA, No.7, p.1.
[24] Ibid.
[25] http:// www.afikaworld.net/sfrel.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Ibid.
[28] Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin.
[29] Ibid
[30] B. Aisha Lemu, Woman in Islam, Leicester, Cromwell Press Ltd, 1976, pp.22-23.
[31] Ibid, p.19.
[32] Proverbs 31: 10-27. The Zimbabwe Assemblies of God (ZAOGA) is actively pursuing the mandate in the said scriptures in its women’s organisations.
[33] http:// www.webstar.co.uk.
[34] Qur’an, Sura 35: 28.
[35] http:// www.webstar.co.uk.
[36] Herbert L. Bodman, “ Introduction”, in Bodman H..L. and Tohidi N. (ed.s), Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity Within Unity, p. 5.
[37] Ibid, p.4.
[38] Qur’an 16: 94 and I Corinthians 14: 34-35.
[39] http:// www.thecircleawt.org.
[40] Musa Wenkosi Dube, “Little Girl, Get Up”, in Njoroge N.J. and Dube M.W., Talitha cum!Theologies of African W omen, Pietermaritzburg, Cluster Publications, 2001
p.35.
[41] Winnie Wanzala, “Towards an Epistemological and Methodological Frame of Development” in McFadden P. (ed), Southern Africa in Transition: A Gendered Perspective, Harare, Sapes Trust, 1998, p.1.
[42] http:// www.afrikaworld.net/afrel.
[43] Ibid
[44] http:// www.thecircleawt.org. Gendered males in the opinion of the circle are women who have a type of authority over men which can be equated to that which white women had over African men in a colonial set up. These women are also gendered males because they are not representative of the broader group of women in their society. In fact these gendered males are also the oppressors and exploiters of other women.
[45] In the book of Genesis Abraham was concerned about getting a son who would inherit his wealth. Jacob extended his blessings to his twelve sons and no mention is made of his daughters.
[46] Mary Nyambura Muchiri, Women and Land: Culture, Religion And Realizing Women’s Rights, p.4.
[47] Mark 5 and Musa Wenkosi Dube, “Little Girl, Get Up”, p.3-8.
RELIGION AND GENDER ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle , and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. [Genesis 1: 26-27]
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. [Galatians 3: 28]
Whosoever performs good deeds , whether male or female, and is a believer, we shall surely make him live a good life, and we will certainly reward them for the best of what they did. [Qur’an 16: 97]
A woman is a flower in a garden; and her husband is the fence around it. [ Ghananian proverb]
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. [I Corinthians 14: 34-35]
Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because God has given the one more [strength] than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in [ the husband’s] absence what God would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them [ first], [next] refuse to share their beds, [ and last] beat them [lightly]; but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means [ of annoyance]: for God is Most High, Great [above you all]. [Qura’n 4: ]
The above quotations provide a window to appreciate gender relations as constructed in religion on the African continent. They capture, on the one hand, the ideal of equality, partnership and complementarity between the sexes; and on the other hand the reality of inequalities, oppression, suppression, exclusion and deprivation in Africa’s triple heritage of traditionalism, Islam and Christianity. The ideal picture of a religious arena which provides for equality among the sexes is however locked up somewhere in mythology, antiquity, or some other historical past where it is generally inaccessible. For the African traditionalist, a combination of colonialism, modernity and Christianity has made this ideal religious arena inaccessible. Christian and Muslim activists have thrown up arguments against a mis-constructed theology and an inflexible interpretation of the holy writings as being responsible for the marginalisation of the ‘weaker and fairer’ sex.[1] These excuses and arguments whether valid or otherwise bring us face to face with the reality that religion [in its multiple forms] in Africa has by and large led to greater inequalities between the sexes. By its very nature, religion, “as a set of common beliefs and practices held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual and religious law”[2], affect almost every area of human existence and endeavour and as such the inequalities arising as a result of religion are not restricted to the religious sphere but rather pervade all areas of human life. The Muslim religion clearly exemplifies this by denoting Islam: “a way of life”.
Most religions have at their core “man expressing his acknowledgement of a god”.[3] This acknowledgement involves assigning an identity and personality to the god. The construction of the identity of God in the different religions on the African continent has by and large been responsible for gender inequalities. Christianity and Islam construct the identity of God in masculine terms. In the Old Testament God is described as a “man of war.” [4] Throughout the Qur’an and the Bible God is: “the Father”; “the King”; “the Lord” and all His acts and promises are expressed in masculine terms. This is further compounded by the fact that His injunctions are either directed to the Prophet or men and emphasis is given to the “overlordship of the patriarch.”[5] Though both the Qur’an and the Bible are explicit in their distinction between God and man the identification of God in masculine terms has resulted in theologies which regard men as gods and in turn the subordination of women.[6] Traditional African religion presents a variegated picture in its construction of the identity of the divine. This, in part, is because of the polytheistic character of some of the African religions and the diverse forms of traditional religion on the continent. Among the Yoruba of Nigeria, the Bemba, the Ganda of Uganda, the Mende of Mali, and the San in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia both male and female deities are acknowledged. Among the Shona and the Ndebele of Zimbabwe, the Zulu and Xhosa in South Africa the identity of God is masculine [the terms Mwari, Umnkulunkulu are neutral but are generally perceived in a masculine sense]. An interesting point to note is that the female deities of the African continent are in most cases the wives and mothers of the male deities or the supreme-being. In addition they are only revered in the domestic settings with the male deities assuming a communal orientation.[7] This translates into the domestication of both the female deities and their human female counterparts hence religion is a carrier of gender inequalities.
Religion across Africa, be it in its traditional or Abrahamic character,[8] is interested in trying to explain the origins of human and other forms of life. Various myths have been generated as religion tried to grapple with this subject and this has had unfavourable effects on the status of women. This, is especially so in both Christianity and Islam. Biblical stories on the creation in the first three chapters of Genesis present a woman as one who was created out of a man’s rib. Contrary to God’s intention to provide “a helper meet” for man[9] woman has now been turned into s lesser being in current African theologies. The concept of a helper who is an equal is discarded in favour of one who occupies a servile position. African men therefore derive authority from being the first of God’s creation. Though the Qur’an does not carry a full account of the story of the creation it echoes the traditions of the Bible and many a muslim scholar uses the Judeo-Christian position.[10] In the Egyptian context the stories of the creation have generated the belief that a man is worth two women.[11] Traditional African religion, characterized by its diversity and complexity,[12] does not present a single front on the origins of human life. In East Africa, as observed by John Mbiti, human life is linked with God sharing the secrets and mysteries of birth and life with a woman.[13] Such myths empower women. In West Africa the biblical account is re-echoed in some myths. Among the Kwotto of Nigeria, for example, man was created first and woman was created last and when God was tired thus she turned to be a weaker being.[14] The overall picture which emerges from the myths and accounts of the origins of human life is one which impacts negatively on the status of women resulting in the perpetuation of gender inequalities.
The beginnings of human in the various myths is situated in glorious settings reminiscent of paradise and perfection succeeded by a process of decay and the banishment of man and woman from the perfect world of the creation. The construction of the process decay has been done at the expense of the women. Women are presented as the authors and mothers of sin. The account in Genesis 3 on the separation of man from God places the blame on the woman. The woman was the one who was beguiled by the snake resulting in both man and woman eating the forbidden fruit. Various theologies have developed around this story and these are reinforced by Pauline teachings which attribute sin to women.[15] In the Qur’anic tradition the responsibility for sin is carried by both man and woman.[16] Eve is not the temptress, but just as disobedient as Adam. Traditional African religions like Christianity have also apportioned the blame for separation from God to women. The Ashanti in Ghana allege that it was woman’s noise, generated from pounding fufu, which drove God higher into the sky and away from man.[17] The Bambuti also allege that it was a pregnant woman who ate the forbidden fruit resulting in God punishing the people with death. The apportionment of the blame for the explusion from paradise to women creates inequalities between the sexes in the religious arena. In fact women assume the character of evil which has to be resisted.
The definition of the relationship between spouses in marriage by the various religions on the African continent is detrimental to the status of women. The prescription by both Christianity and Islam carries a lot of contradictions which in the main has resulted in the subordination of women. The two religions urge husbands to be considerate in their dealings with their wives.[18] This presents the picture of a marriage premised on compassion and love and equality. In practice, however women are made subordinate to the husbands by theologies which emphasize those scriptures which call on women to submit to their husbands. An overemphasis on the requirement that a wife should honour and submit to her husband which, as captured in Pauline doctrine by drawing on the case of Sarah who called Abraham “my Lord” is severely inimical to the equality between the sexes in Christianity.[19] This is further compounded by the doctrine that man is the head of the household which, impacts negatively on women’s opportunities to influence decision making in the home. Though the subject of submission between spouses in a requirement for both men and women conventional teachings in the African Church and Mosque trivializes woman who is described as a weaker vessel. In Islam the gender imbalances are further worsened by the permissibility of polygamy and the authorization of physical punishment against the wife.[20] Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a naturalized Somali-Dutch parliamentarian, articulates the violence common in Islamic marriages as a direct result of the inflexible interpretation of the scriptures which is part of the Islamic idea of preserving the teachings of Mohammed in their original state.[21] In her opinion muslim women are trapped in a cycle of hopeless tyranny.[22] Traditional African practice generally re-echoes and reinforces the position captured in the case of Islam and Christianity. In the case of the Shona of Zimbabwe, there is this generally held view that in the first few days of marriage a man must assert his authority in the house by assaulting the wife. In addition the man is for all purposes the head of the family and the wife is no less than a child.
The construction of marriage and divorce in Africa’s three religions is also inimical to gender equality. Christianity emphasizes a monogamy which reduces women to the status of sheep which, have to be organized by men.[23] In addition the church rules out divorce and as such unwittingly condones the abuse and exploitation of women and promotes male domination.[24] In Islam and traditional African religion there is a tendency towards polygamous marriages. Though there are explicit calls in both religions that men should treat their wives fairly the situation on the ground is far cry from that ideal. Marriage is by and large an unhappy affair of neglect and abuse. Islam makes an effort at being sensitive to women in cases of divorce whether the woman or the man is the one suing for divorce by guaranteeing the upkeep of the woman for the three months immediately succeeding divorce. The man also has an obligation to look after the offspring after the divorce. In traditional Shona culture for example, divorce is a sad affair for the woman who literary loses the husband’s support and custody of the children. In the event of a divorce a suckling infant continues to stay with the mother until it is weaned. The parting gift (gupuro) is more an expression contempt than anything else because the amounts involved are ridiculously low to the extent that it can not give the woman meaningful sustenance. In some instances the parting token is the woman’s family.
The articulation of sexuality in Africa’s religious landscape is for all purposes and intents disempowering to the women. The three major religions recognize the importance of women in reproduction and hence the perpetuation of the family and the nation. An African proverb succinctly captures this in the following manner: “To beget a woman is to beget a man.”[25] This proverb recognizes and carries the hope that the wife will bear both girls and boys after marriage. The Shona equate the woman/wife with the perpetuation of the household. In Ghana the belief is that a serviceable wife will be blessed with the birth of the tenth child. [26]This recognition of a woman’s importance in perpetuation of life can degenerate into a situation where women become child-bearing machines and nothing else. Though important in guaranteeing the perpetuation of the society, a woman’s sexuality is also looked at in negative terms. The three religions on consider women as unclean and unsafe during their menstrual cycles. A woman’s beauty is also derided and is reduced to something that a woman should be ashamed of. Among the Tsonga and Shangana it is generally held that one should not desire a woman with beautiful breasts if one has no money.[27] The situation is even worse in Islam where a woman’s beauty should be hidden behind the veil and virginity is guarded jealously to the extent that women are generally secluded hence Ali’s characterisation of women in Islam as being in a cage.[28] Christianity also carries the same message as Islam but in a rather diluted form. It should be noted the Bible carries a whole book, Songs of Songs which, celebrates the beauty of a woman.
The economic positions articulated by religion for both men and women are also responsible for gender imbalances and inequalities. In traditional African practice economic goods are constructed and understood in a gendered manner which disadvantages the woman. In Shona society, for example, the man controls the family granary and the staple food, maize, is a male crop. This scenario also extends to livestock where women generally own small stock and chickens. In Islam the man has a mandate to look after the family and as such there is an injunction on man to actively pursue economic prosperity whereas the wife should be looked after and as such she is schooled into ignorance and laziness.[29] Women in Islam can own and control property and are under no obligation to contribute to the family’s upkeep, whatever income they have they can dispose of it as they please.[30] The situation in Islam is premised on the theology that women should be spared from the struggles and worries for livelihood and give attention to home making.[31] This translates to the neglect of the development of women hence the earlier comment that women are schooled into ignorance and laziness. In Judeo-Christian heritage, as understood and practiced on the African continent, the man should work for the upkeep of the family. The link between Christianity and the liberal west dilute the extent to which women are excluded in the economic arena in Christianity. The Pentecostal Church in Zimbabwe has of late been striving towards the economic empowerment of women through taking up the challenge of the virtuous woman of the Proverbs who is actively involved in income generating activities and managing the estate.[32]
The extent to which the sexes access education and opportunities to develop their intellect in Africa has also been influenced by religion. Historically and theoretically Islam was pro the education and intellectual development of both man and women. During the Sokoto Jihad led by Usman dan Fordio women were encouraged to read and be enlightened. In fact the Jihadists actually condemned men for denying their wives a chance to study.[33] In the Koranic verses all believers irrespective of sex are encouraged to read and study. The quest for knowledge is an important part of the Islamic faith hence “only those of his servants who are learned truly fear God”.[34] These ideals were responsible for the active scholarship which transcended the sexual divide in 19th century West Africa. In present day Africa muslim women are by and large secluded and excluded from the intellectual arena as result of ‘religious decay’.[35] Traditional African practice expects the man to go out and hunt and feed the family thus education as a modern form of hunting which equips the man to feed the family is considered the domain of man. This is especially the case where resources are limited and the man child is given priority over the girl child. A Shona construction views the girl-child as one who enriches another family [this is based on the premise that upon marriage the girl-child joins the husband’s family] and as such should not be given priority when it comes to sharing resources for financing education. The advent of Christianity on the African continent in the nineteenth century was accompanied by the transfer of Western cultures and their biases hence in the case of former British colonies the heritage of Victorian male chauvinism found it’s way into the colonies. This means that though women had and have access to education, missionary education was primarily concerned with producing good wives and thus it reinforced the biases carried in traditional African practice.
Religion’s definition of the utilization of space by sexes also exacerbates gender inequalities. A woman’s participation is restricted to the household whereas the man has the whole of God’s world to explore and milk for his benefit. In Islam the domain of the woman is to a greater extent restricted to the household. When a woman goes into the streets or some public space [occassionally] she has to be veiled. The veil is synonymous with seclusion and the definition of social space into male and female space.[36]The woman’s space being private and the man’s public. The veil becomes an expression of the invisibility of the woman in the public arena and in turn strips her of the chance to participate in it.[37] Though the veil is physically absent in both Christianity and traditional religion the woman’s participation in the public arena is severely handicapped by the emphasis on “decent” and “modest” conduct.
The extent of participation and the roles taken by the different sexes within the religious establishment also demonstrates the extent to religion also militates against gender equality in Africa. In all the three religions the spiritual equality of the sexes is recognized.[38] This equality, however, is restricted to membership as leadership positions are to a larger extent monopolized by man. Mercy Oduyoye laments the situation in the Church where the ecclesia remains male in outlook.[39] Musa Wenkosi Dube reiterates the point by presenting women in a vicious circle in which they are “the daughters of their fathers, the mothers of their children and are led by males in the Church”. [40] In Islam leadership is also monopolized by the men. In African religion a complex power sharing relationship exists. The situation echoes Winnie Wanzala’s view that power relations are not always uni-dimensional, that is the existence of an all powerful male group which dominates women.[41] Power becomes situational and decentralized. Women derive authority by presiding over certain rituals which man can not perform for example the initiation of girls into womanhood.[42] Thanksgiving rituals for the birth of a child and subsequent dedication are performed by the father and the mother. In addition female spirit mediums are common if not dominant. Kilson shoots down female authority derived from spirit possession by pointing out that the respect accorded is only limited to the time when one is actually possessed by the spirit. She extends her argument by pointing out that female mediums are only important in as much as they are given authority and space to participate by the male priests who have overall authority in the cult.[43] Female spiritual healers also pervade the African landscape and essence these are gendered males.[44]
The systems and laws regulating inheritance in religion have the effect of disempowering women culminating in the perpetuation of gender inequalities. In Islam an heiress receives half the portion that an heir receives. This is premised on the position that it is man and not woman who has the responsibility of looking after the family. An important point to concede is that whatever the woman receives she assumes full ownership. The Judeo-Christian heritage defines inheritance from a patriarchal stance hence in the biblical stories the male children enjoy the father’s estate and girls are simply married off.[45] In traditional African religion the practice of giving a smaller share of the parental estate to the female heir is justified on the grounds that she is likely to receive an additional portion from her marriage.[46] In Shona culture married women are viewed as “vatorwa” (outsiders) and hence the chances of inheriting the marriage estate are always in doubt.
The doctrines of both Islam and Christianity are also insensitive to gender. Women are treated as the others. Biblical accounts rarely mention the names of the women irrespective of whether or not there are at the centre of the account. The account of the healing of the woman with the issue of blood and Jairus’s daughter in Mark’s gospel clearly exemplifies this.[47] The stories of the feeding of the 4000 and 5000 deliberately exclude women from the number of those who were fed. This has led to rise of a theology which trivializes women. In Islam women are also treated as the “others” and are by and large faceless and nameless in the accounts of the Qur’an. Mary the mother of Jesus is amongst the few women who receive attention in the Qur’anic verses and still one can argue that she still an insignificant other because she primarily is the mother of a great prophet who at the end of the day assumes centre stage. The household of God in both Islam and Christianity is therefore a theatre of gender inequalities which are enshrined in the doctrines of the faiths.
What becomes apparent from the preceding discussion is that religion affects almost every area of life. Its direct and indirect effects on relations in marriage, within the religious establishments, and society at large negatively impact on the status of women and promote male domination. In this regard therefore religion has to a larger extent worsened gender inequalities by creating its own and reinforcing other social, economic and political inequalities.
REFERENCES
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman’s Cry for Reason, London, Simon and Schuster UK Ltd, 2007.
Balghis Badri (Ed), The Gender and Women’s Studies Textbook, Khartoum, Ahfad University, 2001.
Bodman Herbert and Nayereh Tohidi (ed.s), Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity within Unity, London, Lynne Reinne Publishers, 1998.
Dube M.W., ‘Little Girl, Get Up”, in Njoroge N.J. and Dube M.W., Talitha cum!Theologies of African W omen, Pietermaritzburg, Cluster Publications, 2001
Lemu Aisha B. and Heeren, Woman in Islam, Leicester, Cromwell Press ltd, 1976.
Muchiri, N., “Book Review: Women and Land in Africa: Culture, Religion and Realizing Women’s Rights”, Wanyeka Muthoni L. (ed), London, Zed Books, 2003” in JENDA, Vol. 7, 2005.
Mufema E., “Empowerment and Development of Women in Egypt: Salient challenges of the 1990S” in McFadden P(ed), Reflections on Gender Issues in Africa, Harare, Sapes Books, 1999, pp.85-108.
Wanzala Winnie, “Towards an Epistemological and Methodological Frame of Development” in McFadden P. (ed), Southern Africa in Transition: A Gendered Perspective, Harare, Sapes Trust, 1998.
Internet Sources
http:// www.afrikaworld.net/afrel.
http:// www.thecirclecawt.org.
http:// www.webstar.co.uk.
http:// www.en.wikipedia.org.
http:// www.godonthe.net
[1] The reference to woman as the weaker sex is dominant in Islamic and Christian theologies.
[2] http:// www.en.wikipedia.org.
[3] http:// www.godonthe.net. The term man in this case should be understood in its neutral aense.
[4] Genesis 15: 3
[5] Herbert L. Bodman, “Introduction”, in H.L. Bodman and N. Tohidi (ed.s) Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity Within Unity, London, Lynne Reinne Publishers, 1998, p.4.
[6] http:// www.thecirclecawt.org.
[7] Marion Kilson, Women in African Traditional Religions: http:// www..jstor/ Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol.8.2
[8] The term establishes the common roots of both Islam and Judeo-Christian religions.
[9] Genesis 2: 18.
[10] Herbert L. Bodman, “ Introduction”, in Bodman H..L. and Tohidi N. (ed.s), Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity Within Unity, p. 5
[11] Edmore Mufema, “Empowerment and Development of Women in Egypt: Salient challenges of the 1990S” in McFadden P(ed), Reflections on Gender Issues in Africa, Harare, Sapes Books, 1999, p.98.
[12] Marion Kilson, Women in African Traditional Religions.
[13] http:// www.afrikaworld.net/afrel.
[14] Ibid.
[15] I Timothy 2: 15. Elsewhere Paul says sin entered the world through man, but it is the first dimension of his “contradictory” message which has greater sway in the Church in A frica. Maybe the overall domination of the Church hierarchy by man is responsible for this.
[16] Herbert L. Bodman, “Introduction”, p.5.
[17] http:// www.afrikaworld.net/afrel.
[18] Qura’n 30:21 and Ephesians 6.
[19]
[20] Qur’an 4:34.
[21] Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman’s Cry for Reason, London, Simon and Schuster UK Ltd, 2007, p.3-7.
[22] Ibid, p.7.
[23] Mary Nyambura Muchiri, Book Review: Women and Land in Africa: Culture, Religion and realizing Women’s Rights, in JENDA, No.7, p.1.
[24] Ibid.
[25] http:// www.afikaworld.net/sfrel.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Ibid.
[28] Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin.
[29] Ibid
[30] B. Aisha Lemu, Woman in Islam, Leicester, Cromwell Press Ltd, 1976, pp.22-23.
[31] Ibid, p.19.
[32] Proverbs 31: 10-27. The Zimbabwe Assemblies of God (ZAOGA) is actively pursuing the mandate in the said scriptures in its women’s organisations.
[33] http:// www.webstar.co.uk.
[34] Qur’an, Sura 35: 28.
[35] http:// www.webstar.co.uk.
[36] Herbert L. Bodman, “ Introduction”, in Bodman H..L. and Tohidi N. (ed.s), Women in Muslim Societies: Diversity Within Unity, p. 5.
[37] Ibid, p.4.
[38] Qur’an 16: 94 and I Corinthians 14: 34-35.
[39] http:// www.thecircleawt.org.
[40] Musa Wenkosi Dube, “Little Girl, Get Up”, in Njoroge N.J. and Dube M.W., Talitha cum!Theologies of African W omen, Pietermaritzburg, Cluster Publications, 2001
p.35.
[41] Winnie Wanzala, “Towards an Epistemological and Methodological Frame of Development” in McFadden P. (ed), Southern Africa in Transition: A Gendered Perspective, Harare, Sapes Trust, 1998, p.1.
[42] http:// www.afrikaworld.net/afrel.
[43] Ibid
[44] http:// www.thecircleawt.org. Gendered males in the opinion of the circle are women who have a type of authority over men which can be equated to that which white women had over African men in a colonial set up. These women are also gendered males because they are not representative of the broader group of women in their society. In fact these gendered males are also the oppressors and exploiters of other women.
[45] In the book of Genesis Abraham was concerned about getting a son who would inherit his wealth. Jacob extended his blessings to his twelve sons and no mention is made of his daughters.
[46] Mary Nyambura Muchiri, Women and Land: Culture, Religion And Realizing Women’s Rights, p.4.
[47] Mark 5 and Musa Wenkosi Dube, “Little Girl, Get Up”, p.3-8.
BOOK REVIEW: THE CAGED VIRGIN
Tendayi Isaac Mawango
BOOK REVIEW
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman’s Cry for Reason, London, Simon and Schuster UK Ltd, 2006.
2007
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman’s Cry for Reason, London, Simon and Schuster UK Ltd, 2006.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman’s Cry for Reason, calls for the emancipation of women from cultural oppression and emancipation of Muslims from a backward religious system in relation to the overall development of Muslim societies. Published in 2006 her work comes in the wake of a growing concern with political Islam/Muslim Fundamentalism and the threat it poses to Western Liberalism. This concern has translated into a plethora of scholarly works on the future of Islam and the general development of Muslim societies. Her book is firmly located in the Liberal and Neo-Liberal frame of analysis and in a way represents Western Fundamentalism’s response to political Islam.
Ali’s work adds weight to the growing scholarship on Islamic reform and an interesting and central dimension which gives it an aura of originality is the way in which political reality is interwoven into the personal experiences of the author. The personal experiences of an Islamic woman provides the launch pad for her call for the “enlightenment” to dawn on Islam if there is to be any hope for the development of Muslim societies. The book uses a sustained analysis of the condition of women to tackle the broader subject of development of Muslim societies and the full integration of Muslims in Western society. In addition, the book also takes a swipe against sections of Western society for taking a retrogressive stance of harbouring Islam without placing upon it the same stringent code. She asserts that for as long as western tolerance does not impose this stringent code on Islam then Fundamentalism will continue to flourish. In this sense therefore Ali looks at reform as something that has to generated from within Muslim societies with the help of Western societies who in essence epitomizes both modernization and development. Her interrogation of Islam especially on the treatment of women takes the form of seventeen essays which make up the seventeen chapters of the book.
The first essay entitled ‘Stand up for your rights’, presents Ali’s justification of her criticism against Islam. She forwards four reasons as follow: to end the degrading treatment of Muslim women and girls; the emancipation of Muslim women is a pre-condition for the social advancement of Muslims in Western Society; Muslim women need a woman to speak on their behalf as they are scarcely listened to; and the belief that an emphasis on a Muslim identity is detrimental to Muslim women. Ali exposes the condition of women in Islam. Ali’s women are “enchained bvy the doctrine of virginity” (p.2), victims of domestic violence, and l;agging behind in education. Her life story especially the success she achieved after escaping an arranged marriage are taken as proof of what can be achieved by Muslim women hence her call to successful women to ‘stand up and fight’ for the rights of fellow Muslim women.
In Chapter 2 Ali calls on Muslims to look at themselves critically. September 11 and other statistics on terrorist activities and armed conflicts involving Muslims takle her to that point where she admits that there is something wrong with Islam. She challenges Muslims to break out of the cacoon of denial by posing the following questions:
If nothing is wrong with Islam, why then are so many Muslims on the run? … Why is the position of women in Muslim countries so abominable? If we Muslims are so tolerant and peaceful, why is there so much ethnic, religious, political and cultural strife and violence in Muslim countries? Why can’t or won’t we acknowledge the seriousness of the situation in which we find ourselves. Why are we Muslims so full of feelings of anger and uneasiness, and why do we carry so much hostility and hate within us both toward ourselves and toward others? Why are we incapable of criticising ourselves from within? (p.11).
Ali concludes that’s Islam is “incensed, traumatised, shattered and living in an illusion”.
She contends that for as long as the organisation of society, economic policy, education and the relations between the sexes are left in the hands of God, poverty, violence, political instability, economic malaise and human suffering will persist. She also condemns the failure by the United States to recognise that the so called moderate governments of the Middle East are the secondary causes of fundamentalism. In the so cvalled moderate countries fundamentalism has taken the guise of opposition political movements. As a solution Ali advocates for the withdrawal of religion from the public sphere and the adoption of Western values of freedom and equality.
Chapter 3 entitled “The Virgins’ Cage, argues that Islamic culture is way behind the West in many ways. Islamic culture is insufficient in terms of individual freedoms, knowledge and women’s rights. In Ali’s view the adoption of Islam in non-Arab countries like Tanzania, Nigeria and Pakistan resulted in a significant regression in individual freedom, acquisition of scientific knowledge and the rights of women (p.17). She further claims that Islam does not possess a credible and workable political model. She attacks Islam’s morality and attendant obsession with virginity which locks up women in a virgins’ cage. The ‘virgins’ cage’ is a double cage which not only entraps women but all Muslims in the quagmire of socio-economic backwardness which is passed on from generation to generation. Self-criticism is forwarded as the means to break out of the cage. Muslims in the West should take advantage of the civil rights and liberties there to initiate the criticism.
Ali’s fourth essay elaborates the differences between Islamic and Western culture. The central call of the essay is for the “Enlightenment” to dawn upon Islam. The question the compatibility of constitutional democracy and Islam is explored. Ali argues that Islam’s ideological framework is heavily polarized and provides breeding ground for fundamentalism. The framework consist of “strength and weakness, dominance and humiliation, eternity and transience, clarity and obscurity”, Halal and Haram (p.36). In addition Islam gives greater value to the community, honour and submission as opposed to individual autonomy. Western culture on the other hand gives emphasis to individual independence, personal responsibility and plurality of ideologies. The constitution is more important than God’s Holy book. Ali also refutes the claim that Islam has been taken hostage by terrorists instead she contends that “Islam is held hostage by itself (p.41).
In chapter 5 Ali tackles the issue of the integration of Muslim immigrants in Western society. She equates the process of integration with the process of civilization. Muslims in their raw form have a pre-modern mentality which has to be dismantled if they are to take up the opportunities offered by Western society. She explores the four routes towards integration namely political-legal route, socio-economic angle, multiculturalism and the socio-cultural approach. As an advocate of the dismantling of Islam’s pre-modern mentality Ali abhors multiculturalism and considers the socio-cultural approach as the best way toward integration.
Chapter 6 traces Ali’s walk to freedom in addition to justifying her movement from the Labour to the Conservative Party. In this Chapter she takes the reader through her father’s political career and his four marriages, her flight from an arranged marriage and her realization that she was an atheist. She also briefly tackles the issue of female genital mutilation. Through the life of her sister Heweya she explores the trauma and psychological damage Islam perpetrates against women. Ali also considers herself as one of the champions of the “Third Feminist Wave” (p.67). For Ali emancipation is a struggle. A number of contradictions emerge in Ali’s essay as her downtrodden women go to America to get diplomas, succeed in getting divorces, and meet prospective husbands in literacy classes.
As an act of defiance Ali structures her seventh essay around the Ten Commandments. She further endorses her claims to atheism and casts doubt on the existence of God. She castigates Allah’s commandments for stifling the appreciation of art, beauty and the romantic side of mankind. In Muhammad’s dictatorship [He is the true prophet of Allah, and Allah is the only true God], Ali sees the despicable character and megalomaniacal rulers of the Middle East. Parental dictatorship as represented by her own mother is located in the law of God. Ali brandishes her defiance of Allah’s commandments on chastity, theft and lying. She is an adulteress, a thief, and a liar. Though Allah forbids one to covet a neighbor, Ali covets Karl Popper hence her “ideal in not to be a politician”, but a philosopher.
In chapter 8 Ali uses an interview she had with Irshad Manji, a Canadian Muslim, to endorse her own opinions about the lack of freedom in Islam. Ishard Manji expresses the conviction that Islam can be reformed. In her opinion Muslims are suffocating and it is religion which is strangling them. Just like Ali, Manji’s criticism of Islam is about human rights. “Arabian cultural imperialism”, in her opinion, perverted a beautiful and tolerant religion. Manji openly admits that she is a lesbian and finds justification for her “unseeming” sexual preferences in the Koran where it regards the diversity of nature a blessing.
The ninth essay in Ali’s work is a speech she delivered in the Netherlands to commemorate Memorial Day [memory of the victims of World War II] on 4 May 2002. She explores the subject of freedom of speech and the need to remain vigilant to safeguard freedom. Freedom of speech though “undervalued” and often taken for granted in Western society was and is shaping whole generations of immigrants and forces many to rethink and sometimes dismiss old customs. She contends that such eruptions of aggression as the Holocaust, the Rwandan and Burundi genocide are often preceded by oppression and a lack of freedom. The rights of the individual are presented as a prerequisite for the acceptance of pluralism and enjoyment of personal identity. A climate which guarantees freedom also prevents the perpetration of such atrocities as referred to above.
The “Four women’s lives” is the title of the tenth essay. Here Ali articulates her experiences as an interpreter between 1995 and 2001. Through the lives of four immigrant women Ali laments the lack of sex education in Islamic culture and the attendant problems of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. She narrates the ordeal of a Somali teenage who, though pregnant, still believed that she was a virgin because her stitches were still intact and the boy she had been with had merely rubbed himself against her. Ali also tells the story of Anab who is first abused by her half brother and later on gets married as “damaged goods” and is treated accordingly by the husband, a porn addict, who rapes her and make her do all sort of things. Ali third woman is an HIV positive housewife who can not believe that HIV/AIDS can also affect her, a Muslim, when it is a disease for Christians and Homosexuals. The fourth girl is pregnant and has agreed to have an abortion but now wants her stitches to be renewed so that she can be a virgin again.
In chapter 11 Ali takes a swipe against policy makers in the Netherlands for failing to tackle the problem of domestic violence especially in immigrant populations. Domestic violence within the ranks of the Muslims revolve around issues of morality and chastity as prescribed by the faith. Women are beaten up and in extreme cases killed in the name of God and family honour. A man who kills a daughter for “unlawful” sexual conduct is esteemed by society. Ali proposes the establishment of an organization responsible for preventing, identifying and reporting domestic violence. Offenders and victims should all be rehabilitated.
The twelfth essay by Ali exposes the horrors of genital mutilation. She argues that genital mutilation is unacceptable and culturally inexcusable. She considers it the most underestimated violation of human and women’s rights worldwide. The medical complications arising from the practice are graphically exposed. Her calls for the establishment of a system of monitoring to prevent further violations are rejected by the government and she becries the outcome.
In chapter 13 Ali writes an open letter to Muslim women who are contemplating running away from the “oppression”. The letter take the form of unsolicited advice on the steps one has to follow on the journey towards realizing one’s individuality. The process starts by making an informed choice as to whether or not one really wants to leave, then personal encouragement through having faith in oneself and others, making new friends, finding the place of refuge[university towns an especial choice], putting in place safety measures, financial provision, opportunities for study, moving of belongings and the need for mental strength. Once out there comes the challenge of learning to live in a new society.
The fourteenth chapter of Ali’s work is based on a transcript of the film Submission Part I by the same author and the late Theo Van Gogh [killed as part of Islam’s response to the film]. The film/transcript is an attempt to open dialogue between God and the individual. The story is about a woman, Amina, who, though a dedicated Muslim and constantly praying is surrounded by women who are treated cruelly, raped, flogged, and victims of incest. Justification for these atrocities is located in the Koranic verses. Amina takes up the stories of these women. Aisha’s love and sex life [beautiful and joyous] have been reduced to fornication resulting in her flogging. Aisha concludes that submission to Allah is self-betrayal. Safiya, a victim of an arranged marriage, is systematically raped by her husband. She has to yield to the sexual appetite of a man she finds repulsive all in the name of Allah. Zainab knows that Allah has given “man more strength to look after woman”, but she feels the strength of her husband’s fist on her face at least once a week. She raises her lament as follows:
O, God, most elevated, submission to your will assures me of a better life in the hereafter, but I feel that the price I pay for my husband’s protection and maintenance is too high. I wonder how much longer I will submit.
Fatima also wonders if she can continue in submission after being raped by an uncle, Hakim, who can not be made to answer for the crime, because her father can not question the honour of his own brother. She knows that once the protruding belly betrays her she will be killed by her father as a way of safeguarding the “honour” of the family. In this transcript Ali presents the dilemmas arising from submission to Allah’s word.
In chapter 15 Ali presents her response to the negative criticism of Submission. She calls on Islam to see the need for self reflection. Islam has ugly blemishes which can not be discerned by those within. This is so because Islam robs people of their individuality; it dictates how one has to sit, eat sleep and travel. It stifles basic human curiosity and thus it is inimical to progress, knowledge and prosperity. Islam has to be humanized by adopting a critical approach. Islamic morality has to be reconciled with secular morality by pointing out the inconsistencies in a God who is merciful and yet sanctions the abuse of women. She calls on the “faithful” to examine those teachings and ideas which lead to brutal behavior. She expresses her disappointment at those critics of Submission who expressed disapproval without having watched the film or for reasons outside her immediate intention of opening up dialogue.
The sixteenth essay entitled “Portrait of a Heroine as a Young Woman”, deal in part with the life of Ali’s “current” heroine, Samira Amhed, who ran away from home and has recently completed a diploma in pedagogy with a distinction for her thesis. Samira ran away to escape physical and psychological violence. The police could not help her because her challenge belonged in the domain of “family matters”. This takes Ali to a discussion of the failure by the authorities to deal with violence against women. She uses the example of eleven murders committed in the name of religion in the area of The Hague and in the province of South Holland. Ali laments the silence and passivity of universities and NGOs in dealing with the right of immigrant women.
Ali’s last essay calls for clear thinking in Islamic culture. Contrasts between the values of Western society and Islamic society are made. Western society is open, tolerant, allows for freedom of conscience and expression, equality before the law for women and men and for homosexuals and heterosexuals, free trade and open market. Islamic culture on the other hand seeks to establish a Shari’a based society in which people are obligated to serve Allah. The society is intolerant; it kills those that leave the faith and is hostile to peoples of other religions. In this society women are subordinate to men. Ali identifies Muhammad as the central figure of the struggles by the likes of Bin Laden, Khomeini, Hassan al-Banna, and Sayyid Qutb to establish Shari’a based societies. She points out that “Muhammad built the House of Islam using military tactics that included mass killings, torture, targeted assassination, lying and indiscriminate destruction of productive goods”, and it is no wonder that fundamentalists justify their action from the deeds and edicts of the Prophet (p.173). A process of clear thinking is forwarded as a strategy to “liberate” Muslims from Muhammad’s doctrine and will expose the utopia and hell which the fundamentalists promise. Rational thought will serve as the midwife for the democracy.
Overall Ali’s work provides an important contribution to the debate on the need for Islamic reform. Her sustained exposure of the irrational character of Islam and appeal to infuse the religion with the spirit of the enlightenment, critical thought, and secular morality and reasoning are especially relevant in the broader debate on the nexus between development and culture. The uncompromising manner in which her work tackles and exposes the violence, physical, ritual and psychological, which is perpetrate against women in the name of religion. Ali’s defiance and criticism of Allah as she seeks to unearth the causes of fundamentalism in addition improving the condition of women is a sign of determined courage and should be emulated if Islam is to be reformed.
Though useful, Ali’s work is weak in that it makes unfair and illogical comparisons between Muhammad and John Stuart Mill. A fairer comparison would have been between Koranic and Biblical characters She in turn almost makes the mistake of painting all Muslims with the same brush and their position on women. She also presents a glossed up version of Western society hence all that is good is located in Western culture and all that is wrong is found in Islam. She in turn almost makes the mistake of painting all Muslims with the same brush. Western intolerance in the form of racism and unequal trade and economic relations with the Third World are ignored thus Ali denies the relevance of colonialism and neocolonialism in explaining some of the problems found in Islam. Any developmental strategy which denies the relevance of historical enciounters and the reality of neo-colonialism in Islamic countries is doomed to fail. Ali also treats her informants in a way that is biased against Muslims thus for most of the part the opinions of the so-called liberals are captured verbatim whereas the fundamentalists are given an indirect voice in the form of reported speech. Ali also fails to see the potential for development, as in Confucianism, located in Muslim emphasis on the community as opposed to the individual. Notwithstanding the said weaknesses Ali’s work is a must read for development practitioners in Muslim countries in particular and the Third World in general as it makes a useful contribution in the discourses on culture and development and cultural development.
BOOK REVIEW
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman’s Cry for Reason, London, Simon and Schuster UK Ltd, 2006.
2007
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman’s Cry for Reason, London, Simon and Schuster UK Ltd, 2006.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s The Caged Virgin: A Muslim Woman’s Cry for Reason, calls for the emancipation of women from cultural oppression and emancipation of Muslims from a backward religious system in relation to the overall development of Muslim societies. Published in 2006 her work comes in the wake of a growing concern with political Islam/Muslim Fundamentalism and the threat it poses to Western Liberalism. This concern has translated into a plethora of scholarly works on the future of Islam and the general development of Muslim societies. Her book is firmly located in the Liberal and Neo-Liberal frame of analysis and in a way represents Western Fundamentalism’s response to political Islam.
Ali’s work adds weight to the growing scholarship on Islamic reform and an interesting and central dimension which gives it an aura of originality is the way in which political reality is interwoven into the personal experiences of the author. The personal experiences of an Islamic woman provides the launch pad for her call for the “enlightenment” to dawn on Islam if there is to be any hope for the development of Muslim societies. The book uses a sustained analysis of the condition of women to tackle the broader subject of development of Muslim societies and the full integration of Muslims in Western society. In addition, the book also takes a swipe against sections of Western society for taking a retrogressive stance of harbouring Islam without placing upon it the same stringent code. She asserts that for as long as western tolerance does not impose this stringent code on Islam then Fundamentalism will continue to flourish. In this sense therefore Ali looks at reform as something that has to generated from within Muslim societies with the help of Western societies who in essence epitomizes both modernization and development. Her interrogation of Islam especially on the treatment of women takes the form of seventeen essays which make up the seventeen chapters of the book.
The first essay entitled ‘Stand up for your rights’, presents Ali’s justification of her criticism against Islam. She forwards four reasons as follow: to end the degrading treatment of Muslim women and girls; the emancipation of Muslim women is a pre-condition for the social advancement of Muslims in Western Society; Muslim women need a woman to speak on their behalf as they are scarcely listened to; and the belief that an emphasis on a Muslim identity is detrimental to Muslim women. Ali exposes the condition of women in Islam. Ali’s women are “enchained bvy the doctrine of virginity” (p.2), victims of domestic violence, and l;agging behind in education. Her life story especially the success she achieved after escaping an arranged marriage are taken as proof of what can be achieved by Muslim women hence her call to successful women to ‘stand up and fight’ for the rights of fellow Muslim women.
In Chapter 2 Ali calls on Muslims to look at themselves critically. September 11 and other statistics on terrorist activities and armed conflicts involving Muslims takle her to that point where she admits that there is something wrong with Islam. She challenges Muslims to break out of the cacoon of denial by posing the following questions:
If nothing is wrong with Islam, why then are so many Muslims on the run? … Why is the position of women in Muslim countries so abominable? If we Muslims are so tolerant and peaceful, why is there so much ethnic, religious, political and cultural strife and violence in Muslim countries? Why can’t or won’t we acknowledge the seriousness of the situation in which we find ourselves. Why are we Muslims so full of feelings of anger and uneasiness, and why do we carry so much hostility and hate within us both toward ourselves and toward others? Why are we incapable of criticising ourselves from within? (p.11).
Ali concludes that’s Islam is “incensed, traumatised, shattered and living in an illusion”.
She contends that for as long as the organisation of society, economic policy, education and the relations between the sexes are left in the hands of God, poverty, violence, political instability, economic malaise and human suffering will persist. She also condemns the failure by the United States to recognise that the so called moderate governments of the Middle East are the secondary causes of fundamentalism. In the so cvalled moderate countries fundamentalism has taken the guise of opposition political movements. As a solution Ali advocates for the withdrawal of religion from the public sphere and the adoption of Western values of freedom and equality.
Chapter 3 entitled “The Virgins’ Cage, argues that Islamic culture is way behind the West in many ways. Islamic culture is insufficient in terms of individual freedoms, knowledge and women’s rights. In Ali’s view the adoption of Islam in non-Arab countries like Tanzania, Nigeria and Pakistan resulted in a significant regression in individual freedom, acquisition of scientific knowledge and the rights of women (p.17). She further claims that Islam does not possess a credible and workable political model. She attacks Islam’s morality and attendant obsession with virginity which locks up women in a virgins’ cage. The ‘virgins’ cage’ is a double cage which not only entraps women but all Muslims in the quagmire of socio-economic backwardness which is passed on from generation to generation. Self-criticism is forwarded as the means to break out of the cage. Muslims in the West should take advantage of the civil rights and liberties there to initiate the criticism.
Ali’s fourth essay elaborates the differences between Islamic and Western culture. The central call of the essay is for the “Enlightenment” to dawn upon Islam. The question the compatibility of constitutional democracy and Islam is explored. Ali argues that Islam’s ideological framework is heavily polarized and provides breeding ground for fundamentalism. The framework consist of “strength and weakness, dominance and humiliation, eternity and transience, clarity and obscurity”, Halal and Haram (p.36). In addition Islam gives greater value to the community, honour and submission as opposed to individual autonomy. Western culture on the other hand gives emphasis to individual independence, personal responsibility and plurality of ideologies. The constitution is more important than God’s Holy book. Ali also refutes the claim that Islam has been taken hostage by terrorists instead she contends that “Islam is held hostage by itself (p.41).
In chapter 5 Ali tackles the issue of the integration of Muslim immigrants in Western society. She equates the process of integration with the process of civilization. Muslims in their raw form have a pre-modern mentality which has to be dismantled if they are to take up the opportunities offered by Western society. She explores the four routes towards integration namely political-legal route, socio-economic angle, multiculturalism and the socio-cultural approach. As an advocate of the dismantling of Islam’s pre-modern mentality Ali abhors multiculturalism and considers the socio-cultural approach as the best way toward integration.
Chapter 6 traces Ali’s walk to freedom in addition to justifying her movement from the Labour to the Conservative Party. In this Chapter she takes the reader through her father’s political career and his four marriages, her flight from an arranged marriage and her realization that she was an atheist. She also briefly tackles the issue of female genital mutilation. Through the life of her sister Heweya she explores the trauma and psychological damage Islam perpetrates against women. Ali also considers herself as one of the champions of the “Third Feminist Wave” (p.67). For Ali emancipation is a struggle. A number of contradictions emerge in Ali’s essay as her downtrodden women go to America to get diplomas, succeed in getting divorces, and meet prospective husbands in literacy classes.
As an act of defiance Ali structures her seventh essay around the Ten Commandments. She further endorses her claims to atheism and casts doubt on the existence of God. She castigates Allah’s commandments for stifling the appreciation of art, beauty and the romantic side of mankind. In Muhammad’s dictatorship [He is the true prophet of Allah, and Allah is the only true God], Ali sees the despicable character and megalomaniacal rulers of the Middle East. Parental dictatorship as represented by her own mother is located in the law of God. Ali brandishes her defiance of Allah’s commandments on chastity, theft and lying. She is an adulteress, a thief, and a liar. Though Allah forbids one to covet a neighbor, Ali covets Karl Popper hence her “ideal in not to be a politician”, but a philosopher.
In chapter 8 Ali uses an interview she had with Irshad Manji, a Canadian Muslim, to endorse her own opinions about the lack of freedom in Islam. Ishard Manji expresses the conviction that Islam can be reformed. In her opinion Muslims are suffocating and it is religion which is strangling them. Just like Ali, Manji’s criticism of Islam is about human rights. “Arabian cultural imperialism”, in her opinion, perverted a beautiful and tolerant religion. Manji openly admits that she is a lesbian and finds justification for her “unseeming” sexual preferences in the Koran where it regards the diversity of nature a blessing.
The ninth essay in Ali’s work is a speech she delivered in the Netherlands to commemorate Memorial Day [memory of the victims of World War II] on 4 May 2002. She explores the subject of freedom of speech and the need to remain vigilant to safeguard freedom. Freedom of speech though “undervalued” and often taken for granted in Western society was and is shaping whole generations of immigrants and forces many to rethink and sometimes dismiss old customs. She contends that such eruptions of aggression as the Holocaust, the Rwandan and Burundi genocide are often preceded by oppression and a lack of freedom. The rights of the individual are presented as a prerequisite for the acceptance of pluralism and enjoyment of personal identity. A climate which guarantees freedom also prevents the perpetration of such atrocities as referred to above.
The “Four women’s lives” is the title of the tenth essay. Here Ali articulates her experiences as an interpreter between 1995 and 2001. Through the lives of four immigrant women Ali laments the lack of sex education in Islamic culture and the attendant problems of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. She narrates the ordeal of a Somali teenage who, though pregnant, still believed that she was a virgin because her stitches were still intact and the boy she had been with had merely rubbed himself against her. Ali also tells the story of Anab who is first abused by her half brother and later on gets married as “damaged goods” and is treated accordingly by the husband, a porn addict, who rapes her and make her do all sort of things. Ali third woman is an HIV positive housewife who can not believe that HIV/AIDS can also affect her, a Muslim, when it is a disease for Christians and Homosexuals. The fourth girl is pregnant and has agreed to have an abortion but now wants her stitches to be renewed so that she can be a virgin again.
In chapter 11 Ali takes a swipe against policy makers in the Netherlands for failing to tackle the problem of domestic violence especially in immigrant populations. Domestic violence within the ranks of the Muslims revolve around issues of morality and chastity as prescribed by the faith. Women are beaten up and in extreme cases killed in the name of God and family honour. A man who kills a daughter for “unlawful” sexual conduct is esteemed by society. Ali proposes the establishment of an organization responsible for preventing, identifying and reporting domestic violence. Offenders and victims should all be rehabilitated.
The twelfth essay by Ali exposes the horrors of genital mutilation. She argues that genital mutilation is unacceptable and culturally inexcusable. She considers it the most underestimated violation of human and women’s rights worldwide. The medical complications arising from the practice are graphically exposed. Her calls for the establishment of a system of monitoring to prevent further violations are rejected by the government and she becries the outcome.
In chapter 13 Ali writes an open letter to Muslim women who are contemplating running away from the “oppression”. The letter take the form of unsolicited advice on the steps one has to follow on the journey towards realizing one’s individuality. The process starts by making an informed choice as to whether or not one really wants to leave, then personal encouragement through having faith in oneself and others, making new friends, finding the place of refuge[university towns an especial choice], putting in place safety measures, financial provision, opportunities for study, moving of belongings and the need for mental strength. Once out there comes the challenge of learning to live in a new society.
The fourteenth chapter of Ali’s work is based on a transcript of the film Submission Part I by the same author and the late Theo Van Gogh [killed as part of Islam’s response to the film]. The film/transcript is an attempt to open dialogue between God and the individual. The story is about a woman, Amina, who, though a dedicated Muslim and constantly praying is surrounded by women who are treated cruelly, raped, flogged, and victims of incest. Justification for these atrocities is located in the Koranic verses. Amina takes up the stories of these women. Aisha’s love and sex life [beautiful and joyous] have been reduced to fornication resulting in her flogging. Aisha concludes that submission to Allah is self-betrayal. Safiya, a victim of an arranged marriage, is systematically raped by her husband. She has to yield to the sexual appetite of a man she finds repulsive all in the name of Allah. Zainab knows that Allah has given “man more strength to look after woman”, but she feels the strength of her husband’s fist on her face at least once a week. She raises her lament as follows:
O, God, most elevated, submission to your will assures me of a better life in the hereafter, but I feel that the price I pay for my husband’s protection and maintenance is too high. I wonder how much longer I will submit.
Fatima also wonders if she can continue in submission after being raped by an uncle, Hakim, who can not be made to answer for the crime, because her father can not question the honour of his own brother. She knows that once the protruding belly betrays her she will be killed by her father as a way of safeguarding the “honour” of the family. In this transcript Ali presents the dilemmas arising from submission to Allah’s word.
In chapter 15 Ali presents her response to the negative criticism of Submission. She calls on Islam to see the need for self reflection. Islam has ugly blemishes which can not be discerned by those within. This is so because Islam robs people of their individuality; it dictates how one has to sit, eat sleep and travel. It stifles basic human curiosity and thus it is inimical to progress, knowledge and prosperity. Islam has to be humanized by adopting a critical approach. Islamic morality has to be reconciled with secular morality by pointing out the inconsistencies in a God who is merciful and yet sanctions the abuse of women. She calls on the “faithful” to examine those teachings and ideas which lead to brutal behavior. She expresses her disappointment at those critics of Submission who expressed disapproval without having watched the film or for reasons outside her immediate intention of opening up dialogue.
The sixteenth essay entitled “Portrait of a Heroine as a Young Woman”, deal in part with the life of Ali’s “current” heroine, Samira Amhed, who ran away from home and has recently completed a diploma in pedagogy with a distinction for her thesis. Samira ran away to escape physical and psychological violence. The police could not help her because her challenge belonged in the domain of “family matters”. This takes Ali to a discussion of the failure by the authorities to deal with violence against women. She uses the example of eleven murders committed in the name of religion in the area of The Hague and in the province of South Holland. Ali laments the silence and passivity of universities and NGOs in dealing with the right of immigrant women.
Ali’s last essay calls for clear thinking in Islamic culture. Contrasts between the values of Western society and Islamic society are made. Western society is open, tolerant, allows for freedom of conscience and expression, equality before the law for women and men and for homosexuals and heterosexuals, free trade and open market. Islamic culture on the other hand seeks to establish a Shari’a based society in which people are obligated to serve Allah. The society is intolerant; it kills those that leave the faith and is hostile to peoples of other religions. In this society women are subordinate to men. Ali identifies Muhammad as the central figure of the struggles by the likes of Bin Laden, Khomeini, Hassan al-Banna, and Sayyid Qutb to establish Shari’a based societies. She points out that “Muhammad built the House of Islam using military tactics that included mass killings, torture, targeted assassination, lying and indiscriminate destruction of productive goods”, and it is no wonder that fundamentalists justify their action from the deeds and edicts of the Prophet (p.173). A process of clear thinking is forwarded as a strategy to “liberate” Muslims from Muhammad’s doctrine and will expose the utopia and hell which the fundamentalists promise. Rational thought will serve as the midwife for the democracy.
Overall Ali’s work provides an important contribution to the debate on the need for Islamic reform. Her sustained exposure of the irrational character of Islam and appeal to infuse the religion with the spirit of the enlightenment, critical thought, and secular morality and reasoning are especially relevant in the broader debate on the nexus between development and culture. The uncompromising manner in which her work tackles and exposes the violence, physical, ritual and psychological, which is perpetrate against women in the name of religion. Ali’s defiance and criticism of Allah as she seeks to unearth the causes of fundamentalism in addition improving the condition of women is a sign of determined courage and should be emulated if Islam is to be reformed.
Though useful, Ali’s work is weak in that it makes unfair and illogical comparisons between Muhammad and John Stuart Mill. A fairer comparison would have been between Koranic and Biblical characters She in turn almost makes the mistake of painting all Muslims with the same brush and their position on women. She also presents a glossed up version of Western society hence all that is good is located in Western culture and all that is wrong is found in Islam. She in turn almost makes the mistake of painting all Muslims with the same brush. Western intolerance in the form of racism and unequal trade and economic relations with the Third World are ignored thus Ali denies the relevance of colonialism and neocolonialism in explaining some of the problems found in Islam. Any developmental strategy which denies the relevance of historical enciounters and the reality of neo-colonialism in Islamic countries is doomed to fail. Ali also treats her informants in a way that is biased against Muslims thus for most of the part the opinions of the so-called liberals are captured verbatim whereas the fundamentalists are given an indirect voice in the form of reported speech. Ali also fails to see the potential for development, as in Confucianism, located in Muslim emphasis on the community as opposed to the individual. Notwithstanding the said weaknesses Ali’s work is a must read for development practitioners in Muslim countries in particular and the Third World in general as it makes a useful contribution in the discourses on culture and development and cultural development.
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