Universal women's human rights and the 'Muslim question' : an inquiry into the Iranian women's movement

Barlow, Rebecca Lorraine

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Universal women’s human rights and the ‘Muslim question’ : an inquiry into the Iranian women’s movement

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Barlow, Rebecca Lorraine. Monash University. Faculty of Arts. School of Political and Social Inquiry; 2009. Universal women’s human rights and the ‘Muslim question’ : an inquiry into the Iranian women’s movement.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/79130

Title: Universal women’s human rights and the ‘Muslim question’ : an inquiry into the Iranian women’s movement
Creator: Barlow, Rebecca Lorraine
Contributor: Principal Supervisor: Janover, Michael
Contributor: Supervisor: MacDonald, Terry
Contributor: Supervisor: Akbarzadeh, Shahram
Subject: Human rights
Subject: Women
Subject: Islam
Subject: Islamic Republic of Iran
Subject: Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
Subject: Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
Date: 2009
Publisher: Monash University. Faculty of Arts. School of Political and Social Inquiry
Description: The relationship between human rights principles defined at the international level, and questions of justice, rights, and representation in Muslim contexts, is an issue of significant complexity. Within this broad debate – a defining feature of contemporary international relations – this thesis focuses on the extent to which the discourse of universal human rights provides women in the local Iranian context with a valuable point of reference to advance the ongoing struggle for women’s empowerment. To address this question, the author begins broadly by questioning the commonly held view that human rights are a legacy of Western culture. An inquiry into the development of international standards in the second half of the twentieth century suggests that although Muslim actors were not the ‘main players’ in this process, nor were they passive spectators. Rather, members of Muslim communities – indeed Muslim women – have been active and impacting participants in the ongoing development of the human rights framework. The thesis then provides a more specific exploration of the strategic manoeuvres of the Iranian women’s movement. Through an analysis of the shifts that have taken place within the women’s movement over the course of Iran’s reform and post-reform years (1997–2003, and 2004–present), the author argues that the two conventional approaches to advancing women’s rights in Iran – Islamic feminism and secular feminism – carry significant practical limitations when carried out in mutual exclusivity. It appears, however, that women activists of both religious and secular orientations have recognised those limitations, and reformed their approaches accordingly. In the context of the Change for Equality Campaign, launched in August 2006, feminists of both secular and religious orientations are working together in a sustained and systematic attempt to advance mutual goals of non-discrimination. This paradigmatic shift, where practicality has trumped the maintenance of positional ideals, has taken place under a human rights banner. The aim of the Campaign, as defined by its members, is clear: to bring local laws on women into line with international standards on women’s rights and gender equality. The Iranian political landscape has thus witnessed the birth of something unique: a non-ideological form of feminism, wherein both secular and religious oriented women have identified a common point of reference in the discourse of universal women’s human rights. The author argues that this new form of feminism, expressed through the Change for Equality Campaign, is having a positive impact on both civil society and government, in a way that past approaches to advancing women’s rights were unable to achieve.

collection(s): Doctorate theses
collection(s): Monash University Theses
Identifier: http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/79130
Identifier: ethesis-20090626-09326
Identifier: monash:10265
Language: eng
Rights: Open access: open access to thesis full text.
Rights: This thesis is protected by copyright. Copyright in the thesis remains with the author. The Monash University Arrow Repository has a non-exclusive licence to publish and communicate this thesis online.
Type: thesis
Type: thesis(doctorate)

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Universal women’s human rights and the ‘Muslim question’ : an inquiry into the Iranian women’s movement

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