A Declaration of the Rights of Women in Islamic
Societies
If you feel that you agree with the main points of the
following Declaration, please add your name to it. Show
the Declaration to as many people as possible, and get them
to sign as well.
We, the undersigned, believe that the
oppression of women anywhere in the world is an offence
against all of humanity and an impediment to social and moral
progress.
We therefore cannot ignore the oppression of
women by orthodox and fundamentalist religions. History shows
that these religions were devised and enforced by men
claiming divine justification for the subordination of women.
We cannot forget that the three Abrahamic religions of
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, with the Torah, the Bible
and the Koran as their respective holy texts, consider women
to be inferior to men physically, morally, and
intellectually.
We also note that, whereas women in many
countries have largely succeeded in improving their lot,
their sisters in the Islamic world, and even within Islamic
communities in the West, have been unable to rise above the
inferior position imposed upon them by centuries of Islamic
custom and law.
We have watched as official Islamisation
programs in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, the Sudan, and
Afghanistan, among others, have led to serious violations of
the human rights of women. Muslim conservatives in all Muslim
countries, and even in nominally secular India, have refused
to recognize women as full, equal human beings deserving of
the same rights and freedoms as men.
Whilst Islam may not be the sole factor in
the repression of women, and local, social, economic,
political, and educational forces as well as the persistence
of pre-Islamic customs must be taken into account,
nevertheless, Islam and the application of the Sharia,
Islamic law, remain major obstacles to progress in the rights
and status of women.
Women in many Islamic societies lack personal
autonomy. Before marriage they are under the tutelage of
their father or other male relative. They are expected to
marry a husband chosen by their family, obey their husbands,
bring up children, stay at home, and avoid participation in
public life. At every stage of their lives, they are denied
freedom of choice. They may be forbidden to acquire an
education, prevented from getting a job, and thwarted from
exploring their full potential as members of the human
community.
We therefore declare that ...
1.. The subordinate place of women in Islamic
societies should give way to full social and legal equality.
2. Women should have freedom of action, be
able to travel alone, be permitted to uncover their faces,
and should be allowed the same property and inheritance
rights as men.
3. No girl or woman should be subject to
ritual mutilation of her person.
4. No girl should be forced into marriage,
and no girl should be permitted to marry until fully
physically mature. Every woman should be free to marry a man
of her own choice without permission from a putative guardian
or parents, or to remain single if that is her choice. Muslim
women should be free to marry non-Muslims. They should be
free to divorce and be entitled to maintenance in the case of
divorce.
5. Women should have equal access to
education, equal opportunities for higher education, and be
free to choose their subjects of study. They should be free
to choose their own work and should be allowed to fully
participate in public life-from politics and sports to the
arts and sciences.
6. Every woman should be free to enjoy all of
the rights enshrined in the relevant UN Covenants.
To achieve these basic human rights for
women, we call upon all governments:
1. To institute a civil state and a uniform
code of civil laws separate from and independent of religious
institutions, but allowing free choice of religious belief
and practice.
2. To bring questions of women's rights and
status out of the religious sphere and into the sphere of the
civil state.
3.. To enact a uniform civil code under which
men and women have equality.
4. To pass legislation to enshrine the rights
of women as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women.
And in the name of justice, for the sake of
human progress, and for the benefit of all the wives,
daughters, sisters, and mothers of the world, we call upon
all societies to respect the human rights of women.
Reza Afshari, Iran, Political
Scientist
Sadik al Azm, Syria,
Philosopher
Mahshid Amir-Shahy, Iran,
Author, Social Critic, and Founder of the Defense
League for Rushdie, France
Masud Ansari, Iran, Physician,
Author, United States
Bahram Azad, Iran, Scholar,
Physician, United States
Parvin Darabi, Scholar, Homa
Darabi Foundation, United States
Khalid Duran, Professor of
Political Science, Editor and Founder of TransState
Islam, Founder of the Ibn Khaldun Society, United
States
Ranjana Hossain, Executive
Director of the Assembly of Free Thinkers, Bangladesh
Mustafa Hussain, Sudan,
Advisory Board, Ibn Khaldun Society, United States
Ramine Kamrane, Iran,
Political Scientist, France
Ioanna Kucuradi, Philosopher,
Turkish Human Rights Commission and Secretary
General, International Federation of Philosophical
Societies, Turkey
Luma Musa, Palestine,
Communications Researcher, United Kingdom
Taslima Nasrin, Bangladesh,
Author, Physician, Social Critic
Hossainur Rahman, India,
Social Historian, Columnist, Asiatic Society of
Calcutta
Siddigur Rahman, Bangladesh,
Former Research Fellow, Islamic Research Institute
Armen Saginian, Iran, Editor,
Publisher, United States
Anwar Shaikh, Pakistan,
Author, Social Critic, United Kingdom
Ibn Warraq, India, Author, Why
I Am Not a Muslim, United States
Identifications include countries of
origin and current residence. Affiliations listed for
identification only.
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