A veil of uncertainty

While the recent victories of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza have emboldened Jordanian Islamists, who are setting their sights on council elections this year and parliamentary elections next year, Jordanian women appear unthreatened by the prospect. Unlike most of the Arab women I met, three women I spoke to in Amman -- Shakila (who asked that her real name not be used), 25, a lawyer; Laila Naim, 57, an author and professor of comparative literature; and Salwa Aldiqs, 37, the owner of a beauty salon -- do not seem concerned about their rights and freedoms being abridged by the growing strength of Islamists. They point out that Jordan's democracy affords women many rights, college educations and a strong economy with career opportunities. Nevertheless, college-educated women are often expected to quit working after marriage and stay at home to raise their children. And while the women I spoke with seemed unperturbed about the possible imposition of sharia law, believing Islamists' primary focus is democratic expansion, the reality is that eventual religious restrictions under sharia law could impact marriage and divorce for Jordanian women.

Yet with images of Afghanistan's repressive Taliban regime still fresh in their minds, many Muslim women in other countries in the region are understandably concerned about the impact of parties like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood on women's rights. Will Islamists enforce the headscarf for women because women's hair is considered sexually provocative? Will Islamists segregate classrooms in universities, as they have already done at Al-Azhar University in Gaza? Will music be curtailed at weddings? Naima Sheikh Ali, a Fatah legislator, says she's concerned that Hamas' strict interpretation of Islamic law could bar women from becoming judges. In response to such worries, supporters of Hamas say the party will focus on providing water, electricity and jobs rather than act as morality police.

Not surprisingly, many women in this region are more deeply troubled by the violence associated with the politics of all ideologies -- from the Hamas-supported suicide bombings and counterstrikes by Israel to the bombings in Jordan by al-Qaida -- than they are by the potential threat of sharia law.

New voices of moderation are emerging, some distinctly feminine. The Palestinian Authority's outgoing minister of state for Jerusalem, Hind Khoury, a Christian, proposed a different approach in a speech at a conference in Bethlehem in December 2005: "We need non-violence because it is women who have to pick up the pieces when families are destroyed. We [women] understand politics in a different way." Indeed, many observers, both Muslim and non-Muslim, suggest that the rise of a nonviolent Islamism is a necessary step in the transition to democratic government, and that when sectarian opposition parties are banned in places like Egypt and Syria, mosques can help open the door to democracy by allowing space for civil society to develop.

What's more, as John Walsh, senior editor of the Harvard International Review, has written, it is important to distinguish between moderate Islamists and radical Islamists. While Hamas resolutely rejects the nonviolent path, other Islamist parties, such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the Islamic Action Front in Jordan, denounce violence. And some countries' Islamist parties have a better track record than the respective secular governments in delivering what their citizens need. For instance, the Muslim Brotherhood has provided health, education, welfare and emergency services to Egyptians during earthquakes, while the Egyptian government has "failed to deliver meaningful economic relief to ... the poor, remains undemocratic, and uses violence in an arbitrary fashion," Walsh says.

Yet even as political opportunities open up for women in Islamist parties, they can be impeded by the actions of existing regimes -- or even by women's own fears of reform. Consider what occurred in Egypt's elections last year.

Makarem El Deiry was the only female candidate from the Muslim Brotherhood who ran for a legislative seat. When she won, her victory was quashed by a judge, who ruled in her opponent's favor apparently on the instructions of the regime. But that is only half the story. Professor Fadl told me the other half, which has been overlooked by the media. "The Brotherhood pushed 25 women to run for office, and they pushed us hard. All except one refused to run because we did not want to take the chance of being imprisoned and sexually harassed as all opposition candidates risk ... Which Muslim woman will expose herself to that kind of humiliation?"

The rights of Arab women, the future of nonviolence and the demand for democratic openings in the region are knotted together in the debate over the participation of Hamas and other Islamist parties in Arab governments. Women will play a major role in unraveling this snarl -- but it's far from clear today how their perspectives will be reflected in the new politics of the Arab world.

Story finder (3 ways to search Salon)

Search terms:

Salon the Web

Salon Directory (browse by topic)