Religious Fundamentalisms and the Human Rights of Women

by C. Howland

Overview

Dialogue on the conflict between religious fundamentalism and women's rights is often stymied by an "all or nothing" approach: fundamentalists claim absolute religious freedom, while some feminists dismiss religion entirely as patriarchal. Courtney Howland provides a forum for scholars, both religious and non-religious, to meet and seek common ground in their fight against fundamentalism. Through an examination of international human rights, national law, grass roots activism, and theology, this volume explores the acute problems that contemporary fundamentalist movements pose for women's equality and liberty rights.

Author Biography: Courtney W. Howland is Visiting Scholar in Residence at the International Women's Human Rights Center at Georgetown University Law Center.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312218973
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	10/02/1999
Edition description:	1999
Pages:	326
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.04(d)

About the Author

COURTNEY W. HOWLAND is Visiting Scholar in Residence at the International Women's Human Rights Center at Georgetown University Law Center.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	vii
	Acknowledgments	ix
	Introduction	xi
I	Social and Political Sciences Perspectives on the Impact of Religious Fundamentalism on Women
1.	Fundamentalism	3
2.	Christian Fundamentalism: Patriar Chy, Sexuality, and Human Rights	9
3.	What is Your Tribe?: Women's Struggles and the Construction of Muslimness	21
4.	The Personal is Political: Jewish Fundamentalism and Women's Empowerment	33
II	Responses to Religious Fundamentalist Assertions of Cultural Relativism
5.	Relativism, Culture, Religion, and Identity	45
6.	Cultural Relativism and International Law	55
7.	Gender Apartheid and the Discourse of Relativity of Rights in Muslim Societies	67
8.	Different But Free: Cultural Relativism and Women's Rights as Human Rights	79
III	The Conflict between the Human Rights of Women and the Religious Freedom of Fundamentalists: The International Legal Framework
9.	Safeguarding Women's Political Freedoms Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in the Face of Religious Fundamentalism	93
10.	Religious Reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women: What Do They Really Mean?	105
11.	Women's Equal Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief: an Important But Neglected Subject	117
12.	The Potential of International Law to Combat Discrimination Against Girls in Education	129
IV	Religious Fundamentalism and National Laws
13.	The Two Faces of Secularism and Women's Rights in India	143
14.	Religion and Patriarchal Politics: the Israeli Experience	155
15.	Family Disputes Involving Muslim Women in Contemporary Europe: Immigrant Women Caught Between Islamic Family Law and Women's Rights	167
V	The War over Women's Bodies: Sexuality and Reproduction
16.	Finding Our Feet, Standing Our Ground: Reproductive Health Activism in an Era of Rising Fundamentalism and Economic Globalization	181
17.	Roman Catholic Fundamentalism: What's Sex (and Power) Got to Do With It?	193
18.	Reconciling the Opposites: Equal But Subordinate	203
19.	Buddhism and Human Rights in the Thai Sex Trade	215
VI	Nonlegal Remedies, Resistance, and Exit
20.	Women Educating Women in the Afghan Diaspora: Why and How	229
21.	Challenging Christian Fundamentalism: Organizing an Alternative to the Religious Right in Your State	237
22.	Gender-Based Asylum in the United States: a View from the Trenches	247
23.	Tales of Subversion: Women Challenging Fundamentalism in the Islamic Republic of Iran	257
VII	Religious Challenges to Religious Fundamentalism
24.	A Feminist Perspective on Jewish Fundamentalism	271
25.	Truth Over Convention: Feminist Interpretations of Buddhism	281
26.	Religion and Women's Rights: the Fundamentalist Face of Catholicism in Brazil	293
27.	Reclaiming the Religious Center from a Muslim Perspective: Theological Alternatives to Religious Fundamentalism	303
	Contributors	315
	Index	323

Editorial Reviews

Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the significant dual role that religions play in both disempowering and empowering women....

Rebecca J. Cook

Containing 27 contributions by a diverse group of authors from religious and nonreligious, as well as academic, activist, and policy making perspectives, this volume explores the problems that religious fundamentalist movements around the world are posing for women's equality and rights. Contributions emphasize four main approaches: human rights, national law (dealing with remedies in individual countries), grassroots remedies, and theological and philosophical approaches offering alternatives to fundamentalist interpretations of religious doctrine. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

'This is an informative and empowering book on the troubled relationship between religious fundamentalisms and women's rights. The book does not only offer analyses of this relationsip and the difficulities experienced by women from all religious traditions in the face of sexist fundamentalism, it also moves towards alternatives in this relationship...It is imperative for South African society to take not of this book, its analyses and proposals.' - Professor Christina Landman, RITR, University of South Africa, Pretoria

'Howland's book is valuable for the insights that its essays offer into the devices and arguments that extremists use in different religious settings (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism) to camouflage male dominance and package it as sacred, eternal and transcendent divine law. The book clarifies underlying similarities among the religions, while also noting some striking areas of divergence.' - Fatema Mernissi, Institute Universitaire De Recherche Scientifique, Université Mohamed V, Rabat, Morocco

'This book is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the significant dual role that religions play in both disempowering and empowering women in different societies.' - Rebecca J. Cook, University of Toronto

'This book is a fascinating collection of essays representing perspectives of anthropology, law, theology and philosophy. It is a must for anyone interested in feminist studies, culturalrelativism or human rights. The diversity of approaches to a complex phenomenon is truly astounding.' - Christoph H. Schreuer, Johns Hopkins University

From the Publisher