Feminism and Islam

Introduction
Feminism is a part of critical theories which primarily revolve around women’s rights in International Relations. Feminists argue that the international structure is predominantly male-dominated, and women’s status is reduced to second-class citizens, and it should be abolished. Due to the male-dominated international structure, men make decisions in world politics, and women bear the consequences of their decisions. Feminists assume that this is an unfair system, and they tend to fix it by eliminating exclusionary practices. They emphasize women’s inclusion and gender equality in International Relations. Feminism is an egalitarian and emancipatory theory which is against gender discrimination in international politics.52
The central plea of feminists is a reorganization of the domestic social structure. They argue that women, who play a significant and often overlooked role in shaping the social structure as family makers, are not being acknowledged. This issue has been largely ignored in International Relations scholarship. Feminists aim to bring this to the forefront by examining the discriminatory practices that persist in society. They believe that introducing gender analysis is not just important, but crucial in fully understanding the differential impact of the state system and the global economy on the lives of women and men, and it can potentially bring about significant change (Peterson, 1998).
To put it another way, feminists sought to draw attention to women’s invisibility and gender subordination in international politics and the global economy. For feminists, gender is a set of socially constructed characteristics describing what men and women ought to be. Characteristics such as strength, rationality, independence, protector, and public are
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Prügl, Elisabeth. “Neoliberalising feminism.” New Political Economy 20, no. 4 (2015): 614-631.
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Theories of International Relations
associated with masculinity, while characteristics such as weakness, emotionality, relational, protected and private are associated with femininity. Men, women and the states generally assign more positive value to masculine characteristics than to feminine ones. Furthermore, states’ foreign policies are often legitimated in terms of hegemonic masculine characteristics: a desirable foreign policy generally strives for power and autonomy, which protect its citizens from outside dangers (Tickner, 1992).
Feminism became prominent in International Relations in the late 1980s when a seminar on “Gender and International Relations” was held at the London School of Economics in 1988 (Martin, 2015). Till then, different scholars contributed to this theory in diverse ways. A few important proponents and their contributions to this theory will be discussed here. Further, feminism developed and evolved as a theory due to the combined result of different waves, notable first, second and third. Different waves of feminism will be discussed. Finally, feminism is a broad theory internally divided into various strands. Important strands of feminism will also be highlighted in this chapter.

Cynthia Enloe (1938- present)
Cynthia Enloe is one of the leading proponents of Feminism. Enloe’s teachings revolve around women’s unequal participation and subjugation in domestic and international structures. She believes that women’s role in international politics is ignored even though they play a significant role making society. Women’s second-class status in society is evident from the fact that they are granted low-ranked jobs, for instance, cleaning and washing. Their jobs are not based on a waged economy like men. Men’s jobs are considered more valuable, and this is unacceptable discrimination against women (Smith, 2018).53 54
Additionally, Enloe argues that in the international system, men are considered protectors of their women, and women are considered feeble. Women’s protection is the responsibility of men. At the same time, wars are considered endeavours of men. Thus, men are the causal agents of war. Consequently, women suffer due to men’s actions. As a protector of women, men failed in their responsibility. Men initiate wars, due to which women suffer. Therefore, the idea that women are feeble and cannot protect themselves is flawed and must be abolished. Due to men’s failure, women should be allowed to decide their fate themselves. Enloe believes women can protect themselves better than their so-called protectors, men.
Moreover, Enloe highlights the mass rape culture during wars. Mass rape of defeated and fallen nations by victorious nations men remains a common practice during wars. It is now a tradition that the victorious side is raping fallen nation women, and the international community did nothing to abolish this tradition till the dawn of the 21st century. Considerable measures to abolish this tradition were missing, and it was just marked as an “unfortunate act” of wartime. Due to feminists protests, mass rape was declared a war crime under International Law in 2002. Enloe argues that this delayed constitutional amendment depicts that women are not considered equal citizens.55

Lori Handrahan
Lori Handrahan identifies the connection between ethnicity and gender inequality. She argues that during wartime, women of the opponents are constructed as “the others” because of the different ethnicities of opposing sides.56 “The others” are then targeted vehemently by the opposing side, and this gender-based violence on “the other” females is considered a conquest of ethnic territory by the male conquerors. This is an unfortunate norm of the international system, and it must be abolished for a better and balanced international system. Furthermore, Handrahan carries on Enloe’s argument and opines that women’s mass rape is considered humiliation of the enemies, and this gang rape is being used as an organized tool of domination in both world wars and other limited wars. So far, the international community has not taken any consequential measures to address and fix this problem. Mass rape is something which cannot be permitted at any cost. Therefore, Handrahan urged the international community to fix this problem immediately (Smith, 2018).

Waves of Feminism
Feminism in International Relations emerged as a combined effect of three/four different waves (Rampton, 2015):

1. The first wave of Feminism can be traced back to the nineteenth (19th) century, as an aftermath of the Industrial Revolution. In this era, women became active in their roles and asked for participation in education, legal practices, and political structure. The primary focus of this wave was equality. This wave of feminists is commonly termed liberal feminists.

2. The second wave of Feminism emerged due to a behavioural revolution in social sciences. This wave was more intense, and feminists challenged the patriarchal social structure. They intend for societal restructuring on equal grounds for men and women. This wave of feminists claims equality. They claim equal status for both men and women, irrespective of their differences. Due to their stark demands, this wave of feminism is termed radical feminism.57

3. The third wave of feminism emerged as a part of critical theories in IR in the 1980s, and it is most significant in International Relations. Third-wave feminists focused on developing scholarship in IR. The focus of new scholarship was anti-foundational, and the feminists rejected existing theories of IR by marking them as status quo.

4. The fourth wave of feminism emerged after 2010. Some scholars believe that we are still living in the third wave, and few scholars assume that we entered fourth wave of feminism. There is no stark difference between the third and fourth wave of feminism. However, movements like “MeToo” signify that we are living in a different wave of feminism.

Generations of Feminism
Feminism can be broadly divided into two main generations:

• First-generation feminists tend to focus on feminine-oriented theory formulation. The central focus of first-generation feminists is on criticizing mainstream theories by highlighting the gendered foundation of IR theories. They also highlight the discriminatory practices in international politics.

• Second-generation feminists are more intended to approach empirical happenings through a gendered lens. This generation of feminists begins developing their research program and extending the boundaries of the discipline by investigating different issues and listening to unfamiliar voices. These feminists use gender as a catalyst for introducing new theories in IR.

Strands of Feminism
Feminism is a broad theory and is internally divided into different strands due to their focus of study. Mainly, Feminism can be divided into the following strands (Sjoberg, 2013):

1. Liberal Feminism: Generally, Liberal Feminists focus on equal rights and values for men and women. They argue that equal opportunities should be granted to men and women in all spheres of life, including political structure and foreign policy making. Liberal feminists highlight the male-dominated aspect of national governments across the globe, where men primarily make and drive foreign policies. Women are excluded from the foreign policy-making process in most cases. Liberal feminists aim to end this discrimination and achieve fairness in the international system. Philosophically, Liberal Feminists call attention to the subordinate position of women in global politics but remain committed to investigating the causes of subordination within a positivist framework. This strand challenges the content but not the epistemological assumptions of conventional IR. Moreover, Liberal Feminists use gender as an explanatory variable in foreign policy analysis. They empirically prove that the severity of violence used by states in international crises decreases as domestic gender equality increases.58 59

2. Critical Feminism: Critical Feminists explore the ideational and material manifestations of gendered identities and gendered power in global politics. Many critical feminists build upon, but go beyond, the work of Robert Cox. Cox portrays the world through historical structures of three categories of reciprocal interacting forces: material conditions, ideas and institutions. He assumes that ideas are essential for the legitimacy of institutions and are products of human beings. Therefore, Cox believes that there is a possibility of change. Sandra Whitworth, a renowned critical feminist, builds her argument on Cox’s assumption and argues that gender is partially constituted by material conditions, which is a reality, and partially by the meanings given to that reality – ideas that men and women have about their relationships to one another. Christine Chin, another critical feminist, work shows that states are not neutral but an expression of class, race, and gender-based power. States usually won support by co-opting certain citizens while repressing others. Therefore, critical realists challenge the ontological foundation of the existing international system where states acquire leading roles.

3. Difference Feminism: Difference Feminists emphasize the constructed different identities of men and women. They argue that women are not different or inferior to men in every aspect of life. The difference between men and women is a product of a patriarchal society, and it should be abolished. Due to this constructed difference between men and women, gender discrimination is in practice all across the globe. Therefore, deconstructing the difference is essential for establishing an equal and fair international system.60

4. Feminist Constructivism: Constructivist Feminism focuses on how ideas about gender shape and are shaped by global politics. They claim that in the existing system, women perform household chores, which are constructed as not “real work.” Elisabeth Prugt, a renowned feminist constructivist, sees gender as an institution that codifies power at every level of global politics, from the home to the state and the international system. She argues that gender politics pervade world politics, creating a set of linguistically based rules about how states interact with each other and with their citizens.61

5. Postmodern Feminism: Postmodern feminists focus on deconstructing mainstream theories. They assume that mainstream theories are state-oriented and states are repressive. In the existing state system, women are marginalised. Therefore, for a better and fair society, mainstream theories must be deconstructed because they favour the repressive state system.

6. Post-Structural Feminism: Post-structural feminists point out that men have generally been seen as the “knowers.” What has counted as legitimate knowledge in the social sciences has generally been based on knowledge about men’s lives in the public sphere; women have been marginalised both as knowers and as the subjects of knowledge.

7. Post-Colonial Feminism: Post-colonial feminists argue that women may be the last community to be decolonized. They assume that the decolonization of nation-states took place in the post-WWII era. However, in patriarchal societies, women are still colonized by men and have yet to be decolonized.62

Feminism and Islam
Feminists ask for equal rights for men and women. Islam is the practical manifestation of feminist demands as it guarantees equal rights for men and women. In Islam, there is no difference between men and women as far as their relation to Allah is concerned. Allah Almighty promised equal rewards for good deeds and punishment for evil conduct for both men and women. It is reported that before the advent of Islam, the Arabs were maltreating their women. In most cases, they were even treated worse than animals. The Arabs used to bury their daughters alive. However, with the advent of Islam, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) preached against these traditions. The Prophet (PBUH) wanted to put a stop to all cruelties to women. He preached kindness towards them. He told the Muslims:
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“Fear Allah in respect of women.” And: “The best of you are they who behave best to their wives.” And: “A Muslim must not hate his wife, and if he is displeased with one bad quality in her, let him be pleased with one that is good.” And: “The more civil and kind a Muslim is to his wife, the more perfect in faith he is.”
Unlike other religions, which consider women as inherited wicked and sinners and men as inherited noble and virtuous, Islam emphasizes equal rights