Islam and the Politics of Gender: Reflections on Afghanistan
Carl-Heinrich-Becker-Lecture der Fritz Thyssen Stiftung 2010
“My choice of topic today is intended to sound a note of caution regarding the instrumentalization of both Islam and the issue of women’s rights. To develop this theme, I shall employ the term ‘politics of gender’ to denote processes of appropriation, contestation and reinterpretation of positions on gender relations and women’s rights by state, non-state and global actors. I shall argue that the politics of gender is fought out on a complex ideological terrain that features a variety of influences—those of transnational feminism, of global governance institutions and of local power struggles that include the politics of varied Islamist actors. These influences cannot be dealt with in isolation from one another, since they interact in ways that influence outcomes in often unpredictable and unintended ways.”
With a welcome by Wolf Lepenies and an introduction by Ulrike Freitag.
This publication is available in English and German.
