Fatima Mernissi: Evolving Feminism(S)
Amy Nicole Clinger
Professor Sonn
Religion 317 – Women in Islam
10 May 2011
Fatima Mernissi: Evolving Feminism(s)
Moroccan sociologist Fatima Mernissi is described by some as the “godmother” of Islamic feminism (Coleman 36). Much of her career and scholarship focuses on articulating and defending women’s rights in Muslim society. She is credited with publishing the first identifiable work of Islamic feminism, The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women 's Rights in Islam, in 1987 (Badran 9). This paper argues that during her career, Fatima Mernissi moved from a position of reconstructionist secular feminism during the early 1980s to a reformist position that contributed to and developed a foundation for Islamic feminism with her publications beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society, Mernissi challenges the patriarchal structure of the Islamic framework and advocates a societal reconstructionist attitude that enables access to women’s rights by applying a set of Western standard universal rights. Upon publication of The Veil and the Male Elite, Mernissi’s position evolves from a reconstructionist viewpoint to developing one of Islamic reformism that serves as important groundwork for Islamic feminism in the Muslim world. Starting with The Veil and the Male Elite, Mernissi bases her arguments for the rights of women on Qur’anic and Islamic facts by critically rereading, reinterpreting, and challenging current interpretations of the Qur’an and hadith reports. This approach is the primary method utilized currently by Islamic feminists to explore, discuss, and advocate women’s rights within an Islamic framework and discourse (Badran 247). While not ascribing to a specifically Islamic feminist identity, Mernissi’s later works serve as part of the basis of Islamic feminist discourse. This paper discusses the evolution of Mernissi’s feminist(s) approach with the
Professor Sonn
Religion 317 – Women in Islam
10 May 2011
Fatima Mernissi: Evolving Feminism(s)
Moroccan sociologist Fatima Mernissi is described by some as the “godmother” of Islamic feminism (Coleman 36). Much of her career and scholarship focuses on articulating and defending women’s rights in Muslim society. She is credited with publishing the first identifiable work of Islamic feminism, The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women 's Rights in Islam, in 1987 (Badran 9). This paper argues that during her career, Fatima Mernissi moved from a position of reconstructionist secular feminism during the early 1980s to a reformist position that contributed to and developed a foundation for Islamic feminism with her publications beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society, Mernissi challenges the patriarchal structure of the Islamic framework and advocates a societal reconstructionist attitude that enables access to women’s rights by applying a set of Western standard universal rights. Upon publication of The Veil and the Male Elite, Mernissi’s position evolves from a reconstructionist viewpoint to developing one of Islamic reformism that serves as important groundwork for Islamic feminism in the Muslim world. Starting with The Veil and the Male Elite, Mernissi bases her arguments for the rights of women on Qur’anic and Islamic facts by critically rereading, reinterpreting, and challenging current interpretations of the Qur’an and hadith reports. This approach is the primary method utilized currently by Islamic feminists to explore, discuss, and advocate women’s rights within an Islamic framework and discourse (Badran 247). While not ascribing to a specifically Islamic feminist identity, Mernissi’s later works serve as part of the basis of Islamic feminist discourse. This paper discusses the evolution of Mernissi’s feminist(s) approach with the
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