Muslim Women at Work: Religious Discourses in Arab Society

126 Pages·2017·1.21 MB·English

by  Yusuf M. Sidani

MUSLIM
WOMEN AT
WORK
Religious
Discourses
in Arab
Society
YUSUF M. SIDANI
Muslim Women at Work
Yusuf M. Sidani
Muslim Women at
Work
Religious Discourses in Arab Society
YusufM.Sidani
AmericanUniversityofBeirut
Beirut,Lebanon
ISBN978-3-319-63220-9 ISBN978-3-319-63221-6 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-63221-6
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017949676
©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s)2018
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsaresolelyandexclusivelylicensedbythePublisher,
whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,
reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinany
otherphysicalway,andtransmissionorinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,
computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped.
Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthis
publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesare
exemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse.
Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationin
thisbookarebelievedtobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication.Neitherthepublisher
northeauthorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespecttothematerial
contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher
remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional
affiliations.
Coverillustration:©visualspace/GettyImages
Printedonacid-freepaper
ThisPalgraveMacmillanimprintispublishedbySpringerNature
TheregisteredcompanyisSpringerInternationalPublishingAG
Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland
Tomymother
AMuslimwomanatwork
A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
Iamindebtedtomanyindividualsforthiswork.MyfatherMunirtaughtme
everythingIknowaboutthemeaningofwork.MymotherSamihahasput
this in practice. She continues to show me what it means for a woman to
work, even as her grandchildren are already pursuingcareers oftheir own.
Amira,mywife,playedmultiplerolesasamother,ateacher,andastudent,
andhasbeenbymysideallthetime.SpecialthanksalsogotoYusraBalaa
and Mina Chami who always listen. My children Munir, Anas, Hani,
Mariam,andLeenhavealwaysbeensupportive.MysonMunir,anexcellent
critic, read the first two chapters and offered insightful remarks. I also
learned a lot from my colleagues at the Olayan school of Business at the
American University ofBeirut. Overthe years, many studentsin my MBA
leadershipclassofferedinterestingperspectivesregardingwomeninleader-
shippositionsinthispartoftheworld.Iamspecificallyindebtedtomylate
friendJonThornberry,whooftenofferedsharpremarksandinsightsabout
the Middle East and Arab society. His perceptive remarks were always
thought-provokingdespiteourintellectualdifferences.Jon,youaremissed.
Lots ofdiscussions,arguments, anddisagreementswithmany friends have
shapedmythinkingandarereflectedinwhatIwrite.Specialthanksarealso
duethePalgraveteamfortheirpatienceandsupport.
vii
C
ONTENTS
1 Introduction 1
2 APersistentParticipationGap 7
3 WhattheQur’anSays 29
4 TheCritics 49
5 IslamicDiscourses 73
6 TheWayForward 101
Index 119
ix
L T
IST OF ABLES
Table2.1 Laborforceparticipationratesformalesandfemales 11
Table2.2 Estimatedgrossnationalincomepercapita 15
Table2.3 Femalerepresentationinseniorleadership 17
xi
CHAPTER1
Introduction
Rarely a day goes by without a piece of news about Muslims and Arabs in
themainstreammedia.Mostly,itisnotpositive.ThestatusofArabwomen
particularly has long captured the interest of scholars, intellectuals, and
activistsfromallfourcornersoftheworld.Issuesofdiscrimination,harass-
ment,dresscodes,seclusion,lackofparticipationandinclusion,absenceof
meaningful political representation, deficiencies in education, and lack of
equal access to resources are repeatedly discussed and highlighted. Those
discussions often lead to the conclusion that there is either something
wrongintheArabculture,inIslam,orinboth.
People who write about the region, including some Arabs, often reach
the same conclusion that there is an overpowering “hatred of women” in
the Arab world. Male-dominated institutions have accumulated a sum of
animositytowardswomen,andtheonlypaththatmostmentake,according
to such perspectives, is that they continue their domination over their
femalecounterparts.Theonlywaytodothatistocontinuetomarginalize
women,imprisonthem,treatthemwithoutcourtesyorconsideration,and
squashanyambitionstheymighthave.
Thisisnotanexaggeration.Inanarticlewrittenin2012,justastheArab
Springrevolutionsweretakingform,anEgyptianAmericanjournalistwrote
a provocative piece in Foreign Policy under the title “Why Do They Hate
Us?TherealwaronwomenisintheMiddleEast.”1Theword“hate”and
“hatred”,excludingitssynonyms,appeared16timesinthearticle.Blanket
condemnations of Arab societies were issued such as “Arab societies hate
women,” “Saudi Arabia hates women,” and “the hatred of women goes
©TheAuthor(s)2018 1
Y.M.Sidani,MuslimWomenatWork,
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-63221-6_1
2 1 INTRODUCTION
deepin Egyptiansociety.”Theauthor described aworldwhereabuses are
conducted, husbands beat up their wives, women are denied the right to
drive cars, girls are forced into child marriages, sexual harassment is
endemic,andwomenareforcedtomarrytheirrapists.
TheauthorwasseeminglyafraidofIslamismwhichseemedtobeonthe
rise in the wake of the Arab Spring mobilization in 2012. Egypt had just
elected a parliament dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis,
and Tunisia’s Ennahda party won the largest bloc in the Constituent
Assembly.2 She did not seem to have discerned the distinction between
thosetwocountriesorthemajorforcesoperatingwithin.Failingtounder-
standthedifferencebetweenEnnahdapartyinTunisiaandtheirprogressive
agenda,and the Salafism movement in Egyptwith their ultra-conservative
vision,isproblematictoanyMiddleEasternspecialist.
TheabovedepictionoftheArabworldalsoinvariablyleadstoerroneous
conclusions.Let’stakeharassment,whichwasdescribedasbeingendemic.
SexualharassmentisindeedaprobleminmanyregionsoftheArabworld.
But this is hardly an “Arab” problem; harassment is a global problem.
Specifically, workplace harassment—worldwide—is an impediment to
female empowerment and integration in many professions, especially
in those fields dominated by males. The top five worst cities for verbal
harassment according to one study3 were Mexico City, Delhi, Bogota,
Lima, and Jakarta; only Jakarta is in a Muslim country. The worst cities
forphysicalharassmentwereMexicoCity,Bogota,Lima,Tokyo,andDelhi;
none is a Muslim or Arab city. While harassment is indeed a problem in
many Arab contexts, this does not make it an Arab cultural phenomenon.
The Catholics of Mexico City, Bogota, and Lima do not have an innate
hatred of women, nor do the Shintos of Japan, or the Hindus of India.
Similarly the argument that the real problems facing women in the Arab
world are based on an innate “hatred of women” is a proposition that is
unwarranted.Itservesnorealpurposeexcepttoaugmentanother“clashof
civilizations” thesis. One more example brought forward, as evidence for
the “hatred of women” in the Arab world, relates to denying women the
righttodriveinSaudiArabia,whichishometolessthan2%ofallMuslims.
Thisisasevereproblemwhichhasrepercussionsonwomen’sintegrationin
thepubliclifeoftheSaudisociety.Yet,thisisstillaproblemthatneedstobe
seriouslytackledwithinSaudiArabia,ratherthanbeingan“Arabissue.”
This book about women’sparticipation in the workplace acknowledges
the significant problems found in Arab societies that still need to be
resolved. Yet, missing the real culprits would only lead to prescribing the