research agenda
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R esearch -Led Advocacy and Strategic Collaborations promoting Equal Rights for Muslim Women Siraj Sait (LSS) UEL Research Conference 26 June 2013. Research Agenda. Secular CEDAW/HR Approaches Abandoning Field to Fundamentalists Theological – Faith, Agnostic, Secular - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Research-Led Advocacy and Strategic Collaborations promoting Equal Rights for Muslim Women
Siraj Sait (LSS)UEL Research Conference
26 June 2013
Research Agenda
• Secular CEDAW/HR Approaches• Abandoning Field to Fundamentalists• Theological – Faith, Agnostic, Secular• UN – Risks/ Developmental Opportunities• UEL-UN research since 2003 (w H Lim)• UEL lead 55 members incl. WB, civil
society, professionals
Continuum of Property Rights
• Women own less than 2% land• Ownership, Access and Control of
Property• Head of Household –Minorities, WHH,
polygamous, displaced • Islamic opportunities, custom
4 key intervention areas
1. Unequal inheritance but equal property rights?
2. Separation of Marital property but increasing joint property regimes?
3. Patrilineal inheritance systems but Muslim matrilineal communities?
4. Daraja (superiority) but economic hierarchy in new urbanising world?
Problem 1: COMPENSATORY SCHEME
• Unequal inheritance share, equal property outcomes?
• Estate Planning – Will (1/3rd), gifts (hiba), dower (mahr), maintenance etc.
• Post- Inheritance Adjustments – • Waiver – due to fear disowned by the
family • Renunciation Tanazul - reform
Compensatory Scheme - Gaps
• Methodology: Life course perspectives – Timelines – Inheritance Systems, not rules
• Parties: pre marriage, marital, post – parents, siblings, spouse, children, relatives, others
• Documents - how to record, quantify, align• Institutions – Judges, Muftis, Mujtahids?• Outcomes – Financial, in kind, religious?
Problem 2: Confronting Islamic Patrilinealism?
Is Islam inevitably patrilineal?Islamic Usul al fiqh - jurisprudence(1) Primary heirs – women, and thru women(2) Agnates – no cognates(3) Residuals – Cognates included***Shia-No difference Agnates/ Cognates
Significance of Matrilineal
• descent through the female line, • matrilocal residence (husband resides at
the home of wife after marriage) and • inheritance of property through females,
and inheritance by females. Household dynamics – allocation of resources; control over property
Muslim Matrilineal Societies
• Minangs Indonesia,Undangs of Malaysia Chams of Vietnam, Cambodia Mappillas of India Moors of Sri LankaTuaregs of Algeria Bobos of Burkina Faso
Somaliland
Akan of Ghana Serer of Senegal Digos of Kenya Yaos of Tanzania Chewa in Malawi Wangazidja of ComorosBejas of SudanMakhuwa of Mozambique
Matrilineal Systems
• Matrilineal systems are not “feminist nirvana” or an assurance for gender equality.
• matrilineal, but still patriarchal. • may not necessarily improve women’s
property prospects • But generally better access to land and
property,
Problem 3: Separation of Marital Property
• Muslim women retain property thru marriage, divorce
• Husband earns, acquires property in his own name,
• No concept of marital property: women gets nothing
Islamic Joint Property
• Independent female property rights• Marriage is not a sacrament• Contract basis, nikanama• Equity of ownership• No jurisprudential obstacles
Joint Marital Property• Turkey • Kazakhstan• Indonesia • Malaysia • Morocco• Tunisia • Iran• Maldives • Tanzania • South Africa
Problem 4: Daraja/Male Superiority
• Wadud, Barlas…. Conditional, contingent• Not obedience, passivity – but gendered
roles • Economic Management• Reality – Women are heads without Men• Recent reforms – Man is not head of
household• Implications for control, management
Law Requires Obedience to Husbands
Jordan LebanonMali PakistanSaudi ArabiaSudanSyriaWest bank/ GazaYemen
Women as Head of HouseholdCOUNTRY Algeria Yes South Africa Yes Burundi NoAzerbaijan Yes Sri Lanka Yes Cameroon NoBangladesh Yes Tajikistan Yes Egypt, Arab Rep. NoBurkina Faso
Yes Tanzania Yes India NoKazakhstan Yes Turkey Yes Indonesia NoKenya Yes Uzbekistan
Yes Iran, Islamic Rep. No
Kyrgyz RepublicYes Saudi Arabia No Jordan No
Malaysia Yes Senegal No Kuwait No
MoroccoYes Syrian Arab Republic No
LebanonNo
Nigeria Yes Tunisia No Mali NoPakistan Yes Oman No
Gender + HR+ Islamic
• Gender Equality Mechanism 2006• Gender Evaluation Criteria 2009• Gender Implementation Guide 2010• Land, Law & Islam 2006• Accidental Islamic Feminism 2006• Islamic Gender Tools 2008-2012 World Bank• Ongoing UN Research 2013
Strategy
• GLTN positionality – strong network• Al Azhar, Kuwait, Malaysia, Egypt. • Comparative Islamic approaches• Political Support– Cairo 2005, UEL 2007,
Malaysia 2009, Cairo 2013• Membership GLTN Board, UN-Habitat
Reform Panel, UN-Habitat Advisory Board,• Country Programmes