Strasburgo: Audizioni del Parlamento europeo sul tema della discriminazione delle donne e l’Islam (17 aprile 2008)
Discrimination against Muslim women and its causes
Public hearing on the situation of Muslim women
Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality – 17 April 2008
Religion is not the source of human rights abuses, and it is patriarchal culture, not the Koran, that leads to discrimination against Muslim women, concluded a Women’s Rights Committee hearing on 17 April.
“Religion, culture and politics should not be mixed up”, as this risks leading to misunderstandings, said Committee Chair Anna Zaborska (EPP-ED, SK) at the start of the hearing, stressing that the European Parliament can offer an open, objective dialogue between cultures.
Koran misinterpreted
“Over the centuries, patriarchal culture has created around religious texts a tight, interrelated web of biased interpretations that reduce the status of the Muslim woman to that of a subordinate”, said Professor Azizah Y. al-Hibri (University of Richmond, USA). She, and other speakers, noted that the Koran treats men and women as equal, and specifically recognizes a host of rights later denied to women in some Muslim societies.
Judaism and Christianity have also had patriarchal views, noted Baroness (Emma) Nicholson of Winterbourne (ALDE, UK).
“How come tradition and culture are so far from religion?” asked Edit Bauer (EPP-ED, SK), pointing out that secular countries also have problems, for example in relation to inheritance and property.
Integration in host countries
Luisa Morgantini (GUE/NGL, IT), warned of the problems caused by alienation of immigrants in host countries, and stressed the need to improve economic conditions, as did Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou (EPP-ED, EL). “Ignorance leads to fear, and creates more prejudice”, noted Ana Maria Gomes (PES, PT).
Several speakers stressed that Islam does not condone violence, domestic or otherwise. Honour crime is not accepted, killing is punished, and neither do Islamic countries condone female genital mutilation, they said.
Legal and substantive equality
Formal legal equality between women and men is undermined by a lack of substantive equality, said Dr Shaheen Sardar Ali (University of Warwick), a former chair of the National Commission on the Status of Women of Pakistan. Important steps towards substantive equality include ensuring equal access to education for girls and boys, and to health facilities for women and men, she added.
“What touches women’s lives is the governance of communities”, said Dr Ali, describing her experiences in the North West Frontier province of Pakistan, where, she said, the “interface and interaction of multiple norms had a negative impact on equality norms between women and men”.
Summing up the hearing, Anna Zaborska said “the situation of Muslim women must be assessed with reference to all the circumstances of their lives, not only in the light of a few isolated elements. Simply condemning the Koran does not solve the problems to which women are exposed, and one-size-fits-all solutions must also be avoided”.
Fonte: European Parliament Press Service
:. Statement by Professor Azizah Y. al-Hibri (pdf)
:. Statement by Ms Nora Kartelova, Situation of Muslim Women. Muslim women in Balkans: between the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Qur’an (pdf)
Argomenti: Unione Europea