Women Living Under Muslim Laws

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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! was launched in November 2007 and is hosted by Women Living Under Muslim Laws. The Campaign seeks to end the relentless mis-use of culture, tradition and religion to justify violence against women. Read more here: www.stop-stoning.org

News and Views

UPDATE: India: Court decriminalises gay sex (Reuters)
3/07/2009: An Indian court ruled gay sex was not a crime, a verdict that will bolster demands by gay and health groups that the government scrap a British colonial law, which bans homosexual sex.

Syria: Honour killing law amended (BBC News)
3/07/2009: Syria has scrapped a law limiting the length of sentences handed down to men convicted of killing female relatives they suspect of having illicit sex.

Israel/Gaza: AI report on 22 days of death and destruction (Amnesty International)
3/07/2009: To date, five months after the end of Operation “Cast Lead”, the Israeli authorities have failed to establish any independent and impartial investigation into the conduct of their forces and actively oppose any such investigations being established.

France: Ban the Burqa (The New York Times)
3/07/2009: "I am a Muslim, I am a feminist and I detest the full-body veil, known as a niqab or burqa", writes Mona Eltahawy

Africa: Impact of Shariah On Gender and Sexual Minorities (The Inner Circle)
3/07/2009: Over the last decade The Inner Circle (TIC) has discovered that Muslims who are queer struggle to make peace with their sexuality and their faith. They often trade in the one at the expense of the other and find it difficult to accept both identities.

Iran: Stoning to be omitted from penal laws (Press TV)
2/07/2009: Head of the Majlis judiciary commission Ali Shahrokhi says stoning, heresy and cutting hands will be omitted from Iran's penal laws.

Egypt: Women's political participation critical to addressing developmental issues (IPS)
2/07/2009: Egypt elected the first Arab woman to parliament in 1957, but in the half century since, the most populous country in the Arab world has gone from being a leader in women's political participation to a lagger.

Pakistan: Women Rights & Ground Realities (WWO)
2/07/2009: An investigative report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) claims that one woman is raped every hour, while another is killed on the pretext of karokari.

India: A nation's gay revolution (The Guardian)
1/07/2009: The Indian government is reviewing legislation that outlaws homosexuality.

Indonesia: Presidential Poll Race Disappoints Women’s Activists (IPS)
1/07/2009: As the country prepares to elect its new president next week, Indonesian activists are trying to push gender issues onto the political agenda.

Calls for Action

Saudi Arabia: Imprisonment and Whipping of 75 year-old Woman
30/03/2009: WLUML, and its allies, demand that Saudi Arabia demonstrate its commitment to human rights and release Khamisa Sawadi, Fahd al-Anzi, and Hadiyan bin Zein and revoke the order of deportation.

UPDATE: Madagascar: New president suspends parliament
19/03/2009: The violence on the streets has ended. But two days after the army swept the 34-year-old to power, Madagascar's newly-installed president Andry Rajoelina suspended the Indian Ocean island's parliament.

UPDATE: Pakistan: Mukhtar Mai's case adjourned for third time in a month
6/03/2009: With clear evidence of political interference in Ms Mai's case it is uncertain when her case will be heard again, and her legal team are only advised in the last minute by the judiciary. Please see the letter of thanks for the support Ms Mai and her family have received:

Publications

Newsletter 7 (Published: January 2009)
We are delighted to present the seventh issue of the Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) Newsletter! In this edition, once again we welcome new staff members at the International Coordination Office, as well as looking at WLUML's participation in several significant events, such as The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) 11th International Forum in Cape Town, South Africa. The theme of the forum was "The Power of Movements". Continuing in this vein, we review the successes of women's movements in Iran, Pakistan, Nigeria and Malaysia, as well as the challenges facing them.

Dossier 29: A Collection of Articles various (Published: July 2008)
Dossier 29: "Mechanisms and Structures to Promote and Protect Women's Human Rights and Gender Equality"

What's the Point of Revolution if We Can't Dance? Jane Barry and Jelena Djordjevic (UAF) (Published: 2007)
What's the Point of Revolution if We Can't Dance? brings us the experiences of more than 100 activists from around the world. Their fears. Hopes. Exhaustion. Exaltation. Grief and pleasure. Pain and loss and wicked black humour. Spirituality. Funding crunches. Backbiting and burnout. Self-worth, desire, selfishness, and selflessness. In Revolution activists from all walks of life talk about the intensely personal and inextricably important side of activism that leaves so many of us fatigued, isolated and ill. Together, we name a culture of activism that sometimes celebrates dying for the cause as a necessary and acceptable part of the activist bargain. We also talked about what keeps us strong the love and passion for the work, and for each other. The simple and complex strategies that activists use to stay well and safe. The book concludes with a call for a revolution within activism that will ensure that we can sustain ourselves and our movements.

WLUML Newsletter 6 WLUML (Published: June 2008)
We are delighted to present the sixth issue of the Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) Newsletter! In this edition, we welcome new staff members at the International Coordination Office, cover new developments in the Global Campaign Stop Killing and Stoning Women!, and catch up with some of our networkers from around the world. A special section highlights the political aspects of women and sport in Muslim contexts.

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.

Knowing Our Rights: Women, family, laws and customs in the Muslim world - 3rd edition WLUML (Published: December 2006)
This third and completely revised version of the "Knowing Our Rights" handbook is an essential resource for those taking a critical and questioning approach to rights, laws, and constructions of womanhood in Muslim countries and communities and beyond. "Knowing Our Rights" forms part of the international synthesis of the Women & Law in the Muslim world Programme and is based on some 10 years of field experience, research and analysis by multi-disciplinary teams of networkers in over 20 countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

The third edition of the publications is now available to download!

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.