Dear friends,
The events of 2022 were devastating for women’s human rights in many Muslim contexts. Yet,throughout the year, women’s solidarity has shone through and given us all hope and courage.
In Afghanistan, women’s limited and segregated access to higher education was finally slammed closed by the Taliban. The Taliban who, despite guarantees for ‘all human and legal rights of every child, woman and man’, have shown their true colours by consistently rolling back women’s basic human rights and freedoms.
In Iran, the killing of the young woman Mahsa Amini while in custody by the morality police for wearing the veil incorrectly has brought grief to the nation. Anger that the regime uses women’s bodies and beings as political strings has led to widespread protest across the country, and subsequently, through its repression, the death of many more young people. But young women will have no more and, despite the danger and extreme violence, under the banner of ‘Woman, Life,Freedom’ have poured into the streets and burned their veils. Young men have also stood by them and are rejecting the regime’s regressive perspective on women and men’s dignity and human rights.
The legal basis for the protection of women against violence has also been shaken. Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul Convention that recognises violence against women as a violation of human rights. In Sudan there is increasing violence against women and women human rights defenders. And, in Indonesia, we witnessed one step forward as the parliament passed the Sexual Violence Bill after 10 years of debates and discussion, however, the celebration did not last long as a harsh law was passed that criminalised sexual relations outside marriage as illegal even for non-nationals and poses a particular threat to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) people.
Despite these events, throughout 2022 solidarity amongst women in Muslim contexts has proved strong and resilient. Iranian women of all ages, and even some young men, have symbolically cut their hair in solidarity with Mahsa Amini (and all women in Iran who have felt the aggression of the Islamic Republic), reviving an old tradition indicating their extreme grief. This solidarity was not limited to those in Iran but also felt internationally, particularly amongst the diaspora (there was an unprecedented estimated eighty to one hundred thousand people at one demonstration in Berlin).
It is perhaps the solidarity from women from Afghanistan with their Iranian sisters that has been most moving. Women from Afghanistan understand better than anyone else a regime of fear and repression conducted in the name of religion. Risking violent dispersal by the Taliban, they were there outside the Iranian embassy in Kabul chanting in solidarity for “Woman, Life, Freedom”.
16 Days of Activism was a global opportunity to stand up against gender-based violence. Within WLUML, our established networkers and young activists shared why 16 Days is important to them and their hopes for the future. You can find their powerful responses here on WLUML’s Instagram. It was also an opportunity to connect with new partners including the EŞİK Platform, discuss women’s rights from a regional perspective with Magdeburg University, and to sit down with Board Member Homa Hoodfar to discuss the elimination of violence against women and its impact on the formation and development of WLUML (see WLUML’s new podcast).
For the new WLUML Podcast we have connected to activists across different contexts. Hilal talks Muslim women rappers and decolonising feminism, Mobeen and Sara shared their experiences in Afghanistan before the Taliban and their exile from their homeland, and Pasqualina shared her research on heavy metal musicians in the Middle East and how they produce music to promote their right to self-actualisation.
2022 was also the first time many of us were able to connect in person. First in Toronto, for a three-day meeting with Afghan women politicians and civil society leaders now living in North America to reflect and plan ways of resisting the Taliban and their extreme discriminatory laws. And then in London, for the research and planning conference that connected our youngest and most active members. We discussed WLUML’s constitutionalism project, women’s rights in the context of Muslim majority countries, reconsidered women’s machinery and women’s safety in public and private spaces, and the role of art in our struggle for gender equality. It is our sincere hope that 2023will bring greater opportunities for collective work and the sharing of experiences and strategies.
We look forward to welcoming in the year and continuing to strive for gender equality and justice together.
In peace and sisterhood,
Dr Homa Hoodfar
WLUML Board of Directors
Homa Hoodfar