My feminism

After starting my postgraduate studies I remember one class, led by a male tutor who, who asked us, in an all female class, who considered themselves a feminist. A couple stuck their hands up confidently, and my hand went up at a mid way point, not to make a commitment to the question posed.

Now I was unsure, as to whether I should call myself a feminist, because for a long time, being referred to as a feminist had a whole host of negative connotations associated with it. But it wasn’t just my own family or community who seemed to frown upon the whole feminist thing, it was also wider society.

A few times the term ‘femi-nazi’ was used to describe me, when I shared opinions relating to issues concerning women. Although these were often in jest, it often made me rethink what I was saying.

In many ways, as in that post graduate class, I did not fit the feminist stereotype, primarily because I belong to a religion and community which is perceived to be patriarchal in nature. In so many ways, the stereotypical, western feminist didn’t depict who I was as a person and certainly not as a woman. But then I know that those stereotypes, are merely that- a stereotype.

The amazing thing was that after that class, I spoke to my professor, and he asked me if I had read anything on Islamic feminism. I half laughed at this at the time, due to my own ignorance in relation to this issue. And so my ever curious self decided to embark on a journey of discovery on what Islamic feminism was, and much to my surprise, it was a journey which taught me a lot about myself, and the thoughts I had always had — and suddenly, things clicked.

Western feminism was not entirely relevant to me. It wasn’t relevant to how I was bought up. It wasn’t relevant to my way of thinking. That isn’t to say that it hasn’t been useful, because it all interlinks and supports one another for the benefit of women.

And so a journey began, as I started to read the work of Barlas, Margot, Ahmed-Gosh, Charrad, along with a beautifully written paper by Abu Lughod entitled ‘Do Muslim women really need saving?’, amongst others.

Now I don’t agree with everything these writers have to offer, but it does open up a new and interesting debate. One which is rarely opened in the Arab world or Muslim world as a whole and often ignored in the West when it comes to Muslim women and their ideas on gender equality and feminism.

So I now prescribe to my own feminism, and I encourage others to reclaim the right to be called a feminist who had previously felt isolated by it.

My feminism is one which seeks out the best of all the amazing female (and male) thinkers from across the world, that represent me, my values, beliefs and ideas, and respects choices I and other women make, even when we may disagree.

That it true unity between women. That is my feminism.