Zainah Anwar, the co-founder of the SIS, believes that Islamic feminism in Malaysia still has a long way to go.

 

Zainah Anwar, the co-founder of the SIS, believes that Islamic feminism in Malaysia still has a long way to go

Zainah Anwar, the co-founder of Sisters In Islam (SIS), believes that Islamic feminism in Malaysia requires more public awareness and pressure before it can begin to influence national policy.

She said it was unrealistic to expect the government to be solely responsible for improving Muslim women's rights, and that creating connections with other women's rights organisations was crucial.

The key for us is to figure out how to make it politically costly for people in positions of power to continue to disregard our demands.

"That's why the emphasis must be on knowledge, on building knowledge, on building voices, on opening up a public space for debate," she remarked at Temu House on June 7 during a SIS event for the introduction of Ziba Mir-book Hosseini's Journeys Toward Gender Equality in Islam.

Zainah continued to emphasise the need for alliances, saying that organisations are critical to laying a solid foundation for a durable reform movement.

"That's why you can't do it alone," she added. ‘You need an organisation that will back you every time you're attacked, and you need to establish alliances so that they will stand with you when you're attacked.’

Meanwhile, Ziba stressed the importance of the means to an end, which she outlines in her book.

‘The means by which we achieve our goal are just as significant as the goal itself,’ she stated.

Ziba addresses gender equality as a component of current notions of justice in her book, and she challenges patriarchal interpretations of Sharia.

Through thought-provoking discussions with six influential Muslim intellectuals: Abdullahi An-Naim, Amina Wadud, Asma Lamrabet, Khaled Abou El Fad, Mohsen Kadivar, and Sedigheh Vasmaghi, she analyses how egalitarian gender legislation might be developed from within the Islamic legal system.