Pioneering Women
by Swanee Hunt, Scripps Howard News Service
March 3, 2024

Women's historic struggle for individual rights _ to vote, to work, to choose _ has been a tale of ordinary women doing extraordinary things. Women, whether barefoot or in stockings, have fought for the right to stand on their own two feet. This tradition is celebrated on International Women's Day, March 8. This year, a constellation of women has emerged as new voices for the oppressed in a climate of harsh Islamic radicalism.

Take Irshad Manji, an outspoken critic of Muslim intolerance. Author of "The Trouble With Islam: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith," Manji warns fellow Muslims against complacency and passivity when terrorist attacks are committed in the name of Islam. Raised in Vancouver, Manji relishes Western freedoms _ of speech, religion, politics _ and believes that Islam embraces them, too. But she says, "Abuse is happening under the banner of our faith." Al Qaeda zealots cherry-pick sections of the Koran to justify their hatred "and moderate Muslims aren't publicly protesting." Manji hopes to provoke a liberal reformation of Islam and a return to the Islamic tradition of critical thinking, question and debate. One reaction to her public dissent: death threats.

It's been even riskier for Iraqi and Afghan women who have raised their voices in the midst of civil strife and a conservative fundamentalist backlash.

In Iraq, the U.S. appointed interim Governing Council is heavily influenced by hard-line religious conservatives. The three women on the 25-member council have little clout. Sure enough, the council stunned many women weeks ago when it voted behind closed doors to make Islamic law the primary source of legislation for family law. Although the new interim constitution forbids sexual or religious discrimination, some Islamic fundamentalists vow to defy it. That rancor has not swayed the women. "We have no time to lose," Iraqi Ala Talabani told National Public Radio. She says the "window of opportunity" for women is now; "we can't wait for men to protect us."

The U.S. gives lip service to women's rights in Iraq. In the words of Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, "A government that does not respect the rights of half its citizens cannot be trusted to safeguard the rights of any." But the reality on the ground in Iraq is grim. The acting ambassador to Washington, Iraqi-American Rend Rahim Francke, describes growing pressure on women to wear the traditional hijab covering, creating an environment of fear and intimidation. She quotes graffiti scrawled on a university wall, "An unveiled women is a debauched woman." A strong advocate, Francke takes a calculated risk. One of the three original women on the Governing Council, who spoke out for women's rights, was assassinated last year.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, women drafted a bill of rights outlawing discrimination and protecting their rights to vote, work, own property. Although the new constitution secures equal rights for women and reserves seats for them in parliament, it doesn't include the specific protections they demanded. More troubling, it says that no law can be contrary to the provisions of Islam. That clause could undermine women's rights, since religious interpretations largely rest with the ultra-conservative Supreme Court. For the June elections, just 2 percent of women have registered to vote, and only about 8 percent of Afghan adults. Elections may thus be postponed. The bottom line is that Afghanistan remains under the "rule of the gun," leaving Afghan people vulnerable to harassment and intimidation by warlords and drug barons. Women we "freed" from the Taliban's harsh religious laws are again prisoners in their own homes.

Afghan Massouda Jalal is defying history in this deeply conservative country and running as the first female presidential candidate. A pediatrician with three young children, she's demonstrating to all Afghans that women have the right to run for the country's highest office. But the risks are palpable. Taliban pamphlets warn people not to register "or their life will be in danger."

Many of these Afghan and Iraqi women are putting their lives on the line, believing that the U.S. will back them up. But we skipped out of Kabul early to go after Saddam, leaving the Taliban free to rise again. We conquered Saddam but had no game plan to prevent extremists from subjugating Iraqi women to discriminatory religious law. If we sit "in stony silence" as Manji says, the days of freedom for these pioneering women may be numbered.

(Swanee Hunt, the former U.S. ambassador to Austria, lectures at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. E-mail [email protected].)

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