Scaling Gender Issues in Modern Muslim Societies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59653/jmisc.v4i02.2226Keywords:
Gender Justice, Islamic Feminism, Legal Reform, Moudawana, PatriarchyAbstract
Gender justice has become an increasingly significant axis of inquiry within contemporary Muslim societies, where debates on women’s rights unfold at the intersection of tradition, reform, and modern statehood. This study investigates how gender inequality is produced, sustained, and scaled across legal, social, and political domains within these contexts. The paper argues that contemporary gender disparities stem not from Islamic foundational texts but from the authoritative preservation of pre-modern jurisprudential models, particularly within Personal Status Laws governing marriage, divorce, guardianship, and inheritance. These legal frameworks continue to constitute the most resilient institutional barriers to equality, with reform trajectories contingent upon political will, civil society mobilisation, and the contestation of interpretive authority. Drawing on feminist hermeneutics, reformist Islamic scholarship, and socioeconomic data, the study demonstrates that advancing gender justice requires the integration of ethical reinterpretation with legal and socio-cultural transformation. The analysis concludes that meaningful and scalable progress is attainable only through the convergence of intellectual, institutional, and grassroots efforts committed to an egalitarian rearticulation of Islamic and social norms.
Downloads
References
Akhmetova, E. (2015). “Women’s Rights: The Qur’anic Ideals and Contemporary Realities,” ICR Journal, 6(1), 58–75. https://doi.org/10.52282/icr.v6i1.356
Ali, K. 2010. Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Ameri, P., & Hamidi, F. (2016). The relationship between the contemporary religious modernists’ view and the gender development (Analysis and comparison of views of Qasem Amin and Nazireh Zein Al-din on women). In Religions and Mysticism 49 (2), 211-232, 2016.
Asiya, S. and Samiullah, D. M. (2020), “Impact of the contextual approach on the Qur’anic interpretations,” Jihāt-Ul-Islām, Vol. 14, no. 01, 7, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354090494_Impact_of_the_contextual_approach_on_the_qur'anic_interpretations.
Ali, N. A. (2007), Iraqi Women: Untold Stories from 1948 to the Present. London: Zed Books.
Abu L. L. (2013), Do Muslim Women Need Saving? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013.
Ahmed, L. (1992), Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Ahmed, L. (1992). Women and Gender in Islam, New Haven: Yale University Press. Inglehart, Ronald and Norris, Pippa (2003), Gender Equality and Cultural Change, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Badran, M. (2009), Feminism in Islam: Secular and Religious Convergences. Oxford: Oneworld Publications.
Bayat, A. (2010), Life as Politics How Ordinary People Change the Middle East, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Bayat, A. (2013). Post-Islamism: The Changing Faces of Political Islam, New York: Oxford University Press.
Barlas, A. (2002). “Believing women” in Islam: Unreading patriarchal interpretations of the Qur’an. University of Texas Press.
Cooke, S.L. (2025). “Gender Equality, Modernity, and the State,” In Gender Equality, Matrimony, and Secularism in Egypt and Iran: A Comparative Exploration of Early Twentieth-Century Family Law. Middle East Today. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 31-52.
Charrad, M. M., (2001), States and Women’s Rights: The Making of Postcolonial Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Charrad, M. (2007), “Tunisia at the Forefront of the Arab World: Two Waves of Gender Legislation,” Washington and Lee Law Review. 64(4): 1515, https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/wlulr/vol64/iss4/11.
Dworska, Z. (2024), “Musawah Movement’s Activism for Women’s Rights as Strengthening the Trend of Islamic Feminism,” Journal of the Catholic Social Thought, no. 28, pp 278-91, DOI:10.21697/CSP.2024.28.1.16.
Deeb, L. (2006), An Enchanted Modern: Gender and Public Piety in Shi‘i Lebanon. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Halim, D. et. al., (2023), “Increasing Female Labor Force Participation,” World Bank Group Gender Thematic Policy Notes Series: Evidence and Practice Note, https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstreams/6dcecde3-27ec-49a5-acbf-4f81fef32d8a/download.
Halim, D. S. M. and Sahay, A. (2023), “Increasing Female Labour Force Participation,” World Bank Group, pp. 1-14, https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/6dcecde3-27ec-49a5-acbf-4f81fef32d8a/content.
Hosseini, Z. M. (1999), Islam and Gender: The Religious Debate in Contemporary Iran. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Hirschkind, C. (2006), The Ethical Soundscape: Cassette Sermons and Islamic Counterpublics. New York: Columbia University Press.
Hosseini, Z. M. (2022). “Muslim Legal Tradition and the Challenge of Gender Equality,” in Men in Charge? Rethinking Authority in Muslim Legal Tradition, ed. Sofia Rehman, Malaysia: Musawah Publications.
Hosseini, Z. M. (2006). “Muslim women’s quest for equality: Between Islamic law and feminism,” Critical Inquiry, 32, pp. 629-45, https://www.academia.edu/109383340/Muslim_Women_s_Quest_for_Equality_Between_Islamic_Law_and_Feminism.
Huyer, S., Loboguerrero, A. M., Chanana, N., & Spellman, O. (2024). From gender gaps to gender-transformative climate-smart agriculture. In Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability (Vol. 67). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2024.101415
Idris, M. (2018), 'Colonial hesitation, appropriation, and citation: Qāsim Amīn, empire, and saying ‘no’', in Burke A. Hendrix, and Deborah Baumgold (eds), Colonial Exchanges: Political Theory and the Agency of the Colonized, Manchester: Manchester Scholarship Online, pp. 180-216, https://doi.org/10.7228/manchester/9781526105646.003.0009,
Jawed, A. and Sikka G. (2024). “Educational Rights and Status of Muslim Women as Provided in Islam,” International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research 6(4):1-10. https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2024.v06i04.25315.
Kandiyoti, D. (1988) “Bargaining with Patriarchy.” Gender and Society 2, no. 3: 274–90. http://www.jstor.org/stable/190357.
Kandiyoti, Deniz. (1988). Bargaining with Patriarchy. Gender and Society, Gender and Society 2(3), pp. 275–277, http://www.jstor.org/stable/190357.
Kayalı, Y. (2025). “Traditions and Transformations: Marriage and Family Institutions Among Modern Indian Muslims,” Sırnak Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi. 37: 41-57. https://doi.org/10.35415/sirnakifd.1707826.
Karimullah, S. et.al., (2023). „The Changing Role of Gender in Contemporary Muslim Families,” Martabat: Jurnal Perempuan Dan Anak, 7(2), 167–188. https://doi.org/10.21274/martabat.2023.7.2.167-188
Lawrence, D. W and Beres, N. (undated), “Morocco’s Moudawana Reforms and the Changing Roles of Women,” National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, https://ncusar.org/blog/2025/10/moroccos-moudawana-reforms-and-the-changing-roles-of-women/#gsc.tab=0, accessed on 31 January 2026.
Lughod, L. A. (2013) Do Muslim Women Need Saving,? Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Moghadam, V. M. (2003). Modernising Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East, London: Lynne Rienner Publications, 15-16. Wadud, Amina. (1999), Quran and Women: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective, New York: Oxford University Press, 60-61.
Moksnes, H. and M. M. (2013). Faith in Civil Society: Religious Actors as Drivers of Change, Villavägen: Uppsala University, 45.
Moghadam, V. (2004) Towards Gender Equality in the Arab/Middle East Region: Islam, Culture, and Feminist Activism, United Nations Development Programme
Mahmood, S. (2005). Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Ngaruko, D. F. (2023), “Annual Report,” World Bank Group, pp. 6-23, https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/e0f016c369ef94f87dec9bcb22a80dc7-0330212023/original/Annual-Report-2023.pdf
Nyehita, S. (2025). Harnessing the maker movement as an important tool for the inclusion of racialized/marginalized women into the innovation and creativity paradigm. African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 17(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/20421338.2025.2459427
Ogutu, B. N. (2025). Bruised bodies to open minds: Importance of gender transformative parenting programs in violence prevention and how to make them accessible to all Kenyan parents. Child Protection and Practice, 6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chipro.2025.100214
Sadiqi, F. and M. E. (2006): “The Feminisation of Public Space: Women’s Activism, the Family Law, and Social Change in Morocco.” Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies 2(2):86–114, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/mew.2006.2.2.86
Shah, S. (2018). ‘We are equals’; datum or delusion: perceptions of Muslim women academics in three Malaysian universities. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 39(3), 299–315. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2017.1343126
Teklewold, H., Adam, R. I., & Marenya, P. (2020). What explains the gender differences in the adoption of multiple maize varieties? Empirical evidence from Uganda and Tanzania. World Development Perspectives, 18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2020.100206
Tucker, J. (2008). Women, Family, and Gender in Islamic Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tripp, A. M. (2015), Women and Power in Postconflict Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Wijetunge, M. (2023), “Moudawana Reform in Morocco: The Long Feminist Struggle,” Gender in Geopolitics Institute, https://igg-geo.org/en/2024/02/15/elementor-18280/
Wadud, A. (1999) Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Wickham, C. R. (2002), Mobilizing Islam: Religion, Activism, and Political Change in Egypt. New York: Columbia University Press,
Wadud, A. (1999). Qur’an and woman: Rereading the sacred text from a woman’s perspective (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Razia Abdullah, Showkat Hussain Dar
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
