"A Century and More of Feminists in the Arab and Muslim Worlds"

On August 25, 2005, at the seminar on Gender and the Status of Women in Palestinian Society in Haifa, sponsored by the Mada al-Carmel Center, Ms. Taghreed Yehia-Younis presented a lecture entitled,"A Century and More of Feminists in the Arab and Muslim Worlds"

The lecturer touched upon the subject of feminism in thought and practice in general terms, and moved on to a preliminary attempt to guide understanding of the various genres of feminism in the different parts of Palestinian society.

Starting from an examination of feminist terminology as new terms in Arabic, and its historical alternatives, the lecture reviewed the progress of feminist approaches in both the Arab and Islamic worlds over more than a century – from the late nineteenth century to the dawn of the twenty-first century. It doing so by reviewing the reasons hiding behind its appearance and development. The different elements of feminism, and the factors responsible for its foundation and development, are reviewed. The lecturer's central thesis is that the spectrum of different genres of feminism in these two worlds were founded and developed at a time of momentous changes in the two major 20th century movements: religion and nationalism. The first is most blatantly evident in the religious reform movement in Egypt at the dawn of the twentieth century; in the 1979 Khomeini revolution in Iran; in the religious awakening in Arab and Islamic societies; and finally, in the appearance of Islamic genres of feminism. Contrast and conflict between the two movements, feminism and religion, is manifest by religious prohibitions over the use of public spaces, and particularly by rules regarding the appearance of women, such as the requirement of Hijab, or covering one's head with a veil.

By contrast, nationalism was marked by national resistance to all forms of colonialism, occupation, or participation in creating post-colonial societies. In addition, the appearance and progress of the different feminist genres was due to both internal and external sociopolitical, cultural factors and the interaction – attraction or rejection – between them. The system of values, social structures, male hierarchy, the changes within the nationalist and patriotic movements themselves, the political regimes and the national projects they created, are amongst the most important factors mentioned. The external factors, however, are manifest in the interaction with foreign colonialism in its various forms, and Western civilization and liberal feminism, and the oriental approach that dominated in such interaction.

The lecturer reviewed central patterns of Arab and/or Islamic societal experiences on a timeline, intending to analyze and explicate the different kinds genres of feminism according to different bases, and to extrapolate their characteristics and features.