Islamic Feminism. An overview of Islamic feminism activities with a focus on the Islamic feminism in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject Orientalism / Sinology - Islamic Studies, grade: 1,7, University of Tubingen (Asien-Orient-Institut), course: Sexualität und Zeitehe, language: English, abstract: Is Islamic feminism in total contrary to Western feminism? What are Islamic feminists fighting for and can one use the term 'feminism' relating to Islam? How do Iranian women act with their rights in a country which is a role model for women's oppression in the Western world? In my work I want to answer these and other questions. In the first part of the following work I give a general overview of Islamic feminism. I will define the term and distinct it from what is known as 'Western feminism'. I introduce 'three ideal types' of Islamic feminists and describe the Islamic feminist discourse and activism according to the Islamic jurisprudence and tradition. After that I focus on the women and their feminism in Iran. Feminism has a long history in Iran and is in total contrary to Western feminism. But the aims of the Islamic feminists changed from during the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Journalism and women's magazines are a very important organ of the feminists in Iran. Both the 'religious' and 'secular' spheres use it to discuss women's issues and criticise actual political decisions and social grievance. I will picture the most important magazines and the most discussed topics. In the last part I introduce one of the latest campaigns of feminists in the Arab world. 'The Uprising of Women in the Arab World' is a movement which uses Social Media such as Facebook and Twitter to inform people and criticise the on-going oppression of women after the Arab Spring and the increasing sexual harassment in Arab countries.