Islam, Gender, and Social Change

by Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck; Esposito, John L.

• ISBN13: 9780195113570
• ISBN10: 0195113578
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-12-11
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

For several decades, the Muslim world has experienced a religious resurgence. The reassertion of Islam in personal and political life has taken many forms, from greater attention to religious practice to the emergence of Islamic organizations, movements, and institutions. One of the mostcontroversial and emotionally charged aspects of this revival has been its effect on women in Muslim societies. The essays collected in this book place this issue in its historical context and offer case studies of Muslim societies from North Africa to Southeast Asia. These fascinating studies shed light on the impact of the Islamic resurgence on gender issues in Iran, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Oman, Bahrain,the Philippines, and Kuwait. Taken together, the essays reveal the wide variety that exists among Muslim societies and believers, and the complexity of the issues under consideration. They show that new things are happening for women across the Islamic world, and are in many cases being initiated bywomen themselves. The volume as a whole militates against the stereotype of Muslim women as repressed, passive, and without initiative, while acknowledging the very real obstacles to women's initiatives in most of these societies.

Author Biography

Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad is Professor of Islamic History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is co-author with Adair T. Lummis, of Islamic Values in the United States: A Comparative Study and editor of The Muslims of America. John Esposito is Director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University. He has authored and edited numerous volumes on Islam.

Table of Contents

Contributors	vii
Introduction: Women in Islam and Muslim Societies	ix
John L. Esposito
ONE / ISLAM, GENDER, AND SOCIAL CHANGE: A RECONSTITUTED TRADITION	1	(56)
Islam and Gender: Dilemmas in the Changing Arab World	3	(27)
Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad
Gender Issues and Contemporary Quran Interpretation	30	(15)
Barbara Stowasser
Islam, Social Change, and the Reality of Arab Women's Lives	45	(12)
Nadia Hijab
TWO / ISLAM, GENDER AND SOCIOPOLITICAL CHANGE: CASE STUDIES	57	(178)
Feminism in an Islamic Republic: ``Years of Hardship, Years of Growth,''	59	(26)
Afsaneh Najmabadi
Secularist and Islamist Discourses on Modernity in Egypt and the Evolution of the Postcolonial Nation-State	85	(15)
Mervat Hatem
Women and the State in Jordan: Inclusion or Exclusion?	100	(24)
Laurie A. Brand
The Slow Yet Steady Path to Women's Empowerment in Pakistan	124	(20)
Anita M. Weiss
Changing Gender Relations and the Development Process in Oman	144	(25)
Carol J. Riphenburg
Women and Religion in Bahrain: An Emerging Identity	169	(21)
May Seikaly
Gender, Islam, and the State: Kuwaiti Women in Struggle, Pre-Invasion to Postliberation	190	(19)
Margot Badran
Philippine Muslim Women: Tradition and Change	209	(26)
Vivienne SM. Angeles
Bibliography	235	(12)
Index	247