Contemporary Iranian Feminism: Identity, Rights and Interpretations
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Roja Fazaeli
In the last decade a body of literature has been written on the phenomenon of `Islamic Feminism,' which closely links it to a human rights discourse in Muslim countries. The term `Islamic Feminism' may seem a paradox, but by using Iran as a case study this article demonstrates that the idea of feminisms in Muslim societies, rather than being paradoxical, is actually a legitimate and potentially powerful force. In this paper Iranian feminists are categorized into four groups: Islamic state feminists, Islamic non-state feminists, Muslim feminists and secular feminists. Each group is differentiated according to their interpretations of fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence), their use of ijtihad (independent reasoning) and their relations to human rights and to the government. The novel concept of feminist dependency paradigm is also explored. The dependency paradigm investigates the multi-layered dependencies of the feminists to the state, to foreign funders, intellectuals, and to the family.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
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- The Transnational Muslim World, the Foundations and Origins of Human Rights, and Their Ongoing Intersections
- The Politics and Hermeneutics of Hijab in Iran: From Confinement to Choice
- Islamism, Re-Islamization and the Fashioning of Muslim Selves: Refiguring the Public Sphere
- The Islam and Human Rights Nexus: Shifting Dimensions
- Islam and the Realization of Human Rights in the Muslim World: A Reflection on Two Essential Approaches and Two Divergent Perspectives
- Islam and the European Project
- Dual Subordination: Muslim Sexuality in Secular and Religious Legal Discourse in India
- From the Field
- Contemporary Iranian Feminism: Identity, Rights and Interpretations
- Iranian Law and Women's Rights
Articles in the same Issue
- Article
- The Transnational Muslim World, the Foundations and Origins of Human Rights, and Their Ongoing Intersections
- The Politics and Hermeneutics of Hijab in Iran: From Confinement to Choice
- Islamism, Re-Islamization and the Fashioning of Muslim Selves: Refiguring the Public Sphere
- The Islam and Human Rights Nexus: Shifting Dimensions
- Islam and the Realization of Human Rights in the Muslim World: A Reflection on Two Essential Approaches and Two Divergent Perspectives
- Islam and the European Project
- Dual Subordination: Muslim Sexuality in Secular and Religious Legal Discourse in India
- From the Field
- Contemporary Iranian Feminism: Identity, Rights and Interpretations
- Iranian Law and Women's Rights
