The movement of feminism in Islam is called Islamic Feminism. Its main goal is equality between men and women in Islam both in public and private life. Islamic Feminism is part of the global feministic movement and although it is still based on the foundations of Islam, the movement has brought in many elements from European and non-Muslim groups.

Women’s Rights in Islam

According to the Koran, men are women are equal. However, they do have different roles in society. Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, whereas women are the obedient ones and guarders. These words make it very hard to explain exactly what sort of rights women have, and you will see that women’s rights vary in different Islamic countries. Nowhere in the Koran does it say women are the servants of men, and hence in many countries women have varying degrees of rights when it comes to marriage and divorce, dress code, education, employment, etc…

Interpretation of the Koran lies at the root of these issues and has raised the name of Islam being a female intolerant religion. Islamic feminism seeks to return to the image of Islam being a beautiful and inclusive religion that promotes equality.

Main Areas of Focus for Islamic Feminism

Islamic feminism currently focuses largely on:

• Personal law – often Islamic societies are polygamist, meaning that men can take multiple wives. The laws also often state that women have no custody rights over children in case of divorce or even death of their husband. And many Islamic laws refuse the right of divorce to a woman.
• Sexuality and marriage – it is said that the Koran discusses sexuality in great detail and it is therefore odd that there seems to be such a taboo on issues relating to sexuality between Muslims. Islamic feminism is pushing for acceptance of homosexuality and bisexualism. Although there are no areas in the Koran that specifically say that homosexuality should be outlawed, there is some debate as to whether some of the verses do imply this and currently there are no rights for homosexuals or bisexuals in Islamic societies.
• Dress codes – Islamic feminism are campaigning for a review of the idea of having to dress modestly. Although Islamic feminists agree that clothing should be modest, as it is for men in current societies, they do not agree in forcing women to be fully covered up. In fact, the Islamic feminism movement has supported the “ban the burka” movement.
• Equality in the mosque and prayer – currently, women and men pray separately and women are not allowed to partake in certain religious customs when they are menstruating. Islamic feminists campaign for equality in this.

The Islamic feminism movement is basically a movement that wants to continue to follow the religious teachings of Islam, but want to focus on the equality that the Koran discusses and move away from the laws that have been imposed on Muslim women by Muslim men in the concept of interpretations of the holy book.