PSC 321 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Authoritarianism, Tv In, Cultural Relativism
18 May 2018
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Women’s Rise to Political Office on Behalf of Religious Political Movements
● While during the early decades of Islamic party formations in the 1960s and 1970s
across many Muslim countries, women were mostly recruited to serve as ‘foot soldiers’
in support of the Islamic movement
● It was very surprising when religious political movements on a number of occasions
outperformed their secular and more liberal counterparts in terms of women’s nomination
and recruitment to political office in major national elections in various Muslim countries
Islamic Political Movements: Recent champions of gender equality?
● These ideological shifts have led to modest, yet significant, increases in the rate of
women’s political representation in recent decades
● In some Arab countries, the percentage of women assuming political office has modestly
increased in the wake of conservative and Islamist forces’ rise to power
● Similar trends are also witnessed in non-Arab countries of Iran and Turkey; despite their
different theocratic and secular political frameworks, conservative religious parties have
at times been at the forefront of expanding women’s access to political office
Mere window-dressing or genuinely empowering women?
● On the international level, a number of incentives and pressures have encouraged
Islamic political parties to democratize, often with particular emphasis on women’s
political roles
● Given that women’s numbers in political office often serves as window-dressing for
parties to seem democratic, many conservative pro-religious parties have been willing to
increase women’s access to decision-making to appeal to voters and international actors
● To mainly credit the Islamist party leadership for opening the doors for women’s political
representation, de-emphasizes women’s own efforts and organizing for increased
political office from within the religious political movements
● Authoritarianism is one of the key factors that impacts women’s access to political office
as well as their influence while in power, often regardless of the party’s ideological
tendencies
○ Authoritarian tendencies are gradually undermined
● One of the key factors of recent notable increases in women’s political representation on
behalf of religious political movements is the activism and recent outspokenness of many
Islamic women in demand for removal of gender discriminatory behaviors and attitudes
of their own male party leaders in recruitment and nomination processes
● Many Islamic women activists in Iran and Turkey, despite supporting conservative and
pro-religious political groups and parties, do not see a contradiction between their
interpretation of Islam and female authority
● While some conservative women’s rise to political office may still be a strategic move on
behalf of the party, it is important to note that many women themselves have also been
agitating for their rise to power
● Over time, many Islamic party leaders became willing to reward women’s decades-long
commitment to the party, particularly as they realized that women constitute half of the
electorate, also had it not been for women’s initial support as voters and voter-recruiters
they would not have risen to power
