Women’s Scholarship and Engagement in Muslim Societies

Abstract

The emotions experienced when one evaluates the current state of women’s scholarship and engagement in the domains of educational policy, pedagogy and development is to experience both deep hope and immense apprehension at exactly the same  moment. The optimism stems from the recognition that there has been nearly a century of political progress and the steady  commitment of international organizations to ensure women and girls have access to, and can thrive in, educational spaces. In just the  past three decades, from the Beijing Women’s Conference in 1995, to the establishment of the Millennium Development Goals, to the  Sustainable Development Goals, attention has been focused on women’s rights, access to education and employment, and safety and security. Yet, the emotions of unease and trepidation are grounded in the shifting landscape of the first quarter of the 21st century, where rising authoritarianism, populist movements, and religious fundamentalism are emerging as central pillars supporting political,  economic, and social changes. These changes increasingly harken back to a desire for women to maintain traditional notions of duty,  chastity, and honor, often as a way to limit women’s freedom and agency, but to also remake society in historically patriarchal structures.