Globalization, Gender, and Religion

Globalization, Gender, and Religion: The Politics of Women's Rights inCatholic and Muslim Contexts began at the 1995 United Nations FourthWorld Conference on Women in Beijing (FWCW). At this event, Jane H.Bayes and Nayereh Tohidi witnessed conservative Catholic and conservativeMuslim groups unify around issues of sexuality, sexual orientation, andthe control of women's bodies. To understand the spectrum of opinions andbetter strategize the globalized women's movement in Catholic and Muslimcontexts, the editors brought together feminists from seven countries andone region to detennine how religious Catholic and Muslim women dealtwith their beliefs in equal rights, and contradictions in their religions and inthe official policy of their religious authorities.This book is divided into 10 chapters and contains an appendix that surveysthe historical expansion of Catholicism and Islam. The introductionprovides valuable information on how, since 1992, the Vatican has soughtto unify with conservative Muslims to counter challenges to their sharedreligious ideals of women's social roles. The following chapter, "WomenRedefining Modernity and Religion in the Globalized Context," is structuredto answer three fundamental issues about Catholicism and Islam:How they regard women, what historical similarities and differences existin their responses to modernity, and what is the position of women's religiosityand spirituality in social change and their agency in reshaping theparameters of modernity and religion. Ultimately, it gives a useful overviewof how Catholicism and Islam perceive women and especially gives a fairtreatment oflslam's uniqueness. Unlike Catholicism, Islam's lack of a singular,central, organized body makes it difficult to pinpoint the ideal femalearchetype. To find this ideal, the editors point to the Qur'an's prominenceas the word of God and refer to 4:34 which, by calling women the "charges ...