Where are the pre-Ataturk Muslim Stateswomen?

Submitted by Bir Turk (United States), Aug 20, 2002 at 10:58

If Islam gave women equal rights with men, as some on this forum claim, how come there are no examples of pre-Ataturk female MPs in the entire Muslim world? Or female university graduates? Or female rulers for that matter? Forget Saudi Arabia, even in today's Turkiye there are Islamists in the more rural areas who will not let their girls attend school. I know an Islamist Turk (with a PhD) living in USA who won't even let his wife answer the phone. If such things are happening in 2002, can you imagine how life was 100 or 200 years ago for women in the Muslim world? Surely people must be joking when they talk of Islamic "freedom" and "equality" for women.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".