Muslim Women of Calicut

Muslim Women of Calicut: How do Muslim women navigate space in Calicut? An analysis of the Kerala Development Model and how we can do Better F. Ayesha Azad Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Honours B.A International Development Studies (Co-op) Specialist Presented to Professor Sharlene Mollett and Professor Bettina Von Lieres University of Toronto Scarborough April 2020 Table of Contents Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………3 List of Acronyms and Terms……………………………………………………………….4 Chapter One: Introduction ………………………………………………………………5 1.1 Why focus on Muslim women in Kerala?…………………………………………….. 5 1.2 Purpose of research ……………………………………………………….……………6 Chapter Two: Literature review ……………………………………………………….. 9 2.1 The Kerala Development Model and Women …………………………………………9 2.2 Muslim women in Kerala ……………………………………………………………..12 2.3 The gaps needed to be filled ………………………………………………………….15 Chapter Three: Conceptual Framework ………………………………………………17 3.1 Why address this issue with Post-Colonial Feminism lens?………………………….17 3.2 My Positionality ……………………………………………………………………...19 Chapter Four: Methodology …………………………………………………………... 20 4.1 Methodology ………………………………………………………………………… 20 4.2 Ethical Challenges and positionality …………………………………………………23 Chapter Five: Context …………………………………………………………………. 27 5.1 Outside the home: the right to wear and right to pray ………………………………. 27 5.2 Within the intimacies of home: Domestic life, family law and marriage ……………30 Chapter Six: Findings ………………………………………………………………..... 33 6.1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………. 33 1 6.2 The stories of some Muslim women in Calicut……………………………………….33 Chapter Seven: Discussion and Conclusion…………………………………………….41 References: ………………………………………………………………………………. 44 Appendix: ………………………………………………………….................................. 47 I.I: List of interview questions…………………………………………………………….47 I.II: Copy of the consent form…………………………………………...……………….. 49 I.III: Copy of the oral consent ………………………………………………...…………..52 2 Acknowledgements Thank you so much Dr. Sharlene Mollett for your guidance during this two-year thesis and research process, as well as your guidance throughout my undergraduate studies. It has been a pleasure working with you. Thank you for always pushing me forward, bringing me clarity and teaching me to value my skills and experience. Dr. Bettina Von Lieres, thank you so much for your continuous guidance and support on behalf my cohort. It was been an absolute pleasure having classes with you and working on this thesis writing process with you. A special and sincere thank you to all my students and colleagues at the Center for Research, Education and Social Transformation (CREST) who were extremely supportive during this process and adjustment time in Kerala. Thank you to the friends I made who extended their homes to me and taught me skills, lessons and giving me the memories, I deem beyond valuable. To my IDS friends and cohort, thank you for making this process beyond lovely, and congratulations to the class of 2020 for completing their thesis and coop against many odds. A special thank you to all my friends and peers within this program and outside of it for the continuous support and push while in India and Canada. A special thank you to my close friend, peer and roommate in India, Ghazal Farkhari, thank you for always supporting both academically and personally. A thank you to my parents as well, for encouraging me and supporting me throughout this process and always reminding me of my goals and passion. 3 List of Acronyms and Terms CREST: Center for Research, Education and Social Transformation (CREST) KS: Kudumbashree, a Kerala state-led self-help initiative for women Sunni Sect: a sect of Islam which is the predominant sect in Calicut Malabar Muslims: A term often used to describe Muslims from northern Kerala Mujahid Movement: A religious movement which started in the 1940 and claims to breakdown un-Islamic teachings Mapillas: group of Muslims practicing matrilineage Burkha: an outfit worn by Muslim women for modesty, has a veil to cover their face MES: Muslim Education Society Qazi: is the magistrate or judge of a Shariʿa court 4 Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Why focus on Muslim women in Kerala? As a part of my International Development Studies program at the University of Toronto Scarborough, I had the amazing opportunity to be an Intern at the Center for Research Education and Social Transformation (CREST) at Kozhikode, Kerala. When I first arrived in Kerala, I was told that unlike other states, Kerala had a large Muslim population and the state believes in peaceful cooperation. While this statement was true and evident during my time in Kerala, I could not help but notice that Muslim women were not visible in professional-public spaces. The social transformation in which I was working only had 1 Muslim girl amongst 33 girls. This pattern continued in my second batch of students, where there was 1 girl amongst 30 female students. The goal of this program was to provide social mobility training for youth across Kerala who have faced marginalization due to their social status and this was often the case for lower caste youth, yet the program was also open for Muslims even though they do not fall under scheduled castes and tribes. This pattern led me to wonder whether there was a systematic exclusion of Muslim women from public spaces, or whether the Muslim women were uninterested in joining such programs. If the answer was one of these questions, I wanted to better understand the underlying reasons for such occurrences at the community level and outside of CREST. 5 1.2 Purpose of the research Research Objective Associated Questions 1. Understand why Muslim women I. To what extent does religion play were not participating actively in into this decision? public and professional spaces II. Do women face familial pressure to not participate in public and professional spaces? III. What are the potential cultural barriers (if any) which lead to under- participation? 2. Understand the role the Kerala state I. Are there state programs which government has played in this encourage the participation of situation Muslim women? II. Are Muslim women included in state programs which look towards female empowerment? III. Can Kerala be called a “development model” if it does not continue to mobilize all parts of its population in an equitable manner? 6 The scope of this research is to focus on the Muslim women of Kozhikode, also known as the Malabar Muslims. Muslims represent a large minority group in Kerala. Even though they represent a large population group, the women do not engage within the paces of their home as well as the community in similar manners to women of other groups, and this thesis attempts to comprehend the nuances they exhibit by exploring it through a post- colonial feminism lens. The aim of this paper is to debunk misconceptions regarding patriarchal structures and cultural reasonings which are used to understand the grievances of the women of global south, and to present other factors at play which showcase the complexities of such issues and the need to stray away from generic explanations to comprehend deep-rooted issues as such. The manner in which women navigate domestic spaces and outside their homes will be central to this arguments as it will employ post- colonial feminism and the human rights perspectives to feature the dangers of previously mentioned assumptions. This will be done within the larger framework of the Kerala development model and as a critique as this development model has failed to represent all of its beneficiaries in recent times. This thesis will attempt to show that the under-participation of Muslim women is due to a mix of cultural reasons as well as a sense of ignorance by the state of Kerala which has not taken the needs of Muslim women in account of its Development Model. Continuing to ignore a large number of its own population from having equal rights as other members of the community questions the prevalence of this model and raises the need for the state to both re-work its development model and better suit it to the needs of its current population. In order to understand this issue, secondary sources as well as first-hand accounts of the women’s experiences will be highlighted through interviews. A discussion of the trends found within the primary data will be discussed in the chapters that follow. After analysing 7 the interviews, the thesis will continue to answer the research question of whether the Kerala Development Model is still relevant if it continues to not cater to a key group of its population while highlighting current trends and the voices of the Muslim women involved. 8 Chapter Two: A Literature Review The Kerala development model has made many strides in regard to raising literacy rates, combating caste-based marginalization and raising education for women. However, the aim of this paper is to understand whether this model has truly achieved its goal in terms of female empowerment, especially for Muslim women and further understand the gaps in this model. This literature review will analyze difference sections pertaining to both the Kerala development model as well as the well-being of women and Muslim women. This review aims to discover the information missing from the narrative. 2.1 The Kerala model and women: Kudumbashree: Women and Politics in Kerala Kudumbashree (KS) is a Self-Help Group (SHG) in Kerala which aims to empower women and eradicate poverty by employing them in jobs and doing programs such as micro credit. Kudumbashree is found throughout the state and often aims to help marginalized women, especially with political mobility. Overall it has been successful in removing this idea that women should be doing unpaid domestic labour (Devika and Thampi, 2007). The Kerala state government has a 50% female quota in local government positions as a method to empower women to join. Before this, the lower caste/marginalized women were first to fall towards more domestic affairs while the men worked, and were often engaged in unpaid labour (Devika, 2016).

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