Promoting gender equality in Muslim contexts: women's voices must not be silenced.

• Author: Heyzer, Noeleen

A question that is sometimes posed is whether women in Muslim contexts are entitled to equal rights. Are their culture and religion opposed to women having equal rights? To answer this, let us recognize the fact that nearly all the countries with Muslim majorities are signatories to international agreements advancing women's rights. These include the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and other relevant agreements. (1)

Most recently, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November 2007), the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference issued a statement that said: "The observance of this day serves as a reminder to the entire international community of the 1999 UN General Assembly resolution 54/134, motivating the need to increase the status of women. Respect and upholding of women's rights in Islam are enshrined in its most valuable principles because Islam recognizes the religious, social, economic, legal and political rights of women.... Unfortunately, a great majority of women in most societies, in particular in the developing and least developed countries, continue to face discrimination and suffer social injustice, and violence." (2)

The public commitments of States with Muslim majorities explicitly contradict the stereotype of Muslim women as choiceless, voiceless victims of their culture and religion. Such a stereotype, which is unfounded, in fact becomes pernicious when it is institutionalized in policy and law, for example, when women in Muslim minorities are denied equal rights as citizens, on the grounds of their supposed culture and religion.

The UN Secretary-General's 2006 report, In-depth study on all forms of violence against women, notes that "violence against women is not confined to a specific culture, region or country, or to particular groups of women within a society". (3) This point was highlighted when the report was presented to the General Assembly's Third Committee, noting that at least one in three women is subjected to violence at some point in her lifetime. (4) Indeed, gender-based violence and discrimination are global problems, not uniquely Muslim problems.

There is an urgent need to make visible initiatives for gender equality for women in Muslim contexts, so that their right to...