Tunisia’s new constitution, approved on the 26th January by its National Assembly enshrines absolute gender equality within its text, consequently forcing the Muslim-majority population to re-shape their lives and family structure away from the sublime Islamic social laws to that based upon flawed Western secular ideals. Article 20 of the new constitution states, “All male and female citizens have the same rights and duties. They are equal before the law without discrimination.”
Not only is this whole secular constitution a crime against Allah سبحانه وتعالى for it places human beings as the source of legislation rather than the Creator سبحانه وتعالى, but Article 20 potentially lays the disturbing path to the abolishment of the Islamic social laws in a manner that is even more virulent and extreme than the Personal Status Code adopted by the staunch secular dictators Bourguiba and Ben Ali who prohibited polygamy, legalised abortion, and rejected the Islamic provision on divorce and guardianship of women within marriage.
Although Islam prescribes the same rights of citizenship for men and women in for example education, economic life, and politics, it rejects unequivocally the idea of gender equality that believes men and women should have identical roles, rights, and responsibilities in all spheres of life. Rather, the Islamic social laws define clear differences in particular duties and rights of the genders, especially in family life such as in inheritance laws, polygamy, and the roles and rights of the husband and wife, including the duty of the man to be the guardian and provider of his family and the woman to be the homemaker and nurturer of her children. Allah سبحانه وتعالى says,
الرِّجالُ قَوّٰمونَ عَلَى النِّساءِ بِما فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ بَعضَهُم عَلىٰ بَعضٍ وَبِما أَنفَقوا مِن أَموٰلِهِم
“Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth.”
(An-Nisa, 4:34)
Allah سبحانه وتعالى says,
وَعَلَى ٱلۡمَوۡلُودِ لَهُ ۥ رِزۡقُهُنَّ وَكِسۡوَتُہُنَّ بِٱلۡمَعۡرُوفِۚ
“But the father of the child shall bear the cost of the mother’s food and clothing.”
(Al-Baqara: 233)
Allah سبحانه وتعالى says,
يُوصِيكُمُ ٱللَّهُ فِىٓ أَوۡلَـٰدِڪُمۡۖ لِلذَّكَرِ مِثۡلُ حَظِّ ٱلۡأُنثَيَيۡنِۚ
“Allah commands you as regards your children’s (inheritance): A male’s share shall equal that of two females…”
(An-Nisa: 11)
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said,
كُلُّكُمْ رَاعٍ وَكُلُّكُمْ مَسْؤول عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ، الإِمَامُ رَاعٍ وَمَسْؤولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ، وَالرَّجُلُ رَاعٍ فِي أَهْلِهِ وَهُوَ مَسْؤولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ، وَالْمَرْأَةُ رَاعِيَةٌ فِي بَيْتِ زَوْجِهَا وَمَسْؤولَةٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهَا، وَالْخَادِمُ رَاعٍ فِي مَالِ سَيِّدِهِ ومَسْؤولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ، -قَالَ: وَحَسِبْتُ أَنْ قَدْ قَالَ: وَالرَّجُلُ رَاعٍ فِي مَالِ أَبِيهِ وَمَسْؤولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ- وَكُلُّكُمْ رَاعٍ وَمَسْؤولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ
“Each of you is a guardian, and each is responsible for those under his care. A ruler is a guardian; a man is the guardian of his family; a woman is the guardian of her husband’s house and children. For each of you is a guardian and each of you is responsible for those under his care.” [Bukhari and Muslim]
And Allah سبحانه وتعالى says,
وَلَا تَتَمَنَّوۡاْ مَا فَضَّلَ ٱللَّهُ بِهِۦ بَعۡضَكُمۡ عَلَىٰ بَعۡضٍ۬ۚ لِّلرِّجَالِ نَصِيبٌ۬ مِّمَّا ٱڪۡتَسَبُواْۖ وَلِلنِّسَآءِ نَصِيبٌ۬ مِّمَّا ٱكۡتَسَبۡنَۚ وَسۡـَٔلُواْ ٱللَّهَ مِن فَضۡلِهِۦۤۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ ڪَانَ بِكُلِّ شَىۡءٍ عَلِيمً۬ا
“And covet not the things in which Allah has made some of you to excel others. For men is a fortune from what they have earned (and likewise) for women is a fortune from what they have earned. (Envy not one another) but ask Allah of His Bounty. Lo! Allah is ever Knower of all things.”
(An-Nisa: 32)
Gender equality is a foreign Western-inspired concept that has its roots in a Western feminist historical experience, born as a consequence of the oppression and absence of basic educational, economic, legal, and political rights that women were deprived of under man-made secular systems of the West. This is a history that Islam does not share for such rights were enshrined in its texts, guaranteed within the first Islamic state established by Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم in Madinah, and implemented for centuries under the Khilafah. Gender equality, is therefore at odds with the culture of Tunisian Muslims, who form 98% of the country’s population and whose deep-rooted beliefs, heritage and history are rooted in Islam.
‘Equalizing rights and duties’ will effectively burden Tunisia’s women with the responsibilities of men, including earning for their families while simultaneously robbing them of the Islamic privilege to be provided for always by their male relatives or the state. It will strip them of the Islamic right granted to women to spend their wealth and inheritance as they see fit rather than being ‘equally’ obliged on par with men to use it to maintain their family. And they will lose the Shariah entitlement that affords them in certain cases of inheritance a higher share than men, for in the 30 possible scenarios of inheritance amongst relatives in Islamic law, only in four cases does the female receive half the share of the male while in the vast majority, she receives an equal or larger share. Furthermore, considering the crippled state of Tunisia’s economy that has resulted from its adoption of the destructive capitalist system, all that gender equality holds the prospect of ‘equalizing’ for women is inheritance of debt and the same levels of unemployment, poverty, and economic frustration of their menfolk.
Gender equality is not a solution for the political, economic, and social problems that women in Tunisia or any Muslim country face. In Rwanda, women outnumber men within its parliament (64% of its MP’s are women). However, around 45% of its population remain below the poverty line, a figure that includes millions of women. In South Africa, over 40% of the representatives in its National Assembly are women, yet the country has gained world notoriety for being one of the rape capitals of the world, and according to the South African Medical Research Council, has the highest rate of violence against women ever reported in research in any state. And according to the World Economic Forum 2013 Report, some of the highest female labour participation rates in the world are in Malawi, Mozambique and Burundi where women make up a larger portion of the workforce than men. However, these countries are hardly role models for women’s economic wellbeing or liberation from poverty and financial hardship. The political, economic, and social problems afflicting women within various states do not stem from the lack or absence of ‘gender equality’ but from the nature of the overall system governing the land. Unfortunately Tunisia’s National Assembly has dashed the bright hopes for a new beginning that were inspired by the Arab Spring by adopting the same old failed secular, liberal, and capitalist principles and system of fallen dictatorships and existing democratic and autocratic states that have failed women the world over.
Some have claimed that Article 20 represents a progressive law on women’s rights and will secure respect, fairness, and a better life for the country’s women. However, such promises by advocates of gender equality are nothing but a deception that masks the serious dangers ahead for Tunisia or any other state that adopts this principle. Scandinavian countries which are the most gender-egalitarian states according to the UN Gender Inequality Index for 2011 and the World Economic Forum ‘Global Gender Gap Report’ for 2013, also un-enviably have the highest rates of births outside marriage (55% in Sweden and 54% in Norway according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Furthermore, 40 years of implementation of gender equality policies by these governments to ‘equalize’ the presence of men and women in their workforce has effectively forced mothers to hand over their babies and children to nurseries in order to work. In Sweden over 90% of all 18 months to 5 year olds are in day-care. ‘Stay at home mothers’ has been discouraged, including through a tax system that financially penalizes women if they wish to be the primary carers of their own children. All this has undervalued motherhood, eroded the family unit, and caused children to be raised by nurseries rather than their parents. This has been blamed for the rise in psychological, behavioural, and learning problems amongst children, youth, and young adults in Sweden. Swedish schools have among the highest truancy, classroom disorder, and the worst discipline problems in Europe. This is hardly a mark of progress! This destructive experiment in social engineering is far from a role model that should be embraced! Surely this is not the type of future that Tunisians wish to create for their next generation!
Regardless of having paid this heavy cost to their family life and the wellbeing of their children due to the imposition of socially corrosive gender equality policies upon the society, women in Sweden today are still paid less than men in the workplace with a gender pay gap of around 15%. And according to Catherine Hakim, a prominent British sociologist who specialises in women’s employment and women’s issues, 75% of women in Sweden are working in the public sector which is traditionally the lower-paid, lower-qualified end of the employment market. It is clear therefore that the promises heralded by gender equality policies for which women sacrificed motherhood and valuable time with their children to enter work and become equal wage earners to men in the belief that this would elevate their status, did not even deliver in the economic sphere of their lives. Furthermore, gender equality’s irrational ideal of equalizing two beings who by their nature are physically different, that forced women to adopt the roles of men, has acted as a form of oppression upon them by ignoring, undermining and undervaluing their nature as the ones who give birth to and nurse the children of society. The doubling of depression amongst women in Europe over the past 40 years has been attributed to the heavy burden of having to balance family, home, and work responsibilities (as stated by the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology). This is therefore far from being a paradise of fairness and justice for women but it is the worrying future that awaits the women of Tunisia if gender equality is made an enshrined principle of the state.
In truth, gender equality has always been exploited and manipulated by capitalist systems to simply pressurise women into employment in order to increase the size of their workforce and revenue generation with a total disregard for the wellbeing of women, their children, family life and the health of society overall. It is the mark of an ideology that systematically and consistently places wealth creation above other important human needs and values.
There needs to be an end to foreign-inspired experiments using faulty Western concepts. Gender equality has functioned as nothing but an opium in the struggle for women’s rights and served as a gross act of injustice against the wellbeing of women and children. It is a false and misleading standard for evaluating the progress and improvement of women’s lives. The Arab Spring was about the need for new political visions, not the rehash of failed, unworkable ideas. It is only a constitution based upon Islam alone that rejects all foreign thoughts, including gender equality that will ensure a bright future for the women of Tunisia. The unique social system of Islam defines roles and rights for men and women which are complementary rather than competitive, creating a harmonious marital and family life. It does not organise family life based upon irrationally allowing the woman or the man to selfishly define their own entitlements and duties according to their individualistic desires that sows nothing but confusion and discord in marriage and parental responsibilities but rather in a manner that is fair, just, and best for all – the man, woman, and child. Its laws ensure that the dignified view of women is maintained within society; that they are guaranteed financial provision and security always; and that they are empowered to fulfil their vital role as mothers. This ensures that the rights of children are fulfilled and that they are nurtured and raised to become upright and remarkable citizens in their thinking and behaviour who are a source of goodness for their community. All this can only materialise under the Khilafah state which is also blessed with a sound Islamic political, economic, educational, and judicial system – all of which ensure that all the Islamic God-given rights for women become a reality in their lives rather than remaining as empty promises and mere ink on paper of flawed constitutions.
أَفَمَن يَمۡشِى مُكِبًّا عَلَىٰ وَجۡهِهِۦۤ أَهۡدَىٰٓ أَمَّن يَمۡشِى سَوِيًّا عَلَىٰ صِرَٲطٍ۬ مُّسۡتَقِيمٍ۬
“Is he who walks on his face without seeing, more rightly guided, or he who (sees and) walks on a Straight Path (Islam)”
(Al-Mulk: 22)
Written for The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Dr. Nazreen Nawaz
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir