Muslim Women's Rights Movement In India

By Suman Quazi

19 April, 2016
Countercurrents.org

The history of women’s rights movement in India resembles one, that is not only scattered but also-for the most part-exclusive. While pre-independent India witnessed the raising of women’s issues they mostly did so, as part and parcel of the Indian National Movement. This was a primary reason behind the exclusivity that preempted the Women’s rights movement in India in lieu of the majoritarianism that flavored the Indian national movement by and large. The repeated use of and reference to Hindu idioms and ideals as a tool for mobilization had for long excluded the minorities from its ambit, consequently buttressing a deep sense of insecurity among these communities, which persists even today. The involvement of reformers belonging to upper-castes and upper-classes and predominantly from the urban areas, was also a characteristic of most- if not all- social movements in India. This was the other reason that hindered such movements from becoming more inclusive. As such, Muslim women “as a minority within a minority” have been so neglected that their cause can be read almost in unison with that of the Dalits.

However, it was during the 1980s and the 1990s that women’s rights movements gained some uniformity, if not in terms of ideology, then at least in terms of organization. What preceded this new and eminent change, to pin-point exactly- were the rulings regarding the cases of Shah Bano and Roop Kanwar. Coupled with this was also the general trend of dissent that permeated the entire Indian society in the aftermath of the horrors perpetrated by the Indira Gandhi regime and the Emergency period. Another reason that contributed to the increasing momentum of such movements was the rise of Hindu nationalism in face of the withering Congress hegemony and its one-party dominance. Together, the growing forces of regionalism, majoritarianism and democracy contributed to the beginning of a new era in Indian Women’s rights movements, generally and Indian Muslim women’s rights movements, specifically.

The flipside to this growing consciousness however, axiomatically meant the growing consciousness of the minorities as politics began to strengthen its roots in regions, instead of emanating from the center, as it had for 30 long years. As such, while this new found consciousness brought to the forefront those who asserted for new rights- represented by the efforts of organizations such as the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan(BMMA), Awaaz-e-Niswaan(AeN), Muslim Women’s Rights Network(MWRN) and the likes- it also saw the rise of those forces which vehemently pressed for the fortification of minority identities which were deeply preoccupied with religion and religious institutions. This was the view resonated by organizations such as the All India Muslim Personal Law Board(AIMPLB), the Jamait-i-Islami, Jamat-ul-Ulema-i-Hind, The Muslim League and their allies who waged war against the government and the judiciary when they attempted to challenge the sanctity of Personal Laws.

Any attempt to reform these laws were met with boisterous opposition from both the assailants of Hindu nationalism and that of minority religious institutions. While the former attacked these attempts as empty efforts of a perfunctory secularism, the latter saw in it an intervention of the state in religious matters. As such, though the cases of Shah Bano and Roop Kanwar consolidated Women’s rights movements and gave it some shape, their fates were sealed sooner than they begun, as it got entangled in these theological debates.

The existing literature on Muslim women’s rights movements in India-for the most part- includes a reading of this history of women’s rights movements in pre-independent India, the reshaping of these movements in post-independent India and more specifically in the aftermath of the Shah Bano and Roop Kanwar cases and thereby studying more critically the efforts made around and against reforming the Muslim Personal Law. While most of those with a more secular inclination have for years seen in the Uniform Civil Code the alleviation of the grievances that plague the community of Muslim women in India, there are also organizations such as the BMMA that seek redressal within Islam and in the reformation of the MPL. Most of the work done in this field thus includes a detailed study of the work done by organizations such as BMMA, AeN and MWRN as seen in the studies conducted by E. Arpita Varghese, Sylvia Vatuk and Nida Kirmani, while scholars such as Zoya Hasan have been more occupied with the “minority” aspect of these issues.

A reason as to why both the Muslim women’s rights movements and their study has been so scattered is, because of the deep bifurcation that preempts these movements. Mogadham explains this bifurcation as the difference between Muslim and Islamic feminists, claiming that while the latter seeks solutions within the religion, the latter tries to find them outside it. However, even those that belong to the latter category have not been able to dodge the complications surrounding theoretical debates concerning religion.

What is needed instead, is the development of an approach that completely disengages itself from religion and therefore providing an alternative. Organizations like AeN in their unified rejection of both the MPL and the UCC and their demand for a new body of gender-just laws, have come very close to this. However, in so far as their use of the nikhanama as a primary tool for redressal is concerned, they continue being very closely linked to religion. This poses itself as a huge impediment to the realization of reforms that will more effectively address the problems of Muslim women as the inclusion of religion within its ambit continues to sensitivize the issue, calling in mass scale opposition from those institutions that are deeply religious. Thus, for as long as religion continues to be part of these efforts it seems that the problems of Muslim women are going to be continually sidelined vis-à-vis the issue of religious minority rights and the assertion of their identities through mediums such as Personal Laws. Thus what I feel will truly comprise an effective approach, would be one that delineates from religion and juxtaposes itself with economic and educational rights rather than social and religious ones, thereby eliminating the factor of “hurting religious sentiments”. Also, by rights I do not mean the mere passing of laws but instead more proactive action in the civil society. For example, if institutions like AeN and BMMA also included imparting basic education, skill development and provision of employment opportunities in their activities, perhaps the issues of the women they work with would have been redressed in a more long-term and comprehensive way. Simply put, if Muslim women are sufficiently educated or skilled to acquire respectable jobs, the issues of maintenance and alimony will not even arise in the face of their self -sufficiency.

Therefore, for as long as women are economically independent, much of the injustices of the society and their respective religions can be kept at abeyance. This does not mean that reformation of the Muslim Personal Law is not needed. However plainly reforming laws cannot ever be a comprehensive solution to the plethora of issues that Indian Muslim women are faced with. It is also necessary to embody within these efforts the perspectives of the new class of Muslim women that are educated, conscious and have in them the knowledge to approach these issues more empirically and they represent the class of economically independent and self-sufficient women that I am talking of. Even in Kirmani’s work she mentions that, most of these women’s rights movements have seen a larger involvement of Hindu women than of Muslim. This perhaps is largely due to the fact that generally the Hindu community and women belonging to it, are more educated and therefore more aware and economically independent.

20 years of debate have come to a point of stagnation, despite massive efforts by organizations committed to the redressal of the grievances of women in India (and particularly Muslim women in India) as these debates have reached their zenith, which is- a beginning. It is necessary to take these debates to the next level and seek effective action instead of getting lost in the vicious circle of perspectives for and against it. This is important because the inclusion of women from grassroot levels need not be just for the purpose of increasing reach and understanding, but to strengthen empowerment at the base of the society. This holds true for not just Muslim women but even Dalits, Parsi, Christian and even those belonging to the majority Hindu community. What I am asserting here is thus, that the empowerment of women in India generally through a reform of economic and educational rights will automatically preempt and guarantee that of their religious or social ones and it is time we acknowledge this reality.

Suman Quazi is currently pursuing Masters from Jamia Milia Islamia in Political Science.