Secularity, gender, and emancipation: thinking through feminist activism and feminist approaches to the secular

Abstract

In this article, I engage with feminist discussions about secularity, gender, and emancipation. The feminist study of the secular was spurred by interventions of Saba Mahmood [2005. The Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Princeton: Princeton University Press], and can be seen as a critical engagement with at least one basic assumption that underlies much of progressive thinkingthat secularism is beneficial for women and LGBTQ subjects. I begin by exploring how the Belgian feminist activist platform Baas Over Eigen Hoofd! (Boss Over One's Own Head!) builds a locally suited theory and practice of emancipation. I analyse how BOEH! raises questions about gender and secularity. Second, I zoom-out by mapping feminist studies of the secular in Western European contexts, distinguishing various analytical approaches and visions on social-political secular emancipatory alternatives. To conclude, I relate local feminist activism to feminist academic discussions, and argue that there is a continued need for thinking about shared emancipatory futures.Emancipation is not an 'all or nothing' affair. (Nancy Fraser in: Fraser and Liakova 2008, 4) The story [of secularism] has had enormous staying power. Our view of history is shaped by that story. (Scott 2018, 14) Posing questions about emancipation often means criticising political, social, cultural, and religious structures of dominance and revealing the relationships between freedom and its restrictions. Critical theories, such as feminist, postcolonial, and queer theories, and social movements, such as women's, antiracist, and LGBTQ movements, analyse the restriction of freedom in various ways and as such propose differing ideas about progressive change. In Western contexts influenced by a European Enlightenment tradition, 'emancipation' is a layered and emphatic concept, referring to equality, self-determination, liberation, and individual responsibility (Birkle et al. 2012). Posing questions about emancipation within this political-cultural framework leads to asking about the obstacles to equality and self-determination: Liberation from what? Self-determination regarding what? What does it mean to be responsible for building one's 'own life'? (Bauhardt 2004).

Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Global South: Empowering and Emancipating?

“…Nonetheless, microfinance can be useful for developing women's enterprises, arguably reinforcing their confidence and empowering them (Al-Dajani and Marlow 2013; Ukanwa et al 2018). In practice, however, in rural Africa, male family heads may take control of this resource (Gobezie 2009), denying the borrower access (Tamale 2004).…”

“…Not only does this disempower (Salia et al 2018) but also burdens women with repaying the loan (Ssendi and Anderson 2009). If the loan is applied to the family wellbeing rather than the business, high interest rates may also disempower by locking women into a debt trap (Ukanwa et al 2018).…”

The electoral agency of Muslimahs: an intersectional perspective on preferential voting behaviour

“…Governmental rules restricting religious practices such as a ban on veils and religious slaughter and a troubled relationship with mosque boards could evoke a reaction of Muslims who stress their threatened religious identity and act upon it in order to defend Islam referred to as reactive religiosity (Nagra, 2011;Voas and Fleischmann, 2012). Similarly, scholars point at the important role of Muslim women in organizing political protests against the Antwerp local government due to the ban on veils for front office employees, while this government consisted of (female) Muslim councilors (Severs et al, 2016;van den Brandt, 2019). Van den Brandt (2019) argues that the exclusion of Muslimahs in political discussions about their interest and needs, generated Muslimahs' activism insisting that their voices and experiences be recognized by politicians and policy makers.…”

“…Similarly, scholars point at the important role of Muslim women in organizing political protests against the Antwerp local government due to the ban on veils for front office employees, while this government consisted of (female) Muslim councilors (Severs et al, 2016;van den Brandt, 2019). Van den Brandt (2019) argues that the exclusion of Muslimahs in political discussions about their interest and needs, generated Muslimahs' activism insisting that their voices and experiences be recognized by politicians and policy makers.…”

Catholic Women as Subjects of Debate

“…(What if, for instance, an imam would have said this …?).' Interestingly, by referring to an imaginary imam, Sven Gatz implicitly confirms what is often considered to be the vexed relationship between Islam and gender equality-an assumption that has been comprehensively problematised by various scholars (Bracke 2011;van den Brandt 2019b;Coene and Longman 2005;Fadil 2014;). These responses to what where considered sexist Bible excerpts in a Catholic Church service livestreamed on Flemish public television thus attempt to draw the contours and boundaries of secularity and religion: the argument developed was that in a liberal secularised society, there is no place for religious misogyny in public media funded with taxpayers' money.…”