How Feminism has shaped the lifestyle of women in Islam

Feminism and Muslim Women

Introduction

Feminism is the theory that implies that men and women should be treated equally from all facets of life i.e. politically, economically and socially. The term is most often associated to many different movements over the last two decades that have acted to execute this vision of equality by embracing it in law and throughout the culture. Feminism does not imply a break with the man as a human being but with the idea created through the story that the man is, by definition is superior, and the woman is the other side of the mirror. Feminism is a philosophy that struggles for freedom. In a nutshell, this phenomenon can be described as a way of thinking that encourages gender fairness and equality, based on the principle that women are being deprived at the outset (Omaima, 2001, Pp. 15).

Since the eighteenth century and in the various phases of modernity, women's struggles for equality, the incorporation of public spaces and the recognition of its status as political subjects and autonomy were important modernizing offensive, organized from below. They contributed to the deepening of the modern socio-cultural matrix, its principles and paradigm, and the extension of the principles of equality and freedom to new social groups and areas of family life. However, this historical phenomenon has only been recognized in the past three decades with the emergence of the second wave feminist movements, the renewal of paradigms and methods of historical studies and theoretical studies on modernity, and the constitution of field of gender studies. Today, there is a fairly widespread recognition in the common sense of the role they have played the feminist struggles of recent years in the transformations affecting contemporary societies. However, as demonstrated by the analysts, since the nineteenth century, struggles like those of labor movements and the movements for civil and political rights represented extend citizenship efforts and extend the principles of equality and freedom to new social groups, including to women. Islam is the second biggest religion in the world in terms of followers. There are 57 countries in the world wherein majority of the population is consisted of Muslims. Although Islam theoretically boasts principles and values that call for equality in gender, however empirical research has shown majority of Muslims, especially Middle Eastern or Arab world while treating their women, does not hold the same principles and values of gender equality. This essay has attempted to explain the impact of the feminist movements on Muslim women (Abuallahi, 2002, Pp. 55).

Literature Review

Modernization has take its roots in almost every society of the world, including Islamic ones and made every Islamic culture to face the consequences, good or bad, that modernization brings. Islam came into being more than 1400 years ago in Mecca, modern day Saudi Arabia. At that time, lifestyle of the societies which embraced Islam was different to a great degree than the lifestyle of today's Muslim world due to the effects of ...