Women Living Under Muslim Laws

Search WLUML

An international network that provides information, solidarity and support for all women whose lives are shaped, conditioned or governed by laws and customs said to derive from Islam.

Current site highlights

The Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women!
Women Living Under Muslim Laws is coordinating this Global Campaign to address the persistent misuse of religion and culture to justify killing women as punishment for violating the ‘norms’ of sexual behaviour as defined and imposed by vested interests.

Download the background paper here!

News and Views

Peru: Crimes of passion: Hundreds of women murdered in the name of 'honour' and 'passion' (IPS)
10/05/2008: Close to 70 percent of all the women killed in one year in Peru died at the hands of their husbands, partners, lovers or boyfriends, and the murders were committed at home or in a place that was frequented by the couple.

India: Increase in women-initiated divorces (The Independent)
8/05/2008: "India is a country where marriage is considered sacred, so it is hardly a surprise that there is no word in Hindi for divorce. But increasing numbers of women trapped in unhappy relationships are finding a way out."

Afghanistan:"My husband cut off my ears and nose and broke my teeth" (IRIN)
6/05/2008: Doctors at a hospital in Qalat, capital of Zabul Province in southern Afghanistan, are treating a brutally tortured woman whose husband cut off both her ears and nose, broke her teeth and shaved her head only three months after their marriage.

Africa: Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) regional consultation meeting (WGNRR)
4/05/2008: In 2008 the WGNRR Regional consultation meeting in Africa will be linked to the AWID Forum.

Jordan: Increased domestic violence among Iraqi refugees (IRIN Middle East)
3/05/2008: A study published in March by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on the mental state of Iraqis in Jordan and Lebanon has pointed to mounting social and economic problems as the cause of increased domestic violence.

Iran: Parvin Ardalan given a 2-year suspended sentence (Change for Equality)
2/05/2008: The 13th branch of the Revolutionary Courts has issued a sentence in the case of Parvin Ardalan.

Pakistan: New Magazine on Sex, Sexuality and Pakistan (Chay Magazine)
2/05/2008: "Chay Magazine" issues a call for submissions.

Lebanon: Labor Day campaign for domestic workers (HRW)
1/05/2008: A campaign to protect domestic workers from abuse and exploitation challenges employers to ‘Put Yourself in Her Shoes’.

UK: Essay: "Why should Muslims put up with being stereotyped?" (The Independent)
29/04/2008: Yasmin Alibhai-Brown writes, "Like everyone, we are creatures of many parts. But we are not allowed such complexities."

Iran: Authorities calls for ban on Barbie doll (BBC)
29/04/2008: "In the past, Barbie dolls have been targeted by Iranian authorities bridling at their revealing dress. In public Iranian women must cover their bodily contours - a rule, correspondents point out, that Barbie conspicuously fails to follow."

Calls for Action

Iran: More women's rights defenders sentenced
12/05/2008: Four women's rights activists, Nasrin Afzali, Nahid Jafari, Zeinab Peighambar-zadeh, and Minou Mortazi, have been given suspended sentences of whipping (10 lashes) and six months imprisonment.

UPDATE: Iran: Khadijeh Moghaddam released from prison
21/04/2008: Khadijeh Moghaddam member of the Mother’s Committee of the One Million Signatures Campaign, and a member of Mothers for Peace, was released on the afternoon of Wednesday April 16, after spending nine days in detention.

Iran: Campaign to free Khadijeh Moghaddam
8/04/2008: Khadijeh Moghaddam, a women's human rights activist, was arrested at her home on April 8th. She is a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign calling for equal rights between men and women in Iran. Many members of the Campaign have been harassed and arrested. A non-violent advocate of change, Ms. Moghaddam is currently being detained in solitary confinement, on charges related to propaganda, influencing public opinion and threatening national security.

Publications

WLUML Newsletter 5 WLUML (Published: Dec. 2007 / Jan. 2008)
Women Living Under Muslim Laws is delighted to present the fifth issue of the WLUML Newsletter! The objective of WLUML's newsletters is to present a platform for women's rights activists around the world to project their voices, and for networkers to share their experiences of activism across boundaries.

This issue features articles on the launch of the Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women! and our Feminism in the Muslim World Third Leadership Institute. This issue features networkers' submissions from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Burma, India and Pakistan, as well as book and film reviews, updates on solidarity cases and more.

WLUML Newsletter 4 WLUML (Published: August 2007)
We are delighted to present the Fourth Issue of the Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) Newsletter! The overarching objective of WLUML's bi-annual newsletters is to present a platform to women's rights activists around the world to project their voices, and for networkers to share their experiences of activism across boundaries.

This issue, with an improved format, features the addition of 'Activists Reflections', which present a selection of the articles we received in response to our online Call for Submissions. Reflecting the transnational nature and philosophy of the WLUML network, the articles and reports included in this newsletter range from Growing Talibanisation in Pakistan to Expanding International Legal Protections for Victims of Gender-Based Violence in Iraqi Kurdistan and the lobbying of the Gambian Committee Against Traditional Practices.

Dossier 28: A Collection of Articles various (Published: December 2006)
This Dossier explores issues around ‘secularism’.

For more than two decades, feminists have discussed the impact and mechanics of extreme right politico-religious forces and shared strategies of resistance against fundamentalisms. But, as feminists, we have yet to develop a coherent analysis of the concrete alternatives. Yet we need such an analysis in order to move beyond resistance and be more pro-active in our advocacy for an alternative vision of society. In the context of globally rising extreme right politics justified with reference to religion and rising neo-liberalism’s impact on democratic governance and social inclusion, it is time to discuss secularisms in depth.

The articles in this volume look at some of the questions feminists need to begin discussing in order to define more clearly the changes we want to see and the systems that will work best for women, and in order to develop a movement that is more inclusive and more effective.

Dossier 28 seeks to contribute to these discussions by presenting various analyses of secularism, from the perspective of theory as well as lived experience in contexts as diverse as Algeria, Argentina, China, Egypt, France, India, Italy, Senegal, South Africa, and Sudan.

Occasional Paper 15: Iraq Women's Rights Under Attack Occupation, Constitution and Fundamentalisms Nadje Al-Ali, Mubejel Baban, and Sundus Abass (Published: December 2006)
This Occasional Paper features recent activities of Act Together, one of WLUML's networking organisations based in the UK. In July 2006 Act Together, Women's Action for Iraq, hosted Sundus Abass, Director of Women in Leadership Institute (Baghdad) in London for 15 days. WLUML helped to make the visit possible, as part of various network activities in support of women in post-conflict situations, such as in Afghanistan, Iraq and Sri Lanka. This publication is a record of some of the activities that happened during those 15 hectic days. The aim of the visit was to highlight the work that Iraqi women are doing to try to amend the new Iraqi Constitution, in particular to ensure that the pre-existing Iraqi Personal Status Law, one of the more egalitarian family laws in the Middle East, is not replaced by Article 41.

The publication includes:

· Three talks that were given at a public meeting at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), in London
· The translated edited transcript of a film was by Maysoon Pachachi, of a two-hour discussion in Arabic between three highly experienced Iraqi women activists
· Briefing paper for Parliamentarians
· Act Together grassroots action leaflets

For Ourselves – Women Reading the Qur'an WLUML (Published: 2004/Originally published: 1998)
Due to popular demand, WLUML has reprinted the edited transcripts of a 6-day workshop 'Qur’anic Interpretations by Women Meeting' held in 1990. This publication presents the views and work of a dynamic group of activists, Islamic scholars, jurists and historians of Muslim jurisprudence. Their groundbreaking effort was to begin the process of a new approach to Qur’anic interpretation, reaffirming women’s right to read and interpret the Qur’an for themselves.

Recognizing the Un-Recognized: Inter-Country Cases and Muslim Marriages & Divorces in Britain Sohail Akbar Warraich & Cassandra Balchin (Published: January 2006)
Now available online! WLUML's brief policy research project with the aim of beginning a dialogue on how to address the human rights violations being suffered by women in Muslim communities in Britain and South Asia in connection with the recognition of Muslim marriages and divorces in Britain. We believe this to be the ﬁrst in-depth report of the issue to combine sociological, legal and political analysis.

Plan of Action - Senegal 2006 WLUML (Published: January 2006)
In July 2006, active networkers from the international solidarity network, Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) gathered in Dakar, Senegal to develop our fourth Plan of Action (PoA). We are now delighted to be sharing with you our Plan of Action - Senegal 2006, the analytical framework that will guide our programmatic strategies and activities in the coming years.