Muslim Women’s identity amidst religion and the State https://theleaflet.in/muslim-womens-identity-amidst-religion-and-the-state/ HASINA KHAN·MARCH 8, 2023
Extracts:
Post the 1992 Mumbai communal riots, when the Muslim community collectively faced aggression from the right-wing on the pretext of their identity, most Muslims assimilated to project their religious force against the right-wing’s attack. This assimilation caused division between the religious groups trying to conserve Muslim identity, and another group voicing concerns over the lack of welfare schemes, education and employment opportunities for Muslims and their socio-economic backwardness... We have witnessed the criminalisation of the Triple Talaq debate through which the State aimed to protect Muslim women from supposed regressive practices. This criminalisation portrays Muslim women as mute spectators incapable of taking their own decisions.
Five years later, the hijab row in Karnataka highlights the relationship between politics, culture and religion. The State has been incompetent in providing affirmative action to increase Muslim women’s participation in the workforce. It has removed scholarships for minority students, such as the Maulana Azad fellowship for research scholars. Instead, the priority has been to impose a uniform code of conduct in educational institutions, which paves the way for a code of conduct for Muslim women in Indian society.
The idea of one nation, language and code of conduct devoid of religious affinity seems utopian and beautiful, but is dangerous in the Indian context, as I believe the singularity connotes majoritarian, right-wing, Hindu values...
Hijab row shows why we should see Muslim women’s rights through the dual lens of religion and gender https://theleaflet.in/hijab-row-shows-why-we-should-see-muslim-womens-rights-through-the-dual-lens-of-religion-and-gender/
The issues formed in this case come from a place of patriarchal, religious ideology. It questions whether the hijab is an essential religious practice. This line of questioning and forming the issues takes away autonomy from Muslim women to make decisions on their religion, cultural practice and personal expression. It then becomes a question of what is allowed by the religion.
However, Muslim women and girls, just like any other women, are diverse. Some may opt to wear the hijab while some may not. Some may profess their faith (openly), while others might be agnostic or atheistic. Despite this, the affiliation in society due to name and other identity categories would put all the women as Muslim. ..
the many ways in which intersectional discrimination against Muslim women manifests – whether in criminal justice system, employment laws or labour laws. It comes from prejudices and stereotypes of Muslim women made out of a cookie cutter mould – cut within the strict religious tenets of Islam. This denies the wide diversity Muslim women in India showcase, reclaiming dignity through their bravery and autonomy: from the way Bilkis Bano fought her case courageously in courts, to Muslim women leading the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 in 2019-20, to an organisation led by a Muslim woman highlighting the discrimination in employment practices faced by Muslim women.
Women’s rights are diverse; similarly Muslim women’s issues are diverse. A homogenous understanding of our rights is a disservice to the plurality of the Indian population.
this series covers then hijab ban hearings at the Supreme Court in India.
Discrimination in the criminal justice system,
Parts I https://theleaflet.in/portrait-of-a-modern-indian-muslim-woman-bilkis-bano-and-the-criminal-justice-system/ Portrait of a modern Indian Muslim woman: Bilkis Bano and the criminal justice system
ALMAS SHAIKH·AUGUST 22, 2022
II https://theleaflet.in/targeting-a-minority-within-the-minority-through-digital-crime-perpetuates-power-imbalance/ Targeting a minority within the minority through digital crime perpetuates power imbalance
ALMAS SHAIKH·AUGUST 26, 2022
inherent bias in the employment practices, against Muslim women., and
Part III https://theleaflet.in/overcoming-hiring-bias-towards-substantive-equality-in-employment-for-muslim-women/ Overcoming hiring bias: Towards substantive equality in employment for Muslim women
ALMAS SHAIKH·SEPTEMBER 5, 2022
