Power, Politics & Resistance: Secularism and Women’s Marital Rights in Egypt and Iran

Louden-Cooke, Samantha ORCID: 0000-0001-7997-1747 (2024) Power, Politics & Resistance: Secularism and Women’s Marital Rights in Egypt and Iran. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 51 (5). pp. 1011-1030. doi:10.1080/13530194.2023.2185591

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Abstract

Family law in the Middle East North Africa region has been critically scrutinized by both adherents to Islam and Western observers. Consensus remains between both traditions that secularism has had no meaningful impact on women’s marital rights due to Islam’s continued influence on socio-cultural and legal practices. Building on this, this article examines the effects of the secular nature of Egypt and Iran, between 1900 and 1939, on women’s marital rights. Contributing to the current literature by examining two countries which are rarely exclusively compared in this field, significant insights into the relationship between gender equality, marriage, and secularism emerge through interpretive textual analyses of memoirs and laws. It illustrates how secular identities affect marital laws; the importance of the political environment within the state, and how secularism is a tool for pursuing or challenging power. This article challenges homogenising assumptions that secularism had limited effects on marital laws.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Gender equality; Marriage; Middle East North Africa; Secularism; Religion
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BP Islam. Bahaism. Theosophy, etc H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Education and Science
Research Priority Areas:	Place, Environment and Community
Depositing User:	Anna Kerr
Date Deposited:	28 Feb 2023 11:29
Last Modified:	27 Nov 2024 12:00
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/12422

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