The unhappy marriage of religion and politics: Problems and pitfalls for gender equality

Shahra Razavi*, Anne Jenichen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference outputChapter

Abstract

This article explores how religion as a political force shapes and deflects the struggle for gender equality in contexts marked by different histories of nation building and challenges of ethnic diversity, different statesociety relations (from the more authoritarian to the more democratic), and different relations between state power and religion (especially in the domain of marriage, family and personal laws). It shows how 'private' issues, related to the family, sexuality and reproduction, have become sites of intense public contestation between conservative religious actors wishing to regulate them based on some transcendent moral principle, and feminist and other human rights advocates basing their claims on pluralist and time- and context-specific solutions. Not only are claims of 'divine truth' justifying discriminatory practices against women hard to challenge, but the struggle for gender equality is further complicated by the manner in which it is closely tied up with, and inseparable from, struggles for social and economic justice, ethnic/ racial recognition, and national self-determination vis-a-vis imperial/global domination.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCurrent Issues in Law and Religion
EditorsSilvio Ferrari
PublisherTaylor & Francis
Chapter18
Pages381-398
Number of pages19
VolumeIV
ISBN (Electronic)9781315095165
ISBN (Print)9781409436034
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jul 2017

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