Religious Fundamentalisms and Their Gendered Impacts in Asia

Religious Fundamentalisms and Their Gendered Impacts in Asia Claudia Derichs and Andrea Fleschenberg (eds.) ClaudiaCllauddia DerichsDDeriichhs andand AndreaAAnddrreaa FleschenbergFFllleschheenbberrg (eds)((e(edsdds) Religious Fundamentalisms and Their Gendered Impacts in Asia Claudia Derichs and Andrea Fleschenberg (eds.) ISBN 978-3-86872-253-6 © Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Berlin 2010 Publisher: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Department for Asia and the Pacifi c Hiroshimastraße 28 | 10785 Berlin Editors: Claudia Derichs and Andrea Fleschenberg Layout and Cover: Werbestudio zum Weissen Roessl, Schäpe Print: bub Bonner Universitäts-Buchdruckerei The views expressed in this publication refl ect the opinions of the individual authors and not necessarily those of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Contents Preface Preface 5 Amidst growing uncertainties in a globalised world, fundamentalist convictions have been gaining ground in many religions. Reinforced by the threat from interna- Religious Fundamentalisms and tional terrorism, this renaissance of religious fundamentalisms has created ideolog- 4 Their Gendered Impacts in Asia ical conditions for polarisation between ‘us’ and ‘them’, from community to trans- 5 Claudia Derichs and Andrea Fleschenberg 7 national level. At national level, it has affected both politics and society, leading to something of a ‘retraditionalisation’ of gender roles. Sanctifying Moral Tyranny: Religious Fundamentalisms and the Political Disempowerment of Women The understanding of fundamentalism is often one-dimensional, however, and domi- Sylvia Estrada Claudio 13 nated by the fi gure of the male Muslim. In fact, fundamentalism is multifaceted and rooted in different religious and cultural contexts. However, among the vast diver- Sinhala Buddhist Nationalism/‘Fundamentalism’ and sity of religions, cultures and peoples in Asia, a number of common features can be Its Impact on Gendered Political Participation in Sri Lanka discerned with regard to religious fundamentalisms and gender: Kamala Liyanage 27 • The authority to interpret sacred religious texts in order to construct an ideol- Malaysia – Trajectory towards Secularism or Islamism? ogy is often monopolised by and enforced to sustain patriarchal structures, and Zarizana Abdul Aziz 44 therefore it is a question of authority and power. • Women are often the fi rst target of fundamentalist forces in an effort to demon- Islam and Women’s Political Participation in Indonesia: ise all difference and to prescribe codes of behaviour, thus either restricting or Discourses and Practices exaggerating the role of women. Safi ra Machrusah 68 The stereotypical assignation of gender roles limits the space for diversity, dissent Catholic Fundamentalism and Its Impact on and socio-political participation on the part of women. This gradually leads to the Women’s Political Participation in the Philippines erosion of the democratic polity and respect for human rights, reversing many im- provements that have been made in Asian societies in recent decades. Elizabeth Aguiling-Pangalangan 88 The Regional Offi ce for Cooperation in Asia of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Religion, Women and Politics country offi ces in the region are trying to help foster gender equality in Asia and to An Observer’s Analysis promote women’s rights in accordance with the Beijing Declaration and the Plat- Urmila Goel 107 form for Action. Religious fundamentalisms are jeopardising these goals and mak- ing the struggle for universality of women’s human rights more diffi cult, but also References 131 more important. About the Authors 145 With the conference ‘Religious Fundamentalisms and Their Gendered Impacts in Asia’ (a joint project with the University of Hildesheim) and with this publication the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung wishes to contribute to this vital debate within the triangle of gender, religion and politics in Asia and the West. We attempted to gather repre- sentatives from civil society – in particular pro-democracy and women’s rights activists confronted by fundamentalists in their work – politics, journalism and academia to mirror the diversity of religions and prevailing fundamentalisms in Asia, Europe Religious Fundamentalisms and the United States. The conference provided the participants with an opportunity to scrutinise defi nitions of religion, faith, fundamentalism, tradition and secularism. and Their Gendered Impacts in Asia At the same time, it offered a space for exchange and refl ection to develop creative strategies for overcoming possible gendered restraints on political participation. Claudia Derichs and Andrea Fleschenberg I would like to thank the editors of this volume, Professor Claudia Derichs and Dr 6 Andrea Fleschenberg, Institute for Social Science, Stiftung Universität Hildesheim, 7 for their efforts and commitment to this joint project. We thank the authors, whose Asia is home to 60 per cent of the world’s population and includes all the major contributions refl ect in part the very broad and fruitful discussion among the 30 con- religions. Regionally, Asia encompasses Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia, South ference participants. Asia, Central and Western Asia. The continent is characterised by an extremely di- verse cultural landscape, with different political, economic and social traditions and If we assume that the roles and disparities perpetuated by religious fundamental- demographic constellations. Transversal cultural and religious fl ows cross national isms are socially constructed, then they are not immutable. Future responses must borders and are often maintained through regional links between ethno-religious include strategies to curb the negative impacts of religious fundamentalisms on de- groups, such as the Malay Muslims in Northern Malaysia and Southern Thailand. mocracy, peace and human rights, while at the same time unwaveringly asserting This volume concentrates on South and Southeast Asia and examines the impact the need for gender equality. of religiously inspired policies on the female half of the population in Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. It contributes to the fi eld of global gender research and regards religious fundamentalism as a signifi cant factor in shaping women’s agency and room for manoeuvre in the public (political) arena. Participa- Singapore, January 2010 tion in general, and political participation in particular, are to a great extent deter- mined by gender ideologies which assign certain roles and patterns of behaviour to each sex. A case in point is the debate about whether a woman can become head of state (as described in the chapter on Indonesia). Arguments for and against in such Dr Stefanie Elies debates are heavily informed by religious ideas and by recourse to ‘eternal truths’ Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung which allegedly inhibit a woman from becoming a prime minister or a president, Offi ce for Regional Cooperation in Asia or even from becoming a politician at all. The term ‘fundamentalism’ remains a subject of controversy and considerable sensi- tivity. It is diffi cult to establish a shared defi nition of the term which would be accepted by those who use the word, are confronted with it or feel inclined to debate it. At best, some sort of semantic and pragmatic approximation is possible. A survey conducted by the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) in September 2007 col- lected answers from more than 1,600 women’s rights activists to the question ‘What 1 do we mean when we speak of “religious fundamentalisms”?’ 1 The summary of the survey results can be downloaded from the AWID website (www.awid. org), available at: http://www.awid.org/eng/content/view/full/44597/(language)/eng-GB. (Aug 18, 2009). Claudia Derichs and Andrea Fleschenberg Religious Fundamentalisms and Their Gendered Impacts in Asia As the title of our volume suggests, it makes sense to speak of fundamentalisms we appreciate other approaches to the term, as shown, among other things, in the in the plural rather than in the singular – except for a discussion of the very contributions to this volume. concept of fundamentalism, which applies automatically to a number of religious and non-religious phenomena. AWID’s survey revealed that 51 per cent A similarly controversial concept compared to fundamentalism is secularism. Al- of respondents found the term ‘religious fundamentalisms’ useful in their work, though the term is not used frequently in this volume, it is worthwhile refl ecting while the other 49 per cent were either not sure or rejected the term for vari- upon it because many readers and writers may juxtapose the secular and the ous reasons, among them the feeling that it reinforces negative stereotypes, that religious. While this dichotomy is particularly common in Western democracies, 8 9 it targets Muslims in particular or that it is too ‘jargonistic’.2 With regard to which look back on a history of fi erce struggles between state authorities and what the term meant to the respondents, whether they rejected it or found it church/clerical authorities, it does not seem to be appropriate when applied to useful, fi ve categories received the highest scores: (i) absolutist and intolerant, societies with different historical developments. As José Casanova remarks in his (ii) anti-women and patriarchal, (iii) related to the fundamentals of religion, (iv) distinguished (draft) study on Religion, Politics and Gender Equality, the category to do with politics and power, and (v) anti-human rights and freedoms.3 While of religion itself

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