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From Malala to Burka Avenger: a Few Remarks on Changing Female Role Models in Contemporary Pakistan

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From Malala to Burka Avenger: a Few Remarks on Changing Female Role Models in Contemporary Pakistan ARTICLES SOCIETY DOI: 10.12797/Politeja.13.2016.40.18 Kamila JUNIK ‑ŁunieWSKA Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland [email protected] From Malala TO BURKA AVENGER: A Few REMARKS ON CHANGING female ROLE MODELS IN CONTEMPORARY Pakistan ABSTRACT This paper discusses some of the breakthrough initiatives by women in Pakistan, which may have a positive influence on other women and thus lead the way to further changes in the overall situation of women. It comprises of two main parts. The first part begins with a brief study of the image of women in the Qur’an and analyses the question of how sources and religious teach- ings were interpreted in regard to women’s social status. This follows with an examination of the position of women in Pakistan and with the characteristics of the women’s movement and various initiatives of the women’s rights strug- gle. The second part discusses the work and achievements of various women’s organisations and individual women activist, in reference to the main women’s issues in the society. The study focuses on bottom­‑up initiatives that arise in response to the socio­‑political situation, and aims at showing how females ac- tive in the women’s rights struggle serve as a positive model for other women in Pakistan. Keywords: women issues, women in Pakistan, activism, role­‑models, women rights struggle, bottom­‑up initiatives 274 Kamila Junik ‑Łuniewska POLITEJA 1(40)/2016 Introduction The aim of this paper is to discuss some of the breakthrough initiatives by women in Pakistan which defy the traditional system. These activities – in the field of education, justice, health etc. – may have a positive influence on other women and thus show the way to further changes in the overall situation of women, to whom the activists may serve as rolemodels. A brief analysis of the image of women in Islam and an attempt of defining the place of women in the society will help in understanding the difficulty in bringing gender justice in Pakistan. Some remarks will be made on the role of media in spreading and/or promoting the changes in the women’s position. THE IMAGE OF WOMEN ACCORDING TO THE QUR’an There is a large scholarship on the role and/or status of women in Islam, done by Mus- lim intellectuals as well as Western academics. The historical overviews usually relate to the situation of women in pre­‑Islamic times (Jahiliyya), based on Islamic scripts (main- ly concerning legal rights) in a conservative, fundamental or modern interpretation. They offer justification or claim to unequal gender relations in Muslim communities. Since I intend to discuss female role models in Islam, I will refer to a pioneering and de- tailed study on women in Qur’an by Barbara Freyer Stowasser.1 In her book, Stowasser takes a closer look on the Prophet Muhammad’s wives who provide “models for emulation”2 as well as on women associated with other prophets (i.e. Adam, Jesus etc.) whose stories have a didactic function in Islam. Lives of these women are narrated with more or less detail, but taken as a whole these stories consti- tute a vast collection and present an example and pattern of conduct. It is the Qur’an itself that establishes some of the women as “examples.” […] In the female protagonists, sin is exemplified as rebellion against God, unbelief, and also disobedience toward the husband if he be righteous. Virtue is faith to the point of martyrdom, obedience to God, “purity,” and obedience to the husband if he be righteous; it also is modesty, bashfulness, and motherly love.3 The Islamic exegesis, as Stowasser argues, allowed for extending their symbolism and meaning which resulted from the influence a specific worldview (times, customs, culture) had on the interpreter’s reading. In this way, and because they provided not only a “model of,” but also a “model for” Muslim women, these sto- ries varied in interpretation, lacking some of the details and/or changing their mean- ing from context to context. One of the examples given in the book is that of “women’s nature” which in the classical interpretation was symbolized by Adam’s wife, Eve, and viewed in terms of freedom (of choice) and moral (personal) responsibility. In the 1 B. Freyer Stowasser, Women in the Qur’an, Traditions, and Interpretation, New York 1994. 2 Ibid., p. 3. 3 Ibid., p. 21. POLITEJA 1(40)/2016 From Malala to Burka Avenger… 275 medieval exegesis, however, both of these themes were excluded, as women’s nature was perceived as weak and dangerous to the traditional moral order. For contempo- rary conservatives, Adam and Eve’s story proves the equality of sexes seen as comple- mentary halves (where one differs from the other). There, a woman’s honorable role is to be wife and mother, not to work hard (as man). A message concerning working outside (of the house) was also conveyed through the story of the women of Madyan. These two women were working as shepherdesses because their old father could not fulfill his duty any longer. They used to water the animals after the male shepherds fin- ished with their flocks, in order not to mingle with them. When Moses took over their work, he relieved them from their duty which was, using the conservative’s vocabu- lary, a moral burden. Yet, while they worked, they managed to stay modest because they avoided the company of men. The lesson taught here is that a woman may work outside not out of her preference or choice, but only in exceptional circumstances. The society, or community, is obliged to safeguard such women and is responsible for their return home. Also, the modesty of women is being emphasized as a virtue which distinguishes a respectable woman from the less respectable (i.e. servant, slave) or, in modern interpretation, from a modern woman.4 In the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus, which was also subject to alteration in the Islamic exegesis during the time, some aspects of her behavior and nature were inter- preted in terms of her obedience to God, but also woman’s duty to realize her service to God by being submissive to her husband. Mary’s withdrawal to a place of isolation, Stowasser writes, was understood as her acceptance of gender­‑based segregation, as she is also said to have covered her face with a veil.5 The wives of the Prophet constitute the most important example for Muslim wom- en. Numerous divine reprimands addressed to Muhammad’s wives in the Qur’an establish their special responsibility to overcome their human frailties and ensure their individual worthiness. In this manner the Prophet’s wives emerge within the Qur’anic context as mod- els of the principle of ethical individualism.6 They are depicted as “ordinary” as well as “chosen” women, they are also the first enforcers of the new law (which was revealed to the Prophet). Some stories describe them as lively, vivid women, engaged in the af- fairs of the society and giving their best support to their husband, but also involved in mutual quarrels and/or jealousy. The exegesis, however, puts great emphasis on their virtuousness and righteousness, and most commented passages concern women’s mod- esty, veiling, and seclusion. The meaning of “hijab­‑verse” in Qur’an (33:53), which is the basis of gender segregation, was subject to many interpretations. It was revealed to the Prophet in a specific time7 and, as argued by Stowasser, it is seen mainly as the legisla- 4 Ibid., p. 61 5 Ibid., p. 81. 6 Ibid., p. 85. 7 After his marriage with Zaynab, but also, according to Fatima Mernissi, after the siege of Medina when the hypocrites gained power and the Prophet felt obliged to seclude his wives (as he was previously ad- vised by Umar ibn al­‑Khattab). Cf. F. Mernissi, The Veil and the Male Elite, Reading 1991, p. 85, 162. 276 Kamila Junik ‑Łuniewska POLITEJA 1(40)/2016 tion of a means to provide domestic comfort and privacy for the female elite of Islam8, as the Prophets quarters were located closely to the mosque and many people came to seek his audience. This verse was soon followed by others concerning the women’s duty to cover themselves while they are outside of the house, so that they be known [as free women, not slaves] and not molested [in the streets] by the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease […].9 It also means that women were allowed to go out, were not secluded within the house, and covering their body was to guarantee their safety. The problem concerning these prescriptions is also a literary one. Originally, “hijab” meant a physical protection and/or seclusion achieved easily through a concrete object such as a curtain, a veil etc., while later (in interpretation) it became a synonym for both physical and abstract isolation – for women’s veiling and women’s confinement within the four walls. This custom is said to have originated from traditions prevailing among people (Sasanian and Byzantine) conquered by Medinans, and then assimilated by Is- lam.10 The hijab was always associated with the Qur’anic verses concerning which parts of a woman’s body are to be hidden or covered in front of relatives and non­‑relatives. Thus, the discussion on women’s seclusion is that of the garments covering their body and of the spatial isolation.11 In context of the ideological struggles around the defini- tion of the role of Islam in the modern world, the hijab has come to signify the sum total of traditional institutions governing women’s role in Islamic society, and has acquired the status of “cultural symbol”.12 Even some of the modern interpretations tend to idealize the Prophet’s wives, em- phasizing women’s active role in men’s life as wives and mothers.
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