GLOBAL CASE STUDIES: MUSLIM
WOMEN PIONEERS AFFECT
CHANGE ON THE FRONTLINE –
FACILITATING MUSLIM WOMEN’S
RECOGNITION OF SELF AS LEADER
A
PRESENTATION
BY
MUFULIAT DASOLA FIJABI
INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT ON
WOMEN’S RIGHTS ISSUES
MUFULIATFIJABI@YAHOO.COM
LAGOS, NIGERIA
FACILITATING MUSLIM WOMEN’S
RECOGNITION OF SELF AS LEADER
Outline
1. Contexts/background
2. Understanding why women do not recognize self as leaders
•The existence of various myths on Muslim Women’s Leadership
•The impact of culture on Leadership of Muslim Women
•Challenges with poor economic empowerment
•Not breaking the silence on domestic and violence against
women issues like battery, and divorce
•Lack of mechanisms to effectively manage reported cases
Outline Contd.
 3. Strategies used for intervention
 -Demystification of myths around women and leadership in
Muslim contexts
 -Development of steps to seek and access new information
- Facilitating sessions on understanding the implication of
diverse Muslim laws on the lives of Muslim women.
-
4. Specific
case studies of impacts
made
 Women
in the grassroots
 Professional women
1. Contexts/background

My presentation will focus on practical examples
based on experiences of conducting leadership
trainings for Muslim women from diverse
backgrounds and how they come into the training as
non leaders even though they exhibit leadership
roles. More often than not they leave the training
more empowered seeing themselves as leaders and
with hopes of taking on more leadership roles.
2. Understanding why women do not
recognize self as leader


The existence of various myths on Muslim Women’s
Leadership
Muslim women grow up into knowing that there is an
hadith that describes any nation ruled by a woman as
cursed. This creates a lot of fear in the hearts of many
Muslim women. This is coupled with the verse of the
Quran that says that ‘men are a degree above
women..’ which has been interpreted in some contexts to
mean that men are superior and women are secondary
and should remain in that position without asking any
question thus reiterating the stereotype
2. Not recognizing self as leaders
contd.

Of course we know that this hadith is not realistic
because in the Quran we have the examples of the
Queen of Sheba, Bilqees, during the life time of the
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) we have the examples
of Khadija a powerful and successful business
leader, Aisha, an important institution in the history
of Islam
2a.The impact of culture on Leadership of Muslim
Women


Most cultures are patriarchal in nature. The adherents
of these cultures are also Muslims. Logically a
patriarchal culture plus conservative interpretation of
texts in Islam has contributed to streamlining the minds
of Muslim women to accept that they are not leaders.
Although these women are Muslims, they cite several
instances from their cultural backgrounds to buttress the
fact that women are not supposed to be leaders.
Consequently women see themselves as secondary
citizens and not a key player in scheme of activities
ent

Although Muslim women are capable of carrying
out profitable businesses, frequently when not
educated they have access to limited resources to
carry out businesses. For the educated ones not all
of them have access to paid jobs and with little or
no resources to start a business of their own. In spite
of these challenges, the women shoulder several
economic responsibilities in the family.


In spite of the provisions in the Qur’an that protect
women’s rights, Muslim women experience violence
but are afraid to talk about it
Some of them believe that it is a religious injunction
‘… beat them lightly. Quran 4 vs. 34. In Nigeria,
section 55 of the Northern Penal Code for example
encourages beating of women based on the
interpretation of these verse. Nigerian Women’s
rights activist have continued to campaign against
this law.
Violence contd.
Psychological pains and fear of stigma also make it
difficult for women to come out to talk about issues
 The consequences of divorce on women is
unquantifiable. Experiences shared by these women
show that due process is not followed by their
husbands when they were divorced, they are faced
with challenges of meeting their daily needs,
denied custody of their children at times
2d. Poor Economic Empowerment contd.

As a result, a number of these women strive to meet up
with their economic needs and with little or no attention
to developing the self further. For example, they hardly
have time to read the Qur’an themselves but quick to
listen to any sermons/ interpretations that come their
ways. A number of women I have come across during
these trainings confessed that reading the Qur’an and
other Islamic materials was the least on their list of
schedule. In essence, they observe their salat and other
obligatory acts but have not yet come to terms to how
their lives could be better by active participation in
discourses that affect their access to rights given to them
by the Qur’an
3. LACK OF MECHANISMS TO
MANAGE REPORTED CASES
Lack of sufficient and well designed avenues
to manage cases reported does not encourage
other women to report and seek help when
affected VAW
4. Strategies used for intervention
a. As a way forward, participants to a typical leadership
training are asked to talk about their perception of
leadership at the commencement of the training
Here are some of their comments:
‘Men are the only leaders’
‘Women should not be leaders’
‘It is forbidden for women to be leaders’
Strategies for intervention contd.




‘As a woman I can never be a leader’
Using the Qur’an and Hadith, examples of the roles
of women in Islamic history
Most importantly, the principle of equality as
emphasized in the Qur’an is also reiterated
Finally, a work through the modules of the
leadership training.
Strategies for intervention contd.
Development of steps to seek and access new
information/interpretation

Encouraging women to read, understand and
interpret the Qur’an by themselves. Some works
have been done see www.wluml.org ,
www.sistersinislam.my , www.stop-stoning.org
Strategies for intervention contd.


Diversity of Muslim Laws:
Often times Sharia laws are described as divine but
in actual fact they are derived from the Qur’an
which is divine and from a combination of other
source of laws in Islamic laws which are not free
from subjective human interpretations. Hence the
presence of different Muslim laws on different
issues in different Muslim contexts depending on
their own interpretations and their contexts.
Strategies for intervention contd.

Muslim women need to understand that women’s
leadership is not questioning the divinity of the
Qur’an but he practices and interpretations that are
against the Muslim women’s leadership
Strategies for intervention contd.
Developing/sharpening the leadership skills:
 Using the ‘leading to Choices ‘ Leadership Training
Manual www.learningpartnership.prg
 Communication skills
 Interpersonal relationships
 Developing and implementing a plan of action
 Collaborations and Mobilizing for actions
Women’s Learning Partnership for
Rights, Peace and Development

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

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Partners, Nigeria, Morocco, Afghanistan, Jordan,
Lebanon, I
http://www.learningpartnership.org/yes-i-can
http://www.learningpartnership.org/mitoo
http://www.learningpartnership.org/lta
New Projects
The Training of Trainers global initiative
The youth ICT Project
The Political Participation Manual – leading to action
5. Specific case studies of impacts made
Women in the grassroots
Leadership training is a strategic tool to consistently
expand the fold and increase the number of
Muslim women leaders regardless of the diversity.
Women in the grass roots uneducated and unlettered
from past trainings have achieved self realisation
and sharpened their communication, interpersonal
skills and see themselves as leaders who can bring
about change in their own communities
Professional women
Most of us here fall within these categories
BUT
What kind of leadership do we exhibit?
Are our leadership skills sustainable?
Does leadership end with us?
Conclusions

Facilitating the process to build capabilities to
change the perception of Muslim women on
leadership is a strategic pillar in determining the
roles and status of women in any development
process. Muslim women should therefore be part of
leadership process and not at the back.