Salt Spring News

Commentary
Women have fundamentalist woes

Brooke Kroeger Newsday/brookekroeger.com July 21, 1985

The global resurgence of religious fundamentalism is clashing with the objectives of the women's-liberation movement. Some women mind terribly. Some don't. It is difficult, and in many ways unfair, to consider the Rev. Jerry Falwell and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini fellow travelers. But in the view of many women's-rights advocates from various cultures gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, during the past few weeks, the two religious leaders' objectives mesh when it comes to their impact on women's advancement. No one involved in the women's movement would say the religions themselves keep women down. Moslem women at the Forum '85 meeting, both those dressed in black shawls and those coiffed and in high heels, said the Koran promotes equality between men and women. ... Yet in many cases, say feminists and lawyers at the forum, cultural traditions and customs have grown around religious beliefs. The root cause, they said, is that men do not want to promote change. "All religions have their social and spiritual aspects," said Gita Senn of an international organization based in New Delhi called DAWN, Development Alternatives with Women in a New Era. She cited the Moral Majority campaign in the United States against abortion as a classic case of using religion for political purposes. In her country, she said, fundamentalism is on the rise in the Hindu and minority communities. There is a huge push from the Indian women's movement for a uniform civil code, she said. But among some of the religious communities, the men object. "The issue is not religion. Men don't want women to have the same rights," Senn said. ... Ranjana Kumari of India noted that although India is a secular state with a uniform civil court, Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist law divides women in religious law. ...

Posted at: Tuesday, July 05, 2005 - 09:45 AM -- Posted by: Jim Scott -- Permalink: (#)

Her Research Team along with Alissa Kimsky visited our violence against women counselling centre.