Women, Piety and Political Representation
The aftermath of violent conflict provides opportunities for fresh debates about gender politics. In sub-Saharan Africa, several post-conflict states have introduced constitutional reforms and quotas to promote women’s participation in government. Yet, women’s political representation in Somalia is...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Brill
2016
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In: |
Hawwa
Year: 2016, Volume: 14, Issue: 2, Pages: 166-186 |
Further subjects: | B
Gender
Islamism
agency
Islamic feminism
Somalia
peacebuilding
gender quotas in Africa
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Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
Summary: | The aftermath of violent conflict provides opportunities for fresh debates about gender politics. In sub-Saharan Africa, several post-conflict states have introduced constitutional reforms and quotas to promote women’s participation in government. Yet, women’s political representation in Somalia is a matter that goes beyond the hotly-debated gender quotas which are often championed by international donors and other peacebuilding actors. In post-war Somalia, women believe that the question of political representation is closely linked to the recognition of women’s ongoing contributions to society. For many women, the contemporary post-war Islamic discourses in Somalia have eroded some rights previously guaranteed—if imperfectly—by the pre-war state. Such discourses today have also constructed a new ideal version of Somali women in an Islamic society which largely dispossesses them from public life. In this article, I highlight Somali women’s forms of activism which are centered on engaging Islamic discourses in an attempt to change current perceptions about women’s roles in politics and public life. I examine women’s narratives for insights into the root causes of women’s exclusion and the strategies used to resist, counter, and challenge oppositional Islamic discourses. I conclude by considering how women’s ‘unorganized’ movements across Somalia—premised on working within a framework of Islam, are suggestive of multifaceted expressions of women’s agency in patriarchal and non-liberal contexts. |
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ISSN: | 1569-2086 |
Contains: | In: Hawwa
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15692086-12341297 |