A Muslim woman8217;s secular sorrows

In secular democratic India a Muslim woman's efforts to write on issues concerning those aspects of the Muslim Personal Law which impinge o...

In secular democratic India a Muslim woman8217;s efforts to write on issues concerning those aspects of the Muslim Personal Law which impinge on her life are inevitably constrained by the burden she carries of being also a member of the minority community. Her attempts to express her hurt and anguish against social and legal odds that she is told are juridically sanctified are punctuated by several questions: Is the political timing for airing such a critique against Personal Laws correct? Does she run the risk of providing yet another plank to the BJP? Is it fair to publicly scrutinise the juridical sphere of the already beleaguered Muslim community?

In other words, for Muslim women living in non-Islamic secular regimes the overbearing concern with their minority community status intersects with their gender identity. This poses a serious dilemma for all classes of women. For middle class professionals it often dilutes the political positions one takes on Personal Laws. For the uneducated illiterate class of women it fuels fears of being dumped by the community which is a major succour in times of financial and social vulnerability.

The former reaction is more than evident in the shifting positions which Muslim women groups and other progressive organisations working with Muslim women have taken on the question of the Uniform Civil Code. For many of these social outfits political expediency has necessitated the need to stress on reform from within the community rather than the acceptance of feminist positions which call for a restructuring of personal laws outside the ideological paradigm. On the other hand, the reluctant participation of lower middle class and often illiterate women in the clamour for reform in personal laws despite the fact that they are the worst victims of its inequities indicates their fears of being ostracised in the community.

The impasse which Muslim women find themselves in very often leads to their social and political indifference and a reconciliation to their fate of being unequal in the eyes of those who interpret the will of Allah. Their dilemma is manipulated by both the state and the political hawks within the community. Self-styled Muslim leaders trivialise and marginalise pressing women issues on grounds of political expediency.

The state very often sacrifices the gender interests of women and justifies it by projecting its undue concern and sensitivity for their minority community identity. The best example is the Shah Bano case of 1986. On Shah Bano8217;s plea for maintenance from her ex-husband the court ruled that Muslim women fall within the purview of Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code that requires husbands with sufficient means to pay maintenance to wives or ex-wives who are unable to support themselves. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board spearheaded the crusade against this judgment. This resulted in the introduction of the retrograde Muslim Womens Bill in 1986 by the Rajiv Gandhi government. This Bill made Muslim women second class citizens denying them the option to avail of redress under Section 125 of the Cr.PC.

Thus while the government sacrificed the gender interests of women it projected its undue sensitivity to their minority community identity to justify its action.

Are then the political options more difficult to select for the minority community Muslim women living in secular democracies? Does the state take advantage of the constraints that the minority community status puts on women? Finally, does the state intervene on more regressive line on gender issues using the weapon of being the protector of the minority community sensibilities as its justification? These are some of the questions which begin to get clear when we do a survey of state interventions on women issues in the so-called Islamic states. Some of the recent pro-women judgments and Bills in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Iran have begun to make us wonder whether the struggle for a life of dignity is more tough for Muslim women living in secular democratic India.

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The writer is an assistant professor of history at JNU