Contenu du sommaire : Hors-champ

In Pakistan, the self-serving use of Islam by more secular elements alongside politico-religious ones facilitated the latter's progressive influence and the conflation and intricate interweaving of Islam and Pakistani nationhood. A paradigm shift under Zia's martial law revamped society as much as state laws, producing both religiously-defined militias and aligned civil society groups. Examining the impact on women of fusing religion and politics, this paper argues that women become symbolic markers of appropriated territory in the pursuit of state power, and that the impact of such fusing, different for differently situated women, needs to be gauged in societal terms as well as state dynamics. Questioning the positing of civil society as a self-evident progressive desideratum, the paper concludes that gender equality projects seeking reconfigurations of power cannot be effective without vigorously competing in the creation of knowledge, culture and identity.

The unification of a strong and authoritarian state with religious laws and institutions after the 1979 revolution in Iran has resulted in the creation of a dualistic state structure in which non-elected and non-accountable state authorities and institutions — the majority of whom have not accepted either the primacy of democracy nor the premise of equality between men and women (or Muslims and non-Muslims) — are able to oversee the elected authorities and institutions. The central question posed by this paper is whether a religious state would be capable of democratising society and delivering gender equality. By analysing the regime's gender policies and political development, the paper suggests that at least in the case of Iran and Shi'ism, the larger obstacle to gender (and minorities') equality has more to do with the undemocratic state-society relations that persist in Iran and less to do with the actual or potential compatibility (or lack thereof) of religious traditions or practices with democratic principles.

This paper examines the impact of identity politics on gender equality. More specifically, it explores the paradoxical and complex relationship of religion and politics in a multireligious society and the complicated ways in which women's activism both reinforced and challenged their gender identities. Contrary to the argument that religious politics does not always negate gender equality, the paper argues that the Hindu religious politics and women's activism associated with it provides a compelling example of the instrumentalisation of women to accomplish the political goals of the Hindu right. It also examines the approach and strategies of influential political parties, women's organisations, and Muslim women's groups towards legal reform and the contested issue of a uniform civil code. Against those who argue that in the current communal conjuncture, reform within Muslim personal laws or Islamic feminism is the best strategy for enhancing the scope of Muslim women's rights, the paper argues that such an approach tends to freeze identities within religious boundaries. It shows how women's and minority rights are used within the politics of religion to sideline the agenda of women's rights.

This paper explores the common ideological ground between Islam and Christianity in Nigeria, in the ways in which gender and sexuality are configured in relation to women's bodies. The latter constitute key sites for the inscription of social norms and practices inherent in particular interpretations of religion. We proceed by examining the interplay between religion and politics in historical context and in specific concrete instances. Whilst the religious right among Muslims and Christians share the view that women's bodies are sexually corrupting and therefore in need of control, this perspective is also found in secular institutions. The linkage made between women's bodies and ‘public morality' produces diverse forms of gender inequality. The moralising of political economy that these processes entail complicates the terrain on which challenges to the politicisation of religion and its gender politics need to be sustained.

Turkey is often singled out as the only Muslim majority country with a secular Constitution and a Civil Code that breaks with the shar'ia, and the women's movement in Turkey has scored major victories in the realm of legal reforms at the beginning of the years 2000. Nevertheless, there is a widening gap between rights in law and realities on the ground since the crushing akp electoral victory in 2007. Given the divisions existing among feminist ranks — on the question of the veil particularly — the paper wonders how secure are these gains.

This paper argues that Israel's continuing, violent conflict with its Arab neighbours, is of special, highly influential relevance to the issue of gender relations. Viewed by many Israeli Jews as a struggle for the very existence of the Jewish state, this conflict has overshadowed most other civil and social issues, rendering them ‘secondary' to the primary concern of securing the safe existence of the State. As we attempt to demonstrate throughout this essay, this perception has pushed such pressing issues as gender equality and women's rights aside, marking them ‘less important' than the national conflict, thus allowing for the perpetuation of discriminatory, sometimes rather repressive treatment of women in Israel. The most blatant expression of this is the turning of the struggle for civil marriage and divorce into a non-issue. The paper opens with a short introduction of the relevant political context, followed by a discussion of women's positivist and legal status. An analysis of the women's movement, highlighting the emergence of religious feminism, concludes our discussion.

The historical prestige of the Polish Catholic Church owes to its presence as a national symbol of resistance, both under foreign occupation and during the communist regime. In the post-communist era the power of the Church within the political arena has significantly increased, through the Concordat that was signed with the State as well as through formal and informal ties with political parties. Catholicism is the de facto religion of the State, even if Poland remains a nominally secular country. This was illustrated by the adoption, in 1993, of a total abortion ban. Although the relation of Poles to the Catholic dogma on sexuality and reproductive rights tends to be weak, fearing criticism from Church authorities, most politicians avoid controversial topics and express their commitment to Catholic dogma. Thus women's groups have encountered serious difficulties in their efforts to defend women's rights to sexual and reproductive autonomy. Although accession to the European Union has put Poland in an awkward position with respect to equality of rights between women and men, it has not fundamentally altered the real situation with respect to the controversial topic of abortion.

This article explores the complexities of the interaction between politics, religion and gender equality in contemporary Mexico, by analyzing recent developments in public debate, legal changes and implementation of government policies in two areas: a) the inclusion of emergency contraception in public health services in 2004, and b) the decriminalisation of abortion in Mexico City in 2008, which was followed by a massive campaign to recriminalise abortion in the federal states. Three main findings emerge from our analysis: first, that women's sexual and reproductive autonomy has become an issue of intense public debate that is being addressed by both state/public policy and society; second, that the gradual democratisation of the Mexican political system and society is forcing the Catholic Church to play by the rules of democracy; and third, that the character and nature of the Mexican (secular) state has become an arena of intense struggle within which the traditional political boundaries and ideologies are being reconfigured.

Through an analysis of alliances between secular and religious actors in the US politics and a specific case study on anti-trafficking policy, we show that the intertwining of religion and politics in the USA comes from two sources: 1) the secular political and cultural institutions of American public life that have developed historically out of Protestantism and which predominantly operate by presuming Protestant norms and values; and 2) the direct influence on American politics of religious groups and organizations, particularly in the last quarter-century of lobby-groups and political action committees identified with conservative evangelical Christianity. The sources of policies that promote gender and sexual inequality in the United States are both secular and religious and we conclude that it is inaccurate to assume that religious influence in politics is necessarily conservative or that more secular politics will necessarily be more progressive than the religious varieties.

Hindu nationalism, a major politico-religious movement comparable with Islamism, praises virile values and requires women to be unobtrusive, strong and ready to sacrifice themselves. The article uses concrete examples to show that the women in this movement have a much more subtle position and they have assumed a major evolution during the last two decades.